Math and BRP

[Sorloc]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

This is the default for the new BRP.

Marvelous.
I am happy.


And I will offer my services as math tutor to all those who can't divide by ten and halve or double the result.

[badcat]

I'll just continue to use 10%, as always.

[lawrence.whitaker]

And I will offer my services as math tutor to all those who can't divide by ten and halve or double the result.

What are your rates?

Seriously, its not that people can't divide by ten and then halve, its more a case that you have to do that whilst you have a mind swimming with other things - like keeping a mental track of what's happening in a combat, who's injured, who's readying magic, who's leaping in with a kung-fu kick, and what tactics the GM-controlled adversaries are doing.

For a crit, dividing by 10 is a cinch for a slow mental multi-tasker like me. But to divide by ten AND THEN halve/double the result (and am I rounding up, down or to the nearest?) adds another layer of brain-stuff to an already stuffed-brain. Then you might need to cross ref that special success with a crit to determine the appropriate result, as I've pointed out before.

Of course, you can build character sheets that have the skill success granularities annotated, and that's a Good Thing, but if you're a GM and working with stats for lots of creatures, or a pre-published adventure, you may not have time to prep all those calculations yourself.

This is the reason I don't like Specials. Not because the math is intrinsically hard, but simply because it slows me down considerably. But your Brains (and BRP) May Vary! (and no. I hate using a calculator at the gaming table. Besides, you can always guarantee that the batteries will conk or the solar-cell's knackered). There are sliderules, I suppose... and log tables...

[soltakss]

But, most of the time you don't need to calculate specials and criticals.

If I have 70% skill and roll a 50 it's obvious it's a normal hit. If I roll 01 then I have criticalled, no need to work it out. If I roll 02-06 then I need to work out if it is a special or critical. If I roll under 20 then I need to work out if it's a special or normal roll.

Other than that, there's no need to work out the chances beforehand.

In any case, here's a quick list of skills and their special (20%), critical (5%) and fumble chance. I've based it on RQ3 calculations as I don't have the BRP method to hand. I've also ignored success and failure chances as they should be easy to calculate.

Just print it out and hey presto you don't need to do any maths at all.

 
Range    Critical Special  Fumble
-------- -------- -------- --------
1-7      1                 96-100
8-12     1        2        96-100
13-17    1        2-3      96-100
18-22    1        2-4      96-100
23-27    1        2-5      96-100
28-29    1        2-6      96-100
30-30    1-2      3-6      96-100
31-32    1-2      3-6      97-100
33-37    1-2      3-7      97-100
38-42    1-2      3-8      97-100
43-47    1-2      3-9      97-100
48-49    1-2      3-10     97-100
50-50    1-3      4-10     97-100
51-52    1-3      4-10     98-100
53-57    1-3      4-11     98-100
58-62    1-3      4-12     98-100
63-67    1-3      4-13     98-100
68-69    1-3      4-14     98-100
70-70    1-4      5-14     98-100
71-72    1-4      5-14     99-100
73-77    1-4      5-15     99-100
78-82    1-4      5-16     99-100
83-87    1-4      5-17     99-100
88-89    1-4      5-18     99-100
90-90    1-5      6-18     99-100
91-92    1-5      6-18     100
93-97    1-5      6-19     100
98-102   1-5      6-20     100
103-107  1-5      6-21     100
108-109  1-5      6-22     100
110-112  1-6      7-22     100
113-117  1-6      7-23     100
118-122  1-6      7-24     100
123-127  1-6      7-25     100
128-129  1-6      7-26     100
130-132  1-7      8-26     100
133-137  1-7      8-27     100
138-142  1-7      8-28     100
143-147  1-7      8-29     100
148-149  1-7      8-30     100
150-152  1-8      9-30     100
153-157  1-8      9-31     100
158-162  1-8      9-32     100
163-167  1-8      9-33     100
168-169  1-8      9-34     100
170-172  1-9      10-34    100
173-177  1-9      10-35    100
178-182  1-9      10-36    100
183-187  1-9      10-37    100
188-189  1-9      10-38    100
190-192  1-10     11-38    100
193-197  1-10     11-39    100
198-202  1-10     11-40    100
203-207  1-10     11-41    100
208-209  1-10     11-42    100
210-212  1-11     12-42    100
213-217  1-11     12-43    100
218-222  1-11     12-44    100
223-227  1-11     12-45    100
228-229  1-11     12-46    100
230-232  1-12     13-46    100
233-237  1-12     13-47    100
238-242  1-12     13-48    100
243-247  1-12     13-49    100
248-249  1-12     13-50    100
250-252  1-13     14-50    100
253-257  1-13     14-51    100
258-262  1-13     14-52    100
263-267  1-13     14-53    100
268-269  1-13     14-54    100
270-272  1-14     15-54    100
273-277  1-14     15-55    100
278-282  1-14     15-56    100
283-287  1-14     15-57    100
288-289  1-14     15-58    100
290-292  1-15     16-58    100
293-297  1-15     16-59    100
298-302  1-15     16-60    100
303-307  1-15     16-61    100
308-309  1-15     16-62    100
310-312  1-16     17-62    100
313-317  1-16     17-63    100
318-322  1-16     17-64    100
323-327  1-16     17-65    100
328-329  1-16     17-66    100
330-332  1-17     18-66    100
333-337  1-17     18-67    100
338-342  1-17     18-68    100
343-347  1-17     18-69    100
348-349  1-17     18-70    100
350-352  1-18     19-70    100
353-357  1-18     19-71    100
358-362  1-18     19-72    100
363-367  1-18     19-73    100
368-369  1-18     19-74    100
370-372  1-19     20-74    100
373-377  1-19     20-75    100
378-382  1-19     20-76    100
383-387  1-19     20-77    100
388-389  1-19     20-78    100
390-392  1-20     21-78    100
393-397  1-20     21-79    100
398-402  1-20     21-80    100
403-407  1-20     21-81    100
408-409  1-20     21-82    100
410-412  1-21     22-82    100
413-417  1-21     22-83    100
418-422  1-21     22-84    100
423-427  1-21     22-85    100
428-429  1-21     22-86    100
430-432  1-22     23-86    100
433-437  1-22     23-87    100
438-442  1-22     23-88    100
443-447  1-22     23-89    100
448-449  1-22     23-90    100
450-452  1-23     24-90    100
453-457  1-23     24-91    100
458-462  1-23     24-92    100
463-467  1-23     24-93    100
468-469  1-23     24-94    100
470-472  1-24     25-94    100
473-489  1-24     25-95    100
490-500  1-25     26-95    100

