Hatred of THAC0 and Mark of Autochthon: Difference between pages

Revision as of 06:22, 22 January 2009

As the flash washes over you, you feel a slight burning sensation inside your heart. You hear your own voice inside your head, saying: "You have been selected for a task of great importance by the Great Maker. He offers you this mark on your heart to aid you, but this mark cannot be forced. Accept it now and be part of the Maker's Design forever more, or deny it now to make your way without His divine aid." As you decide what to do, you instinctively know what this mark will do. Read its effects below, and decide if you want to accept this mark or not.

The mark is considered to be an insubstantial artifact, with no commitment cost. Once accepted, it is a permanent change to the character and cannot be transferred. It is normally invisible to the naked eye, but under some conditions, it will appear on your chest as a series of spectral gears, in colors matching your anima. The conditions where it can be seen are:

Any time your caste mark shows, Autochthon's mark is equally visible.
Essence sight of any kind can perceive the mark on a Perception + Occult (5) roll.
Alchemical exalted will notice the mark on a Perception + Occult (2) roll.
Spirits of Autochthonia will notice the mark automatically.
You can spend 2 motes to make the mark obvious to any onlookers.

The mark provides the following abilities:

Will of Autochthon: You gain an additional Nature of "Implement". This allows you to make an immediate check for regaining Willpower any time you accomplish a goal significant to Autochthon's plans. You will get this check whether you know Autochthon's plans or not. Your normal Nature continues to work as normal.

Emissary of the Maker: Any entity native to Autochthonia (mortal, spirit, alchemical) who sees your mark immediately knows its significance, and will consider you to be highly connected to the Machine God. This will generally result in a highly favorable reaction. Older gods in Creation may also recognize the mark.

Five-Fold Synchronicity: All five of the magical materials are now considered your "favored" material; you no longer need to commit double the motes to attune to non-favored materials. If you have particular abilities that work specifically on your favored material, they expand to work on all five materials. (For example, various shapeshifting rules interact specifically with moonsilver; these now interact with all five metals.)

Deep Resonance: You cut all training times in half.

Opening the Mind's Eye: You gain six points of specialties, distributed however you like (though, as normal, any given Ability can have no more than three points of specialties). Alternately, you may spend some or all of these points to buy Sciences, where a new level costs as many points as it has dots (e.g. if you have a Science at three dots and want to move it to four dots, it will costs four of these "specialty" points). Also, you may name an additional Ability as a favored ability.

Soul in the Machine: Your connection to Autochthon deepens your connection to your own nature, providing abilities based on your exalted type:

The solar connection to versatility deepens, providing the ability to create Combos instantaneously. You must still pay their xp cost, but learning a new Combo takes no training time at all. In addition, Combos cost two fewer xp.
The lunar connection to form expands to take in the elements that make up creation. Lunars who taste the heart's blood of elementals of either Creation (air, earth, fire, water, wood) or Autochthonia (crystal, lightning, metal, oil, smoke, steam) may add the elemental's form to their shapeshifting library. Shifting info such forms costs six motes.
The sidereal connection to the Perfected Lotus expands, providing the ability to any martial arts charms without an instructor, including sidereal martial arts, form charms, immaculate charms and pinnacle charms. Further, costs of celestial martial arts charms are reduced by one. Costs of terrestrial martial arts charms are reduced by two.

Instances

Game Information

Summary: A magical mark over the heart, marking you as selected by Autochthon
Rating: ●●●●●
Commitment: 0

