Quote from: EltonJ on April 10, 2024, 05:06:39 PM

I'd like to translate the World of Warcraft RPG orc race from from D&D3e to Rolemaster (SS/FRP).  Should I try a one to one conversion?  Or should I get Underground Races first?  Then compare greater orcs with warcraft orcs?  I could use a little guidance.

In what ways do want them to differ from Orcs that are already presented in the main book or the Logroki in the Shadow World books?

Actually, I want the orcs to be like World of Warcraft orcs.  Since they are like "real" orcs. (there are some differences between a real orc and a WoW orc.)

Given that the Stun Removal skill explicitly lists modifiers for the number of stun rounds already, I would assume you are not supposed to also apply the maneuver penalty for being stunned. Also, the -50/-75 penalty for being stunned only applies to "movement and maneuvering", which I take as meaning actually moving around, not all "maneuvers" in the RM sense of skill checks. Most actions don't have a penalty because they are simply impossible while stunned; stun removal skill is of course an exception to that.

We have always applied the negative from being stunned to all maneuvers, including skill rolls, such as casting spells. We have never only limited it to movement.

In what ways do you want them to differ from other elves in your world?

I think the big question is, how do you feel about armor? If your concept is little or no armor, you could even start with a warrior monk. The Self Control skill category is full of skills for pushing yourself in heroic ways: frenzy, adrenal strength, etc. Don't let yourself get stuck thinking of those as meditative discipline, it could be coming out of rage or determination, that's a character choice that's really irrelevant for the game mechanics.

If you want light to medium armor, rogues aren't bad for the outdoors. And of course fighter.

SoHK has the barbarian which is obviously what you are looking for. It also has the outrider which is like a thief with less of the social/urban and more outdoors skills. Less Conan but could be a perfect fit for some other members of the tribe.

Both the Rogue and Fighter points breaks are good if you are going for a conan like fighter thief. I would likely go Fighter since there is not a lot of mastery of different thief skills you will be seeking. If you are using the talent law book to choose backgrounds rather than randomly generating them, there are a few talents which will further increase the effectiveness of the thief side and fighter side.

Golem magic shouldn't be able to fuse a pile of bones together, at least according to the classic definition. The only arbitrary choice here is the idea of allowing a golem to be constructed out of pile of bones, sand, water, or a bunch of body parts sewn together. And that's the point of this topic.

Golem magic animates a single piece of a particular substance. That has always been the definition. The core idea is that the golem is an animated statue or figurine that has no "working" parts. All motion and movement is provided solely by the magic. You could mold a golem from clay, sculpt it from stone, carve it from wood, etc. You could even carve a golem from a bone. The key is that it will basically hold its shape but be inert and immobile. A pile of bones doesn't fit the definition and neither does a bunch of body parts stitched together. But D&D added the "flesh golem exception" along with a picture that resembles Frankenstein's monster and virtually everything that inherits from that tradition (including most modern videogames and even movies) continue that exception in some form and sometimes extends it further.

Animating piles of bones, mixtures of flesh with muscle and bones, and any other collection of things is some other type of magic. In RM the standard "animated things" groups are Golems, Constructs, and Undead. Golems are animated statues, Undead are reanimated corpses (and more spiritual variants), leaving Constructs as the type of magic for animating collections of bones, flesh, and any other type of material. Unfortunately, as written, constructs are assumed to be robots or machines that have the structure to be functional and are simply missing a power source. The idea of animating a collection of bones, a pile of sand, etc. really isn't addressed by any of those, so Construct Companion added the Amalgam.

Personally I would like for RMU to follow the Construct Companion model and add the Amalgam so that Golem can return to its core definition without needing the strange exceptions or extensions to cover animating body parts stitched together, a pile of bones, or even a pile of sand. I'm also not happy with the Water Golem for similar reasons. Basically, if you can't make a statue that holds its own shape from some substance, then it's not appropriate for golem magic.