Re: call for duelmasters help

From: johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John White)

Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1992 05:02:23 +0000

In article <1992Oct15.155009.25461@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> eisen@fermat.cs.jhu.edu
(Hal Joshua Eisen) writes:
>Hello.  I'm new to duelmasters, and I just got my first set of roll-ups.
>I've seen a few people ask the net for opinions, so I thought I'd do the
same.
>I hereby invite all duelmasters players here to comment on what I'm
thinking
>about doing with the following raw material:

I'm glad to see that more people have an interest in Duelmasters!  Ask away!

>8-9-10-10-10-12-11 becomes
>8-9-10-15-15-15-12 PS
>This guy seems pretty average, with a slight bent for speed and
decisiveness,
>so I thought to give him a good WT so he might learn some stuff over time.

1) Long term warriors should have a 15 wit/will and an 11 deft (that's very
general, but it's good to start off with a very general rule, and learn the
exceptions as time goes on...).

2) If you can get a higher odd number than that (the odd numbers are the
ones
to shoot for), then do it.

3) Shoot for 17 if you can get it, or 21.  19 doesn't do much for you.

With that, we see that you can get a 15 wit/will by expending 10 points.
You
can also boost your deft up to 15, so do it (deftness is MUCH more important
than speed.  Besides which a 12 speed is relatively high; my good warriors
average a 7 speed, as the points can be used better elsewhere...)

That uses up all your points:
8-9-10-15-15-12-15

This is a decent warrior who you can run to ADM.

Style:
12 speed would direct your attention to styles that can use speed: ST, PS.

A Striker's skill levels are so bad that you need a 21 wit to counteract
them.
I would go PS (as you did) if you're looking for a speed style...

On the other hand, a 10 size is relatively large for a defensive.  You could
go more offensive with a slasher, lunger (I would start out running lungers
rather than slashers; slashers take more nurturing in ways that you wouldn't
necessarily understand), or even Parry-lunge...  I would go lunger with this
guy because 1) It's easier to learn to run lungers than any other style,
2) learning lungers may give you a "feel" for running other offensives...

But PS would work well too.

>5-17-11-9-9-10-9 becomes
>5-17-11-9-15-15-12 LU
>Since this guy had such a high CN, I thought he'd do well with an active
>style.  Is this true?  Is a 5 ST too low for a warrior who fights with the
>LU style?

I think you're trying to head off the problems that offensives have with
their high endurance burn by adding to con.  No, you don't need a high con
to counteract that (though it can help).  What is more effective is to have
a high will (which has a better effect on endurance than con and gets you a
better attack rating), and a decent strength to do decent damage.  If you
have that, then it only takes your offensive one minute to take out someone
anyway...

In the case of this guy ... again, you can get a 15 wit/will, and 11 deft.
This takes all your points:
5-17-11-15-15-10-11;  high con implies defensive- TP wouldn't be a good idea
without a 17 will, or the deftness a little higher;  could be a decent PS,
even though he's a little big;  could be a decent PL too; could be a decent
Lunger, too (but so could anything).

Tell me more about what you want to do, before making a decision...

>6-7-15-8-13-12-9 becomes
>12-13-15-8-15-12-9 BA
>This is my only guy with a relatively big SZ, so I thought I'd try a style
>which could dish out some big damage.  Unfortunately, his ST was low, so I
>figured I'd sink 6 points into it - is this a good plan?

1) Don't add to con
2) st is low.  Accentuate strengths rather than weaknesses.

You can't get a 15 wit, so write off your long-term ideas right away.

Try a short-term guy like this:
11-7-15-8-17-14-15

Striker or lunger.  DA within five fights.

>11-12-5-11-12-5-14 becomes
>11-13-5-15-15-11-14 TP
>I figured since this guy was so small, he would never hurt anything he hit,
>so I thought to try a long-term scum strategy with him.  The short intro

I have had a couple size 5's with 11 strength, and only ONE of them has
gotten
little damage (which went away after one train).

>that comes with the roll-ups implied that SP is important in parrying,
which
>is why I put 6 points there.  I could have gone for a 17 WT and a 13 WL
>instead - would this be better?

Speed has no effect on parry.  Instead it gives init, decise, defense, and
riposte.  Speed isn't one of the more important stats because it gives no
attack
or parry.

Buy the way, you happen to have an EXCELLENT warrior here, but you have to
go
for the 17's in wit/will/deft.  This will get you GREAT starting skill
levels:
11-12-5-17-17-5-17

This is the only logical design that I can come up with.  If you don't do
it,
you'll kick yourself a year from now.

Style:
I have a PL with very similar stats who has very good ratings.

Speed's a bit low, but you could go PS.  This wouldn't be the BEST thing you
could do with this warrior, though.

Wall of Steel is a very strong style that does well with low speed (the
classic
wall of steel design is with low speed).  I've been itching to run a waste
with
17 wit/will/deft, so I'd probably do this.  The downside is that you don't
have
the size for some of the heavier weapons, but that doesn't really matter as
much as you might think.  Yeah, I'd go waste.

Lunger:  Any good design makes a good lunger.  This one would be great.  He
would have the best starting ratings out of any of the warriors you could
possibly design on this team.  I might reccomment that you go witht this, as
he'll have at least expert attack from the start ...

It'd be hard to screw this guy up, though.

Oh yeah, he'd make a good TP, too.  Probably one of the best TP's from
whatever
arena you choose.  But a waste of a good warrior.

What are you looking for?

>8-5-9-13-8-17-10 becomes
>8-5-9-17-13-17-15 AB
>I had a lot of trouble deciding what to do with this guy.  He's got WT and
>SP, but which style needs those the most?  With a CN of 5 he can't take an
>active style, as he'd tire too quickly, I assume.  I thought that with
>some brains and some quickness, he'd be able to "surgically strike" to
>good effect.  Has anyone tried this with any success?

Wit, speed, and deft are the primary stats for a striker.  And you can even
run a decent one with a 13 wit.  You might want to get rid of this guy
around
the 10-15 fight range unless he learns really well, though.

AB's need a higher deft, lower (yes, they need LOWER) speed (or else they
make
wild attacks.  Believe me, I've tried it).

So I'd keep the design you have (maybe train st up one as soon as he starts
fighting too use the SC) but go with a striker.

Wait, what am I saying?  You could commit yourself to the 15 fight limit,
and
go with 11 ST, 10 will.  I would do this since you already have 2 decent
long-
term guys and one great one.

>As I was doing these guys, I noticed it was much easier (no kidding!) to
>get 15's than 17's, and in some cases I decided to go for the 15's instead
>of the 17's so that I could use the 2 points elsewhere.  are 17's so
>good that they should always be pursued, even to the detriment of other
>stats?  also, they ask me if I want to be in a particular arena.  is

If you're talking about getting 17's in wit/will/deft without going below
the
rough minimums I put forth at the beginning of all this, yes.  Definitely.
You're cheating yourself otherwise.

Remember, there are stats that are ok when they're low.  I'd be EXTREMELY
happy if for the rest of my DM carreer, I only got warriors with 6's in con,
speed, and deft.  That would be GREAT!!!  The important stats to get high
are
wit, will, and deft.  Then add some to ST if you want...

>there a good arena for newbies?  Thanks for any help!

I play in arena 58, which is a good, active arena, with lots of people to
meet.
There are a decent number of newbie managers there like yourself, so I would
reccomend it.  We could trade info, too.  58...

References

call for duelmasters help
eisen@fermat.cs.jhu.edu (Hal Joshua Eisen)
Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:50:09 +0000