Two STIs for Hackmaster, in case someone rolls the Lusty quirk.
Herpes
Communicability: 8
Severity: 4
Where is the disease found: Herpes is most commonly thought of as a sexually transmitted infection, but it can happen fairly easily with skin to skin contact when actively infectious.
Minor Effect: Initial infection will result in painful sores within 4d6p days, on or near the mouth, armpits, and groin. These sores cause a -2 to Attack, Damage, and Defense, and a -10% to skills, for 3d6p days, after which they will scab over and go dormant. Every 1d6p months, the sores will reappear, but the character may make another severity check; failure causes no additional difficulty, but success adds +1 to the time between future outbreaks.
Major Effect: Initial infection will result in painful sores within 4d6p days, on or near the mouth, armpits, and groin. Outbreaks are accompanied by fevers and pain in the back, head, and while urinating. This causes a -4 to Attack, Damage, and Defense, as well as a -20% to skills until the virus goes dormant in 3d6p days. Every 1d6p months, the sores will reappear, but the character may make another Severity test. If successful, the severity is reduced to Minor.
Treatment: Active herpes outbreaks can be managed, reducing pain and duration of symptoms. With Average First Aid and someone dedicated to nursing the character, reduce penalties by 1/5%, and reduce symptoms outbreaks by 1 day per mastery level of First Aid above Average (minimum 3). With Master mastery of First Aid, penalties may be reduced by 1/5% (to a minimum of -1/-5%). Botany of at least Average adds 1 effective mastery level of First Aid (reducing symptoms by an additional day, and possibly reducing the penalties). Herpes is not curable, save by magic; if the Treat Disease spell is successfully used on someone with the Minor Effect, the disease will be completely cured.
Syphilis aka The Shepherd's Lament
Communicability: 8
Severity: 2
Syphilis is most often thought of as a sexually transmitted disease, and it spreads most easily by contact between mucous membranes... mouth, anus, genitals, and so on. Originally, it is thought to have come from inappropriate contact with sheep, llamas, and alpacas, leading to its nickname of "The Shepherd's Lament".
Minor Effect: Syphilis does not have a Minor and Major effect. If one contracts it as a Minor Effect, it begins mild, but will upgrade to a Major effect if not treated within a year. It's initial stages are marked by rashes; -1d10p% on Looks for a space of 4d6p weeks, with the penalty going away at the end. If untreated, a secondary stage develops, 1d6p months after infection, which will see a spread of rashes, inflicting 10d10p% to Looks, and -10% on skills.
Major Effect: Untreated, or with a disastrous early exposure, syphilis begins to attack the heart, brain, and nerves. This manifests as a degradation of ability; Each month, roll 1d8. The corresponding attribute suffers a penalty of 5d10p% fractional damage (an 8 indicates that no penalty is taken that month). If subsequently cured, the damage is not restored, but it does abate. Should any ability go below 1/01 from this disease, the character dies.
Treatment: Syphilis is relatively easily treated; with Advanced mastery in First Aid, combined with at least Average Botany, the character may be allowed a reroll of communicability, possibly ending the disease. If the subject of a successful Treat Disease spell, the disease will likewise abate quietly. Any damage caused by the Major Effect of the disease will remain, however.
Friday, October 18, 2019
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Savage Scrols: The Elder Scrolls in Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition
This is an archival edition of my original Savage Scrolls post, which is designed for the Deluxe Edition. The page above is now for the Adventure Edition update.
A Savage Worlds Hack for The Elder Scrolls
Like a lot of people, I've sunk a good number of hours into the various Elder Scrolls games. I started back with Arena in the late 90s, got really frustrated with Daggerfall, actually managed to beat Morrowind, and have ongoing games in both Oblivion and Skyrim (mostly Skyrim). To that end, I wanted to use Savage Worlds, my favorite generic system, to make a tabletop version of The Elder Scrolls world. This is missing a lot of specific conversions... I didn't recreate trolls or falmer or chaurus. My goal was get to the broad strokes down, the basics of character creation, so those who wanted to play had a place to start. I based this on the Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition.
A Savage Worlds Hack for The Elder Scrolls
Like a lot of people, I've sunk a good number of hours into the various Elder Scrolls games. I started back with Arena in the late 90s, got really frustrated with Daggerfall, actually managed to beat Morrowind, and have ongoing games in both Oblivion and Skyrim (mostly Skyrim). To that end, I wanted to use Savage Worlds, my favorite generic system, to make a tabletop version of The Elder Scrolls world. This is missing a lot of specific conversions... I didn't recreate trolls or falmer or chaurus. My goal was get to the broad strokes down, the basics of character creation, so those who wanted to play had a place to start. I based this on the Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition.
Friday, October 11, 2019
A CP-Based AD&D
Link to the material here.
So, a very long time ago, before there was officially a 3rd edition D&D, I launched an ambitious project: I was going to use the Skills and Powers and Spells and Magic Character Point (CP) system to remake AD&D. I had roughed out some changes to make to the system; I was planning on splitting Defense from Armor, with armor providing damage reduction. Races would be a basic chassis of natural abilities with a slate of optional, cultural, abilities to choose from, and classes would be based on a three-class system of Warrior, Rogue, and Magic-User. I developed a lot of it, but Wizards of the Coast announcing their official 3e took some wind out of my sails, and it wasn't long thereafter I began writing my first book for Palladium, Mysteries of Magic (of which, sadly, only a small part has been published, and that 10 years ago).
Time went on. I worked on other projects, but the idea kept coming back to me.
The material at the link above is the most recent peak in that idea. This defaults largely back to the 2nd edition rules, and does not include a set way of increasing skills so gained (such as Sleight of Hand or Stealth); it may in the future. As presented, there are no guidelines for creating a class in it, but the last few years have led me to like single XP tables for class-based games; rather than balancing various abilities and various XP tables, there's a simplicity in balancing everything on a single XP table, and making efforts to balance every class on that, itself. To that end, I propose two solutions, depending on your love of crunch.
1) Allow everyone to build their character, and set an XP table based on their total cost. To do this, you reference the "create a class" rules in the 2nd edition Dungeon Master's Guide, and give a 0.05 multiplier on the XP table (Table 21) for every point used in class creation (and, thus, a full 1 multiplier for every 20 points spent). Everyone will have a different XP table, but it will be one they've chosen, based on what they want to do.
2) Set an XP table, set a CP cost, and let people design their own classes. If you give everyone 200 CP, you can make most characters in standard AD&D; lower numbers might require some hard choices. Everyone is on the same XP table, and everyone has the same starting CPs, so everyone should be more or less equal. You can set whatever XP table you like, but using the method of determining XP table in option 1 isn't the worst way you can do it.
I'm posting a link to this, rather than copy-pasting the whole document, because I intend to make occasional changes to it as I go along; I'm still interested in adding some rules for creating psionic characters, for example, but that requires me to decide which psionics system from AD&D I want to use, or if I want to volunteer my own.
So, a very long time ago, before there was officially a 3rd edition D&D, I launched an ambitious project: I was going to use the Skills and Powers and Spells and Magic Character Point (CP) system to remake AD&D. I had roughed out some changes to make to the system; I was planning on splitting Defense from Armor, with armor providing damage reduction. Races would be a basic chassis of natural abilities with a slate of optional, cultural, abilities to choose from, and classes would be based on a three-class system of Warrior, Rogue, and Magic-User. I developed a lot of it, but Wizards of the Coast announcing their official 3e took some wind out of my sails, and it wasn't long thereafter I began writing my first book for Palladium, Mysteries of Magic (of which, sadly, only a small part has been published, and that 10 years ago).
Time went on. I worked on other projects, but the idea kept coming back to me.
The material at the link above is the most recent peak in that idea. This defaults largely back to the 2nd edition rules, and does not include a set way of increasing skills so gained (such as Sleight of Hand or Stealth); it may in the future. As presented, there are no guidelines for creating a class in it, but the last few years have led me to like single XP tables for class-based games; rather than balancing various abilities and various XP tables, there's a simplicity in balancing everything on a single XP table, and making efforts to balance every class on that, itself. To that end, I propose two solutions, depending on your love of crunch.
1) Allow everyone to build their character, and set an XP table based on their total cost. To do this, you reference the "create a class" rules in the 2nd edition Dungeon Master's Guide, and give a 0.05 multiplier on the XP table (Table 21) for every point used in class creation (and, thus, a full 1 multiplier for every 20 points spent). Everyone will have a different XP table, but it will be one they've chosen, based on what they want to do.