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-__NOTOC__
+{{ExaltedArtifact
-OK. Confession time.
+|summary = A magical mark over the heart, marking you as selected by Autochthon
+|description = ''As the flash washes over you, you feel a slight burning sensation inside your heart. You hear your own voice inside your head, saying: "You have been selected for a task of great importance by the Great Maker. He offers you this mark on your heart to aid you, but this mark cannot be forced. Accept it now and be part of the Maker's Design forever more, or deny it now to make your way without His divine aid." As you decide what to do, you instinctively know what this mark will do. Read its effects below, and decide if you want to accept this mark or not.''
-I hate THACO.
+The mark is considered to be an insubstantial artifact, with no commitment cost. Once accepted, it is a permanent change to the character and cannot be transferred. It is normally invisible to the naked eye, but under some conditions, it will appear on your chest as a series of spectral gears, in colors matching your anima. The conditions where it can be seen are:
-It was a dumb mechanic in 1st Edition AD&D. It remained a dumb mechanic in 2nd Edition AD&D. And ditching it in Enroth would make make it easier to learn and play. THAC0 has a number basic problems:
+* Any time your caste mark shows, Autochthon's mark is equally visible.
+* Essence sight of any kind can perceive the mark on a Perception + Occult (5) roll.
+* Alchemical exalted will notice the mark on a Perception + Occult (2) roll.
+* Spirits of Autochthonia will notice the mark automatically.
+* You can spend 2 motes to make the mark obvious to any onlookers.
-# It's confusing. I've played D&D for ''decades'' and still have to think about it every single time.
+The mark provides the following abilities:
-# It adds a new type of "adjustment" to a system that already has to many, for no reason. As an example: what is the ''actual'' difference between "reducing THAC0 by one" and "a +1 'to hit' bonus". Answer: none whatsoever.
-# It's makes the game inconsistent: it creates a system where high numbers are good in some situations and bad in others. Again, for no reason. Similarly, getting a '+1' is usually good... unless you mean AC, when it is bad. Unnecessarily complicated.
-One of the best things done in 3E was the elimination of THAC0. The technique used to do so could also be used in Enroth, in such a way that a) the system is easier to follow, b) results in the exact same chance to hit as the current system, and c) scales better.
+'''Will of Autochthon''': You gain an additional Nature of "Implement". This allows you to make an immediate check for regaining Willpower any time you accomplish a goal significant to Autochthon's plans. You will get this check whether you know Autochthon's plans or not. Your normal Nature continues to work as normal.
-== Problem ==
+'''Emissary of the Maker''': Any entity native to Autochthonia (mortal, spirit, alchemical) who sees your mark immediately knows its significance, and will consider you to be highly connected to the Machine God. This will generally result in a highly favorable reaction. Older gods in Creation may also recognize the mark.
-The math in the ''current'' system basically works like this:
+'''Five-Fold Synchronicity''': All five of the magical materials are now considered your "favored" material; you no longer need to commit double the motes to attune to non-favored materials. If you have particular abilities that work specifically on your favored material, they expand to work on all five materials. (For example, various shapeshifting rules interact specifically with moonsilver; these now interact with all five metals.)
-:Let R be the number you rolled.
+'''Deep Resonance''': You cut all training times in half.
-:Let T be the total 'to hit adjustment' from magic equipment, etc.
-:Let H be the number needed to hit. If you roll (R + T) &ge; H, you hit.
-:Let L be an adjustment based on skill level.
-:H = THAC0 - AC
+'''Opening the Mind's Eye''': You gain six points of specialties, distributed however you like (though, as normal, any given Ability can have no more than three points of specialties). Alternately, you may spend some or all of these points to buy [[Forgotten Suns: Science|Sciences]], where a new level costs as many points as it has dots (e.g. if you have a Science at three dots and want to move it to four dots, it will costs four of these "specialty" points). Also, you may name an additional Ability as a favored ability.
-:THAC0 = 20 - L:
+'''Soul in the Machine''': Your connection to Autochthon deepens your connection to your own nature, providing abilities based on your exalted type:
