Handling % Activity for Actions in Combat

[JohnD]

I'd like to know how people handle actions in combat via the CT. In the dim bulb of my memory, I recall something in the CT can be used to track when a character is free to act again.

For example....

PC begins round with long bow drawn and an arrow readied. Ogre steps into view and PC plugs it with an arrow. PC just used 50% of his round and is not moving so starts the 80% process of reloading another arrow for the next shot... using the 50% remaining this round and completing the 30% next round when he can fire again. Continue....

How do I as the GM, or the players for that matter, account for these % activities that will carry across rounds? Obviously we can all just agree to try and remember the numbers, but it seems I recall there's a way of using the CT to yet again automate all of this.

Thanks to any who can help.

Ran a 2.5 hour "safe preview" session tonight to introduce the system and the combat (and the considerations that don't exist in other rulesets)... went well aside from a few open ended high rolls and an open ended low roll that really would have changed the tide of the encounter had it been for keeps.

[hawkwind]

post 353 on page 36 of my forgotten realms thread explains it in detail, in fact you even commented in post 336. personally I find it fiddly and it slows the game down so i just ask the players what they want to do on their turn and then give a % penalty based on the new RMU rules which greatly simplify the whole thing

[JohnD]

Ah. Thank you I will go find that!

[JohnD]

So that post explains how to handle movement and it's impact on attacking in the same round. Here I'm asking how do we account for what happens after the attack; stringing another arrow, which will overlap this round and next?

[Chris_Seal]

Hi John,

I typically use the action point cost in RMU. If I have an action that exceeds the total number of action points for a character in a round, then they lose some of their action points in the following round. If for, example, I want to shoot an arrow using 2 AP (for a -25 since you'd normally use 3) followed by picking up a sword from the ground (3AP) to make an attack in the next round (2-4 AP). I can fire and bend down to grab the sword. The following round I have used one AP completing the action of picking up the weapon (getting my footing after grabbing the grounded weapon) and therefore have 3 remaining so my attack is at -25 (1 less AP than optimal). If I wanted to aim properly (using all 3 AP) then my arrow would be loosed with no penalty, but my sword strike would be made at -50 (2 less AP than normal).

If I then add movement to the mix, well then the penalties get a whole lot larger . Hope this helps.

Cheers
Chris

[hawkwind]

yep RMU beta does it a whole lot better

[JohnD]

Thanks guys. Does anyone have an answer for RMC though?

[Andraax]

So that post explains how to handle movement and it's impact on attacking in the same round. Here I'm asking how do we account for what happens after the attack; stringing another arrow, which will overlap this round and next?

What I did when I ran RM using this ruleset was have the player put in the shoot + reload time as a %. (Typically something like 130%.) Every round, the system subtracts 100% from that number. So, it would drop below 100% on the round they can fire. Then, after firing, they add the same amount back in. So, it goes like this:

Rnd 1: player declares a load and shoot, puts 130% into action %.
Rnd 2: action % is now 30%, player shoots, and declares that he will reload and shoot again, so he puts 160% into the action %.
Rnd 3: action % is now 60%, player shoots, and declares that he will reload and shoot again, so he puts 190% into the action %.
Rnd 4: action % is now 90%, player shoots, and declares that he will reload and shoot again, so he puts 220% into the action %.
Rnd 5: action % is now 120%, player cannot do anything this round.
Rnd 6: action % is now 20%, player can shoot.

Etc. Obviously, if they move in addition to loading and shooting, you add the % movement in as well as the 130% for reload and shoot. The CT will calculate the movement % for you if you set the movement rate (walk, run, etc) and the distance. Also, if I remember correctly, you can click on the action % and it puts it into the modifiers for you automatically (when you shoot, you're penalized 1 on your roll for every 1% action you took prior to shooting). So, in the example above, the penalties on Rnd 2 are -30, Rnd 3 -60, Rnd 4 -90, Rnd 6 -20. So, even though the player can shoot on Rnd 4, with a penalty of -90 he might decide to wait until the next round, when his penalty will be 0 (assuming he shoots before moving).

[Chris_Seal]

IIRC there is a table of activity % in Arms Law. Melee combat (and missile? - can't remember if this is the case sorry) has a range of possible %ages. For each % less than 100 you get -1OB. Other actions take a fixed amount of time and thus might span multiple rounds. Can't remember the numbers but if, for example, missile combat took 25-75% activity, picking up a sword took 75% and melee took 50-100%, then you can make an attack with a 0 - -50 OB penalty (depending on how swiftly you act), pick up the sword (potentially at the end of the round if you took a shot with -50 penalty, and then attack with a penalty between 0 - -50 OB depending on how much overlap there is from picking up the weapon.

If after carrying out the actions required to swap weapons/reload etc. you have less than the minimum required to make an attack, you get shunted to the next round. If you are using short and long actions in the round, you can carry over the percentage so you might be able to make a melee attack with no penalty in the short action phase if you had used less than 50% of your activity in the previous round.

Cheers
Chris

[JohnD]

Thanks everyone... Andraax's explanation rings quite a bell for me. The others give added context as well.

Now just to make sure I put it into the right portion of the CT....