2) Set an XP table, set a CP cost, and let people design their own classes. If you give everyone 200 CP, you can make most characters in standard AD&D; lower numbers might require some hard choices. Everyone is on the same XP table, and everyone has the same starting CPs, so everyone should be more or less equal. You can set whatever XP table you like, but using the method of determining XP table in option 1 isn't the worst way you can do it.
I'm posting a link to this, rather than copy-pasting the whole document, because I intend to make occasional changes to it as I go along; I'm still interested in adding some rules for creating psionic characters, for example, but that requires me to decide which psionics system from AD&D I want to use, or if I want to volunteer my own.
Friday, September 27, 2019
The Other 0th Level [Hackmaster]
One place where I diverge from the Hackmaster Development Team is that I like rules to build my 0th level NPCs. While there’s certainly value in “Make your NPC however you want, giving them whatever scores they need”, I prefer having a bit more structure to help guide me on what’s likely and reasonable for a given character; penetrating rolls may make for unusually talented characters, but the structure gives me comfort.
To that end, I have created these rules for mechanically describing 0th level characters of all sorts. A GM is, of course, free to use these rules in some places, yet ignore them in others… if you need there to be an expert carpenter among the bandits, then there is… but their purpose is to provide a framework for what an NPC of a given age might be capable of.
Character Generation or Growing Up Normal
Step 1: Receive BPs. NPCs, like PCs, begin with 40 BP.
Step 2: Generate Ability scores. While rolling 3d6 in order is still suggested, a 0 level NPC receives NO bonus BPs for keeping their stats in the rolled order.
Step 3: Choose a race and alignment. The race may modify ability scores; those modifications should be made now. If the racial ability modifiers would reduce a score below 1, the score remains at 1/01.
Step 4: Finalize Ability Scores. If you choose, you may spend BPs to increase attributes, as with PCs.
Step 5: Calculate Starting Honor. 0 level NPCs begin with a penalty of 4 to Honor. Unlike PCs, a negative or 0 Honor does not preclude the character, but any negative numbers in honor are raised to 0.
Step 6: Determine Priors and Particulars. Unchanged from PC generation step 7.
Step 7: Determine Quirks and Flaws. While not necessary, giving an NPC a quirk or flaw can help make them memorable, both for you and the PCs. As a bonus, NPCs get full BPs from cherry-picked quirks and flaws; if you need an NPC to be blind, they are blind, and it is blind fate (i.e. the GM) that determined it, not a player looking to cage some extra build points.
Step 8: Determine Skills, Talents, and Proficiencies. 0 level NPCs who pursue weapon specialization do so at 8 BPs per category per level.
Step 9: Roll Hit Points. The default Hit Die for 0 level NPCs is 1d6, in addition to Constitution and a bonus for size.
Step 10: Record Combat statistics.
Step 11: Finalize the character; give them money, equipment, and other accoutrements as befits their character.
This represents a character of about starting age; just entering adulthood, as defined on page 135 of the GMG.
After Growing Up
Subsequent to character generation, people advance and grow, improving their skills with experience, and learning new ones as they go along. To represent this, Human 0 level NPCs gain 3 BP per year after maturity; a human is counted as mature at 18, and so a 21 year old NPC Human would have an additional 12 BPs to spend on skills. For other races, this should be prorated according to their longevity. Accordingly
Dwarves: 3 BP per 2 years
Elves: 1 BP per 10 years
Gnomes: 1 BP per year
Gnome Titans: 1 BP per year
Grel: 2 BP per year
Half-elf: 2 BP per year
Sil-karg 2 BP per year
Half-orc 3 BP per year
Halfling 2 BP per year
If the GM wishes to represent some specific, formal, training the NPC might have acquired, they may attend a kobar, university, guild, or some other source of formal training. Once at maturity, and once again per 15 BP acquired due to age, the GM may choose to have the NPC attend some sort of formal training, and roll on the Formal Training Event table in the GMG.
This process is obviously much longer than the standard “Determine a name, race, and a couple of salient skills”, but it can be useful for NPCs that are intended to be important (for example, torchbearers, alchemists, or others the PCs will interact with frequently), or as a means to advance NPCs when time skips or long campaigns demand that 0th level NPCs become more than they were.
NPCs and Honor
The Honor of NPCs doesn’t vary that much; unless they’re involved in some risky business, their honor will remain steady for a long time. Every time they receive BPs (once per year for most races; once every two or ten for dwarves and elves, respectively), their honor resets one point towards 11 + their honor modifiers for Charisma and Looks.
To that end, I have created these rules for mechanically describing 0th level characters of all sorts. A GM is, of course, free to use these rules in some places, yet ignore them in others… if you need there to be an expert carpenter among the bandits, then there is… but their purpose is to provide a framework for what an NPC of a given age might be capable of.
Character Generation or Growing Up Normal
Step 1: Receive BPs. NPCs, like PCs, begin with 40 BP.
Step 2: Generate Ability scores. While rolling 3d6 in order is still suggested, a 0 level NPC receives NO bonus BPs for keeping their stats in the rolled order.
Step 3: Choose a race and alignment. The race may modify ability scores; those modifications should be made now. If the racial ability modifiers would reduce a score below 1, the score remains at 1/01.
Step 4: Finalize Ability Scores. If you choose, you may spend BPs to increase attributes, as with PCs.
Step 5: Calculate Starting Honor. 0 level NPCs begin with a penalty of 4 to Honor. Unlike PCs, a negative or 0 Honor does not preclude the character, but any negative numbers in honor are raised to 0.
Step 6: Determine Priors and Particulars. Unchanged from PC generation step 7.
Step 7: Determine Quirks and Flaws. While not necessary, giving an NPC a quirk or flaw can help make them memorable, both for you and the PCs. As a bonus, NPCs get full BPs from cherry-picked quirks and flaws; if you need an NPC to be blind, they are blind, and it is blind fate (i.e. the GM) that determined it, not a player looking to cage some extra build points.
Step 8: Determine Skills, Talents, and Proficiencies. 0 level NPCs who pursue weapon specialization do so at 8 BPs per category per level.
Step 9: Roll Hit Points. The default Hit Die for 0 level NPCs is 1d6, in addition to Constitution and a bonus for size.
Step 10: Record Combat statistics.
Step 11: Finalize the character; give them money, equipment, and other accoutrements as befits their character.
This represents a character of about starting age; just entering adulthood, as defined on page 135 of the GMG.
After Growing Up
Subsequent to character generation, people advance and grow, improving their skills with experience, and learning new ones as they go along. To represent this, Human 0 level NPCs gain 3 BP per year after maturity; a human is counted as mature at 18, and so a 21 year old NPC Human would have an additional 12 BPs to spend on skills. For other races, this should be prorated according to their longevity. Accordingly
Dwarves: 3 BP per 2 years
Elves: 1 BP per 10 years
Gnomes: 1 BP per year
Gnome Titans: 1 BP per year
Grel: 2 BP per year
Half-elf: 2 BP per year
Sil-karg 2 BP per year
Half-orc 3 BP per year
Halfling 2 BP per year
If the GM wishes to represent some specific, formal, training the NPC might have acquired, they may attend a kobar, university, guild, or some other source of formal training. Once at maturity, and once again per 15 BP acquired due to age, the GM may choose to have the NPC attend some sort of formal training, and roll on the Formal Training Event table in the GMG.
This process is obviously much longer than the standard “Determine a name, race, and a couple of salient skills”, but it can be useful for NPCs that are intended to be important (for example, torchbearers, alchemists, or others the PCs will interact with frequently), or as a means to advance NPCs when time skips or long campaigns demand that 0th level NPCs become more than they were.
NPCs and Honor
The Honor of NPCs doesn’t vary that much; unless they’re involved in some risky business, their honor will remain steady for a long time. Every time they receive BPs (once per year for most races; once every two or ten for dwarves and elves, respectively), their honor resets one point towards 11 + their honor modifiers for Charisma and Looks.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Truth about Ogres
Ogres are a scourge upon human lands in Palladium Fantasy. Gigantic, with the strength of ten men, they prey upon the livestock of human holdings and kidnap women to propagate their cruel race. But, sometimes, ogres are born to humans unbidden. Though they are counted as their own race, ogres are clearly not their own species.
