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<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 6106070" data-attributes="member: 92305"><p><strong>THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p>Another thing I like about this game is the way the game mechanics flow together to give characters a real reason for picking different weapons to match different physical capability.</p><p></p><p>The Finesse attack style is favored by characters with low STR, and only easily maneuverable weapons can be used with this style.</p><p></p><p>For example, a short sword is a Finesse weapon. A big, honkin' scimitar is not. Both do 1d8 damage.</p><p></p><p>This gives characters a real, mechanical reason to use a short sword over a scimitar if the character is a low STR, unarmored city dweller. You don't see many of them dragging around scimitars on their sides. No, it's the lighter, more subtle short sword that you'd expect to see. And, outside of straight roleplaying, there's a mechanical reason to choose the short sword over the scimitar.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The same goes for the Armor Piercing system in the game. Each weapon is rated for its ability to punch through armor. The cutlass is rated at AP 2 and does 1d10 damage. The warhammer is rated at AP 7 and does 1d6 damage.</p><p></p><p>Given those game stats, it's easy to see the mechanical reason that pirates would favor the cutlass, and you wouldn't see warhammers on a sailing vessel unless one was kept around to knock down doors. </p><p></p><p>The cutlass is only AP 2, and thus, is not every effective at cutting through thick armor. A character with STR 16 (+3) will have total armor piercing capability of AP 5 with this weapon. A foe wearing breastplate and mail hauberk has armor rated at DR 9. This means, on a successful hit, the character will do: <strong>1d10 weapon damage + 3 STR modifier - 9 Armor resistance, or 1d10 -6 damage.</strong> That's 0-4 points of damage, with a 60% chance, per hit, of landing 0 points of damage (glancing blow that reflects off the armor).</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, take the same character with a warhammer. The weapon is rated at AP 7, which gives the character a total armor piercing capability of 10. This means, against the same foe in the breastplate and mail hauberk, </p><p>the character will do damage, on a successful hit, equal to: <strong>1d6 weapon damage + 3 STR modifier - 4 Armor resistance, or 1d6 -1.</strong> That's 0-5 points of damage with only a 17% chance of scoring 0 damage.</p><p></p><p>Obviously, the warhammer is the better weapon against a heavily armored foe.</p><p></p><p>This is why pirates will favor the cutlass--because their opponents are typically not armored and usually other swabbies from another sea vessel. And, the warhammer will be found more often on the large battlefield, where hordes of heavily armored knights are going at each other.</p><p></p><p><strong>I love how this game uses the mechanics to influence weapon choice and doesn't just rely on roleplaying.</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 6106070, member: 92305"] [B]THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB[/B] Another thing I like about this game is the way the game mechanics flow together to give characters a real reason for picking different weapons to match different physical capability. The Finesse attack style is favored by characters with low STR, and only easily maneuverable weapons can be used with this style. For example, a short sword is a Finesse weapon. A big, honkin' scimitar is not. Both do 1d8 damage. This gives characters a real, mechanical reason to use a short sword over a scimitar if the character is a low STR, unarmored city dweller. You don't see many of them dragging around scimitars on their sides. No, it's the lighter, more subtle short sword that you'd expect to see. And, outside of straight roleplaying, there's a mechanical reason to choose the short sword over the scimitar. The same goes for the Armor Piercing system in the game. Each weapon is rated for its ability to punch through armor. The cutlass is rated at AP 2 and does 1d10 damage. The warhammer is rated at AP 7 and does 1d6 damage. Given those game stats, it's easy to see the mechanical reason that pirates would favor the cutlass, and you wouldn't see warhammers on a sailing vessel unless one was kept around to knock down doors. The cutlass is only AP 2, and thus, is not every effective at cutting through thick armor. A character with STR 16 (+3) will have total armor piercing capability of AP 5 with this weapon. A foe wearing breastplate and mail hauberk has armor rated at DR 9. This means, on a successful hit, the character will do: [B]1d10 weapon damage + 3 STR modifier - 9 Armor resistance, or 1d10 -6 damage.[/B] That's 0-4 points of damage, with a 60% chance, per hit, of landing 0 points of damage (glancing blow that reflects off the armor). On the other hand, take the same character with a warhammer. The weapon is rated at AP 7, which gives the character a total armor piercing capability of 10. This means, against the same foe in the breastplate and mail hauberk, the character will do damage, on a successful hit, equal to: [B]1d6 weapon damage + 3 STR modifier - 4 Armor resistance, or 1d6 -1.[/B] That's 0-5 points of damage with only a 17% chance of scoring 0 damage. Obviously, the warhammer is the better weapon against a heavily armored foe. This is why pirates will favor the cutlass--because their opponents are typically not armored and usually other swabbies from another sea vessel. And, the warhammer will be found more often on the large battlefield, where hordes of heavily armored knights are going at each other. [B]I love how this game uses the mechanics to influence weapon choice and doesn't just rely on roleplaying.[/B] [/QUOTE]
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