Difference between revisions of "MRPG Threat"

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Why do Immense weapons actually reduce Threat? Because characters can't attack with them, units consider them less imposing.  
 
Why do Immense weapons actually reduce Threat? Because characters can't attack with them, units consider them less imposing.  
  
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==Old==
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===Armor===
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Threat determines which mobs attach which players. The player generating the most threat within a mob's Field of Vision will be the target of attacks. Whenever the mob is hit for damage, it will attempt to turn towards the source, if its struck again it will turn back.
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Characters in Plate armor get 5+(Rank x 3) Threat. Other armor types do not add to Threat. Use this calculation only if they are wearing at least the chest piece or any three other pieces of plate.
  
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Threat is determined by Perceived AV, which is Variable AV subject to a series of modifiers(number and size of equipped items, quality of equipped items, etc).  
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===Weapon Quality===
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Fancy weapons are obvious. A character wielding a flashy, expensive-looking sword probably knows how to use it. Poor and Simple weapons make no difference, but Fine gets another 3 and Very Fine earns you 10. Enchantments aren't visible, but Runes on a weapon add and additional 5.
  
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==Threat Determination==
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===Spellcasting===
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Different mobs evaluate threat in different ways. These tables and equations are a sort of guidline and will be used in the final video game, in [[Mage Wars PnP|pen and paper]] the GM is encouraged to take some latitude.
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If a character has just cast a spell, they get an extra 5 Threat. If they are actively slow-casting a spell, its 15 + (RANK x 5). Knowing your enemy is going to cast something makes them a pretty clear target.
  
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Threat is determined based on five key areas:
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==Combat==
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*'''Attack Value''' - in simplest terms, the player with the highest attack value generates the most threat.
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This section covers how enemies prioritize player characters in combat.
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*'''Attack Speed''' - players who attack faster also gain notice
 
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*'''Weapon Size''' - big weapons = uh-oh!
 
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*'''Equipped Item Quality''' - shiny objects clearly draw attention.
 
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*'''Character Type''' - just so the mages don't get left out. Players who are actively casting slow-cast spells as well as those throwing a lot of fast-casts.
 
  
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===How Threat is Calculated===
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===Threat Level===
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Each area has a score associated with it, add up the scores and you get Perceived Attack Value or PAV. Whomever has the highest PAV gets attacked first, and so on, in that fashion. Different mobs may ignore certain factors, for example: blind enemies can't see how big your weapon is or how shiny your gear is.
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This is not a straight-ahead "highest threat gets targeted first". Enemies prioritize based on level and relative location, E.G. who is closest and causing the most threat. Enemy units will average out the characters threat levels, rounding up, and then attack the character who is closest and most threatening.
  
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====Attack Value====
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===Character Type===
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This one varies a bit during combat. At the start of battle, PAV uses the characters highest POSSIBLE attack value(the bigger number from the attack range). After the first round of attacks has been rolled, it uses the highest rolled attack. Characters who did not roll an attack in this round revert to using their lowest AV.
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This one is not a numeric value but just a general rule. There are three different character types: sword, sorcery, and hybrid, this applies to the mobs as well. All other things being roughly equal, sword units will go after sword characters, and sorcery mobs will go after sorcery characters. Hybrids get the bum's rush here as they count as both.
  
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====Attack Speed====
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This is not a rule the player characters have to follow, but rather the mentality of the game units.
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Attack Speed can cause some serious threat generation. Basically, for every time a character attacks during a single round, their base AV is added to threat. This does not count for the first attack, but counts double for the second.
 
  
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'''Example:''' A character has a base AV of 100, first attack PAV is unchanged, second attack, it is increased by 200, third attack another 100 is added, and so on.
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===Attacking===
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Any unit that is the target of an attack will immediately attempt to locate the perpetrator and counter attack. This may not always be successful, and if a player character's Threat is low enough, they may not realize that character was the attacker.
  
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Now, this can be used in one of two ways. Rangers and rogues may want to avoid drawing extra attention to themselves, so multiple attacks might need to be avoided. On the otherhand, a character who is acting as the party's 'tank' could make multiple innefficient attacks just to drastically increase their PAV.
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Whenever an enemy unit is attacked, it will look for the attacker. If two characters are close by, and one has at least 50% lower threat level than the other, the enemy unit will attach the character with the higher threat level.
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====Weapon Size====
 
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Size does matter, but not much. Each size rating is assigned a value:
 
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#Small
 
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#Medium
 
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#Large
 
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#Very Large
 
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#Immense
 
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Multiply this by character level, add that to PAV.
 
