Topic: Movement rates >1 in melee

[Jengada]

I have always interpreted the basic RM2 rules to say that a character can only move 50% of their base movement rate and still attack or fire a missile (some optional rules use different percentages, but that's not the crux of my question.) I've seen posts and examples that seem to allow greater movement rates (1.5x, 2x, etc.) and as long as the character doesn't exceed 50% of that modified rate, they can still attack.
I was just looking over the rules in AL and SL, and the words it uses for the limitations are "normal movement" (SL) and "normal allowance" (AL). Do others equate "normal" movement to base movement rate? Is there a reference or clarification I'm missing? Or can a player hedge their bets and opt to Sprint every round (3x) and then move no more than 50% of that, i.e., 150% of their base movement rate? Even if they have to make the Pace Chart Light maneuver roll for a Sprint, they would easily top their Base rate or half of it.

[Dreven1]

Hi Jengada,
We like the rule that if you are over a "run" (2x your base movement) you cannot attack and also have to make maneuvers. It seems to play nicely with all the rules.

[brole]

Or can a player hedge their bets and opt to Sprint every round (3x) and then move no more than 50% of that, i.e., 150% of their base movement rate? Even if they have to make the Pace Chart Light maneuver roll for a Sprint, they would easily top their Base rate or half of it.

Yes they can. It is balanced by maneuver roll and exhaustion expenditure.

Also the attack could be declared as a charge where the character gets the charge OB/DB adjustments. A charge "must use a Pace of at least Run to close with their foe." from Arms Law.

[Hurin]

Yes, Brole is right, at least for RM2 (I don't know RMC as well). The character could declare a sprint for 50% of his/her activity for the round, move at 50% of 5x BMR, and still have 50% activity left (enough to melee attack) in the round.

That character would have to spend some exhaustion points and make a maneuver roll for the movement, but yes, it can be done.

[Jengada]

Or can a player hedge their bets and opt to Sprint every round (3x) and then move no more than 50% of that, i.e., 150% of their base movement rate? Even if they have to make the Pace Chart Light maneuver roll for a Sprint, they would easily top their Base rate or half of it.

Yes they can. It is balanced by maneuver roll and exhaustion expenditure.

Also the attack could be declared as a charge where the character gets the charge OB/DB adjustments. A charge "must use a Pace of at least Run to close with their foe." from Arms Law.

Where is that in Arms Law? I could not find anything about charging in the rules. This also leads to the issue highlighted in RC-IV about pace anomalies (and only partially rectified in RMSS) that moving at 4x or 5x base movement actually reduces the probably distance covered. That jump from "light" to "medium" has always been broken, but that is a story for another time.

[Hurin]

A charge "must use a Pace of at least Run to close with their foe." from Arms Law.

Where is that in Arms Law? I could not find anything about charging in the rules.

That sounds like more of an RMClassic thing than an RM2 thing. At least, I don't remember that from RM2.

[Majyk]

It is much easier to show in Fantasy Grounds’ Combat Tracker which has an awesome movement calculator for instant resolving of such a question.
It’ll make you wanna use % Activity for all Moving Maneuvers!

Basically, the rules show a % Activity cost for the round where every 1% of less than 100% for a Melee Attack gets a penalty of -1 to the result.

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Not many folks use Act % as it is an extra layer of math for movement but here it is:
PC has a BMR of 100(to make the math simple) and wants to move and attack a foe 200’ away.

The minimum % Activity to still be able to do so is 50% left in a round for RM2/RMC and 60% for RMSS/FRP.  Ah, but the catch is the random MM roll that sets one’s Max % Act any movement will cost oneself!

So numbers kick in here which is why the FGU calc is so awesome!
GM asks the PC to choose their pace they wanna use(if even available due to armour penalties reducing one’s top paces) and then Roll a Movement Maneuver(MM) Agility stat check(minus Encumbrance that can be a whole other penalty if weighed down).

The options from 1x thru 5x start on the Routine(or even no column for Walking/1x) and ramp over a column for each Pace multiple.
So if choosing the absolute Minimum Pace to get to said foe above, the 100’/rnd PC that wants to still be able to attack wants to:
1 - Pick the x4 Pace multiplier(meaning the PC could move at 400’/rnd and still have 50% activity left for the bare minimum swing at a -50OB this round)
2 - Roll as high on the MM Table column to get a 100% result in order to achieve this as anything less will mean the PC burns up more Act % points and won’t have the bare minimum 50% to attack…they can get there, but that’s it, decide on using whatever points are left…

Or:
1 - choose the x5 Pace Multiplier allowing for a lower MM Table result, next, but increasing the movement capacity by another 100’ which in turn means more remaining % Activity points that will lessen the OB penalty above when the PC arrives to swing their weapon.
This also means a tougher table which can again be a variable surprise if the MM roll is too low, as above…

That is the beauty of the system, for showing how much of an adrenaline rush can become a short circuit one can’t always depend upon!

I can snap a quick video off if wanting to see a few examples of what it looks like in action during a few combat rounds of varying degrees of distance and random rolls.
Especially in sealing one’s fate for getting an attack in or not, when the dice decide to be fickle.

(Then track Exhaustion expenditure - for high Pace usage only as that is another rule most do without! - as x5 is a cool 40 exhaustion points gone!)