Re: water movement 2.1 (finalized)

[John Hogg <johnhogg@expert.cc.purdue.edu>]

OK,

Data:  (from Kevin and Jevan)

1)	Chain movement rates came out to be between 15 and 10 ft/rnd
2)	Jevan was not wearing padding underneath (leading to the
	compromise that the lower rate should be used)
3)	Boots, pack and helmet tended to increase difficulty while 
	swimming much more noticably than did the weight of the chain
	(distributed more evenly over the body)
4)	absorbant clothing tended to make swimming more difficult, not
	because of the weight of the water within the clothing so much as
	the restriction of movement it provided when saturated

Theory and Arguement:

The way armor works in AQ has been precribed to the layering effect of
armor.  That is, as one works his way up the protection scale of armor,
he begins to layer the previous armors:

naked under clothing under leather/padding under chain under plate

As such, one is penalized for wearing armor by a decrease in his land
movement rate of 10 ft/round per step on the armor heierarchy.

There are also no stat or skill checks to try to walk a mile (met,
whatever scale of distance).  It is simply held that walking a fixed
distance near-naked is three times faster than walking that distance in
plate armor.

That is:

P1	Difficulty in movement is reflected in the AQ system as a
	incremental decrease in rate

Now, from a good deal of time spent swimming/spectating swimming through
high school, I can assure you that a JV swimmer ought to be able to swim
50 yards in 30 seconds, or in AQ terms, 20 ft/round.  IMHO it's a generous
rate to assign as the basis for ALL water movement, both skilled and
unskilled, as I GUARANTEE if you wander down to a swimming instruction
class, the little kiddies barely able to do the length of the pool aren't
moving NEARLY that rate, nor are the grown adults just learning to swim.

P2	Some detail will need to be put aside to have a rule that can be
	both easy to remember/apply AND be somewhat accurate

H1	Base movement rate ought to be 20 ft/rnd

Now, as we want to keep the land movement rates and water movement rates
intuitively linked so we don't have to memorize ANOTHER rule, algebra
comes to the fore ... 

H2	Water movement is approximately 1/3 land movement rates, or:

Armor:		Land:		Water:	(ft/rnd)
Naked		60		20
Clothing	50		17
Leather		40		13
Chain		30		10
Plate		20		7

Notice the naked and chain numbers gibe with the information presented
above.

However, now we have a bit of a problem ... it's tough work with numbers
such as 17, 13, and 7  while GMing.  Further, working with 3 1/3 as the
incremental decline in movement is a pain.  An easy solution would be to
round the incremental decline to 5 ft per round.

Indeed, this was the 1.0 version of the proposal in the unwieldy first
drowning proposal AND before I consulted Kevin.

Armor:		Land:		Water:	(ft/rnd)
Naked		60		20
Clothing	50		15
Leather		40		10
Chain		30		5
Plate		20		0


However, setting the movement rate in chain to 5 ft/rnd, while reasonable
on its face, does not match the data gathered.  However the 1/3 land
movement does ...

The key to compromise both sets of numbers is within Kevin and Jevan's
data.

P3:	Absorbant clothing is difficult to swim in (as are other, specific
	items)
H3:	Non-absorbant clothing is not

Therefore, so long as there is a provision for heavy clothing and a
handful of other specific items, light clothing can be chunked into the
naked movement rate.  This allows the rates for weightier armors to be
fairly near the 1/3 movement ratio, AND use increments of 5 for the
decline of movement.


Armor:		Land:	1/3:	By 5:	Current:
Naked		60	20	20	20
Clothing	50	17	15	20
Leather		40	13	10	15
Chain		30	10	5	10
Plate		20	7	0	5
					- cumulative 5 for boots, helmet, 
					  pack, heavy equipment,shields,
					  and absorbant materials





On Wed, 18 Nov 1998, Wright Frazier wrote:

> Naked should be faster than clothed.  (moved up the list ... John)
> 

On its face, yes.  However, I'd rather have that marine in sea sandals,
net shirt, loincloth, and maroglaive move as fast as he would naked than
to not match the data presented.  Keep in mind, Joe mage in his bathrobe
is still gonna get hit with a terrycloth -5 for soaking up all that water,
where Joe buff in a pair of pants and tank top will move about the same as
if he were in a Speedo.

> 
> I disagree with this stuff leather armor would soak up a tremendous
> amount of water I'd think, and quickly become water logged. 
> 
> Chain armor: the metal isn't really the problem: its the padding
> 		underneath that really soaks up the water.
>

Yes, leather/padding ought to be difficult to swim in as it soaks up water
(like a big terrycloth robe).  Chain ought to be tougher as not only does
it have the padding underneath, but another 50 pounds of chain link, plate
even more so as you add another 30-50 pounds of metal plates on top of all
that.

Therefore, leather ought not be nearly as tough as chain nor plate, but
more difficult that clothing.  

Isn't that what was presented?
 
> Standard Jaernian plate: as fast as chain.  It covers shoulders and
> 	breast plate, may be backplate.  This'd be pretty easy to
> 	swim in I'd think.  
> 
> Full plate: near impossible to swim in.
> 

Never seen the distinction before (that is Jaernian plate vs plate) though
I've heard the argument that armor on a water world ought to be lighter
than mideval armor AQ is based on.  I can buy that so far as the
protection goes down with the movement penalty.  That is:

Jaernian plate = DV's of chain, 30 ft/round on land, 10 ft/round in water.

to go with more detail is beyond the scope of AQ armor. (protection for a
trade-off in movement rate)

John Hogg			johnhogg@expert.cc.purdue.edu

"I am amused by the simplicity of this game.  Send me your finest meats
and cheeses!"				--Kenny Mayne