Horsemanship and Tumbling Proposals

[Lyle H Janney <lhjanney@adpc.purdue.edu>]

Here they are folks, for your perusal.  I'll be open for comments at the
meeting tomorrow.  (please forgive any formatting problems, it will all
be easily legible on the handouts at the meeting)

Lyle


Proposals for use of Horsemanship skill
(and specifically, what happens on a failed skill check)

I was asked to draft a proposal for how to consistently adjudicate falling off a horse.  As I thought about that, I came to realize that there should also be some consistency in how the Horsemanship skill itself should be adjudicated.  So, this proposal is in several parts, each of which deal with various aspects of the use (successful or otherwise) of the Horsemanship skill in the Purdue Fantasy Club AQ:Jaern campaign (local rules).  Please circle one response for each of the proposals listed below.

Okay, first off, anyone can sit a standing or walking horse in relaxed conditions and not fear for falling off.  So, unless there are other circumstances, no roll is required.  With that stated, I propose the following:

Conditions:	Base d6
Controlling a horse at between 0 and 1/4 movement (standing or walking)	0
Controlling a horse at between 1/4 and 3/4 movement (trot or canter)	1
Controlling a horse moving greater than 3/4 movement (full gallop)	2

Please vote: Do you accept this proposal as stated (or modified by discussion)?          Yes      No      Abstain

Conditions:	Additional d6
Defending and/or attacking in a combat situation	+1
Riding through/over/around obstacles in path (assuming a thru route exists)	+1
Extreme conditions (heavy rain/sleet/snow, sheer winds, riding over ice, etc)	+1
Performing 'stunts' of varying degree (for profit or heroism)	+1-3
	e.g. 1: riding by and assisting a person waiting to mount while moving	+1
	e.g. 2: that impressive horseback scene in the latest Zorro film	+2
	e.g. 3: something even more impressive than that (I'm not sure it exists, but hey...)	+3
Horse is well-trained (pay 3 times base cost for horse, subject to availability)	-1
Horse is extremely well-trained (pay 8 times base cost for horse, very rare to find for sale)	-2

Please vote: Do you accept this proposal as stated (or modified by discussion)?          Yes      No      Abstain

Okay, now what do you do in the case of a failed check?  The answer is simple; you are de-horsed (i.e., you fall off).  These rules also come into play when your horse is suddenly no longer able to carry you (e.g., it has died of wounds, it 'breaks a leg', it looses its footing, etc.) or if you are de-horsed by other means (e.g., a lance, flying grapple, etc.).  To reduce or eliminate damage from being de-horsed, you may use the Tumbling skill.  No other skill may be used to reduce damage from falling, but spells such as Cushion function appropriately (though you may still take scraping damage from the ground).

Conditions:	Base damage
Soft, loamy earth (i.e., farmland)	1d3
Grasslands	1d4
Rocky ground, roadway	1d6
Sharp and/or treacherous ground	1d8

Please vote: Do you accept this proposal as stated (or modified by discussion)?          Yes      No      Abstain

Conditions:	Additional damage
Horse is walking (up to 1/4 movement)	none
Horse is trotting (up to 1/2 movement)	+1d3
Horse is cantering (up to 3/4 movement)	+1d6
Horse at full gallop (up to full movement)	+1d8

Please vote: Do you accept this proposal as stated (or modified by discussion)?          Yes      No      Abstain

Finally, regarding the Tumbling skill itself, there has been much discussion regarding its current implementation in the rules.  It has been suggested that for local play, we adopt a mechanism that is a little more in line with other skill in the AQ system.  So, to that end, I would like to propose the following as the new write-up for Tumbling: (copied from Steve's post)

Tumbling				Stat: AGI				DEF : 2
Tumbling allows an adventurer to reduce the damage taken during a fall.  For every d6 rolled under the skill level, reduce the damage from the fall by 1d6 (rolled after damage is determined and not to exceed total damage from fall).

Please vote: Do you accept this proposal as stated (or modified by discussion)?          Yes      No      Abstain

I would like to add the following addendum to this write up.

When tumbling with a weapon, if the tumbling check is failed, the adventurer automatically takes 1/2 normal damage from the weapon they currently have armed (e.g., a once enchanted long sword will do 1d10/2 + 1; magic bonuses always add after multipliers).  The adventurer may chose to toss the weapon aside prior to the tumbling check to avoid this possibility (2d6 vs. AGI to succeed in this maneuver).

Please vote: Do you accept this proposal as stated (or modified by discussion)?          Yes      No      Abstain