From: gharris@jade.tufts.edu (George W. Harris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RQ: Changes to the Strike Rank Calculation Method
Date: 13 Aug 92 12:06:26 GMT
Organization: Tufts University - Medford, MA
Originator: gharris@jade.tufts.edu


        As most of you probably know, when one attacks with a 
melee or missile weapon and when a spell takes effect are in a 
large part determined by one's Dex and Siz strike rank modifiers.  
The underlying assumtion of this mechanic is that the more 
dextrous one is  the sooner one acts, and the larger one is the 
quicker one lands a blow in melee.  I am not going to contest 
these assumtions, but rather try and streamline how they are 
implemented.

Characteristic  Dex Strike      Siz Strike
                Rank Modifier   Rank Modifier
1-5             5               4
6-9             4               3
10-15           3               2
16-19           2               1
20+             1               0

        Ordinarily, when one is using a missile weapon (or 
casting a spell), one acts on Dex Strike Rank (plus the magic 
points in the spell), and when one is using a melee weapon, one 
acts on the sum of Dex Strike Rank and Siz Strike Rank and Weapon 
Strike Rank.  These are the main uses of the Dex/Siz Strike Rank 
table.  However, there are two things that should strike you 
about this table:

        One:    It is not an even progression.  The steps 
alternate in size between four and six, rather than being a 
constant five.

        Two:    Siz Strike Rank alone is never used for anything, 
but is only used in conjunction with Dex Strike Rank.

        The first item is easy to fix.  Just make the intervals 
1-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20+.  As for the second, I propose 
replacing the Siz Strike Rank column with a combined Dex+Siz 
Strike Rank column to be used for figuring melee strike rank.

        As the table stands, someone with a Dex 10 and Siz 10 
would have a melee strike rank of 5.  However, someone with Dex 9 
and Siz 11 would have a melee strike rank of 6, as would someone 
with Dex 11 and Siz 9.  Since, the way the system is structured, 
Siz and Dex are equally important in figuring melee strike rank, 
this result doesn't seem proper.  Therefore, I propose using the 
following table for figuring melee strike rank:

Combined Siz+Dex        Melee Strike Rank

        2-4                     9        
        5-9                     8       
        10-14                   7       
        15-19                   6       
        20-24                   5       
        25-29                   4       
        30-34                   3       
        35-39                   2       
        40+                     1

        The advantages of this table are that it eliminates the 
standard optimal breakpoints for Siz and Dex, and also 
regularizes the progression.  One could complain that it is 
undesirable for a table to use the sum of two characteristics, 
but as the damage bonus table already does this, that objection 
doesn't stand.  Of course, one would still use the Dex Strike 
Rank table to figure strike ranks for spells and missile weapons.

--
"If you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce, they taste more like
prunes than rhubarb does."              -Groucho Marx 

gharris@jade.tufts.edu          George Harris, Tufts Univ. Dept. of Mathematics
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc