The good, the bad and the Body

 

In which I get the character ready for picking a Vocation

yes - this is getting a lot edits as I go.

Step 6: Curses, Talents, Flaws, Hinderances

It goes without saying that these are all setting and campaign dependent and are subject to a degree of GM fiat. Looking at the lists in 5th.

Modifiers to APP become TSC modifiers to GM chosen Charismatic skills.

Curses: Those which mark the character as supernatural (red eyes, blue flames) could well get them killed in some circumstances. I'd save those for separate effects from dabbling in the wrong kind of magic. Those which impede charismatic skills will be useful. I note that the curses in the rules are mostly ongoing afflictions, rather than dooms or fates - which could be good story hooks in a finite campaign.

Talents: Overall, a good collection - and some could be inverted as curses or F,D&D. Some belong in high-mana or heroic systems. I like the idea of adding an "exceptionally tall (height = race max + D5)"

Flaws, Deficiencies & Defects: I think that some Curse rolls should redirect here. I dislike the personality based ones which require die rolls. I'll save those for NPC traits or allow PCs to roleplay them. 

Hinderances: In one sense they're only relevant in a world where mystical enlightenment is possible, and maybe only when using the religion rules from 5th. They are generally more interesting than the personality traits from F,D&D. I like the idea of PCs having consistent personalities but many players groove on the old D&D Chaotic Neutral - ("my character will do what I want, when I want. which is whatever seems the most rational and cautious choice").

If one were to attempt a port to Glorantha we'd be looking a rune affinities and passions here. 

Step 7: Character Size

Height & Build: All good.

Weight: I prefer to use the Universal Height & Weight Table from 3d. Simply because it doesn't presume a linear relationship between height and weight. 

Step 8:Fatigue, Body, LCAP, Jump

Nature/Nurture? We know run into a set of calculations which represent a character's physical abilities. Many (All?) of these can be improved to some degree (usually 25% to 50% by the investment of xp as skills). We, therefore, assume that physical Attributes represent a mix of a character's potential and a generalised measure of achievement around the age of 16. Personally, I think that any stat over 15 has to be partly the result of one's environment and training.

Fatigue

This sum has remained consistent between the Skillscape editions. Humans will probably score 20 - 40 on this scale. This can be improved by up to 50% which is a large potential improvement.

Quite what happens when you run out of it is a bit hazy. Consensus between editions is that a Stamina check can stop you from collapsing - but does it always lead to burning up Body. The combat rules allows characters to keep fighting, but with differing effects [3rd loses half PCF, 4th/5th lose AP].  Presumably the combat rules reflect a high-adrenaline situation - where a stamina check after the combat could lead the character finally collapsing.  

Speaking of which I will change Stamina from STR+CON to FER+CON.

Between 3rd and 4th editions the basic recovery rates are upped by 50%. I'm dubious about this. But having looked at the old (2nd) overland movement rates, I'm inclined to change how FPs are spent and recovered. I will cove that when I look at Overland Movement. 

To Do: have a look at what a stamina of 20, 30, 40 might allow a character to do. This will be covered in a future post on movement.

To Do: look at using 15 or 20 * (con factor+str factor).

To Do: look into stamina rolls.

Body

This is why I went back to get the 3rd edition rulebook. The calculation changed from Weight/20 + CON + STR*0.5 to  1.5* SQRT(Weight) + CON + STR*0.5.  In principal it's a good change but it tends to increase Body by 25% to 50% in normal human range.

My calculation will be SQRT(4x Weight *(con_factor + str_factor)) where:

con_factor = same as factor from the strength factor for LCAP.

str_factor = max ( lcap_factor - 1.0, 0.0)

This gives results similar to 3rd for the average human range. It will be smaller for light and low-con characters and higher for those who are big and tough.

LCAP, CCAP

Between 2nd and 3rd edition LCAP changed from being the weight a character could lift to shoulder level to being the weight a character could lift over their head.

From a website which collated a lot of training data, I have the following table to consider. They did male and female tables at 10lb intervals, but this is the (male) summary. 

