He is phenomenal - able to do it blindfolded, behind his back, one in each hand simultaneously (that is the most impressive for my money). He can even solve a 7x7 cube in under 5 minutes - look up Vcube on you tube and you'll find a number of solutions to this puzzle and get an idea of just how hard it is. He has even come up with an algorithm of his own for solving the cube -pretty cool!
I've also been teaching myself multi-variable calculus over the past couple of weeks - it is surprising how easy it is to pick it up. The basics of three dimensional vectors make a lot of sense, and the proofs of how the basics work is not that bad - mostly a pretty simple extension of analytic geometry... but reparameterizing equations seems kind of silly, I am going to have to look up why anyone would want to do it - there must be something I am missing, but it could have something to do with integral multivariable -since the reparameterized equations are in terms of the parameter s, the length along the curve (so the x, y, and z coordinates are in terms of the distance travelled along the curve rather than the arbitrary parameter of t that has no actual representation on the curve - and I suppose I just answered my own question - the new parameter has physical "reality" on the curve). But I just realized that this is probably terribly boring, and you would rather hear about the L5R stuff.
3rd Edition Revised came out a couple of weeks ago, and Masters of Magic (to go with Masters of War and Masters of Court) came out a couple of days ago. Revised fixed quite ofew ofthe errata, and introduced more errata with some of their corrections. It also added in the Spider Clan (Daigotsu's Shadowlands clan) for more interesting characters and NPCs. Here are the major new bits, all of which I'll be incorporating.
- Defense Skill while in "Full Attack" posture - Always add 2x your def skill to your TN when in full attack - this is a very good reason to buy it up, especially for the Lion characters. I am not sure if this is too good, but I think it balances out. At rank 3 you add it to your TN at all times (except full attack), so a character with defense rank 3 adds 6 to his TN in full attack, but the opponent still gets 3 free raises so he effectively only gets a -9 to his TN instead of a -15 if the raises are used to lower TN
- Defense Skill while in "Attack" posture - allows characters to use the defense skill even if they choose the attack posture; this makes no sense under their rules, but with us still declaring postures in reverse initiative, it is a very good option. You may make a defense skill roll, and the total replaces your TN from your reflexes. So a character with a 3 Ref and a 3 Def will average a base TN of 25 if they use this skill, rather than a base of 15. A normal Defense Roll would give plus 25 instead of the plus 10, but you did not need to be in full defense to use it.
- Full Defense - the full defense bonus only applies against as many opponents as your insight rank. Abilities that allow you to use your full def on someone else means both of you have the bonus against the same attackers. You can only use this bonus if you know you are being attacked.
- Heavy weapons and carapace - the Tetsubo only takes 2 off of the carapace, but removes the 10 bonus from armor, Dai Tsuchi removes 1 from carapace and 5 from armor bonus. Much more realistic, and there are still mastery bonuses.
- Feint Manuever - this is now worthwhile. Make an attack roll. If you succeed, you do no damage, but for every successful raise you called towards a feint, you get two free raises on your next attack against the same opponent, as long as you attack befor the end of the next round.
- Extra Attack - both attacks must be made against the same opponent unless you are attacking with a second weapon in your off hand. This can make dragons very dangerous, and can make some peasant weapons extremely effective (watch out for those wandering budoka masters who just look like peasants ;)
- Movement Penalties and damage - When you are hurt (+10 TN) you also take a penalty of 1 to your water ring for movement purposes, when crippled, you take a penalty of 3.
- Movement - Move Water x 10 feet per round. Full defense you may move half that distance. If you are in "Full Attack" posture, you may also attack after a full move. In "attack" posture, you may attack after a half move, or after a full move if you make a raise.
- Attacking after getting up - getting up takes a full action - If you make two raises, you may attack as well.
- Raises on contested rolls - simply declare raises and then subtract 5 x the number of raises from your final roll - this simplifies contests with multiple opponents (a very important rule with Winter Court forthcoming)
- Raises for Damage - 1 raise adds 1k0, two raises adds 1k1, three raises adds 2k1, four raises adds 2k2, etc.
- Raises for spells - a bunch of new stuff here, they basically systematized the raises for duration, range, and casting time. Each raise increases the duration by an amount equal to the base duration, each raise for range increases range by the base amount (ie 50 feet base, 100 ft with one raise, 150 with 2, etc). Each spell takes its mastery level in actions to cast, each raise reduces the casting time by 1, to a minimum of one action. (rituals take 10 minutes per mastery level, and require multiple casters). Raises are capped by Void or Ranks in Spellcraft, spellcraft of 5 gives a free raise on all spells. If you have an emphasis, at rank 7 you add that amount to your spell casting roll (mucho dangerous for specialists, putting them more on par with their bushi counterparts)
- Void points for extra actions - you may spend 2 void points to gain an additional action on a turn. It can't be an attack, but it can be anything else (including a spell - so it is possible to cast two spells if you have enough Void). You can only gain one action this way, and it could be a spell after a normal attack (for example - the Maho Tsukai attacks someone to fuel his spell and then casts the spell - so he stabs you and uses your blood to fuel the evil magic that he casts at you - risky and difficult, but oh so scary)
- You may spend a Void to add +10 to your TN for a round.
Those are the main differences, there are a couple of others that I may phase in gradually, but these are pretty straightforward, and are also pretty cool. I have a couple of house rules that we have been playing with so far, but I may as well systematize them here.
House rules:
- Delaying actions - if you have a higher initiative and you delay your action to try and see what someone will do, you can make a contested reflexes roll to act before they do - no modifiers for being "quick" or having a technique that mods initiative - you already used that and are then delaying. This way, you can see what someone will do, and then make a move based on that if you are willing to take the risk.
- Casting a spell that targets an individual you take a penalty to the TN of the spell equal to twice the ring that opposes the spell you are casting if the person is aware of the spell and actively resisting the effects (for example, you cast a Jade Strike at an Oni. The oni has an Air ring of 3, your TN to cast the spell is 6 higher). This gives people some actual resistance to spell casting, but not the full +10 TN that the books give now - it is halfway between the old system and the new one, and we'll see how it works ( I might change it to ring times 1/2 Insight rank, rounding insight up before multiplying, but I am not sure yet)
- Declaring posture in reverse initiative order, this still gives the initiative winner a big advantage.
- (NEW) Penalties for being in "Full Attack" posture happen when you declare the posture and last until your next action.
That's all for now, I am going to watch Two and a Half Men with the wife (funniest new show on TV, BTW).
1 comment:
1. Love the new Feint rules.
2. What's up with the raises for damage? It wasn't broken to begin with. 3 raises for 2k1?!?! That seems a little to monty to me.
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