Ogres: The Secret History
Before the fall of Atlantis, millennia ago, the human species spread throughout the Megaverse. Advanced science, medicine, and magic made the natives of Atlantis something akin to the “lesser” humans of the worlds; taller, stronger, wiser, ubermensch without the sinister connotations that concept would later acquire. Cultural taboos kept the Atlanteans from mingling too closely with other humans, and advanced medicine kept any mistakes from happening. But, then, Atlantis fell, and the scattered children of that great nation became refugees, frequently disconnected from their kin and bereft of the benefits of their society. And, in such a situation, they mingled with the humans around them, and gave birth to abominations.
To achieve the stature and longevity of the True Atlanteans, certain changes were made from the human baseline. You cannot live for centuries in a standard human form; touches must be made to allow it to endure the march of years. Some of this can be done simply, with access to healing magics and psionics; the wear and tear a normal body takes is restored with magical healing in the way the crude medicine of the 21st century can not even dream of. But there were also tweaks to genetics, making a body that would be easier to repair, and wear out less quickly. Atlantean medicine helped to direct those changes and make the Atlanteans who they wished to be. But, deprived of that medical knowledge, and subjected to generations of interbreeding, those changes manifested as monstrous mutations. An Atlantean’s great height compared to mortal men became gigantism. Their modestly enhanced strength became mighty thews; their endurance became legendary, with hair grown wild and claw-like fingernails. Teeth meant to repair themselves over centuries of use became fangs that shredded flesh and replaced themselves when broken.
More succinctly, ogres are the eventual result of the interbreeding of humans and True Atlanteans, when deprived of Atlantean medicine and magic. They are not a simple crossbreed, but a subspecies derived from the hybridization of two distinct subspecies, then subjected to environmental stresses (or, more accurately, deprived of environmental supports). This is why they take so well to tattoo magic, and other mystical arts thought to be wholly human; they are, themselves, wholly human, born of two lines rejoining in desperate situations.
Body and Mind
So, what is an ogre, beyond a man writ large? Most often, they are male; the genetic manipulation and mutation which made ogres possible seems to favor the viability of male fetuses. Their features are often caricatures of human strength; the “strong jaw” of a dashing human hero is a granite slab attached with powerful muscles to an ogre’s skull. Their eyes are bright, but in a way that transcends intelligence and speaks of mania. All ogres are exceptionally hairy, but in very human ways; they do not grow fur or a pelt, but nor do they frequently suffer from male pattern baldness. It is an effect that humans find disturbing, especially when paired with their great size.
Though much is made of ogres’ claws and bite, it is important to realize that these are not fearsome weapons; their claw-like nails are no more damaging than their fists, and their canines can cause a serious wound, but not much more than one would receive from a ten foot tall human. What matters far more is an ogre’s willingness to use these weapons; a human would not bite, save in the most dire of circumstances, but an ogre will do so out of perverse joy. Men prefer a solid fist, but ogres know that the pain of a claw-rake is almost as good, and far more scarring.
Mentally, ogres are on par with humans, but they are not as easily psychic as their smaller kin. Ogres can and do study psychic professions; they are capable psi-healers, psi-mystics, and even mind mages. But without that study, they are unlikely to have any psionic powers. Some of this seems to extend to the more mundane form of empathy; ogres don’t really “get” people and what motivates them, which results in the decrease of their Mental Affinity attribute. When trained, however, ogres are as able and adept at mental games as any human.
Ogres are, thankfully, born mostly on the human scale, though at the larger end of it; whereas a human child will be between 5 and a half to almost nine pounds, an average ogre child will be between seven to ten pounds. Some very large ogre children have been born; fifteen to twenty pounds have been reported, but usually only with magical or psionic aid. After birth, however, they grow relatively rapidly, often reaching five or six feet tall by the time they are eight years old, after which their growth steadies, adding one inch to their height every year or two. This growth continues throughout their life; the tallest ogres are often the eldest, with truly exceptional and ancient ogres approaching fifteen feet tall; far more common among adults is 7-12 feet, however.
As is known, many ogre women are sterile, or have trouble giving birth. This leads ogre men to kidnap and rape human women, forcing them to bring the children to term, sometimes repeatedly. In most cases, the offspring of these are ogres, and most of the ogres born are male. Female ogres are a rarity, as are non-ogre offspring; perhaps one child in ten will not be an ogre, and perhaps one ogre in ten will be female. Non-ogre offspring, however, may go on to later bear or sire ogre children of their own, the essential sequences of DNA having been dormant in themselves, but awakening in their children.
Ogres in Society, and Ogre Society
Ogres raised in human lands are almost always treated as brutes. They are no less intelligent than the humans who surround them (on average), but their great size and strength means that humans invariably channel them towards physical pursuits (when they don’t simply kill them). Some of these ogres are anomalies; the children of humans who had an ogre parent or grandparent. Others are the children of women rescued from captivity. There are some rare ogres who simply make their homes among humans, or ogre children adopted by human or non-human parents who round out this population. Still, though, most are pointed towards things at which they will exceed human capacity… feats of strength, and professions to match. An ogre could become a bard or a ballerina, but they would be no better than a human at either. An ogre gladiator or longshoreman, however, would have a leg up, so to speak, simply by being a few heads taller than everyone else.
When in giant society, ogres are often regarded as useful and clever. While not all giants are terribly stupid, ogres are cleverer than many of a giant’s other minions, while no physical threat to the giant. As such, giant sorcerers have no shortage of eager ogre apprentices, and giants prize ogres as taskmasters; intimidating to an orc, and not likely to be outsmarted by a goblin.
When on their own, with neither humans nor giants to tell them what to do, ogres compete. Ogres don’t get particularly bent out of shape about losing to an obvious superior; they may be big, strong, and tough, but they know that trolls are bigger, stronger, and tougher, so there’s not much to be lost by being less than them… but other ogres are competition. Every task an ogre may engage in with another ogre may turn into a competition. Who hauled the most barrels? Who slew the most foes? Who fathered the most sons? Two ogres at a latrine will try to pee farther and longer than each other; two ogres at a table will try to out eat and out drink their “opponent”. Every ogre is the opponent of every other ogre, and one who is consistently at the bottom of the rankings is one who will “receive” the “opportunity” to “prove themselves”... horrible jobs, dangerous assignments, and the worst equipment. Why, if they can overcome those obstacles, they must truly be a great; if they cannot, well, then they deserve whatever they get.
The strength of ogres tends to attract other humanoids, attracted to that strength. Orcs and goblins are both commonly part of ogre-centered communities, with the ogres serving as an aristocracy, of sorts, to their lesser tribe-mates. The rules of the ogres govern how they can treat their tribe-mates, though it is usually with a mixture of aloofness, disdain, and brutality; there’s no competition in being better than an orc, after all.
What surprises many is the fondness ogres have for animals; though they’re happily omnivorous, they seem to prefer a pastoral lifestyle, if there’s no way to make a living fighting. They will herd animals, hunt with hawks and dogs, even keep horses, though most ogres are far too large to ride. Ogres with magical powers often seek out beasts to make a connection with; familiars, yes, but even simply wild creatures tamed through a combination of magic and ogre stubbornness.
Ogre Party
Ogres in a traditional adventuring party might be found in any role; they may be warriors, archers, priests, or magicians. The ogre relationship with humans means that they often must be careful if adventuring in the Eastern Territory, Western Empire, or Timiro; while there are some home-grown ogres in these places, raised among humans, the default reaction to a free ogre is, at best, wariness. In the Northern Wilderness, free ogres have fewer restrictions; they don’t intimidate wolfen, much, and the canines are far more willing to see what the ogre will do before they decide who he is.
Travelling with an ogre does pose some problems. Most obviously, ogres consume a LOT of food; three to four times what a human eats is close to a starvation diet for an ogre. Their gear is likewise large and, except in wolfen territory, hard to come by (and they tend to find even wolfen weapons a bit small). Ogres can seldom buy “off-the-rack”, and that comes at a premium. Furthermore, their size can make it difficult to acquire riding animals for them, so groups are usually travelling at the speed of ogre. As ogres have few notable empires of the past, or alchemists of note, they may also find appropriate magical gear difficult to acquire.
As noted above, ogres frequently are too large to ride horses, which can cause them some difficulty as Knights or Palladins. Ogres raised to those classes, however, frequently study other methods, such as the Way of the Landsknecht, below.
