A fistful of weird

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 1:03 am

Got some 'stuff' back from our ladies of no mercy at RSI today. A few of them have that look. You know the one, you'd swear there's a winning set-up in there somewhere but you never quite find one as good as what you're looking for. Anyway, I'll do a big posting on the RT, here I'll just put a few that seem to deserve an honest attempt.

First up, they lost the replacement I sent back 15-9-7-20-10-12-11 Str and sent this in its stead:

12-8-6-13-9-10-12

We'll dub him almost useful's prettier brother, marginally useful.
I've been looking at 15-8-6-17-15-10-13
Looks nice for base and weak in physicals for wos, slasher, lunger types. Probably make solid physicals for striker with "just a guy" skill base. Comments or better ideas?

Here's a couple, with an interesting set of problems/qualities. Ichabod, if you see one here that cries for a try of your system be sure to point it out.

6-20-11-12-8-4-9 (huh? huh? if that's not close then I need to go back through those posts and then ask questions)

4-9-15-9-9-11-13

6-10-18-9-9-5-13

5-13-11-17-4-8-12 (?!?! I mean, OK you can go 9-13-11-21-9-8-13 but what is that?)

Now here's a couple that definately have a chance...

10-7-11-11-14-3-14 (13-7-11-17-17-3-17? 10-7-11-13-20-3-20??)

10-5-12-16-9-9-9 (11-5-12-21-9-15-11?? swap will and speed?)

12-3-11-10-11-9-14

Most of the rest are obvious or hopeless, though I may make some shooting star/dixie type warriors of those. Thanks for any ideas!

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2003 6:15 pm

Were you the one who also had a low strength guy with a potential 17 WT/21 WL? Or was that someone else? There are so many RU's posted it's hard to keep track on occasion.

Lessee...

12-8-6-13-9-10-12 to 15-8-6-17-15-10-13. I'd probably make it a striker, myself. Besides, you know I'm fond of the battle axe. Just don't expect anything stellar, as this isn't the sort of rollup who'll ever TV.

6-20-11-12-8-4-9:
Interesting. Shame the wit and will aren't reversed, though. I think I'd do something nuts and go with 12-20-11-17-9-4-11 TP. If you're not up for something quite so odd, you can use the same numbers as a striker, I guess.

4-9-15-9-9-11-13:
Waste of bandwidth.

6-10-18-9-9-5-13:
See above.

5-13-11-17-4-8-12:
9-13-11-21-9-8-13 ST, or if you prefer, slasher. I rather like this one.

10-7-11-11-14-3-14:
11-8-11-17-17-3-17, can be LU, PL, or PR, your choice. The LU was a bit slow, and the others would have a minor con problem that is fixed by one con raise. Note - the only time I make a 20 and go for a raise on a non-scum is Wit. Anyway, my first instinct would be PR, as they're my favorite style to run.

10-5-12-16-9-9-9:
11-5-12-21-15-9-11 ST, definitely. This guy could be good.

12-3-11-10-11-9-14:
Where did I put that torch?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 12:46 am

Yeah, that was one of mine. 4-10-13-12-15-12-4

should have seen me fiddling about with 5-10-13-17-21-12-6 Wink

Pretty much what I thought on the replacement. Lot's of things to like, weapon selection, damage/end, decent base but not starting with enough decise to pull out an early tourney for me. Still, that's in the contest team in 74 and I believe he'd be very useful to the team performance over time given the quality and broad selection of styles there.

I was definately looking at the possibility of the sz 6 con 20 guy as a TP. Though you surprised me by prefering the str increase to will.

Good call on the trip 17, I was playing with it after posting last night and it's impressive as heck as a PR (I was amazed at the numbers with the 17 str/wit/df for a PR, nasty bugger if he learned right.)

Sometimes I see wild looking stuff I just know I'm going to run until it dies, just because it's so weird/neat. I think the one that's 3-3-18-9-9-13-15 is one of those. Torn about what would be the most fun, probably just go 3-3-18-15-11-13-21 AB. About three swings if I try hot numbers against offensives (with a dagger at that).

Thanks for the review.

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 7:45 am

Cool. With that one, I'd go 5-11-13-17-21-12-5, honestly. You could either do TP or, if that scares you away, lunger. He should get good damage to start, although it's possible to be hosed, and he's 4 raises from good endurance if you REALLY want it.

If you're not so into gambling, I guess you could go 5-11-13-17-17-12-9. Either way, the rollup is usable but not good.

