BRCS Chapter 5

Dungeons & Dragons BRCS 3.0/3.5 Edition
21

> Try simply using this link:
>
>http://www.birthright.net/download/brcs-playtest.pdf

>cut and paste this link into the field were you normally type in web
addresses. that should do it, though please do not
>spread this link as that does not count like Arjan want it to.

Man, this goes to the list and to the forum. Where else could it spread?
:wink:

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22

My Rp thoughts.

In trying to make rp collection more accurate (a good thing), you might as well have made a rosetta stone to decipher it (a bad thing). Provence collection should be equall for all regents, while holding collections should be left for the appropriate character class, limiting the collection down to the skill ranks of the appriate skill used in maintaining the particular holding i.e. diplomacy-law, Knowrelige-cleric, and so on.

23

p97-98, Domain Action Rounds intro section

A short section, well written, not much to say.

p98-101, Events and News

Da, um, ok. No major issues. In Natural Event, it says a natural
catastrophe reduces collection for 1d6 months, but collection doesnt occur every month, so thats somewhat unclear.

Table 5-14, maybe call fair partial success instead, since it amounts
to that.

Gains and losses of regency are well explained. The wierd multipliers are
here again, another artifact of the bloodline as ability score thing.

Communication is possible only between equals.
Daniel McSorley- mcsorley@cis.ohio-state.edu

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24

p101-102, Domain Actions

Domain actions are divided into Character actions (each regent gets 1),
Court actions (the number you get is based on your court level), Standard
actions (regular domain actions), and Full actions (which are standard
actions, which the regent also spends his character action on). OK, fair
enough, and I rather like the breakdown.

The only difference Im seeing between a Standard domain action and a Full domain action is that if a character does a standard action as a full action, he gets bonuses due to skills. Problem: There are no actions in the descriptions listed as full actions`.

Of the standard actions, Agitate, Contest Holding, and Rule Holding are
listed as being available as Realm actions.

A realm action is done as a standard action, but each additional target
requires a Court action to be expended. I like that.

If a standard action is done as a realm action, must it also be full? Or
is that not required? I don`t think it is, nor do I think it should be,
but the writing seems ambiguous.

p 102, Order of Play

Domain initiative, it says is d20 + Bloodline Modifier, but then gives an
exception to say that if your bloodline modifier is less than +0, there is
none. I can see how this intended to prevent unblooded characters from
outdoing blooded characters with low bloodlines; wouldn`t a better
solution be to treat unblooded lords as having a bloodline of 0 (which
would be a -5 modifier)?

Communication is possible only between equals.
Daniel McSorley- mcsorley@cis.ohio-state.edu

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25

p 103 Resolving actions

Skill modifier- don`t like it. The regent should get to make an aid check
vs DC 15 or whatever, which provides a +2 to the action check. This
brings appropriate ability modifiers and feats into play too.

Extraordinary success- this should use the rules for extra success in
skill checks from p61 of the PHB.

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Daniel McSorley- mcsorley@cis.ohio-state.edu

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26

p97-98, Domain Action Rounds intro section

A short section, well written, not much to say.

p98-101, Events and News

Da, um, ok. No major issues. In Natural Event, it says a natural
catastrophe reduces collection for 1d6 months, but collection doesnt occur every month, so thats somewhat unclear.

Table 5-14, maybe call fair partial success instead, since it amounts
to that.

Gains and losses of regency are well explained. The wierd multipliers are
here again, another artifact of the bloodline as ability score thing.

Communication is possible only between equals.
Daniel McSorley- mcsorley@cis.ohio-state.edu

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27

Milos Rasic wrote:

>>Try simply using this link:
>>
>>http://www.birthright.net/download/brcs-playtest.pdf
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>cut and paste this link into the field were you normally type in web
>>
>>
>addresses. that should do it, though please do not
>
>
>>spread this link as that does not count like Arjan want it to.
>>
>>
>
>
>Man, this goes to the list and to the forum. Where else could it spread?
>:wink:
>
>
>
That was a problem on my end, I thought I sent it privately directly to
him NOT to the list :frowning:

Sindre

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28

Domain Action Descriptions

p 104-105, character actions. Seems fine, the travel rules are good.

p 105-106, court actions.

Build: Fortify has been subsumed into this, which is fine. The GB/action should be 1d6, to make things a little faster.

Disband/Muster: Disband says you have to take this action for each unit you disband. One Disband should affect any number of units. Muster doesn’t say how many units you can muster per action. It shouldn’t just refer to another chapter, it should have the general rule (ie “Any number of units can be mustered with one action, the muster cost must be payed at that time, they become available after one month.”) here for reference.

Occupy should inculed the effects on the adjusting domain attitude roll.

29

p 106-110, standard actions

Agitate, forces an attitude adjustment check. The old version, most
things being equal, would succeed about 50% of the time, the new one
rather less, and has pretty much no chance of success if it is opposed.
For example, agitating a province which is friendly towards its owner,
down to indifferent, will never succeed. Say its a province 4, youre
agitating with a guild 2. Unless you spend a lot more RP than the target,
your roll will be d20 + 4 (his holding) -2 (your holding), and you have to
roll less than 1 to succeed. It seems the success chance of this action
has been greatly reduced.

Also, in point (4), it says the target regents largest holding; it means the largest holding in the province, right, or are all Darien Avans
holdings protected by his law(7) in the province of Anuire?

Cast Realm Spell: shouldnt this be a full action, taking both domain resources and the regents personal attention?

Ceremony: Good to have an action for what kings do while the priest casts
investiture. This also contains the old Lieutenant action, and concrete
rules for Vassalage. Great.

Hmm, that reminds me, what happened to the old Grant action?