Way of the Landsknecht
For many reasons, there are those who are knights (or Palladins; this option applies equally to them) who do not ride horses. In the case of ogres, they are simply too big to do so, and suitable mounts for their size are hard to come by. For others, they may live in places where knighthood flourishes but horses, sadly, do not. To them is the Way of the Landsknecht. This replaces both the Way of the Horse and the Way of the Lance for Palladins and Knights.
Landsknecht are heavy infantry, drilled in the use of two or three weapons: the Pike, a long spear more than double their own height in length, and a Cleaver; either a pole-axe like a halberd, or a two-handed sword. Whereas traditional knights are trained to fight from horseback, the Landsknecht are trained to deal with cavalry; killing horses and unseating riders with the Pike, and fighting heavily armored troops on the ground with the cleaver.
Way of the Pike: The Landsknecht is skilled in the use of the pike as a weapon in combat and for tournaments. The character gets the equivalent of W.P. Spear with the following abilities and bonuses when facing mounted opponents, or those larger than themselves.
The player must announce their character's intention to inflict damage, disarm, or unseat their opponent. If the player chooses to unseat, a roll of 19 or higher (including bonuses) means the strike unseats or knocks down their opponent.
Opponents unseated from horseback suffer normal damage from the pike, and are knocked off their horse and take an additional 1D6 damage unless they successfully roll with impact/fall. The fallen rider also loses initiative and one melee action/attack. An opponent who is not or horseback, but standing on the ground can be knocked off their feet and on their backside with the same result, except no additional damage from the fall.
In the alternative, the Landsknecht can try to disarm a larger or mounted opponent with the pike. Roll to strike as usual, but if the defender fails to parry or dodge, the Landsknecht successfully strikes them in such a way that they drop their weapon or shield. The player must announce their character's intention to disarm their opponent and make a "called shot," indicating what item they are trying to knock out of the foe's hands. This attack can also be used to knock off any hat or helmet that isn't bolted directly to the body armor. This attack is often used by Landsknechts for fun and games, as a warning, or an attempt to frighten away or discourage an opponent rather than engage in a battle to the death.
Any time the Landsknecht rolls a Critical Strike with a pike, they may choose to inflict a higher multiple of damage (*3 instead of *2; *4 instead of *3), or they may apply knockdown or disarm, even if they did not declare it.
Way of the Cleaver: The Way of the Cleaver is used when facing heavily armored foes; anyone whose AR is 14 or higher. For those wearing artificial armor whose non-magical AR is 14 or greater*, the Landsknecht may intentionally attack the armor, not the opponent inside. In doing so, they inflict no damage on the opponent, but inflict an additional 6 damage on the armor with each successful strike. Furthermore, if the opponent is not aware that this is the Landsknecht’s intent, they receive a parry penalty equal to half their AR (rounded down); they are attempting to deflect hits with their armor, when hitting their armor is exactly what the Landsknecht intends! If the opponent becomes aware of this, the parry penalty drops to only -2; dodges have no penalty, regardless.
For those with natural armor whose AR exceeds 14, Landsknechts may attempt to weaken their armor. The Landsknecht receives no bonus to hit or damage, but on any critical strike, they may either roll double damage, or reduce the opponent’s AR by 1 point (to a minimum of half their original AR, rounded up). Lost points of AR return like hit points, either through natural healing, bio-regeneration, or healing magics.
The Way of the Cleaver requires a large, two-handed sword, or a two-handed pole-axe, such as a halberd or voulge.
Ogres: The Secret History
Before the fall of Atlantis, millennia ago, the human species spread throughout the Megaverse. Advanced science, medicine, and magic made the natives of Atlantis something akin to the “lesser” humans of the worlds; taller, stronger, wiser, ubermensch without the sinister connotations that concept would later acquire. Cultural taboos kept the Atlanteans from mingling too closely with other humans, and advanced medicine kept any mistakes from happening. But, then, Atlantis fell, and the scattered children of that great nation became refugees, frequently disconnected from their kin and bereft of the benefits of their society. And, in such a situation, they mingled with the humans around them, and gave birth to abominations.
To achieve the stature and longevity of the True Atlanteans, certain changes were made from the human baseline. You cannot live for centuries in a standard human form; touches must be made to allow it to endure the march of years. Some of this can be done simply, with access to healing magics and psionics; the wear and tear a normal body takes is restored with magical healing in the way the crude medicine of the 21st century can not even dream of. But there were also tweaks to genetics, making a body that would be easier to repair, and wear out less quickly. Atlantean medicine helped to direct those changes and make the Atlanteans who they wished to be. But, deprived of that medical knowledge, and subjected to generations of interbreeding, those changes manifested as monstrous mutations. An Atlantean’s great height compared to mortal men became gigantism. Their modestly enhanced strength became mighty thews; their endurance became legendary, with hair grown wild and claw-like fingernails. Teeth meant to repair themselves over centuries of use became fangs that shredded flesh and replaced themselves when broken.
More succinctly, ogres are the eventual result of the interbreeding of humans and True Atlanteans, when deprived of Atlantean medicine and magic. They are not a simple crossbreed, but a subspecies derived from the hybridization of two distinct subspecies, then subjected to environmental stresses (or, more accurately, deprived of environmental supports). This is why they take so well to tattoo magic, and other mystical arts thought to be wholly human; they are, themselves, wholly human, born of two lines rejoining in desperate situations.
Body and Mind
So, what is an ogre, beyond a man writ large? Most often, they are male; the genetic manipulation and mutation which made ogres possible seems to favor the viability of male fetuses. Their features are often caricatures of human strength; the “strong jaw” of a dashing human hero is a granite slab attached with powerful muscles to an ogre’s skull. Their eyes are bright, but in a way that transcends intelligence and speaks of mania. All ogres are exceptionally hairy, but in very human ways; they do not grow fur or a pelt, but nor do they frequently suffer from male pattern baldness. It is an effect that humans find disturbing, especially when paired with their great size.
Though much is made of ogres’ claws and bite, it is important to realize that these are not fearsome weapons; their claw-like nails are no more damaging than their fists, and their canines can cause a serious wound, but not much more than one would receive from a ten foot tall human. What matters far more is an ogre’s willingness to use these weapons; a human would not bite, save in the most dire of circumstances, but an ogre will do so out of perverse joy. Men prefer a solid fist, but ogres know that the pain of a claw-rake is almost as good, and far more scarring.
Mentally, ogres are on par with humans, but they are not as easily psychic as their smaller kin. Ogres can and do study psychic professions; they are capable psi-healers, psi-mystics, and even mind mages. But without that study, they are unlikely to have any psionic powers. Some of this seems to extend to the more mundane form of empathy; ogres don’t really “get” people and what motivates them, which results in the decrease of their Mental Affinity attribute. When trained, however, ogres are as able and adept at mental games as any human.
Ogres are, thankfully, born mostly on the human scale, though at the larger end of it; whereas a human child will be between 5 and a half to almost nine pounds, an average ogre child will be between seven to ten pounds. Some very large ogre children have been born; fifteen to twenty pounds have been reported, but usually only with magical or psionic aid. After birth, however, they grow relatively rapidly, often reaching five or six feet tall by the time they are eight years old, after which their growth steadies, adding one inch to their height every year or two. This growth continues throughout their life; the tallest ogres are often the eldest, with truly exceptional and ancient ogres approaching fifteen feet tall; far more common among adults is 7-12 feet, however.
As is known, many ogre women are sterile, or have trouble giving birth. This leads ogre men to kidnap and rape human women, forcing them to bring the children to term, sometimes repeatedly. In most cases, the offspring of these are ogres, and most of the ogres born are male. Female ogres are a rarity, as are non-ogre offspring; perhaps one child in ten will not be an ogre, and perhaps one ogre in ten will be female. Non-ogre offspring, however, may go on to later bear or sire ogre children of their own, the essential sequences of DNA having been dormant in themselves, but awakening in their children.
Ogres in Society, and Ogre Society
Ogres raised in human lands are almost always treated as brutes. They are no less intelligent than the humans who surround them (on average), but their great size and strength means that humans invariably channel them towards physical pursuits (when they don’t simply kill them). Some of these ogres are anomalies; the children of humans who had an ogre parent or grandparent. Others are the children of women rescued from captivity. There are some rare ogres who simply make their homes among humans, or ogre children adopted by human or non-human parents who round out this population. Still, though, most are pointed towards things at which they will exceed human capacity… feats of strength, and professions to match. An ogre could become a bard or a ballerina, but they would be no better than a human at either. An ogre gladiator or longshoreman, however, would have a leg up, so to speak, simply by being a few heads taller than everyone else.