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====Equipped Item Quality====
 
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Works the same as weapon size. Each quality is assigned a number, multiply it by character level.
 
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1. Poor
 
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2. Simple
 
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3. Fine
 
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8. Very Fine
 
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Careful readers may note that Very Fine counts for double. It is Very Fine after all, its really nice.
 
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Only held items and chest pieces count in this check, however, they both count. So a warrior carrying a Very Large Very Fine sword and wearing Very Fine armor is going to draw some serious threat. This can also be a problem for mages.
 
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Also note that each item requires a separate calculation, meaning up to 3 items can be considered.(two in hands, one on chest).
 
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'''Mage Wars PnP Note:''' In [[Mage Wars PnP]] Your characters are encouraged to be creative and take preemptive steps to mitigate threat through roll-play. A player may, for example, opts to drape a piece of sack-cloth over his breastplate to hide that it is Very Fine. That same player may also rip away the cloth as part of a [[MPNP Flourish|flourish]] in order to draw attention away from a friend. This is called being smart, and you should recognize this.
 
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====Character Type====
 
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This one is not a numeric value but just a general rule. There are three different character types: sword, sorcery, and hybrid, this applies to the mobs as well. All other things being roughly equal, sword mobs will go after sword characters, and sorcery mobs will go after sorcery players. Hybrids get the bum's rush here as they count as both.
 
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Spellcasting gets a little bit tricky. Mobs will want to attack a mage who is actively casting a slow-cast spell, in order to disrupt the spell.
 
  
 
==Stealth==
 
==Stealth==
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Rogues(and anyone who felt like trading for it) have have the Stealth special proficiency. Stealth is a passive effect that permanently lowers PAV. It can effectively reduce it to zero, which means a mob will never attack unless actively attacked by the rogue.
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Rogues(and anyone who felt like trading for it) have have the Stealth special proficiency. Stealth is a passive effect that permanently lowers Threat. It can effectively reduce it to zero, which means a mob will never attack unless actively attacked by the rogue.
  
 
Stealth is tough as it relies on speed, inteligence, and dexterity. In simplest terms, it is making yourself look small, unimposing, or blend into the background all together. While there are no "stealth checks" there are instances where stealth is ignored.
 
Stealth is tough as it relies on speed, inteligence, and dexterity. In simplest terms, it is making yourself look small, unimposing, or blend into the background all together. While there are no "stealth checks" there are instances where stealth is ignored.
  
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'''Stealth Equation:''' PAV - ((SPD * INTmod) + (DEX * INTmod) * Stealth)
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In simplest terms, every point the character has invested in Stealth reduces their Threat by 1 point. However, this does not affect all sources of Threat. Character Level and AV-based calculations are included. Weapon size and quality are not.
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In nearly ever case, this will reduce the stealthy character's PAV down to the lowest and can even reduce it to zero.
 
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==Evasion==
 
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Characters who have the [[MRPG Evasion|Evasion]] special proficiency will have access to the Evasion Tree, which provides a whole slew of rules to mitigate/reduce these things. Rogues especially make use of this as their primary strategy is
 
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==Level Gap==
 
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If there is a significant level gap between players in a party of say more than 4 levels, in some dungeons this will cause all of the mobs to automatically attack the lower-leveled players.
 
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==How PAV Works==
 
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First of all PAV works primarily on field of vision. In most cases, it doesn't matter how high your PAV is if you are behind the mob, they can't see you to attack you. However, this is not true for actions that cause your PAV to dramatically spike. If a character does something that causes their PAV to shoot up drastically, all of the mobs in the combat zoen will take notice, turn, and look at him, and then probably move to attack. Tankety-tank.
 
  
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Each mob will have a Field of View listed on it(hope you brought your protractor). GMs do not have to be precise, but try not to be too far off base. Blindness, either by mobs that are naturally blind by virtue of having no eyes, or have been blinded by a blindness affects the calculations dramatically. Blind enemies still have the ability to "sense" attack value and attack speed, and will still be drawn to a dramatic spike in PAV, but will otherwise ignore things like weapon size/quality/etc.
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A character wearing a single piece of Plate armor cannot use the Stealth proficiency.
  