Contest Holding:
I like the way this reads now, 1d3 reduction if successful, if reduced
below 0 it`s destroyed. Simple, good.

Contest trade route: A temple can contest it? Why?
The DC is ambiguous. It says 10 + the level of the guild, which guild
does that refer to? If the route runs between a guild 4 and a guild 2,
which one affects the DC? It should probably be the higher one.

Create Holding: fine.

Create Ley Line: OK. Why do ley lines have no maintenance any more? 1
RP per was fine before.

Create Trade Route: fine.

Diplomacy: fine.

Espionage: I like the spy network rule, it neatly replaces the thieves get free espionages rule.

Move Troops: should note somehow that the standard action of this replaces
declare war.

Rule holding: the DC should be 10+ the target level, not the current
level. I like the way the DC goes up instead of the RP cost, so the
system works as-written for unblooded rulers, but blooded guys can spend
RP like the old system to keep the DC 10.

Rule province: The cost should be GB equal to the target level (otherwise
it would be free to rule a province from 0 to 1), and the DC should be 10+
the target level.

Communication is possible only between equals.
Daniel McSorley- mcsorley@cis.ohio-state.edu

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30

At 11:56 PM 2/23/2003 -0500, Daniel Mcsorley wrote:

>Agitate, forces an attitude adjustment check.

Just as an aside, I personally would prefer if the text went ahead and kept
the terminology of the original domain rules as much as possible. In this
case, I think we could continue to use “Loyalty” and different terms to
express the domains attitude towards the regent. I understand that intent of conversion is to parallel 3es NPC attitude rules and vocabulary, but
there are more than one examples in 3e of system features using basically
the same mechanic but applying different descriptors in order to convey
flavor. “Loyalty” is, I think, a better term for the purpose of a system
of domain rules, and if different terms were used along with what amounts
to the 3e system I don`t think anyone would find that too confusing.

Gary

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31

Error report, p. 102, Order of Play / Delaying

“…For example, a regent with a Bloodline score of 12 cannot delay her initiative below -12. …”

‘-12’ should be -11. a Bloodline score of 12 will have a modifier of 1, not 2.

32

I would like to make a case for modifiying RP collection as is presented on p.95

I agree that RP collection should be tied to skills to preserve the flavour of 3E (i.e. every class has the chance to learn and use non-exclusive skills, but some classes are better at specific skills than others), but I am of the belief that if you have a Regent who is exceptional in abilities, that they should have a better grasp of RP collection. I would tie the RP collection to the skill bonus, and not the number of ranks in the skill. This would open up the way to more utility in the use of any feat that gives bonuses to applicable skills.

What would need to be done is increase the threshholds of the RP collection percentages to reflect and average ability modifier of +1 or +2, and for higher percentages factor in character use of feats to gain full RP collection.

I too also would like to see the skill list change subtly

Province should be tied to Administrate instead of Warcraft, and Law should be tied to Lead and Diplomacy. Temples should derive their collection from Knowledge (Religion) and Administrate.

Just my 2 cents, YMMV.

-Mike

33

Originally posted by DanMcSorley
Contest Holding:
I like the way this reads now, 1d3 reduction if successful, if reduced below 0 it`s destroyed. Simple, good.

Does this mean, you cant restore your holding with a successful “rule” action? MUST you rebuild it completely? This would be really awfull for the victim…

34

On Tue, 25 Feb 2003, Ariadne wrote:
> Does this mean, you cant restore your holding with a successful
> “rule” action? MUST you rebuild it completely? This would be really
> awfull for the victim…

Isnt that the point? Youre trying to wipe them out. You can only wipe
them out in one shot if the holding is level 2 or lower anyway.

This was possible by the old rules, too, but it took two contest actions
to wipe out any holding of any level. This seems better, since you can`t
wipe out a level 10 holding in the same two actions you could take out a
level 1 holding.

Communication is possible only between equals.
Daniel McSorley- mcsorley@cis.ohio-state.edu

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35

daniel mcsorley wrote:

>On Tue, 25 Feb 2003, Ariadne wrote:
>
>>Does this mean, you cant restore your holding with a successful
>>“rule” action? MUST you rebuild it completely? This would be really
>>awfull for the victim…
>>
>Isnt that the point? Youre trying to wipe them out. You can only wipe
>them out in one shot if the holding is level 2 or lower anyway.
>
>This was possible by the old rules, too, but it took two contest actions
>to wipe out any holding of any level. This seems better, since you can`t
>wipe out a level 10 holding in the same two actions you could take out a
>level 1 holding.
>
I guess what Ariadne tried to say was a game-balance issue:
Old 2E Birthright 1 Contest successfully made a holding contested (no
RP, no GB) but 1 rule ended the contested state back to the original
value of the holding.

It did matter who was faster - the 2nd contest to totally destroy the
holding or the rule to restore it.

Now a Contest, even the first destroys 1D3 levels of the holding, which
means that with 1 action you force the owner of the holding to spend 1D3
action to re-build it to it´s former level.

This makes Contest much more costly in time and actions to spend for the
owner of the holding.

Too strong perhaps, so that the Rule action could have a special
“Restore” function to repair the full contest damage in one action?
bye
Michael Romes

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36

On the subject of regency and skills, I don’t have a problem with most of the skill choices; although guilds are a bit too math intensive. One problem I’ve run into is that the amount of regency collected gets amazingly low. A fighter recreated from an old campaign had was only gaining 6 RP from ruling all the lands in Taeghas and a law(3). The idea I am currently trying is to give 10% regency for each rank in an appropriate skill instead of using chart 5-10. This gives you credit for any useful training and makes for simple math, except for guilds, they still require excess math.