DM: Advice on Struggling PRipper From: gharris@jade.tufts.edu (George W. Harris) Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1992 14:08:18 +0000 I've got a PRipper whose progress I'm not to happy with, and I was wondering if the net.wisdom agrees or disagrees with my assessment. He's 12(13)-8-6-17-13-9-19, Very Intelligent (is a very crafty fighter) (has a very clever fighting style) (has learned the finer points of parrying) (has turned avoiding blows into an art form) Incredibly Quick Highly Coordinated Very Frail Cannot carry a Lot of Weight Incredibly Quick and Elusive on his feet (making even dangerous opponents look harmless) He had Ex in Rip on roll-up. Looks good so far, right? Well, he's gone 3-4 so far, but I can live with that, since I was doing some weird things with him to start with, which probably accounts for some of that, and I don't think PRippers start off all that strong to begin with. My problem is with his skills He's got a 17 WT, great. His fights average 2.6 minutes when he's training for skills, so I don't think that's much of a factor. But he has trained skills in 5 fights, and has learned 4 skills. 0.8 per fight, ouch. It's a long way to ADM at that rate. Then, yesterday I was figuring his starting skills with some charts I got recently (thanks, Dennis). From stats alone I figure he got 17 Riposte skills. However, he's had three Rip learns, and still hasn't made AdEx (that should be at 20, right?). So, unless these charts are inaccurate wrt Riposte, he got a 1-skill *penalty* on Riposte on roll-up! For a Parry-Riposte! These two factors, plus the fact that he just lost a three-minute fight to a *rookie* PLunger, is making me believe in the luck factor, and that this fighter has it, all bad, in spades. So, do you think I should give this guy a little more time, or should I DA him now and hope for a luckier roll-up? -- The Hero Warriors "The moment had come, I swallowed my gum, Veastian Arena We knew there'd be blood on the sands pretty soon! Fighting and Dying The crowd held its breath, hoping that death Since Turn #117 Would brighten an otherwise dull afternoon." Referenced By Up