"Why do I keep failing? I'm a Master!!!"
or, "How HeroWars is like Pendragon"
| My players recently complained that a person with a Mastery shouldn't
fail a Simple Contest against the standard "World" resistance of 14. This turns
out to be a misconception. Characters with a single Mastery can't fail simple Ability
Tests - an unresisted direct roll against the character's ability score.
Unfortunately, I don't call for many Ability Tests. I am not really certain when to use an
Ability Test and when to use a Simple Contest. HeroWars states that Ability Tests are a
quick way of resolving situations of little dramatic value where there isn't any real
resisting force. Unfortunately, the only examples in the rules are confusing. Climbing a
steep hill is an Ability Test, but climbing a cliff is a Simple Contest. <sigh> Anyway... Resisted contests are much more difficult. Since the typical "world" resistance is 14, the "world" will win a success most of the time and reduce the contest to "who rolled lower?" - which no player likes. This analogy works for me: A #W1 ability is essentially an ability of 20 that scores a critical on rolls of # or less. A "14 vs 20" contest seems much closer than "14 vs 5W1", but they are basically the same except for the increased chance to score a critical (five or lower). This is pretty similar to the game Pendragon (Green Knight Publishing), where skills higher than 20 just increase the chance of a critical. If you want to seriously outclass the "world" you need two masteries over the resistance value. In that case, you crit on every roll. So... "How much of an augmentation should I try for?" The answer depends on how lucky you feel! Personally, I don't try for augmentations with a resistance of greater than 10 unless I have a two mastery advantage. But then, I am a coward. :) |