When in giant society, ogres are often regarded as useful and clever. While not all giants are terribly stupid, ogres are cleverer than many of a giant’s other minions, while no physical threat to the giant. As such, giant sorcerers have no shortage of eager ogre apprentices, and giants prize ogres as taskmasters; intimidating to an orc, and not likely to be outsmarted by a goblin.
When on their own, with neither humans nor giants to tell them what to do, ogres compete. Ogres don’t get particularly bent out of shape about losing to an obvious superior; they may be big, strong, and tough, but they know that trolls are bigger, stronger, and tougher, so there’s not much to be lost by being less than them… but other ogres are competition. Every task an ogre may engage in with another ogre may turn into a competition. Who hauled the most barrels? Who slew the most foes? Who fathered the most sons? Two ogres at a latrine will try to pee farther and longer than each other; two ogres at a table will try to out eat and out drink their “opponent”. Every ogre is the opponent of every other ogre, and one who is consistently at the bottom of the rankings is one who will “receive” the “opportunity” to “prove themselves”... horrible jobs, dangerous assignments, and the worst equipment. Why, if they can overcome those obstacles, they must truly be a great; if they cannot, well, then they deserve whatever they get.
The strength of ogres tends to attract other humanoids, attracted to that strength. Orcs and goblins are both commonly part of ogre-centered communities, with the ogres serving as an aristocracy, of sorts, to their lesser tribe-mates. The rules of the ogres govern how they can treat their tribe-mates, though it is usually with a mixture of aloofness, disdain, and brutality; there’s no competition in being better than an orc, after all.
What surprises many is the fondness ogres have for animals; though they’re happily omnivorous, they seem to prefer a pastoral lifestyle, if there’s no way to make a living fighting. They will herd animals, hunt with hawks and dogs, even keep horses, though most ogres are far too large to ride. Ogres with magical powers often seek out beasts to make a connection with; familiars, yes, but even simply wild creatures tamed through a combination of magic and ogre stubbornness.
Ogre Party
Ogres in a traditional adventuring party might be found in any role; they may be warriors, archers, priests, or magicians. The ogre relationship with humans means that they often must be careful if adventuring in the Eastern Territory, Western Empire, or Timiro; while there are some home-grown ogres in these places, raised among humans, the default reaction to a free ogre is, at best, wariness. In the Northern Wilderness, free ogres have fewer restrictions; they don’t intimidate wolfen, much, and the canines are far more willing to see what the ogre will do before they decide who he is.
Travelling with an ogre does pose some problems. Most obviously, ogres consume a LOT of food; three to four times what a human eats is close to a starvation diet for an ogre. Their gear is likewise large and, except in wolfen territory, hard to come by (and they tend to find even wolfen weapons a bit small). Ogres can seldom buy “off-the-rack”, and that comes at a premium. Furthermore, their size can make it difficult to acquire riding animals for them, so groups are usually travelling at the speed of ogre. As ogres have few notable empires of the past, or alchemists of note, they may also find appropriate magical gear difficult to acquire.
As noted above, ogres frequently are too large to ride horses, which can cause them some difficulty as Knights or Palladins. Ogres raised to those classes, however, frequently study other methods, such as the Way of the Landsknecht, below.
Way of the Landsknecht
For many reasons, there are those who are knights (or Palladins; this option applies equally to them) who do not ride horses. In the case of ogres, they are simply too big to do so, and suitable mounts for their size are hard to come by. For others, they may live in places where knighthood flourishes but horses, sadly, do not. To them is the Way of the Landsknecht. This replaces both the Way of the Horse and the Way of the Lance for Palladins and Knights.
Landsknecht are heavy infantry, drilled in the use of two or three weapons: the Pike, a long spear more than double their own height in length, and a Cleaver; either a pole-axe like a halberd, or a two-handed sword. Whereas traditional knights are trained to fight from horseback, the Landsknecht are trained to deal with cavalry; killing horses and unseating riders with the Pike, and fighting heavily armored troops on the ground with the cleaver.
Way of the Pike: The Landsknecht is skilled in the use of the pike as a weapon in combat and for tournaments. The character gets the equivalent of W.P. Spear with the following abilities and bonuses when facing mounted opponents, or those larger than themselves.
The player must announce their character's intention to inflict damage, disarm, or unseat their opponent. If the player chooses to unseat, a roll of 19 or higher (including bonuses) means the strike unseats or knocks down their opponent.
Opponents unseated from horseback suffer normal damage from the pike, and are knocked off their horse and take an additional 1D6 damage unless they successfully roll with impact/fall. The fallen rider also loses initiative and one melee action/attack. An opponent who is not or horseback, but standing on the ground can be knocked off their feet and on their backside with the same result, except no additional damage from the fall.
In the alternative, the Landsknecht can try to disarm a larger or mounted opponent with the pike. Roll to strike as usual, but if the defender fails to parry or dodge, the Landsknecht successfully strikes them in such a way that they drop their weapon or shield. The player must announce their character's intention to disarm their opponent and make a "called shot," indicating what item they are trying to knock out of the foe's hands. This attack can also be used to knock off any hat or helmet that isn't bolted directly to the body armor. This attack is often used by Landsknechts for fun and games, as a warning, or an attempt to frighten away or discourage an opponent rather than engage in a battle to the death.
Any time the Landsknecht rolls a Critical Strike with a pike, they may choose to inflict a higher multiple of damage (*3 instead of *2; *4 instead of *3), or they may apply knockdown or disarm, even if they did not declare it.
Way of the Cleaver: The Way of the Cleaver is used when facing heavily armored foes; anyone whose AR is 14 or higher. For those wearing artificial armor whose non-magical AR is 14 or greater*, the Landsknecht may intentionally attack the armor, not the opponent inside. In doing so, they inflict no damage on the opponent, but inflict an additional 6 damage on the armor with each successful strike. Furthermore, if the opponent is not aware that this is the Landsknecht’s intent, they receive a parry penalty equal to half their AR (rounded down); they are attempting to deflect hits with their armor, when hitting their armor is exactly what the Landsknecht intends! If the opponent becomes aware of this, the parry penalty drops to only -2; dodges have no penalty, regardless.
For those with natural armor whose AR exceeds 14, Landsknechts may attempt to weaken their armor. The Landsknecht receives no bonus to hit or damage, but on any critical strike, they may either roll double damage, or reduce the opponent’s AR by 1 point (to a minimum of half their original AR, rounded up). Lost points of AR return like hit points, either through natural healing, bio-regeneration, or healing magics.
The Way of the Cleaver requires a large, two-handed sword, or a two-handed pole-axe, such as a halberd or voulge.
*For example, someone wearing Full Chain has an AR of 14 or greater, and even if the AR were magically enhanced, it would qualify. Someone wearing Leather of Iron, a Cloak of Armor, or even AR-enhanced Studded Leather would not be a viable target; while their armor may possess an AR of 14 or more, it does not have a non-magical AR of that level.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Hackmaster Social Conflict [Hackmaster]
Here's the text that goes with the table. As always, comments and questions are welcome.
Why Social Conflict?
Why Social Conflict rules? While one might argue that people should be willing to play the rolls against them (acting intimidated when they fail a Resist Persuasion v. Intimidation roll, or falling for it when someone uses Skilled Liar to mislead you, even though the player knows things the character does not), the fact is that success in Hackmaster is largely binary. HOW do I act intimidated? What is the effect of being intimidated on interactions with the aggressor? Is there a difference between falling for a lie by only a point or two, or when I fail by 50 points?
In short, social conflict systems exist to inform roleplaying, and provide mechanical advantages and disadvantages to mechanical acts. If you choose not to invest in Resist Persuasion and face someone with a high Intimidation skill, that choice should have consequences; likewise, if I choose to invest in Resist Persuasion, it should give me a meaningful advantage when facing interrogation over Bob, who is counting on 11/03 Wisdom... Bob shouldn't be able to say "Well, my character wouldn't be scared, no matter what the dice say!" and then do as Bob pleases anyway. I paid for my character to not be scared; Bob is just declaring his immunity by fiat.
The most basic social conflict roll is a single opposed test, with the aggressor rolling a skill based on whichever tack they intend to take, and the defender rolling an opposition skill based on that attack. This test may take very little time (Fast Talking or Distraction), or it may be an involved conversation (Interrogation or Diplomacy); this is determined by the GM. If the initial pass allows for it, a second check might be made, or the defender may counter-offer, if reasonable.
