Date: Sat, 10 Dec 1994 18:02:27 -0500 From: "Christopher J. Rasmus" crasmus@mailer.fsu.edu To: Multiple recipients of listSubject: Iai & Bows
One of my players, Willow by name (character's name-he made it up before the movie came out), prefers the longbow to any other weapon. In fact, that's an understatement. He's a wood-elf (to get that extra Agility bonus-*grin*) and puts as much as possible into the development of his bow. Now, his quest for the highest possible OB is rooted in a few basic guidelines: (1) I allow multiple attacks in a round, and (2) He simply wants to be the 'Best shot in the World'.
As for the latter, it's pretty much self-explanatory. He even throws in a few Ambush skill ranks for those surprise-shots. *snicker* The way I handle the former may not be agreeable to the rest of you, but I believe it's more than fair (since everyone using melee/thrown/missile can use it). If you want to attack 2x in a given round, subtract 50 from your OB. If you want to attack 3x, subtract 100. If I had an OB of 125, I could make 2 attacks at 75 or 3 attacks at 25. For simplicity, I require that you make all attacks on the same target and any OB used to parry is taken from ALL attacks (e.g. if I attacked twice at 75 and decided to parry with 50, my attacks would be reduced to 25 each). Ok, now for the point and the question.
To further Willow's never-ending quest for OB, one character-creation session (and I don't know about the rest of you, but creating a character can involve as much time as a typical adventuring session for us!) while perusing Rolemaster Companion II (the one with a gazillion skills) he stumbled across Iai. *grin* Now, if you shoot bows or GM people who do, you'll remember that the penalty (after the 1st shot) for firing every round with a longbow is -30 (I think). This upset Willow. He mentioned Iai, and after reading it I said, "Sure." Here's how it works:
Quickdraw, right? So you can avoid the -20 penalty for attacking the same round you draw a weapon. *snicker* Except for Willow, he's drawing an arrow from his quiver! Now I know some of you are shaking your heads and thinking what a sad state I'm in when, as a GM, I give in to player's quests for OB. Not so. I've always been one for realism (or at least consistency when that fails) and, if one is to be allowed to adrenalize the drawing of a 3 foot blade weighing 3 pounds or more, why not a 3 foot arrow weighing a dozen or so ounces? *laugh*
At the beginning of each round in which he wishes to fire, Willow makes a maneuver roll (according to the rules of Iai). If he succeeds, he avoids the -30 penalty that round. If he fails, he takes the -30 penalty and shoots normally. The only possible complication to this that could occur is when he fails his Iai roll miserably. I can't remember exactly what you're supposed to do if you do that, but I make him roll on the fumble table for bows.
Well, what does everyone think? Comments and criticisms desired.
Care,
Chris
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