[lawrence.whitaker]

Just print it out and hey presto you don't need to do any maths at all.

No, just another table to consult...

The table's useful, and certainly quicker than my abysmal mental arithmetic, but I'd simply rather have a straight 10% as Crit and not have to worry about whether its a simple success, a special success or a critical success. My mind handles that much better.

Its personal preference, I hasten to add; not strictly a system criticism.

Your BRP Will Vary.

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by Aycorn

The FileMaker Pro database I use prints the %, the critical chance, and the fumble chance, each in a different color, so it's right there for ya.

I still have some GW RQII sheets with little spaces for those... *sniff* happy memories...

I've always preferred the asymmetry of crit/special/success/failure/fumble precisely becuas it feels like it accentuates the positive for characters.

Also I've used the RQII/III scheme so long that the mental arithmetic is second nature, but I would never be too hard on old fogeys# like Grampa Whitaker who can't keep up

More seriously, the obvious simplification isthe original SB 10% for crits, as it's very easy.

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

# he is after all at least months older than me...

[lawrence.whitaker]

I would never be too hard on old fogeys# like Grampa Whitaker who can't keep up

I know. Its a sad but true fact that, once over the hill that is 40, the decline is both fast and inexorable. Yet I embrace my path towards the god that is Victor Meldrew* with fondness because, at some stage, my faculties will have degenerated to a point where I just don't care any more!

*For our overseas friends who might not be familiar with the British sitcom 'One Foot in the Grave', Victor Meldrew is a 60-something curmudgeon who hates everything about the modern world, the people occupying it, and the things it does to him. His catch phrase of 'I don't believe it!' is legendary and oh so true.

[Chaot]

Finding 20% is simple and only has to involve one 'mental math' check. Double your skill. That's it. Most people find it easy to multiply by two.

After that, it's just a question of placing a decimal point and rounding up (or dropping the decimal, depending on agreed upon rules).

That being said, I leave a place on the character sheet for the player to scrawl their Crits and Specials.

[Sorloc]

Yeah, my character sheet has the crit, special, and fumble % all written right next to the Attack %... So I guess if I didn't write it down the first time I calculated it, or the second, or the third, or the fourth, I would probably get tired of doing that math (or maybe I'd memorize it by then).

L.W - any time you want, call me up and I'll figure it for you (OK, I'm lying - actually, I'll most likely look it up on the 'Game Aids' booklet that came with RQ3). I will do this as often as you like for a low low $10 US weekly.


I take PayPal.

If you prepay 22 weeks, I will give you four for free - That's six months for the price of five!

[Nightshade]

I have to agree that there's a certain amount of mountain constructed from molehill here. First, most of these chances can be listed with the weapons involved; those get modifications to their to-hit, of course, but that doesn't happen all the time, or even the majority of the time. Second, even if you don't, you only need to check this in a subset of cases. With a 5% chance of a crit, you know you aren't critting on anything over a 5 (unless you have over 100% skill), so you don't need to wonder about it most of the time; same with specials on rolls over 20%.