More Elfs Questions

[Paganini]

Couple of things that aren't clear to me from the game text:

Armor

Page 21 is a little unclear about armor. It says "a single success has no effect on the creature; for really awful-tough armor, only three successes will do." What is the mechanic for this? Is the armor "rating" subtracted from the number of successes the player rolls, or is it just a threshold?

I.e., if an NPC has 2 points of armor and a PC rolls 3 successes, how much damage does the PC do? Is it just 1 point (3 successes - 2 armor), or do all three successes count?

It gets even more confusing if you compare this to PC armor on page 20, which seems to just be extra Spunk.

Then on page 53, the description of the "alarming" characters says: "Two successes are required to hurt them at all" - I thought this was what armor does, but THEN it says: "and each has 4 points of armor."

*confuzzlement*

Weapons

There are all sorts of weapons in the list on page 11, but only the big cartoony hand weapon is given a specific function by the game text (on a Total Success it does 4 damage instead of 3). So, what are all those other weapons on there for? Contrast?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Nathan,

I love it when people bring unnecessary assumptions to Elfs.

1. Quit thinking in terms of points and subtraction. Just lose it entirely. You don't say, OK, this many successes, minus this many armor, etc, etc. When a creature has armor, getting one success against it means nothing happens. Getting two successes means getting two successes. It's a threshold. 'Course, one might then posit a creature against whom two successes isn't enough, requiring three (which then lands three successes if you get it).

2. Never mind that PCs' armor works differently. PCs are one thing and foes are another.

3. OK, you got me with the travelling NPC party. Never mind the part about the four points of armor, or if you want to be nasty, treat it like PC armor.

4. All weapons are the same except for the cartoony ones.

Best,
Ron

P.S. All of the above is from memory, so I expect any amount of delighted "Ron doesn't remember his own game" cries in a minute ...

[Paganini]

4. All weapons are the same except for the cartoony ones.

P.S. All of the above is from memory, so I expect any amount of delighted "Ron doesn't remember his own game" cries in a minute ...

LOL!

Okay, thanks for clearing those up. Just one question still about weapons. You say they're all the same except for the cartoony ones. Do you include "unarmed fighting" as a weapon? I.e., weapons, other than cartoony ones, have no effect on combat?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Nathan,

And how, exactly, did you imagine an elf character to be any kind of effective without a weapon?

Biff! Baff! Ooorrrrghh ... gnnnah! Gonna kick you in the ankle, I will!

Ever try to hurt someone with unarmed combat in old-school D&D? Doesn't work. Unarmed elfs really oughta run fast.

Of course, a hastily-grabbed fireplace poker will do fine. Or a rock. Or a -- mmf! -- big ol' -- mf! Dumb Luck roll that makes use of an especially long stalactite when he evades, or this Low Cunning roll that makes use of the dagger that the guy had in his belt but is now sticking out of his chest.

That would be Director stance. (Dusts hands)

Best,
Ron

[greyorm]

And how, exactly, did you imagine an elf character to be any kind of effective without a weapon?

Thankfully, Anal-stage elfs are never unarmed!
"Stinking Cloud!" Pffffffttttfffttt...ffftttt...