Note that many modifiers apply to these rolls; while a salesman might be able to convince you to buy a monkey, it can be Very Difficult for him to do so if you don’t want to buy a monkey, or if you don’t have the money he’s asking you for. Depending on their plan, it may also involve several different rolls, each of which is a possible point of failure for either of you… if they must convince you of a lie (Skilled Liar), in order to Persuade you to come to their room, where they might Seduce you, each of those is separate considerations, with its own difficulty (though, if you enthusiastically accept the lie, they may find it easier to Persuade you, and so on). A frequent and large modifier to this roll is one’s Encounter Reaction, as laid out on pages 66 and 67 of the GMG. A Player character does receive some advantage, here… their opponents never receive a bonus to aggressive skills based on encounter reaction. Even if you genuinely like an NPC or another player, they have no bonus to influence your PC without magic or prior social skill use.
Declining Social Conflict
It is possible to decline social conflict. However, in many cases, this represents simply going along with whatever the person wants. Don’t want to risk a Morale roll against someone trying to intimidate you? Do whatever they’re asking you to. Don’t want to endure weeks of torture? Just tell them everything, right at first. Declining social conflict will prevent you from having to fight, but may wind up impacting your honor, your purse, and your prospects.
But I Don’t Want to Do That!
Inevitably, PCs will fail social conflict rolls, either due to not beefing up their resist persuasion, or simple bad luck. They may argue that their character wouldn’t do that, that THEY are not convinced so their CHARACTER is not convinced, or that it ruins the fun if something other than a magical spell can force their character to behave precisely as the player wishes. This is somewhat analogous to arguing that their character DIDN’T die because the orc drove a spear through their chest, because it’s no fun if they have to do what they don’t want their character to do. Hackmaster is a game of choices, consequences, and, occasionally, luck eating your character like he’s a bar peanut. If you chose not to invest in Resist Persuasion or other social skills, then you are going to have a similar result in social conflicts to someone who chooses not to wear armor in physical conflicts. If you did invest in Resist Persuasion and have a horrible run of luck with the dice, well, sometimes even the dragon gets killed, and he’s got armor for days and hit points for miles. But, being a game of fairness, Hackmaster has a few remedies for those who don’t want to do what the dice tell them.
Honor, Luck, and Metagame mechanics
PCs faced with unfortunate rolls can always choose to use mulligans, reverse mulligans, bonuses, and honor burn to change the outcome. Luck points may also be used, within their restrictions, and Chivalry Points may be used to alter the roll IF it is a key, heroic roll in the story. You may use Chivalry Points to Intimidate Count Evilus, to resist his torture, or to influence the Treaty of Crag Keep, but it would not be much of a knightly story if you used them to haggle for a better price for your room or to Persuade the guards not to tell your wife about your indiscretions.
Ignoring the Results
If a player chooses to completely ignore the results of social conflict, doing whatever they like, anyway, then there is a built in mechanism for reprimanding them: the honor calculation. Each level, honor is calculated as on pages 114 and 115 of the Player’s Handbook. A player who ignores social conflict results should be judged harshly in the “General Role-Play” category… being immune to social conflict is little different than deciding that Fear of Heights was a nice bunch of BPs, and not a possibly crippling flaw in a high-wire thief.
The Progress of Social Conflict
The first part of social conflict is establishing the battlefield on which the players are facing each other; this is done through the Encounter Reaction check, as detailed in the GMG on pages 65-67. Player characters are, in most conflicts, immune to this chart… unless altered by magic or social conflict, their default reaction towards others is -2/+2… no bonus or penalty. Others, however, react to them and, should a GM choose to dice out a social conflict between NPCs, they may have different reactions to each other (a noble may be dismissive of the beggar person asking them for alms, while the beggar has a generally positive opinion of the noble).
Bonuses from a red (negative) reaction act as bonuses to defensive skill use; bonuses from a green (positive) reaction act as bonuses to aggressive skill use against the target. If, for example, Knuckles the Dwarf walks up to two guardsmen, and receives a -3/-7 reaction from the half-orc, and a +3/+7 reaction from the dwarf, his attempt to Persuade the half-orc would see the half-orc get a +10% bonus to Resist Persuasion… he doesn’t like Knuckles, he doesn’t trust Knuckles, so Knuckles is going to have to be good to get past him. Conversely, Knuckles will get a +5% bonus to his Persuasion skill against the dwarf… the dwarf thinks he’s ok, and is willing to listen. Depending on the circumstances, Intimidation, Interrogation, and Torture can be exceptions to this; if the general racial reaction to the aggressor’s race by the defender’s race is Fearful, or if the defender is Cowardly or otherwise of low Morale, encounter reaction modifiers can be bonuses to those skills… pixie-faeries are quite willing to be intimidated by grel. This is subject to GM discretion.
Once the general encounter reaction is known, the aggressor should choose her tack, and the skill associated with it, while the defender should choose his tack and the skill associated with it. The different skills have different uses and different outcomes, outlined below. In all cases, Resist Persuasion is an appropriate counter-skill to choose for defense; stubbornness will not get you far, but it can keep you from moving. Those highly skilled in other areas, however, might choose another skill; if your character is better at appraising than they are at resisting persuasion, they may fall back on that to avoid paying too much for goods, while a skilled salesman might use their own sales acumen to sell the seller on selling to them at the buyer’s price.
Social conflict then hinges on an opposed roll, the aggressive skil vs. the counter-skill; the results of this are compared to the “Social Conflict Results” table. Success, in this case, is determined as “Success for the aggressor”, while failure is “Failure for the aggressor.” In some cases, you will have instances of mutual aggression. You might find this in a diplomatic negotiation, an oratory debate, or when two burly fighters have a good-old-fashioned Intimidation stare-down. In that case, whoever wins gets results based on their degree of success; the loser of the contest does not likewise get the results of their failure.
Most social conflict is over after a single pass, which might take seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. Any success by more than 50 points, or failure by more than 25 points, results in an end to that social conflict, as there’s been a clear victor. Results in between might allow a new test; those tests suffer the results of the first test; it’s hard to intimidate someone who’s already made you stand down by force of will, and hard to seduce someone who’s already laughed you off. The table notes several instances where new tests are allowed; the GM may decide if others are appropriate.
The Skills and How They Are Used
Diplomacy: Diplomacy is best used when the goal is a long-term arrangement between groups; while it can be applied at the individual level, the nuances of diplomacy are in policy, and the give and take of interested parties and occasional non-compliance. Diplomacy’s end game is an agreement to take action, not necessarily a given action. It is often opposed by Diplomacy, where both sides are attempting to gain benefits and avoid costs.
Distraction: Distraction is about the instant; gaining attention for just a moment, to allow something else to happen. Great success at distraction results in longer distractions. It is only really opposed by Resist Persuasion; resisting the urge to look at the noisy, shiny, thing and concentrate on the task at hand.
Fast Talking: “If you can’t dazzle them with style, baffle them with :):):):):):):):).” Fast talking is a mirror to Distraction, in that its purpose is to divert the defender from paying attention to what the aggressor is doing. Fast Talking can be resisted by Scrutiny, as someone who pays enough attention to what’s happening will notice that you’re not really saying anything, and, possibly, note whatever you’re concealing.
Interrogation: Interrogation is compelling someone to answer questions without physical torture. A little bit Intimidation, a little bit Persuasion, Interrogation can be foiled by a Skilled Liar… someone capable of making the interrogator believe what they wish.
Intimidation: Intimidation is the fine art of making others consider their mortality, and its relative insignificance to your day. Success makes your opponent back down; great success may scare them off entirely. Intimidation can be resisted with Resist Persuasion, or opposed with Intimidation of your own. Intimidation can subject a player character to a morale check.
Oration: Oration is best used on large groups of people, bringing them around to your point of view by influencing their encounter reaction level. While Seduction is a targeted attack at an individual, Oration is an area of effect; trying to reverse them gets a tad weird, as the Orator who focuses on a single person lacks the fine control to tune their argument to the individual, and the seducer trying to work a crowd lacks the broad appeal. Oration can be opposed with Oration; debating an Orator and refuting their points can prevent them from affecting the crowd. Oration is one of the skills that can subject a player character to encounter reactions.
