Quote from: Ghost Whistler;597338Forgive me, but I'm struggling to follow that!

However, I don't think rollunder is going to work; for the simple reason that it has a limited range. This means that, in a fight between two Chi wielding characters with crazy abilities/powers, they are going to end up with target numbers they simply cannot fail to beat.

If you have Dude X with his Attack of 65, which seems reasonably balanced, and then he applies his Special Attack Powerz, he adds modifiers to that which bring it up into the 80's. This doesn't address higher base scores (what if his base attack is already 75+) or higher levels of power, such as those gained through character development.

This might be reasonably mitigated in actions against hard difficulties - such as using your Lightfoot kungfu to run up and down walls like you're on wires. So that the difficulty penalty is effectively mitigated by the ability bonus for using Lightfoot. But in opposition scenarios it won't always be the case, so two people fighting each other is literally just the roll of a die.

This is somewhat of the same problem that Space Marines have in the Deathwatch rpg: they get so many bonuses for being what they are and using what they are equipped with that it gets a bit silly.

I can't see a way around this.

I would say two things

In unopposed situations I think its fine that your Wuxia Chi master won't fail. He can run over roof-tops, stand on the branches or willow trees whatever. that is fine he is a Chi-master.

Now in an opposed roll situation a chase across rooftops, a fight etc the other Chi master will roll as well. You can do this with an effect number model (both roll under and the one that gets most under is the winner) but the maths is tedious so a bonus and roll highest is just easier to work out and as you say allows limitless power growth.

If you use a system that generates an effect number, be that from who rolled the most under their skill or who rolled the highest total, you can use that same mechanism for general skill resolution and complex tasks. So you need to get 500 effect points to repair the propulsion drives. each roll takes 1 hour of time . Now you can roll per hour to see how long the task takes.

Ok, rather than start yet another thread I will post here, the outline for a system thus far. It uses three basic mechanics (aside from multple die types): Attibutes (Martial, Genius, Presence, Speed, and Awareness - the first two are essentially combat/strength, and intellect), Skills and cool Chi powers called, broadly speaking Chi Arts. I won't list the skills because I haven't invented them yet, likewise for Chi Arts. The function of the latter is to enable character efforts to be able to deal with impossible level difficulties.

In some areas these ideas borrow quite plainly from other sources, but a good idea is a good idea so bollocks to it.

The core of the mechanic is to equal or beat a prescribed difficulty level - and, if present, the opposing result as well. Likewise the opposing result must be the difficulty level. This may seem to some a bit more convoluted than necessary - why not just have the two results compare. I'm glad you asked; this is to represent the different circumstances of each individual: two people fighting each other could be acting from very different circumstances. One could be defending while balancing on a burning beam, while the other is on stable ground firing a braced pistol.

Attributes are rated in terms of a die type - d4-d10.
Skills are rated 1-5, Chi Arts both a die type and a number (see below, this may change). Chi Arts also cost Chi points (an obvious resource) to activate.

Sometimes modifiers apply: these are known as Fortunes and Misfortunes. The former come from advantages, like assets in Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (and Misfortunes like Complications). They can come from environmental factors or from the actions of others. Success on a roll can be used to generate such things by virtue of the effect (see below). Fortunes and Misfortunes are rated like attributes with a die type rolled and added when used.

Misfortunes are a bit more awkward, they are used by the opponent of a character bearing one. This is done because it doesn't penalise the player, but gives the opponetn an advantage. I feel this is more appropriate to the Wuxia genre.

Essentially Fortunes/Misfortunes are the only source of modifiers: it is simply result vs. Difficulty/Opposing value. Not a laundry list of bonuses and penalties. Difficulty should encompass what the character faces, Fortunes are what he can use (and create) to take advantage to help his effort.

So to resolve an action the player rolls his Attribute die, adds a Skill, if possible, adds Fortunes where appropriate and compares to the Difficulty (the specific numbers are open to tweaking, as necessary):

Everyday - 3 (effect d4)
Average - 7 (effect d6)
Tough - 10 (effect d8)
Impossible - 13 (effect d10)

Effect = when using an action to create a Fortune or impose a Misfortune on someone or something or the environment at hand, the level of difficulty met by the final result determines the die used.

It can be lower if chosen? Why? Well anytime a d4 is rolled, the player gets a Fortune Point, which is a bennie he can use to improve the chances of success on subsequent actions (I would conflate this with Chi...possibly, but Fortune sounds right though multiple uses of the same word isn't ideal). A fun quirk stolen from MHR. This might be a bit weird when used with Misfortunes.

Chi Arts then:
The idea is that the die type represents the level of cultivation the character has developed in that ability. Cultivation, also featured in Legends of the Wulin and it's precursor Weapons of the Gods, is a key aspect of the idea of Chi. It is included here, pending further development, because that flavour is important (otherwise it's just people with cool powers!).

The number represents the power of that ability. The two values are there to enable the character to, eventually, pull off crazy stunts (hence the Impossible level of difficulty), and to represent both aspects of Chi power. When a Chi Art is used, and paid for, the player adds the roll of a die and the associated number to his total. NPC's may have just a single larger number to shorthand this; GM's don't need to roleplay their journey of Chi development after all.

So that's it. I have no idea if this will work, or whether it will offend potential players. If it does, well balls.