Re: thrown weapons

[Wright Frazier <khelek@ns1.cioe.com>]

> 
> Drugs. AQ makes no distinction between firing under duress and firing
> from a relaxed posture. Rate of fire _ALWAYS_ implies drawn already.
> Has a GM ever given a bonus for taking time to aim? Don't think so.

Currently it does, with the exception of the Bow and Crossbow.  The
change in rates that I listed were to bring other weapons into line
with this.  As it is currently, you can throw a javelin every
round with no skill.

> 
> Your example is totally wrong. Missile weapons should not be used in
> combat so being whacked with a stick is just silly. At best something
> can be thrown back at you. Sheesh.

They are used in combat, and have been for at least 7 years.  Karin Missum
carried an off hand dagger to chuck at spell casters, and routinely
did so in melee.

> Getting off three daggers is definately, in my mind, more realisting
> than trying to get in three damaging hits with a sword in 4 seconds
> against an armed, defending and retaliating opponent (though AQ doesn't
> distinguish between an armed, defending, retaliating opponent and someone
> who is letting you slaughter them).

the 4second round is in my opinion, far to short.  Not because of
the amount of stuff to be done, but because it makes everything so
literal.  I honestly prefer a longer, 20sec round, that will allow
for the fact that instead of making 4 actual attacks, you are making
a bunch more, and you are only getting in 4 good ones.

That also brings up another point, if you are going realism, then a
thrown dagger is gonna do dick against a guy in full plate armor.  And
we should go with reductive armor.  Armor that knocks off damage from
attacks, and makes you harder to hit.  I.e. you have a bitch of a time
penatrating Sam's armour, but if you do penetrate, then much less damage
is going to be delt.

Another point, is the clarification of what DP is.  When someone makes
an attack and hits you, does the knife actually penetrate into your
body?  Or does DP simulate fatigue, exaustian, bruises, scrapes, etc..
The reason I ask, if you are simulating a fight, you don't have 2
guys going at it in a complete spray of blood with every blow making
physical contact(if they are both skilled).  What you have is a
back and forth fight where fatigue, minor cuts, and bruises are delt, and
then finally someone makes a mistake, and gets a sword in the gut.  To
me that is what DP symbolizes.  You aren't getting a sword in the gut
every time, what you are getting is worn down, till you are DP, and the
mistake comes, and you get killed.  This is also born out by the
critical hit system, this shows that while you didn't make your mistake
from exhaustion, it was the other guy getting lucky.  May be that luck
means he broke your sword, or may be he just got a hard bruise on you(some
damage multiplier), or may be it means he knocked your sword way out of
line with a lucky shot, and hacked you in half.  However in the
normal course of events the 'getting hacked in half' part comes when
you have gotten beat down to just a few DP.

Long winded example:
R1: Elsinor makes 6 attacks against Claude, hitting all of them.  Claude
	isn't actually cut to ribbons by this hellish flurry of blows,
	in actuallity, instead the 50 odd pts of damage that he sufferes
	is more of him being busy as shit blocking, getting beat around
	a bit, etc..  Granted Claude is near dead, but thats cause
	he's tired as shit.
R1a: Claude returns the favor to elsinor, same result.
R1: This is where someone dies.  Both of our mighty warriors are quite hurt,
	and injured from minor cuts and bruises to a great extent of
	their body.  Elsinor again wins Initiative, and unleashes a
	hellish flurry of blows on Claude.  The first 3 knocks claude
	down to 5 dp, and the 4th, 5th, and 6th blows much more than
	just minor bruises and cuts.  They represent that Claudes defenses
	are down, and he's really damn beat up, so he gets sloppy and
	Elsinor gets through, and when he does, those last 3 attacks
	do the killing damage, cut to the throat, broken rib through the
	lungs, and a good deep wound to the thigh severing the femoral
	artery.

Now, I can see an arguement for this not being the way DP works, because
	of the 4 second round, and the 4second round having no time
	for this sort of thing to be represented(hince why I like a
	longer combat round).  But beyond that, it is very reasonable.

It also holds up fairly well against the damage spells(even fireball).
The damage spells deal more of a tiring/fatiguing damage with only minor
damage to the body.  When you get zotted by a minibolt, its more along
the lines of getting a bad shock, it leaves you a little woozy and not
as able function fully for a while.  A lightning bolt is a much
more serious shock to the system, so it fatigues you out more.

The current fireball rulling, very much lends itself to the minor damage
thing.  Its a puff of near instantaneous elemental fire.  It doesn't
light things on fire, it just makes a temporary ball of fire that doesn't
expand, has no over pressure, etc...  You don't have to 'ride the wave'
of expanding gas to begger of why you only took half damage or why
you survived a 40' wide explosion.  Its just a momentary burst that singes
you considerably.  Kinda like a walk through a fire or some such.  You
can do it, but it will slow ya down.  If ya blow the RC, then you didn't
fair so good in your fire walk, and so are more fatigued/singed.

This theory on DP also explains why you gan go waiding through the peasents
wacking them down like a scythe through the wheat.  They aren't trained
killers, and so suck ass at defending themselves, and so when Claude
decides that the peasent's time has come, his one sword blow is really
a shot to the heart, because the peasent couldn't defend(represented by
having 6dp).  

Oh, also it fairly well holds up under the missile fire chart, but
you have to fudge a bit, and realize that only the last few arrows
that damage you are going to be actually sticking in.  Instead the
ones leading up to that are more of the animeesque thing with our
hero valiantly dodging arrows, getting a few grazes, but mainly
just getting tired out by it.

Hmm..that was much longer than I intended, but the main jist is, combat
rounds are too short, and DP damage is taken to literally.

Wright