-::Knight/Paladin/Archer (bow) L = (skill level-1)
-::Archer (other)/Cleric L = (2 * (skill level-1))/3
-::Druid/Sorcerer L = ((skill level-1)/2)
-:AC = 10 + A, where
+* The solar connection to versatility deepens, providing the ability to create Combos instantaneously. You must still pay their xp cost, but learning a new Combo takes no training time at all. In addition, Combos cost two fewer xp.
-:A = negative bonus from armor - (armor skill-1)/5 - AC adjustments*
+* The lunar connection to form expands to take in the elements that make up creation. Lunars who taste the heart's blood of elementals of either Creation (air, earth, fire, water, wood) or Autochthonia (crystal, lightning, metal, oil, smoke, steam) may add the elemental's form to their shapeshifting library. Shifting info such forms costs six motes.
+* The sidereal connection to the Perfected Lotus expands, providing the ability to any martial arts charms without an instructor, including sidereal martial arts, form charms, immaculate charms and pinnacle charms. Further, costs of celestial martial arts charms are reduced by one. Costs of terrestrial martial arts charms are reduced by two.
-* Note that AC adjustments (e.g. +5 plate) make a target harder to hit, so they must be subtracted. This makes AC decrease. Since AC is subtracted from THAC0, this makes H increase.
+|instances =
+|rating = 5
-Note that A is always a negative number.
+|commitment = 0
+}}
-So, a Knight with a level 3 weapon skill against a target with studded leather and 6 levels of skill in it, with no other modifiers to either:
-:H = (20 - 2) - (10 + (-3 - 1 - 0)) = 18 - 6 = 12 (i.e. 60% chance to hit)
-What happens here is that there is a relatively complicated formula to figure out the "target number" (H), using both positive 'penalties', negative 'penalties', positive 'bonuses' and negative 'bonuses', depending on what is being adjusted. There is also an adjustment to the roll itself.
-== Solution ==
-What 3rd edition did was to tweak this idea a bit by making two simple changes:
-# Change the dynamic to a roll (modified by an adjustment) vs. a target number (also modified by an adjustment).
-# Make all adjustments positive numbers.
-This seems like no difference at all really, but it makes resolution a lot easier to understand.
-Note one thing here:
-:R + T &ge; H
-:R + T &ge; THAC0 - AC
-:R + T &ge; (20 - L) - (10 + A)
-:R + T &ge; 20 - L - 10 - A
-:R + T &ge; 10 - L - A
-:R + T + L &ge; 10 - A
-Now, remember that A is always a negative number, because AC "bonuses" are negative numbers. But what if you change that? What if bonuses are always positive numbers and penalties are always negative and a higher AC is better than a lower one. For example, what if studded leather, for example, gives a +3 AC bonus instead of a -3 AC bonus? Well, then the sign of A flips, and you get:
-:R + T + L &ge; 10 + A
-That is:
-* Your roll (R)
-* ...plus any to hit bonuses (T) (from magic or the like)
-* ...plus adjustments from your level (L)
-* must equal or exceed ten
-* ...plus adjustment from armor
-* ...plus adjustment from armor skill
-The math is actually completely the same, but you can explain the above to anyone, and they will understand and remember it within 30 seconds.
-== Even Better ==
-Something else interesting happens here as well. The result is basically a roll, plus stuff that helps the player, against a target number that is scaled for difficulty. In short, what you have here is a ''universal mechanic''. In combat, the target number happens to be based on AC, but there is no reason that other types of tests couldn't be based on something else. Want to find a secret door? Roll, add your skill (perception or the like, maybe an attribute benefit) compare to a difficulty number (ten plus some modifier for how well concealed the door is).
-Something else comes out of this as well: it is easier to scale things for the PCs. At any given level, the PC is likely to have a certain bonus available from skill level and equipment, plus or minus a few. Knowing that, you can easily figure out what AC or other targets will present a challenge to that PC.
-To convert Enroth to use this idea, all you need to do is:
-* Eliminate all mention of THAC0
-* Set starting skill bonuses (for lvl one, untrained characters) to zero.
-* Set starting AC bonuses (for clothing) to +0.
-* Instead of skill levels subtracting from THAC0, they add.
-* Instead of armor levels reducing AC, they add.
-* Change the mechanic from figuring out the number needed to hit to instead focus on the adjustments made to the roll and the adjustments made to a base target number.
-* Change the concept of saving throws to use the same mechanic (i.e. roll, plus bonus from attributes and so on vs. difficulty).
-[[Campaign::Enroth| ]]