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==PnP Suggestions==
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==MPnP Suggestions==
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Since there's a lot of math in here, the GM is encouraged to take some latitude. Feel free to use approximations or to just punish uppity players. There is no I in Team, but there is a meat, as in your are dead-meat if you don't play as a team. That being said, try to look at class roles and some basics. Rogues, for example, have threat-mitigating abilities.
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Since there's a lot of math in here, the WorldShaper is encouraged to take some latitude. Feel free to use approximations or to just punish uppity players. There is no I in Team, but there is a meat, as in your are dead-meat if you don't play as a team. That being said, try to look at class roles and some basics. Rogues, for example, are all about being non-threatening.
  
 
==See Also:==
 
==See Also:==

Revision as of 17:21, 23 December 2015

Note: System being retooled for clarity.

Threat generation, or hate, determines how enemies in the game respond to player characters in combat. It governs how they prioritize targets. The WorldShaper is encouraged to play very fast and loose with this system or to ignore it all together. But if you need a rule set, it works out like so.

Threat is based around a point system. In simplest terms, the character with the most "points" is generating the most threat.

Sources of Threat

Attack Value

For every 10 points of AV, a character earns 1 point of Threat, similar to attack dice. Note that characters can earn additional attack dice without increasing their AV. This is why.

Character Level

Every level adds 1 point of threat. If the entire party is the same level, this has little impact.

Weapon Size

Large weapons are much more threatening than small ones.

SizeThreat Modifier
Small-1
Medium+1
Large+4
Vary Large+10
Immense-5

Why do Immense weapons actually reduce Threat? Because characters can't attack with them, units consider them less imposing.

Armor

Characters in Plate armor get 5+(Rank x 3) Threat. Other armor types do not add to Threat. Use this calculation only if they are wearing at least the chest piece or any three other pieces of plate.

Weapon Quality

Fancy weapons are obvious. A character wielding a flashy, expensive-looking sword probably knows how to use it. Poor and Simple weapons make no difference, but Fine gets another 3 and Very Fine earns you 10. Enchantments aren't visible, but Runes on a weapon add and additional 5.

Spellcasting

If a character has just cast a spell, they get an extra 5 Threat. If they are actively slow-casting a spell, its 15 + (RANK x 5). Knowing your enemy is going to cast something makes them a pretty clear target.

Combat

This section covers how enemies prioritize player characters in combat.

Threat Level

This is not a straight-ahead "highest threat gets targeted first". Enemies prioritize based on level and relative location, E.G. who is closest and causing the most threat. Enemy units will average out the characters threat levels, rounding up, and then attack the character who is closest and most threatening.

Character Type

This one is not a numeric value but just a general rule. There are three different character types: sword, sorcery, and hybrid, this applies to the mobs as well. All other things being roughly equal, sword units will go after sword characters, and sorcery mobs will go after sorcery characters. Hybrids get the bum's rush here as they count as both.

This is not a rule the player characters have to follow, but rather the mentality of the game units.

Attacking

Any unit that is the target of an attack will immediately attempt to locate the perpetrator and counter attack. This may not always be successful, and if a player character's Threat is low enough, they may not realize that character was the attacker.

Whenever an enemy unit is attacked, it will look for the attacker. If two characters are close by, and one has at least 50% lower threat level than the other, the enemy unit will attach the character with the higher threat level.

Stealth

Rogues(and anyone who felt like trading for it) have have the Stealth special proficiency. Stealth is a passive effect that permanently lowers Threat. It can effectively reduce it to zero, which means a mob will never attack unless actively attacked by the rogue.

Stealth is tough as it relies on speed, inteligence, and dexterity. In simplest terms, it is making yourself look small, unimposing, or blend into the background all together. While there are no "stealth checks" there are instances where stealth is ignored.

In simplest terms, every point the character has invested in Stealth reduces their Threat by 1 point. However, this does not affect all sources of Threat. Character Level and AV-based calculations are included. Weapon size and quality are not.

A character wearing a single piece of Plate armor cannot use the Stealth proficiency.

MPnP Suggestions

Since there's a lot of math in here, the WorldShaper is encouraged to take some latitude. Feel free to use approximations or to just punish uppity players. There is no I in Team, but there is a meat, as in your are dead-meat if you don't play as a team. That being said, try to look at class roles and some basics. Rogues, for example, are all about being non-threatening.

See Also:

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