Persuasion: Persuasion is attempting to gain an immediate favor from someone, with little concrete offered in return; straight quid-pro-quo relationships are more often Diplomacy or Salesmanship, depending on the nature of the promises. Unsurprisingly, it is resisted with Resist Persuasion.
Salesmanship: Salesmanship is the art of the deal; exchanging money or goods for goods or services. It’s a matter of the give and take of cost and value; this much for so many, that much for so many more, and sweetening the deal without necessarily increasing your own cost. It can be resisted with Salesmanship, Resist Persuasion, or the appropriate Appraisal… knowing the value of something can help you avoid overpaying for it.
Seduction: While Seduction is usually thought of in carnal terms, the Art of Seduction is about improving a single person’s reaction to you. While this can involve carnal activity, it can also simply be a matter of finding out what they like and emphasizing that; a perfect cup of tea, a touch on the shoulder when they need it, or even stepping back so they can step forward. A skilled seduction artist makes their target love them; they can be foiled by a skilled actor, able to fake the responses that a seducer uses to gauge their next action. Seduction is one of the skills that can subject a player character to encounter reactions.
Skilled Liar: Skilled Liar is the art of making someone believe things that are not true. The more evidence there is, and the less immediate the circumstances, the harder it is to pull off a lie… a guilty man might believe “The guards are coming”, simply because the price of not believing it if it’s true is so high, but calmly informing a sage of meteorology that the sky is green is unlikely to be successful. Skilled Liar can be opposed with sufficient observation; noting tells that the person may not be telling the truth, as well as any evidence that what is said is not true.
Torture: Interrogation more sinister sibling, Torture “enhances” the typical questioning with the application of pain and discomfort to encourage a response. It is more likely to result in false positives than Interrogation, as desperate subjects say anything to end the torment, but has a visceral component that makes it possible with sadists and those who care less about the truth than breaking their opponents. A Skilled Liar can confound a torturer, getting them to follow false leads… though, some torturers may not care that they’ve received information.
Sidebar: Social Conflict or Simple Rolls
When should you use Social Conflict, and when you should use simple rolls? Generally, the more crucial the roll, and the more important the target, the more you should consider using Social Conflict. One does not need social conflict for every meat pie and white lie, but important interactions with important NPCs (or PCs) should fall back on basic social conflict rules.
Sidebar: PVP Social Conflict
There will come times when player characters will find themselves involved in social conflict with other player characters. Is your thief character lying about stealing from the party? Is your mage haggling with the fighter over an Illusionary Leather Armor spell? While role-playing can be used to resolve these, social conflict rules can be used to speed up the game and ajudicate cases of metagame knowledge… the whole table may know that the thief pocketed that ruby, but can their players catch it? The ambiguity can be resolved fairly with the dice, rather than an endless parade of “Did not!” v. “Did so!”
Why Social Conflict?
Why Social Conflict rules? While one might argue that people should be willing to play the rolls against them (acting intimidated when they fail a Resist Persuasion v. Intimidation roll, or falling for it when someone uses Skilled Liar to mislead you, even though the player knows things the character does not), the fact is that success in Hackmaster is largely binary. HOW do I act intimidated? What is the effect of being intimidated on interactions with the aggressor? Is there a difference between falling for a lie by only a point or two, or when I fail by 50 points?
In short, social conflict systems exist to inform roleplaying, and provide mechanical advantages and disadvantages to mechanical acts. If you choose not to invest in Resist Persuasion and face someone with a high Intimidation skill, that choice should have consequences; likewise, if I choose to invest in Resist Persuasion, it should give me a meaningful advantage when facing interrogation over Bob, who is counting on 11/03 Wisdom... Bob shouldn't be able to say "Well, my character wouldn't be scared, no matter what the dice say!" and then do as Bob pleases anyway. I paid for my character to not be scared; Bob is just declaring his immunity by fiat.
The most basic social conflict roll is a single opposed test, with the aggressor rolling a skill based on whichever tack they intend to take, and the defender rolling an opposition skill based on that attack. This test may take very little time (Fast Talking or Distraction), or it may be an involved conversation (Interrogation or Diplomacy); this is determined by the GM. If the initial pass allows for it, a second check might be made, or the defender may counter-offer, if reasonable.
Note that many modifiers apply to these rolls; while a salesman might be able to convince you to buy a monkey, it can be Very Difficult for him to do so if you don’t want to buy a monkey, or if you don’t have the money he’s asking you for. Depending on their plan, it may also involve several different rolls, each of which is a possible point of failure for either of you… if they must convince you of a lie (Skilled Liar), in order to Persuade you to come to their room, where they might Seduce you, each of those is separate considerations, with its own difficulty (though, if you enthusiastically accept the lie, they may find it easier to Persuade you, and so on). A frequent and large modifier to this roll is one’s Encounter Reaction, as laid out on pages 66 and 67 of the GMG. A Player character does receive some advantage, here… their opponents never receive a bonus to aggressive skills based on encounter reaction. Even if you genuinely like an NPC or another player, they have no bonus to influence your PC without magic or prior social skill use.
Declining Social Conflict
It is possible to decline social conflict. However, in many cases, this represents simply going along with whatever the person wants. Don’t want to risk a Morale roll against someone trying to intimidate you? Do whatever they’re asking you to. Don’t want to endure weeks of torture? Just tell them everything, right at first. Declining social conflict will prevent you from having to fight, but may wind up impacting your honor, your purse, and your prospects.
But I Don’t Want to Do That!
Inevitably, PCs will fail social conflict rolls, either due to not beefing up their resist persuasion, or simple bad luck. They may argue that their character wouldn’t do that, that THEY are not convinced so their CHARACTER is not convinced, or that it ruins the fun if something other than a magical spell can force their character to behave precisely as the player wishes. This is somewhat analogous to arguing that their character DIDN’T die because the orc drove a spear through their chest, because it’s no fun if they have to do what they don’t want their character to do. Hackmaster is a game of choices, consequences, and, occasionally, luck eating your character like he’s a bar peanut. If you chose not to invest in Resist Persuasion or other social skills, then you are going to have a similar result in social conflicts to someone who chooses not to wear armor in physical conflicts. If you did invest in Resist Persuasion and have a horrible run of luck with the dice, well, sometimes even the dragon gets killed, and he’s got armor for days and hit points for miles. But, being a game of fairness, Hackmaster has a few remedies for those who don’t want to do what the dice tell them.
Honor, Luck, and Metagame mechanics
PCs faced with unfortunate rolls can always choose to use mulligans, reverse mulligans, bonuses, and honor burn to change the outcome. Luck points may also be used, within their restrictions, and Chivalry Points may be used to alter the roll IF it is a key, heroic roll in the story. You may use Chivalry Points to Intimidate Count Evilus, to resist his torture, or to influence the Treaty of Crag Keep, but it would not be much of a knightly story if you used them to haggle for a better price for your room or to Persuade the guards not to tell your wife about your indiscretions.
Ignoring the Results
If a player chooses to completely ignore the results of social conflict, doing whatever they like, anyway, then there is a built in mechanism for reprimanding them: the honor calculation. Each level, honor is calculated as on pages 114 and 115 of the Player’s Handbook. A player who ignores social conflict results should be judged harshly in the “General Role-Play” category… being immune to social conflict is little different than deciding that Fear of Heights was a nice bunch of BPs, and not a possibly crippling flaw in a high-wire thief.
The Progress of Social Conflict
The first part of social conflict is establishing the battlefield on which the players are facing each other; this is done through the Encounter Reaction check, as detailed in the GMG on pages 65-67. Player characters are, in most conflicts, immune to this chart… unless altered by magic or social conflict, their default reaction towards others is -2/+2… no bonus or penalty. Others, however, react to them and, should a GM choose to dice out a social conflict between NPCs, they may have different reactions to each other (a noble may be dismissive of the beggar person asking them for alms, while the beggar has a generally positive opinion of the noble).
Bonuses from a red (negative) reaction act as bonuses to defensive skill use; bonuses from a green (positive) reaction act as bonuses to aggressive skill use against the target. If, for example, Knuckles the Dwarf walks up to two guardsmen, and receives a -3/-7 reaction from the half-orc, and a +3/+7 reaction from the dwarf, his attempt to Persuade the half-orc would see the half-orc get a +10% bonus to Resist Persuasion… he doesn’t like Knuckles, he doesn’t trust Knuckles, so Knuckles is going to have to be good to get past him. Conversely, Knuckles will get a +5% bonus to his Persuasion skill against the dwarf… the dwarf thinks he’s ok, and is willing to listen. Depending on the circumstances, Intimidation, Interrogation, and Torture can be exceptions to this; if the general racial reaction to the aggressor’s race by the defender’s race is Fearful, or if the defender is Cowardly or otherwise of low Morale, encounter reaction modifiers can be bonuses to those skills… pixie-faeries are quite willing to be intimidated by grel. This is subject to GM discretion.
