Question: Something I've had a discussion with my ST lately: he thinks that you do not add Epic Dex to DV at the Hero level. I went and looked at the character sheets of your current players, and it looks like a lot of the numbers are just not calculated right. In some cases, Epic Dex has not been added, in some cases Legend hasn't been added, and in some cases neither seems to have been added in. It left me seriously confused, though I suspect it's just that some of the sheets aren't up to date.
Well, first of all: your Storyteller is wrong. Epic Dexterity is always added to dodge DV, regardless of a Scion's level. Randomly not adding it at Hero doesn't make any sense at all, and I'm not sure where he could have gotten that idea unless he's confusing it with the fact that parry DV doesn't add Legend (but that's always, not just at Hero).
However, it is totally true that the DV values on our character sheets aren't always accurate, and we apologize for any confusion. As a generality, we update their stats and powers every week after game, but we (by which I mean I, Anne, because I do the updating) sometimes (and by sometimes I mean often) forget or don't bother to update the calculated values. Other pre-calculated values like run speed, lifting capacity or resistance rolls might also be wrong on some sheets; we usually redo them after a large event like going up in Legend or a big stat shift, but the rest of the time don't waste a lot of time on it. Our players know how to calculate those things, so as long as the stats are right, they can figure out their DV and soaks.
But you're right; that's confusing for everyone who isn't actually at our table, and I apologize. Since I know that pledging to do better in the future won't help you right now, I'll do a couple of different level DV calculation examples here; a god-level example who primarily uses dodge DV (Eztli), a god-level examples who uses parry DV (Sowiljr) and a hero-level example of both.
Eztli is Legend 10 and has nine dots of Dexterity, eight dots of Epic Dexterity, nine dots of Athletics and nine dots of Melee. DV is calculated according to the normal formula - (Dexterity + Athletics + Legend) / 2 + Epic Dexterity successes - so her normal dodge DV is 43. If she chooses to use Untouchable Opponent, she can bump it up to 51 for the scene. Her parry DV is calculated with its normal formula - (Dexterity + Melee) / 2 + Epic Dexterity successes - but since that only comes to 38, she'll almost always be better off using her dodge DV instead.
Sowiljr is Legend 10 and has six dots of Dexterity, six dots of Epic Dexterity, seven dots of Strength, seven dots of Jotunblut bonus Strength, seven dots of Epic Strength, zero dots of Athletics and six dots of Melee. His normal dodge DV calculation would be (6 + 0 + 10) / 2 + 16, which comes to a DV of 24. However, he also has Empowered Deflection and Legendary Parry, knacks which allow him to add his Legend to parry DV and use his Strength instead of his Dexterity, so the calculation for his parry DV becomes (Strength + Melee + Legend) / 2 + Epic Strength, giving him a DV of 37. He'll almost always want to use his parry DV instead of his dodge DV.
And for some examples from a current Hero game:
Yadi is Legend 4 and has three dots of Dexterity, one dot of Epic Dexterity, three dots of Athletics and two dots of Melee. Her dodge DV calculation is (3 + 3 + 4) / 2 + 1, which equals a DV of 6. Her parry DV calculation is (3 + 2) / 2 + 1, which equals a DV of 4. She'll almost always want to use her dodge DV.
Darrius is Legend 4 and has two dots of Dexterity, one dot of Epic Dexterity, three dots of Athletics and one dot of Melee. His dodge DV calculation is (2 + 3 + 4) / 2 + 1, which equals a DV of 6. His parry DV calculation is (2 + 1) / 2 + 1, which equals a DV of 3. He'll almost always want to use his dodge DV.
Paniwi is Legend 4 and has three dots of Dexterity, one dot of Epic Dexterity, four dots of Strength, three dots of Athletics and five dots of Melee. Her dodge DV calculation is (3 + 3 + 4) / 2 + 1, which equals a DV of 6. She has Empowered Deflection, so her parry DV calculation is (4 + 5 + 4) / 2, which equals a DV of 7. She'll almost always want to use her parry DV.
Hopefully that helps clear up any confusion we may have caused with our lackadaisical sheet updates. Dodge DV always adds Legend, no matter what Legend rating a Scion is; parry DV never does unless a Scion has a knack to cause it to.
Thank you for clarifying that.
ReplyDeleteI guess he was concerned about the disparity of Dv between the more combat savvy, and the less combat-savvy characters.
Yeah, DV can be pretty widely differentiated between combatters and non-combatters; they pay for having exponentially bigger brains or powers of persuasion by being slow or unable to avoid getting shot in the face. Of course, combat characters can have much lower DVs along their spectrum, too - a super high-strength grappler could have a rock bottom DV at the same time. It all depends on where a player chooses to put their points.
DeleteHow do you get six dots of melee without a single dot of athletics? Melee is a very athletic process!
ReplyDeleteNot every melee character knows how to jump/dodge/lift weight and such. Melee is just a measure of how well you know to swing your weapon, and bring to bear against your opponents. Yes, most melee character would probably pick up some athletics, because it can help you do cool stunts, but it is not required by any means.
DeleteAlas, poor Geoff! He used to have some Athletics, but he was bad at them one too many times in front of mortals, and picked up a cult whose Fatebonds slowly destroyed it.
DeleteMelee in Geoff's case means he's an absolute master of the techniques and theory of swordcraft; few even among gods know their way around a broadsword better than he does.
I find it really weird that with all the house rules y'all have, you never adjusted Parry DV itself to make it more even with DDV. You can buy Knacks to fix it, but why not just address the problem of PDV being *lame* directly at the source by altering how it's calculated?
ReplyDeleteThe same reason we never "fixed" perception to guns. We feel they are more like specializations
DeletePreferring to parry instead of dodge and using guns? ..I guess I can see that, especially for guns. It seems that a whole LOT of types of characters would be more the "stand firm and parry" instead of the duck-n-weavers that love Dodge.
DeleteThere are probably many types of characters types like that. And all they have to do is purchase a few knacks(or get them with the str they're buying already). Its a very small investment to get powers others dont have(by default).
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