From: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Stainless Steel Rat)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: CHAMPS: question on turn sequencing
Date: 10 Apr 92 01:57:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: splinter.RATINOX.92Apr9215703
Reply-To: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu
Organization: 3WA, Boston Office. Or Nu Meta Chi. Take your pick.
In-reply-to: akuma@netcom.com's message of 10 Apr 92 00:18:20 GMT
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>>>>> On 10 Apr 92 00:18:20 GMT, akuma@netcom.com (Steven E Barnes) said:

>>>>> sesharp@happy.colorado.edu (Steven Sharp) said:

>Many of the arguments for why halving your actions to get +3 DCV (or +5
>for martial dodge) most of the time is not abusive have assumed high SPD
>attributes.  Let's not forget that these same rules are intended to be
>used in genres other than superheroes (though I have my doubts as to their
>success there).  In these genres such assumptions don't apply and should
>not be necessary to balance the rules.  Wide differences in CVs are less 
>likely there as well and a +3 DCV is not trivial.  It cuts the chance of
>being hit more than in half if CVs are equal.

akuma> I fail to see the problem.  Combat value is relative in Hero.
akuma> When playing nuclear Champions, my 40 OCV vs 40 DCV == 11 or less
akuma> chance to hit, just like a 4 OCV vs 4 DCV.  The effect of the
akuma> dodge bonus should be the same.

akuma> The problem I have with people dodging is not the +3 / +5 DCV, it
akuma> is the fact that they also put all their levels in DCV.  This is
akuma> more of a problem in high point games than low point ones.

Having a high DCV is a two-edged sword. An agent with an OCV of 5 has a 1
in 3 chance of hitting a hero with a DCV of 7, a CV difference of only 2. A
CV difference of 4 means that agent only hits 1 time out of 6.

It gets sticky in higher powered games where martial artists get their DCVs
up into the high teens (DEX 35, Martial Dodge, and a few skill levels add
up to a DCV of around 18). They doesn *need* to dodge very often when
fighting against agents--they just don't get hit by normals. In general,
however, these self-same impossible-to-hit characters do didlysquat against
a brick with 35 PD/ED, resistant; and their own PD/ED tend to be on the low
side, so one or two hits will put them down. It balances in the end.

What can you do about it? Lots of things. And all of them are perfectly
justified, and none are rules hacks.

You could always impose DCV caps, but these are artificial, IMO, and rob
many character concepts of their primary line of defense. It's like saying
``sure, you can play a brick, but you can't have a Strength over 50,'' or
``Speedster? Sure. But you can't run faster than 100 kph.'' ``You can play
a martial artist, but you can't buy a DEX higher than 26, personal defenses
of 15 are your max, and your DCV can't go higher than 14.'' He's a sitting
duck with that.

Use Area Effect attacks, especially Entangles that you can shoot through,
like nets. Run an electric current through said nets (NND or AVLD attack).
Force that high DEX caracter to dive for cover once in a while, make him
waste actions instead of attacking.

Outfit some of your better equipped agents with ``smart'' ammo, the homing
kind (+5 OCV, maybe)--an 8-10D6 autofire weapon with +5 OCV is not to be
ignored. Make that martial artist work for that +5 DCV from his Martial
Dodge.

IMO, when a PC has a very high Characteristic, don't throw an NPC with a
slightly higher one at the PC just because the NPC will be better. I've had
this happen to me, and I really don't like it. I'd suspect that nothing
grates more on players than finding their characters' worlds inhabited by
exactly 1 character who is better than them at their specialty. If this
character is the PC's Hunted, all bets are off, though. :-)

--Rat
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