DM: Basics to Roll-Up Design From: 860099w@dragon.acadiau.ca (Marty Ward) Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 21:39:51 +0000 Duelmasters: Basics of Roll-Up Design or Where to put your 14 points? [ First Draft: Jan/94 ] For new managers of the game. In Duelmasters there are no concrete answers. RSI doesn't help you, either. Because of that fact, I will give you some advice in designing the "best" possible fighters from your roll-ups. Follow these guidelines. Guidelines: (1) The two stats (or attributes) that you *must* put points into are WIT and WILL. You can not put points into SIZE and you should rarely put points into CONSTITUTION. This leaves STRENGTH, SPEED, and DEFTNESS to round out your roll-up. Many managers consider DEFTNESS to be as important as WIT and WILL, so you may put most or all of your remaining points into DEFTNESS. Why? WIT will determine how many skills he will learn in a turn. WILL will determine how well he can raise his stats. The higher these are, the better you can train your gladiator in the long run. (2) You want to make stats have odd numbers: 3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,21. Note: a 19 stat is rarely used by managers. You will learn why if you ask, but for now, trust me on this. (2a) You want to have WIT and WILL in the high numbers: 13,15,17,21. (2b) DEFTNESS should be 11 or more. STRENGTH should be 11 or better, but experienced managers sometimes use less STRENGTH. (2c) (an exception to (2) for CONSTITUTION) CONSTITUTION can be left at an even number. SIZE is unchangeable. You do not need excessively high SPEED, so don't put many points in it. (2d) A roll-up will have 84 points divided amongst 7 stats. This means you should be able to make 6 stats odd-numbered and one will be even. This even-numbered stat should be SIZE or CONSTITUTION. SPEED can be your third choice. - - - - - - Follow the above guidelines to maximize your roll-ups' potentials. I will give examples of roll-ups and how to maximize them later. Of course, there is the question of what style to choose for a roll-up? There as are many answers to this question as there are managers in the game of Duelmasters. If you go to the Face-to-Face Tournaments or live in a large city, you can talk with other players. You can read the articles in the newsletters. Write letters to players and sponsors. Finally, read rec.games.pbm as you are doing right now. :) The bottom-line: for any given roll-up, managers may pick all ten fighting styles for that roll-up. Roll-up design, choosing fighting styles, and strategy are on-going processes for managers. It will take years to learn what you like, what will work for you, and you will still change your mind and your methods. - - - - - - Example 1: A good roll-up that every manager would like. 17 - 11 - 6 - 11 - 11 - 5 - 9 Wrong: Raise STRENGTH to 21 or raise CONSTITUTION. Right: Put 6 points into WIT and WILL to make them both 17. You have two points left over. Raise DEFTNESS to 11. You're done. 17 - 11 - 6 - 17 - 17 - 5 - 11 What style? You can pick several styles. The "best" choices may be Parry-Strike, Wall of Steel, or Total Parry. - - - - - - Example 2: Another good roll-up. 11 - 5 - 4 - 15 - 13 - 16 - 6 Wrong: Raise SPEED and WIT to 21 and your left with 3 points. Can't get WILL to 17 or DEFTNESS to 11. Right #1: Raise WIT and WILL to 17 costs 6 points. Raise DEFTNESS to 11 costs 5 more and leaves you with 3. Raise STRENGTH to 13 and SPEED to 17. 13 - 5 - 4 - 17 - 17 - 17 - 11 Style: Striker, Slasher, Lunger, Parry-Strike, Parry-Lunge. Right #2: Raise WIT to 21 and WILL to 17 costs 10 points. Raise DEFTNESS to 9 and SPEED to 17. 11 - 5 - 4 - 21 - 17 - 17 - 9 Style: Striker, Lunger. Maybe Slasher. Note: #2 does not maximize the roll-up as well as #1. I just wanted to show some variation in point placement and the fact that managers may value a 21 WIT over getting an 11 DEFTNESS. - - - - - - Example 3: Send this roll-up to the Dark Arena. 17 - 8 - 8 - 3 - 15 - 9 - 10 Wrong: Really isn't a wrong way for this guy. Right: We'll try maximizing this guy following the guidelines. Raise WIT to 9 and WILL to 21 costs 12 points. Raise DEFTNESS to 12. Note: This leaves him with three stats at even numbers. 17 - 8 - 8 - 9 - 21 - 9 - 12 Choose an offensive style: Striker, Basher, or Lunger. Run him for a short time and he may have a good record. It may help your team's win-loss record. He has no long-term potential and you will have to Dark Arena him some time. Good luck and good fighting. - - - - - - [ Warning: Don't follow up my article and say that you would pick another style for my examples. It's quite useless, as I've said everybody will differ on style choice. However, if you would like to add to my guidelines, help clarify the guidelines, or give another example (made-up like mine or from one of your past roll-ups) then do so. Maybe some help with the preamble? I think I'll keep this and e-mail it to new managers that post to this group and ask questions about designing fighters. If I get more time, I'll re-write it and send it to RSI. ] Marty Ward - aka S'ym -- /\ _|\| |/|_ Martin N. Ward \ / >______< Acadia U, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada / Referenced By Up