Once the general encounter reaction is known, the aggressor should choose her tack, and the skill associated with it, while the defender should choose his tack and the skill associated with it. The different skills have different uses and different outcomes, outlined below. In all cases, Resist Persuasion is an appropriate counter-skill to choose for defense; stubbornness will not get you far, but it can keep you from moving. Those highly skilled in other areas, however, might choose another skill; if your character is better at appraising than they are at resisting persuasion, they may fall back on that to avoid paying too much for goods, while a skilled salesman might use their own sales acumen to sell the seller on selling to them at the buyer’s price.
Social conflict then hinges on an opposed roll, the aggressive skil vs. the counter-skill; the results of this are compared to the “Social Conflict Results” table. Success, in this case, is determined as “Success for the aggressor”, while failure is “Failure for the aggressor.” In some cases, you will have instances of mutual aggression. You might find this in a diplomatic negotiation, an oratory debate, or when two burly fighters have a good-old-fashioned Intimidation stare-down. In that case, whoever wins gets results based on their degree of success; the loser of the contest does not likewise get the results of their failure.
Most social conflict is over after a single pass, which might take seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. Any success by more than 50 points, or failure by more than 25 points, results in an end to that social conflict, as there’s been a clear victor. Results in between might allow a new test; those tests suffer the results of the first test; it’s hard to intimidate someone who’s already made you stand down by force of will, and hard to seduce someone who’s already laughed you off. The table notes several instances where new tests are allowed; the GM may decide if others are appropriate.
The Skills and How They Are Used
Diplomacy: Diplomacy is best used when the goal is a long-term arrangement between groups; while it can be applied at the individual level, the nuances of diplomacy are in policy, and the give and take of interested parties and occasional non-compliance. Diplomacy’s end game is an agreement to take action, not necessarily a given action. It is often opposed by Diplomacy, where both sides are attempting to gain benefits and avoid costs.
Distraction: Distraction is about the instant; gaining attention for just a moment, to allow something else to happen. Great success at distraction results in longer distractions. It is only really opposed by Resist Persuasion; resisting the urge to look at the noisy, shiny, thing and concentrate on the task at hand.
Fast Talking: “If you can’t dazzle them with style, baffle them with :):):):):):):):).” Fast talking is a mirror to Distraction, in that its purpose is to divert the defender from paying attention to what the aggressor is doing. Fast Talking can be resisted by Scrutiny, as someone who pays enough attention to what’s happening will notice that you’re not really saying anything, and, possibly, note whatever you’re concealing.
Interrogation: Interrogation is compelling someone to answer questions without physical torture. A little bit Intimidation, a little bit Persuasion, Interrogation can be foiled by a Skilled Liar… someone capable of making the interrogator believe what they wish.
Intimidation: Intimidation is the fine art of making others consider their mortality, and its relative insignificance to your day. Success makes your opponent back down; great success may scare them off entirely. Intimidation can be resisted with Resist Persuasion, or opposed with Intimidation of your own. Intimidation can subject a player character to a morale check.
Oration: Oration is best used on large groups of people, bringing them around to your point of view by influencing their encounter reaction level. While Seduction is a targeted attack at an individual, Oration is an area of effect; trying to reverse them gets a tad weird, as the Orator who focuses on a single person lacks the fine control to tune their argument to the individual, and the seducer trying to work a crowd lacks the broad appeal. Oration can be opposed with Oration; debating an Orator and refuting their points can prevent them from affecting the crowd. Oration is one of the skills that can subject a player character to encounter reactions.
Persuasion: Persuasion is attempting to gain an immediate favor from someone, with little concrete offered in return; straight quid-pro-quo relationships are more often Diplomacy or Salesmanship, depending on the nature of the promises. Unsurprisingly, it is resisted with Resist Persuasion.
Salesmanship: Salesmanship is the art of the deal; exchanging money or goods for goods or services. It’s a matter of the give and take of cost and value; this much for so many, that much for so many more, and sweetening the deal without necessarily increasing your own cost. It can be resisted with Salesmanship, Resist Persuasion, or the appropriate Appraisal… knowing the value of something can help you avoid overpaying for it.
Seduction: While Seduction is usually thought of in carnal terms, the Art of Seduction is about improving a single person’s reaction to you. While this can involve carnal activity, it can also simply be a matter of finding out what they like and emphasizing that; a perfect cup of tea, a touch on the shoulder when they need it, or even stepping back so they can step forward. A skilled seduction artist makes their target love them; they can be foiled by a skilled actor, able to fake the responses that a seducer uses to gauge their next action. Seduction is one of the skills that can subject a player character to encounter reactions.
Skilled Liar: Skilled Liar is the art of making someone believe things that are not true. The more evidence there is, and the less immediate the circumstances, the harder it is to pull off a lie… a guilty man might believe “The guards are coming”, simply because the price of not believing it if it’s true is so high, but calmly informing a sage of meteorology that the sky is green is unlikely to be successful. Skilled Liar can be opposed with sufficient observation; noting tells that the person may not be telling the truth, as well as any evidence that what is said is not true.
Torture: Interrogation more sinister sibling, Torture “enhances” the typical questioning with the application of pain and discomfort to encourage a response. It is more likely to result in false positives than Interrogation, as desperate subjects say anything to end the torment, but has a visceral component that makes it possible with sadists and those who care less about the truth than breaking their opponents. A Skilled Liar can confound a torturer, getting them to follow false leads… though, some torturers may not care that they’ve received information.
Sidebar: Social Conflict or Simple Rolls
When should you use Social Conflict, and when you should use simple rolls? Generally, the more crucial the roll, and the more important the target, the more you should consider using Social Conflict. One does not need social conflict for every meat pie and white lie, but important interactions with important NPCs (or PCs) should fall back on basic social conflict rules.
Sidebar: PVP Social Conflict
There will come times when player characters will find themselves involved in social conflict with other player characters. Is your thief character lying about stealing from the party? Is your mage haggling with the fighter over an Illusionary Leather Armor spell? While role-playing can be used to resolve these, social conflict rules can be used to speed up the game and ajudicate cases of metagame knowledge… the whole table may know that the thief pocketed that ruby, but can their players catch it? The ambiguity can be resolved fairly with the dice, rather than an endless parade of “Did not!” v. “Did so!”
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Runecaster Kit
Runecaster Kit
The Runecaster is a kit available for any class, representing someone who has learned and practiced the magic of carving runes. Runes are thought to be the fundamental language of the universe, akin to the Power Words of wizard magic; some believe that the world itself is written in the Runes, and that any aspect of creation can be controlled from them. If this is true, however, the runes to do so are long-lost, what remains is a handful of magics; powerful in their own right, but not the ultimate arbiters of reality.
To create magic, runes must be carved; they cannot be drawn or painted. Runes must also be carved deliberately; many runes are also letters of the runic alphabet, and simply carving “Halfdan carved these runes” will not wreak havoc on the world.
Required Attributes: Dexterity 11, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 13
Required Non-weapon Proficiencies: Read/Write (Runic Alphabet), Artistic Ability (Runecarving), Rune Lore
Bonus Non-weapon Proficiencies: None
The Runecaster is a kit available for any class, representing someone who has learned and practiced the magic of carving runes. Runes are thought to be the fundamental language of the universe, akin to the Power Words of wizard magic; some believe that the world itself is written in the Runes, and that any aspect of creation can be controlled from them. If this is true, however, the runes to do so are long-lost, what remains is a handful of magics; powerful in their own right, but not the ultimate arbiters of reality.
To create magic, runes must be carved; they cannot be drawn or painted. Runes must also be carved deliberately; many runes are also letters of the runic alphabet, and simply carving “Halfdan carved these runes” will not wreak havoc on the world.
Required Attributes: Dexterity 11, Intelligence 13, Wisdom 13
Required Non-weapon Proficiencies: Read/Write (Runic Alphabet), Artistic Ability (Runecarving), Rune Lore
Bonus Non-weapon Proficiencies: None
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