DM: A waste is born!

From: hlavaty@aerospace.aero.org (Grisel Gonzalez)

Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1992 21:39:44 +0000

First off, I'ld like to thank John, Dennis and Garth for their input. I (finally!)
decided what to do with the rollup. I decided to make it a waste (that should
make Dennis happy) with the same stats that I had proposed earlier (sorry
John). John suggested that I add the extra point to wit (to make it a 16) and
leave the speed at eight. I *did* consider it but I decided against it. If
it turns out that she's learning at a slow rate, I can always train the wit to
16 later. I believe that there are no skills there. In fact, I am training to a
16 wit with another of my warriors so I should be able to verify it myself
in a few turns.

> > ST 12 + 0 = 12
> > CN 10 + 0 = 10
> > SZ  4 + 0 =  4
> > WT 10 + 5 = 15
> > WL 13 + 4 = 17
> > SP  8 + 1 =  9
> > DF 13 + 4 = 17
> >
> >
> > Grisel knows more about pikers than I do (as do most managers), so
> > I'll keep my discussion to what I know.

The PS was my third choice. The PL had better ratings than the PS but the waste
had them both beat. I was using different charts than the ones that Dennis was
using so our results are slightly different.

> > If Grisel makes this character a plunger, she can expect something
> > like (I have no info on luck or SZ factors, so I've left them out):
> >
> > 	NEX Attack = 0
> > 	NEX Init = 6
> > 	NEX Decis = 10 (no info on Plunger's Decis)
> > 	NEX Parry = 5
> > 	NEX Defense = 6
> > 	NEX Riposte = 3
> >
> > Excellent defenses, but only a chance at 1 Advanced Master within
> > 120 skills.
>
>         Actually, my info suggests Plungers have no bonus whatsoever on
> Decise, however, It's my personal opinion that the Defense will come sooner
> than 6, proabbly 3 or 4
>         Other than that, I'd say you are in the ball bark

My info suggested that 4 Adv Masters were possible. The Riposte & Attack Adv
masters were virtually shoe-ins but there was also a 9%-18% chance at an init Adv
master and a 17% chance at a defense Adv Master. It looks like my defense numbers
are closer to what Crip predicted. I admit that the chances were slim for those
last two ratings but you never do know when Lady Luck will smile upon you! :)

Incidentally, the PS only had the riposte Adv Master guaranteed with a 50%
chance at an attack adv master and a <50% chance at a defense adv master.

> > Making this character into a Wall of Steel would have this result:
> >
> > 	NEX Attack = 0
> > 	NEX Init = 2
> > 	NEX Decis = 9
> > 	NEX Parry = 5
> > 	NEX Defense = 6
> > 	NEX Riposte = 3
> >
> > The offense is looking a lot better, with 2 Advanced Masters
> > possibly within reach, and uncharacteristically good defenses.  Not
> > quite Dream Warrior, but still pretty good.
>
>         Waste are a style I've never really gotten into running, but It's my
> opinion that there Riposte will be worse than this, and I supect the small
> size will result in an Initiative NEX of 4 or 5 instead

I was pretty much settled on the PL until I went through the numbers for the
waste. I was very surprised to see that they were better than the PL! According
to my data, 4 Adv masters are possible. Three of them (attack, riposte, and
init) are almost guaranteed. There is also a 22% chance at a parry adv master.
I can't wait to start training skills with this warrior! :)

Now, a reality break: I didn't adjust any of these numbers for size. As it is,
I'm already pulling numbers out of a hat half the time anyway. So it's very
likely that the init and attack aren't as likely as I projected that they will
be due to the size modifiers that Crip mentioned. Still for evey negative there
is a positive: In this case, it means that the parry rating is more likely
and that there is now a (very) slim chance at a defense adv master also.

In any case, with an average amount of luck, I don't think that 2 out of 4
possible adv master is too much to ask for, do you? :)

> > A Total Parry would have the following base stats:
> >
> > 	NEX Attack = 5
> > 	NEX Init = 8
> > 	NEX Decis = 10
> > 	NEX Parry = 3
> > 	NEX Defense = 5
> > 	NEX Riposte = 3
> >
> > The TP's adjustments literally wreck this character's off-
> > ensive stats, and don't help out his defensive bases much either.
> > Of course, this is the trade-off for all the extra endurance.

Yep, that was the conclusion that I came to when I went through the numbers
myself. And to think that I almost ruined this perfectly good rollup by making
it a TP! I wouldn't have thought to go through this kind of analysis if I
hadn't seen Dennis do it. I must admit that I have never put so much time &
effort into designing a warrior in my whole life. My prior method of choosing
styles was much more "touchy, feely" than this statistical approach.
I hope it's worth the effort! :)

> > Also, as a PR (I'm not a big fan of running PR's myself), he
> > would probably get Expert Attack and Riposte on the roll-up, with
> > very little adjustment to any other areas.
>
>         Actually as a PR, I don't think he would get any experts on his
> rollup (well maybe Riposte, but the 15 wit is the reason), but he would  be
> very close.

The PR looked better than the TP but worse than all the others that I was
considering. According to my data, an expert attack on the rollup was not
possible but there was a 25% chance that the NEX attack was 2.

> > Personally, I would go for the Wall of Steel with the numbers
> > you suggested.
> >
> > Trump

That was what I decided on too! I guess that makes *four* children for us! ;)

> My personal preference would be for the Plunger, followed by P-Strike, then
> the Waste
>
>         Crip

As I said earlier, the PL was my second choice and the PS was the third.

Thanks again guys! I'll let you all know how the overview turns out.

Grisel

References

RE:Duelmasters - A New Rollup
ccmdenis@george.ucdavis.edu (Donald Trump)
Sat, 06 Jun 1992 18:31:07 +0000
RE:Duelmasters - A New Rollup
crip@eebbs.isis.org (Garth Werner)
Sun, 07 Jun 1992 14:23:42 +0000