----- Original Message -----
From: “Michael Romes” <Archmage@T-ONLINE.DE>
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 6:10 AM
> The Khinasi regional feats on p. 25 of the BRCS in table 1-6?
No, the regional feats I devised. Some years ago I looked at the war cards
and observed that each nation had a consistent set of advantages and
disadvnatages, and those play into my feats.
As a result of this study, and historical analogy, I see the Basarji on
light warhorses capable of great strategic speed, not just a slightly faster
tactical speed. I take the Plains States to be like the great steppe which
produced all the great pastoral peoples. So the cavalry tradition is going
to be more Mongol (or Turkish) than it would be Arabic. They only nation for
whom the Composite Shortbow is a martial weapon, rather than an exotic
weapon is the Basarji. I have a feat that allows a Basarji to train their
light horse for more speed, so that when a character rides a horse so
trained, they get a +10 speed. I have a Basarji feat called Skirmish, which
is just like Shot on the Run, except its based on riding a mount (so the
total distance canr exceed your mounts normal move) and the prereq is
Mounted Archery.
> The difference I see would be more the type of barding Anuireans use
> (heavy barding that slows the heavy warhorse from 50 ft to 35 ft. while
> Khinasi would use medium or light barding so that they need not use
> light warhorses to have faster horses than Anuireans.
The purpose of a heavy warhorse is for shock action, and Basarji cavalry is
designed more for light cavalry tactics (skirmish, raid, pursuit) rather
than heavy cavalry tactics (charge and break the enemy line). Look at
Anuirean units, there are both Knights and Cavalry. They have heavy and
light cavalry. Going by the ratings of the units, Rjurik, Brecht and the
unit called “Khinasi Light Cavalry” is more like Anuirean Cavalry than it is
like Anuirean Knights. There are some specialized units, say the Blackgate
Stormlords who are knightly, but in general, only Anuireans have heavy
cavalry. If I wanted a unit of Basarji heavy cavalry, indeed I would
proceed as you have described and make them lightly armored (Speed 3,
Defence 3) compared to the Khinasi Light Cavalry (4-2) or Anuirean Knights
(2-4). They would be rare.
> Plainsrider seem to fit to all horses from their description.
This is an insult to Anuirean horsemanship, I think. I give this feat to
both Anuireans and Basarji characters. Both are preeminent horse people.
> Has [the Int bonus] any other effect?
The same effect that the Paladin`s warhorse has when its Int increases by
the Paladin`s level. A creature that has an animal intelligence can only do
what is either totally natural (you can feed your horse) or what you have
trained it to do (tricks, see Handle Animal). An animal with a higher Int
can do was a person of that Int can do, with regard to animals, you can
analogize to children of that many years of age. An animal with a 7 Int can
follow instructions suitable for a 7 year old child. If you send an animal
with an 11 Int out with the instructions, “bring me a druid” you`ll either
get a druid or you`ll be told there were none found. If you ask an animal
with a 6 to find a druid you might get a hermit, a ranger, a scion, or
anything that matches the animal`s conception of what makes a druid a druid.
This problem gets larger the less experience the animal has with drudis.
The Int 6 animal with a lot of experience with druids will do better than
the Int 6 animal without. The Int 11 animal will do reasonably well in
either event assuming that druids are not totally unfamiliar. Smarter
animals can manage a two-part discription better than lower Int animals. If
you describe a ranger as a “nature-warrior” the smart animal tests every
case for both desriptions, the other animal might bring back druids or
knights, which only match one of the descriptors.
There is no substitute for using children as models for low Int creatures.
Experience with little ones gives you good ideas about what kinds of errors
in reasoning will be common with low Int creatures, because it provides a
functional framework for dealing with semi-intelligent animals, something we
have no real experience with. A paladin`s warhorse with a 6 Int is already
as smart (or smarter) than a chimpanzee.
It also stands to reason that if Handle Animal works the way it does with
creatures of animal Int, you could give the task a +1 bonus for each 2
points of Int of the animal beyond 2. A warhorse with an 8 Int would give a
+3 bonus to the task. Presumably, they could learn more and more complex
tasks too.
I would apply Piaget`s four stages of reasoning to the Int of animals this
way. Creatures with animal Int are in the Sensorimotor stage. They can do
things that animals can do. Animals between 3-7 Int (inclusive) are in the
Preoperational stage. They can reason and follow instruction, but their
thinking lacks system and so is often wrong. Animals between 8-12 are
Concrete Operators. As long as they deal with concrete (real) things they
reason pretty well. Animal beyond 13 can reason abtractly. They are Formal
Operators.
All humanoid characters become concrete operators when they get to be
teenagers regardless of Int, exepting, perhaps, the really low Int
characters. Today it is estimated that only a third of people in
industrialized contries every really get to formal operations, so I would
limit this kind of reasoning to PC`s, characters with high Int or Wis, and
the like. Some characters, say an expert craftsman, might be formal
operators with regard to their craft (pricing, crafting, bargaining,
appaisal, learning new techniques) but are concrete operators everywhere
else.
> Even Knowledge (Planes)? brrrr
This would depend on the cosmology of the campaign in question, but in
general yes. I see no reason a paladin of Avani could not learn about the
Shadow World (Avani combats it) or the realm that Avani dwells in. Interest
in other planes (where does Haelyn live?) would fit under just a general
quest for knowledge suitable to all followers of Avani. Obviously, if
something doesn`t exist in a specific campaign world, you cannot know about
it. So even if the only other plane in a game is the SW, the Knowledge
(Planes) is effectively Knowledge (Shadow World). For the two reasons
above, this makes sense.
Kenneth Gauck
kgauck@mchsi.com
