The book is sweet! I have a bunch of questions!

[Henry Fitch]

So, I finally got the book a few days ago. It rocks. Really, really hard. But now I have a bunch of questions. Some of these have probably been answered here before, but the Search function isn't working properly for me, so I'm afraid I'll have to ask again.

1) Case of Rapiers is quickly becoming my favorite style. Nothing like a double rapier to the head. But why no Counter? And where does the name come from? (I'd expect Brace of Rapiers.)

2) Any reason there isn't a skill along the lines of Flirt or Seduce or Woo? Seems like it'd come up. There's no real problem with just using a Soc roll, but I'm curious why Orate and Persuade get skills but not this.

3) Apologies beforehand; I know I've seen this one answered here. That said, can you train proficiencies from defaults in character creation? That is, if I spend 6 Proficiency points on Rapier during chargen, then spend one point on Case of Rapiers, will that get me a proficiency of 1, or a proficiency of 6 because of the -1 default?

4) Being a non-magical halfling takes up the C slot in chargen, which means a pretty serious hit to your other abilities. Seems pretty steep, considering that the mechanical bonuses are near-negligable and the heritage will probably be as much disadvantage as advantage. Is this just to discourage beginning players from taking such a character? Or is it because such a weird heritage grants a lot of "screen time" or "interestingness", regardless of how good it is for the character?

5) Drive can be added to any roll where you're acting towards that goal. Destiny can be added to any roll that takes place during a scene that's important to the destiny. Is that right? Also, Destiny talks about how you can split it up between multiple rolls in a turn; are the others only usable once per turn, or can they be used on multiple rolls per turn, or what? I'm a bit confused.

6) Finally, this is just something I've observed in the combat simulator that doesn't seem realistic. I could be wrong.
- Das Monk is facing Geralt.
- Monk executes a thrust with his short staff, using his whole pool.
- Geralt, because Monk has snuck up on him or he's tied up or something, doesn't get to defend.
- Geralt almost inevitably suffers a Level 5 wound, which description seems to imply that the staff actually passes through his skull and enters the brain.
Yeeouch! I knew hardwood stick were dangerous, but that dangerous?


EDIT: I should point out that I'm pretty clueless, both with this rules set and with actual combat. I'm probably making wrong assumptions in a lot of these.

[Lance D. Allen]

1. Err... Jake?

2. Probably just didn't come up when creating the skills list. I know there have been some new skills created, as well as new skill packets. On the other hand, perhaps Persuade can be stretched to fit. I know one of my players during the ConGame I ran used it that way.

3. Yes, if you spend 6 points in Rapier, and 1 in CoR (with a -1 default) you will have a 6 (unless it runs foul of the default max... Is it 4, or 5? I forget.. in which case you might have a 5).

4. In MY opinion, the high priority given to siehe is to reflect their rareness, not their bad-assedness. It's a price you pay to be Different.

5. Err... not sure on this one. I think it's something that would be left up to individual Seneschal's judgement.

6. Consider the actual surface area that is striking poor Geralt's skull. Probably no more than an inch-and-a-half in diameter. I don't know Das Monk's whole combat pool, but I'm assuming a 10 or so. In that case, yes, he's just shoved a wooden stick into Geralt's skull. If this still doesn't sit right with you, though it is quite possible, you can mess with the description a bit. Either way, Geralt is dead.

[Bob Richter]

1) Case of Rapiers is quickly becoming my favorite style. Nothing like a double rapier to the head. But why no Counter? And where does the name come from? (I'd expect Brace of Rapiers.)

2) Any reason there isn't a skill along the lines of Flirt or Seduce or Woo? Seems like it'd come up. There's no real problem with just using a Soc roll, but I'm curious why Orate and Persuade get skills but not this.

3) Apologies beforehand; I know I've seen this one answered here. That said, can you train proficiencies from defaults in character creation? That is, if I spend 6 Proficiency points on Rapier during chargen, then spend one point on Case of Rapiers, will that get me a proficiency of 1, or a proficiency of 6 because of the -1 default?

4) Being a non-magical halfling takes up the C slot in chargen, which means a pretty serious hit to your other abilities. Seems pretty steep, considering that the mechanical bonuses are near-negligable and the heritage will probably be as much disadvantage as advantage. Is this just to discourage beginning players from taking such a character? Or is it because such a weird heritage grants a lot of "screen time" or "interestingness", regardless of how good it is for the character?

5) Drive can be added to any roll where you're acting towards that goal. Destiny can be added to any roll that takes place during a scene that's important to the destiny. Is that right? Also, Destiny talks about how you can split it up between multiple rolls in a turn; are the others only usable once per turn, or can they be used on multiple rolls per turn, or what? I'm a bit confused.

6) Finally, this is just something I've observed in the combat simulator that doesn't seem realistic. I could be wrong.
- Das Monk is facing Geralt.
- Monk executes a thrust with his short staff, using his whole pool.
- Geralt, because Monk has snuck up on him or he's tied up or something, doesn't get to defend.
- Geralt almost inevitably suffers a Level 5 wound, which description seems to imply that the staff actually passes through his skull and enters the brain.
Yeeouch! I knew hardwood stick were dangerous, but that dangerous?


EDIT: I should point out that I'm pretty clueless, both with this rules set and with actual combat. I'm probably making wrong assumptions in a lot of these.

1) I have no idea, but I know I've heard the term before...
2) Hm. What would that skill do that Persuade doesn't? You Persuade a gal to sleep with you, give you extra favors, marry you, it's still Persuasion. :)
3) Yup.
4) I'd guess it's mostly due to rarity, but that's not really mine to answer.
5) Um. Yeah, that's pretty much right. That Destiny says it can be split up probably makes that a special exception.
6) Yes, sticks really ARE that dangerous. It's really more like the "exploding pumpkin effect" than a stab to the brain, though.
:)

[Jake Norwood]

Wolfen hit it on the head, so I'll support what he said. As for "case of rapiers," I know that that name was used, and while I'm not too familiar with a "brace of rapiers," it sounds right as well. As always, I reccomend Sydney Anglo's "The martial arts of rennaisance Europe" as a basic and definitive primer to real-world no-BS medieval and rennaisance combat from an academic perspective.

Jake