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Dragon Reflections #16 – Gygax Fights Back!
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7763292" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I ran RM for nearly 20 years - what spell attacks are you thinking of?</p><p></p><p>Base spell attacks (in D&D terms, condition-infliction spells) require a roll on the Base Spell Attack table and then a Resistance Roll (= saving throw) from the target.</p><p></p><p>Directed spell attacks (in D&D terms, damage-inflicting spells like firebolts and fireballs) require a roll on the appropriate spell attack chart (functionally identical, in RM, to a weapon attack chart) and then in most cases a follow-up crit roll (also the case for weapon attacks in RM).</p><p></p><p>RM, like RQ, uses random determination for hit location (in RQ, you first determine the hit location then apply the damage; in RM you roll on the crit chart and this gives you both damage and hit location as a package). The ambush skill allows shifting results on the crit table, but not without limit.</p><p></p><p>As I understand it, Gygax included the W vs A chart at the request of another player, but didn't use it himself. Personally I did use it - it helped two-handed weapon users compensate for the lack of magical shield AC bonus!</p><p></p><p>In a system like D&D called shot rules are close to broken - as Gygax explained back in his DMG, they're simply not compatible with a hit point system for resolving attacks. In RQ or RM called shot rules are simply an issue of mathematical balance - in our RM game, we used a system derived from one of the RM companions, of +/-1 crit shift for every two points of OB foregone, but no shifting to 66 in this way (on the RM crit tables, 66 results are fairly deadly, similar to 96+ results).</p><p></p><p>You can have condition infliction without hit locations, though - you just need to ration it in some other fashion! 4e is an example of this. And I find that the 4e condition infliction gives the same feel of "visual-ness"/visceralness that hit location results do, although in a less gritty way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7763292, member: 42582"] I ran RM for nearly 20 years - what spell attacks are you thinking of? Base spell attacks (in D&D terms, condition-infliction spells) require a roll on the Base Spell Attack table and then a Resistance Roll (= saving throw) from the target. Directed spell attacks (in D&D terms, damage-inflicting spells like firebolts and fireballs) require a roll on the appropriate spell attack chart (functionally identical, in RM, to a weapon attack chart) and then in most cases a follow-up crit roll (also the case for weapon attacks in RM). RM, like RQ, uses random determination for hit location (in RQ, you first determine the hit location then apply the damage; in RM you roll on the crit chart and this gives you both damage and hit location as a package). The ambush skill allows shifting results on the crit table, but not without limit. As I understand it, Gygax included the W vs A chart at the request of another player, but didn't use it himself. Personally I did use it - it helped two-handed weapon users compensate for the lack of magical shield AC bonus! In a system like D&D called shot rules are close to broken - as Gygax explained back in his DMG, they're simply not compatible with a hit point system for resolving attacks. In RQ or RM called shot rules are simply an issue of mathematical balance - in our RM game, we used a system derived from one of the RM companions, of +/-1 crit shift for every two points of OB foregone, but no shifting to 66 in this way (on the RM crit tables, 66 results are fairly deadly, similar to 96+ results). You can have condition infliction without hit locations, though - you just need to ration it in some other fashion! 4e is an example of this. And I find that the 4e condition infliction gives the same feel of "visual-ness"/visceralness that hit location results do, although in a less gritty way. [/QUOTE]
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