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[Riddlemaster]

Just got a few questions I know will pop up in game play

1.  Say im using Rapier and Poinard style.. during first exchange i parry with my Rapier can i switch proficiencies in middle of bout and attack with my dagger proficiency using one of those maunuvers??

2.  Upperlimits of Prof??  can a protagnist keep raising a certain style  and all his defulats will go up also??  It seems wierd that if i raise my Cut and thrust to say 15.. my Daoppleganger will be an 11?  is there alimit on defaults were you just have to bite the bullet and start studying??

3.  Theres mention of firearms in the book..  any rules on it  (im probally going to ban..once you bring in blunderbusses or whatver forget armor)

4.  Finally how much does it cost to get a new spirtual attribute.. or is that a roleplaying aspect.

[Mike Holmes]

Just got a few questions I know will pop up in game play
3.  Theres mention of firearms in the book..  any rules on it  (im probally going to ban..once you bring in blunderbusses or whatver forget armor)

I think you mean Arquebuss. Blunderbusses were hunting weapons, much like shotguns, which armor is acrtually very good against. Note how the spanish continued to wear breastplates well into the seventeenth century, and the french wore curiasses until much later. This is not to say that such were very good against guns, but they were better than nothing. They'll stop the occasional glacing shot; note how the Spanish armor is sloped. Note also how metal helmets were still in use until the mid 1980's (mostly for shrapnel, etc, but still).

But there's still a reason to wear such armor, even if they never stopped a single gunshot. Guns are rare, innaccurate, and slow in this time period. Which means that if you survive the gunfire (and most will in a battle), that you are going to be fighting in melee. This continued to be the case until the mid ninteenth century.

Mike

[Valamir]

The idea of bullets penetrating armor is largely a myth.  Long bows had more penetrating power than early firearms.  Most quality breastplates of the pike and shot period were proofed:  shot at close range with a carefully loaded weapon square on.  The fingerprint sized dent served as a testiment to the quality of the armor.

Armor did not leave the battle field because of bows or guns or any other single over simplified reason.  The primary reason had to do with the rise of nationalism which allowed centralized authorities to field armies orders of magnitude larger than any seen during the medieval period.  At a time where these same authorities were perpetually broke and in debt it was shear expense that prevented large armies from using armor.  Expense, and the fact that when your army is made up of commoners instead of noblemen their lives became infinitely more expendable.

[Sneaky Git]

2.  Upperlimits of Prof??  can a protagnist keep raising a certain style  and all his defulats will go up also??  It seems wierd that if i raise my Cut and thrust to say 15.. my Daoppleganger will be an 11?  is there alimit on defaults were you just have to bite the bullet and start studying??

"Defaulted Proficiencies may never exceed 6 without formal training (after which it is no longer a defaulted Proficiency)." [tRoS - revised, p50]  As far as raising proficiencies.. I'm not certain.

4.  Finally how much does it cost to get a new spirtual attribute.. or is that a roleplaying aspect.

My understanding is that:
1) this is a roleplaying thing.
2) you may only have 5 at any one time
3) if you wish to change the focus of an SA, both that SA and another must be lowered to zero, then you can change
4)if you wish to change one SA for another, you must follow the directions above, the Seneschal must approve (duh), and you need to spend 10 Spiritual Points..

All of the above SA rules are covered in Book Three: Training.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Say im using Rapier and Poinard style.. during first exchange i parry with my Rapier can i switch proficiencies in middle of bout and attack with my dagger proficiency using one of those maunuvers??

It helps to clarify between an "Exchange" and the fight as a whole. To my understanding, once you've established your Combat Pool and split your dice, you've already committed to which Proficiency you're using for that Exchange. However, Exchanges are very brief and a fight may be composed of several. It is perfectly OK to switch to a different Proficiency (including default ones) on the next Exchange.

Now I may be totally wrong and it may be OK to switch Proficiencies during an Exchange, but the only person I'll accept this ruling from is Jake.

Upperlimits of Prof?? can a protagnist keep raising a certain style and all his defulats will go up also?? It seems wierd that if i raise my Cut and thrust to say 15.. my Daoppleganger will be an 11? is there alimit on defaults were you just have to bite the bullet and start studying??

H'm. My understanding is that it's not weird at all. Raising your Cut and Thrust means practicing it against all sorts of other weapons and gaining insight about its relationship to them. I think people are used to the concept of education/learning being necessarily specialized, whereas in reality, advanced understanding of something entails a broader framework, not a narrowed one.

Theres mention of firearms in the book.. any rules on it (im probally going to ban..once you bring in blunderbusses or whatver forget armor)

Well, you asked for it, and you got it. Cue extensive discussion of historical bullets and armor. Oh, it happened already? What a surprise.

Finally how much does it cost to get a new spirtual attribute.. or is that a roleplaying aspect.

Yes, it's role-playing, and yes, it "costs," or rather, it goes by certain rules. Here's how it works: you can spend SAs any time you like for improving various things about your character. That might, in many cases, drop two of your SAs to zero. Whenever two of your SAs are zero, you may change one of them to some other SA of your choosing.

This is a big, big deal. Personality mechanics in TROS are far more labile than I think people tend to understand. You're playing a religious fanatic? Fine. Spend all his Faith points and your wad of Luck points on something like (say) a Proficiency in Cut & Thrust. Look, two SAs at zero. Change the Faith to ... umm, a Passion for the fine babe you just rescued from the fire. Then fight against your fellow religious-fanatic previously-best -friend, to defend her!

Best,
Ron

[Lyrax]

If you're using a rapier and a poiniard, this is under the rapier proficiency.  If you wish to attack with the dagger, you may do so.  You use the same amount of dice as for your rapier.  This is because the rapier schools all train extensively in the use of small, off-hand weapons or bucklers.

The only time you would switch proficiencies is if you either switched weapons or switched styles (began using a club like a sword instead of like a mace).  There is no reason for you to switch styles in the middle of a fight.  Just pick the highest proficiency that can possibly apply to the weapon at hand, and use that to determine your combat pool for the whole fight.

Rapier and poiniard is the exact same proficiency as is rapier and buckler.  If you wanted, you could use the rapier like a cut and thrust, but you'd probably suck at it.

This has been another public service announcement.  Thank you.

[Ron Edwards]

Lance is right on the money, of course. My answer above applies only when literally switching an entire Proficiency during combat, not to using one or another weapon in a combination that exists within a single Proficiency.

The kind of switching that I'm talking about is often necessary if someone closes within the range of a longer weapon and just can't get shaken off - dropping the Doppelhander and going to Dagger or Grappling is sometimes the only option.

Best,
Ron

[Jaif]

There is no reason for you to switch styles in the middle of a fight.

I disagree.  If I switch to a dagger style and hit, I've just brought the fight to dagger range.  If I was fighting someone with a spear, and I managed a parry, I just might do what the original poster asked.

Of course, then I find out mr. spear is also a good wrestler, and I may be hosed. :-)

-Jeff

[Jake Norwood]

The Rapier includes use of a dagger when using the rapier. The pure "dagger" proficiency covers the hooks and wrestling-like moves of solo dagger play. Use rapier.

Jake