WOIN How do you hit a "Heavyweight"?

[ruy343]

I was reading through the "Modern Worlds" supplement, and was surprised when I read that a monster/NPC ges 4x their MDP as their "good defense", depending on the monster's style of combat. A such, an 8d6 NPC (such as the "Heavyweight" listed on page 39) gets a melee defense of 32... which is absolutely impossible to hit for any grade 5 character (because the maximum dice pool is 5d6). That's insane!

Are these foes simply not intended for facing grade 5 PCs, or is there a way to lower a targets melee defense (or other defenses) that I've forgotten about since I read the Modern Careers supplement a few weeks ago?

 

[Morrus]

Various things:

*An 8d6 foe is way beyond a 5d6 PC. That’s like asking why the 1st level D&D character can’t hit the dragon.

*It’s a tactical game. They should be targeting his weakest defences, not his strongest. His ranged and mental defences are only 20. Most foes have a weak defence. Even a dragon!

*If you absolutely must attack something’s highest defence for some reason, pile on those bonus dice. Flank and aim, and you’re at 7d6 already. Add in a LUC die or two.

 

[ruy343]

Huh... when I asked about maximum dice pools a few weeks ago, I was under the impression that the maximum was always the maximum, even including luck and other exploits that granted bonus dice.

Is the Dice pool cap only intended to limit Attributes+Skills, and exploits etc. can stack on top of that?

 

[Morrus]

Huh... when I asked about maximum dice pools a few weeks ago, I was under the impression that the maximum was always the maximum, even including luck and other exploits that granted bonus dice.

I've certainly never said that. At least I hope I haven't, because it's wrong!

Is the Dice pool cap only intended to limit Attributes+Skills, and exploits etc. can stack on top of that?

Yup.

 

[ruy343]

AH, HA! That makes the system much more dynamic! I was going to do something similar (despite what I misunderstood) when I (someday) run an adventure for the system. I'm busy writing one right now to learn the rules and feel comfortable when I GM it for my first time.

Along those lines: How do I build encounters in this system? The "Modern Worlds" book says that in a one-on-one fight, a MDP+1 relative to the characters' is an appropriate challenge. However, I don't see any rules in that book about how many enemies is appropriate for a party of 4. I know that in other systems, the numbers of enemies can vary because as the GM gets more attacks, he becomes more deadly, so the number of enemies should go down and not always be a 1-for-1. I'd just like a bit more clarity on how many enemies to throw at them (or how many to write in an adventure per X number of players) so that whatever I write won't be outrageously difficult (unless I intend it to be).

 

[Morrus]

There's a thread where I was answering that very question just yesterday!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?607671-O-L-D-Help-with-encounter-building

 

[ruy343]

Well, all right then! Thanks for the help.