The 20 con guy - you get NOTHING for adding 6 to will. You probably won't even increase his endurance. Remember Neon's famous (and very good rule) about will: 9 or 15, nothing in between. The strength raise is so that he can actually carry enough gear to make use of that 20 con.

Tripletts are generally best off as a PR if they have the con for it; they may LOOK better as lungers, but they generally perform exceptionally well as PR's.

I didn't see a 3-3-18-9-9-13-15 in your list; closest was 6-10-18-9-9-5-13. I guess you could give your guy a try; AB is damned near the only style that can work with VL endurance. Good luck, though, your design is only of moderate speed and very frail - he'll take quite a few losses. (In this case, your previous distate for very frail warriors may be justified!)

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 12:34 am

Actually, I was looking hard at the 17/21 as a TP. Was going to put the df at 6 and train once for shields though. Probably try him just to see how it works pushing them to attack.

I looked at that 20 con with no strength guy again, my prospective numbers were actually some points added to df and then whatever was left, two maybe, added to will because they didn't do anything for strength either. No matter what, he's just a pud and I was looking at boosting parry to squeeze out a couple wins early while he had some chance of it.

The Trips guy looks better as a PR than nearly anything I've checked for the style. It didn't look that great as a lunger. Normal damage/endurance I think, although the base was impressive except for the decise you mentioned. A great scum hunter if you needed one for some special situation but you can't really even hope to last on your defense when jumped if the endurance doesn't measure up. (Have this problem in 74, although that guy was always an experimental try of some weird numbers, he gets jumped regularly, rarely gets hit until he starts to tire/lower AL to keep going, but that's early enough it's hard to keep him above .500. He likes moderate OE at least and maybe AL anyway and is also most effective when someone intentionally lets him go first).

No, that complete oddball was one of the ones I called obvious or hopeless. He's obvious....ly one of the hopeless. He wouldn't take many losses though because I'd never run such a freak with numbers trying to keep him alive. He'd just be for amusement, at loss number one to perhaps three his 3 con would give out and he'd be gone but not missed.

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 6:12 am

You'd be surprised by the number of folks who'd look at the base skills on that Triplett as a lunger and decide to go for it....

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 12:23 am

Heh, I can understand for sure. My first reaction was WOW, although a six, I think, decise was sketchy. It was when I scrolled down and checked physicals I was put off. Here were all these high numbers and corresponding skills but you were going to end up with 'just a guy' anyway. Amazing records or tourney wins would be a fluke because his physicals would be letting him down against good opponents AND he had no jump. Like you said, Triplett with some con really shines as a PR. Now if his con was 3 instead of speed you'd have an offensive but probably have to be a striker. A little luck and you could win something in a lower tourney with that I expect.

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2003 5:04 am

Well, if he was a Triplett with a 3 con, he'd probably be faster, making him a decent (although not great) offensive.

Advanced Expert Poster Joined: Nov 04, 2002 Posts: 132

I'd recommend going 11-7-11-17-17-4-17 with that 'triplett' 4 Speed only gives 1 more DEC skill, but it also gives NORMAL coordination.

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2003 12:10 pm

And what good, pray tell, will that 1 DEC do a parry-riposte?

Advanced Expert Poster Joined: Nov 04, 2002 Posts: 132

It's not the 1 DEC skill that matters... it's the coordination bump that I prefer. Who wants a slightly uncoordinated PR?

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2003 6:18 pm

The extra con (and subsequent absorption, especially after one con raise to normal) will help a defensive far more than an unnecessary speed point. Hell, if you're so determined to waste a point to increase the ability to draw a backup weapon by about 5%, then speed is still the wrong way to go - at least DF of 18 gives another riposte.

In any case, the con is far more important than the coordination.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 12:38 am

Yeah, I think you can accomplish any of the desired results with the con point. I'd have no problem burning a rip at some point for the coordination on the one hand and really wouldn't care if I burned the sp too. Only something truly amazing doesn't count as a "burner" for me because only something that would be a really terrific experience to run could induce me to play beyond basic anyway.

From a purely design discussion point, the single point trains don't risk as much time taken from skill trains and get you to normal damage take early when it needs it. You lose a skill on your base as the trade for not taking sp 5, but I don't know that anybody would run this up to where that mattered if it ever did. Just as I don't think I ever heard of a PR that would be much better if only you hadn't burned that one rip skill. I certainly think it's a pretty fine line of difference between where the fighter would be at any point in its career either way, but from a method for deciding point placement standpoint the edge should fall in not risking one of those failed 5 tries for a second train with a 17 will disasters.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 5:00 am

Bravo, grasshopper!