	Novice	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced	Elite
Shoulder Press	0.35	0.55	0.80	1.10	1.40
Bench Press	0.50	0.75	1.25	1.75	2.00
Dead Lift	1.00	1.50	2.00	2.50	3.00

The idea of the publish LCAP multipliers as being "over one's head" values seem hugely optimistic. There is a Lifting skill which increases one's LCAP and we can consider this the difference between Advanced and Elite - technique v. brute strength? I can't find quite what I'm looking for, the ratios for squats or lifts to the shoulder don't gel neatly. So I'll just think of LCAP as being a weight that can be lifted into a suitable position for carrying.

or at least a muscle specialisation. For Absolute Strength (AST) we should use the first calculated LCAP. 

I'll take the Bench Press as a starting point - mostly because it fits quite well with the existing strength factors. I've been kind to STR > 12, the little kink has been removed. While STR*20 is still a little lower than early editions, it still gets a little boost.

STR	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
FAC	0.25	0.3	0.35	0.4	0.45	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.8
STR	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
FAC	0.9	1.0	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.7
STR	20	21	22	23	24	25
FAC	1.8	1.9	2.0	2.10	2.25	2.5

LCAP:  This is a measure of what a character might reasonably lift without too much effort. 

To Do: Dead lift. Probably use Lifting & Carrying as a skill as well as an LCAP boost, a success raising LCAP by some factor of the crit die.

CCAP: In earlier editions CCAP and LCAP weren't distinguished, fatigue and loading effects were calculated against the one value [STR_FACTOR & WEIGHT]. I'll be working in terms of LCAP later. In the LCAP section of the rules there are Fatigue penalties associated with carrying more than CCAP (or LCAP/2) 

Is this sensible? A 14 stone warrior with STR*13 has an LCAP of 216lb. By the rules in the LCAP section they might carry a 100lb load with no difficulty. A quick internet search shows that the US army would like 50lb and notes that marching rates are decreased at loads greater than this. If we look ahead to the overland movement rates, we see "Walking Pace 2mph 1FP/h, with an extra FP cost if load > 0.5 CCAP"; "Marching Pace 3mph -2FP/h with an extra cost when load > 0.4CCAP".   If our hero carried 100lb they'd be carry almost 100% of CCAP - or 5FP/3miles walking, 6FP/3miles marching. 

Unladen, a 15 mile walk would cost 7.5FP; a 15 mile march would cost 10FP.  With a 100lb load our warrior would be spending 22.5FP walking and 40FP marching. With a 50lb load, the walk is as if unladen, the march costs 15FP. We can assume that a modern day soldier's training will include  Endurance along with Lifting & Carrying Weights. 

The Weight of Things: By the rules, we halve CCAP when carrying objects in the hands/arms rather than in a well organised pack. As characters may be doing both, I will borrow from D&D's Enc system and make things "heavier" or "lighter". Clothing and worn armour might weigh 0.75 their actual weight for determining their effect on carried load; packed items, those hung on a belt &c. will weigh the same. Hand/Arm carried or loads that need constant adjustment might "weigh" twice (or in a range 1.5 - 2.5). I'm getting curious about carrying capacity, fatigue and overland movement. I'll tie that all together into a single post - we're straying away from basic chargen.

Absolute Strength. Although, since the 1st edition, it's been noted that LCAP is a better indicator of a character's strength in real terms, it was 4th which introduced ASTR (as SQR(LCAP)). This is now the stat for calculating a damage bonus. It lies in much the same range as STR but requires a character to be big as well as strong to get the higher values.

I'm not yet sure where I'm going with combat, but I do know that I want an STR derived score of 4*LOG(LCAP/16,2). This lies in the same range as above, obviously scoring lower for troll sized beasties, but allows me to multiply with simple arithmetic. This will become involved in Bashes.

Step 9: MOV / BAP

I don't intend to use MOV / BAP as written for combat, but the value will be used.

Step 10: Traits

Nothing to say here. A little bit of personalisation. Remember that  APP has been removed as an Attribute - being replaced by charismatic modifiers from talents and hinderances. Most characters won't be acquiring great beauty or hideous scaring here. 

The Three (Satellites of Love)