Realm Guard: Rangers of the North (v1.4)

[Rafe]

Think I've gotten all the changes, and I've also put more copyright type info in.

Realm Guard: Rangers of the North (v1.4)

damiller, can you post here with the URL to the character sheet? I'd like to download it again, as I seem to have misplaced it. Also, do you mind if I upload it to my mediafire account to link in my sig?

[Saint&Sinner]

Thanks man.

[Rafe]

No worries. I went for a full title change, too. I like Realm Guard: Rangers of the North a lot better than Realm Guard, which is kinda ambiguous.

Damiller, if you read this, can you check your PMs?

[doycet]

You know what we need is a similar Chart for Realm Guard as the one they have in Mouse Guard for "Stuff that's simply too big for one person to kill."

Moose = Balrogs. Wolves = Nazgul. Trolls would be... whatever you need like 10 guys for. Like that. Granted, there aren't any nazgul and probably only a few Balrogs around, but there are other evils out there independent of Sauron.

Magic (only available to (departing) NPCs in the 4th age), Militarist, and Alchemy let you take them out with smaller groups.

[Rafe]

I like that idea, though I haven't read your other thread on Magic. I'm off to do that now. However, currently, without having read your Magic idea, I don't see that as being available. The Istari are gone and the Elves don't possess wizardly magic. I can definitely see Militarist or something like that applying, but I'm not sure I want to add a size dimension, even though I'm not aware of any Man having killed a Balrog. Elves certainly have.

It might come down to a simple issue of setting the proper goal. A group of Rangers may not be able to physically kill one with the "We kill it" goal, but perhaps they say "We'll force it under that overhang and Belchor will drop a massive stone atop it." Or "We force it into the lake to quench its flames" etc.

Anyhoo... I'll go read the Magic thread, which might supersede what I've just written.

[luke]

You know what we need is a similar Chart for Realm Guard as the one they have in Mouse Guard for "Stuff that's simply too big for one person to kill."

I agree 100%! I can't believe I didn't think of this before. It's a glaring omission.

From smallest to largest:
Bats and other vermin
Wolves, Goblins, Spiders, Hobbits
Men, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Wargs
Cave and Hill Trolls, Uruk Hai, Great Bats, Horses
Olag Hai, Great Eagles
Oliphant, Nazgul's Beasts, Shelob
Balrog
Dragons

We can use magic that modifies a creature's place. Or even magic that simply exempts a creature from certain conflicts. The magic skill in the game could be used to modify (or create) these conditions.

How does that look?

[Saint&Sinner]

How does that look?

I love you man.....

Ahm, I mean, yeah that looks cool.

[Rafe]

We can use magic that modifies a creature's place. Or even magic that simply exempts a creature from certain conflicts. The magic skill in the game could be used to modify (or create) these conditions.

How does that look?

Hmmm... sounds good to me. I'd also like to bring Tokens of Power into this. Sam persevered against Shelob thanks to the Elven starlight-in-a-bottle and using Sting, despite the size difference.

I'm thinking that a Token of Power's rating = effective reduction in size for the purposes of dealing with that creature. So, in Mouse Guard, mice as a patrol can fight creatures that are two size categories larger, correct? Let's keep that rule. Therefore, Men can normally fight Olog Hai, but one in the group would need an appropriate Token of Power (ie, one with a combat skill designation) at Rating 2 to fight a balrog, and one at Rating 3 to fight a dragon (Bard's Black Arrow). Or they'd need an appropriate skill exponent in Lore Master.

So how would Lore Master work? Roll prior to the fight to see if enough successes allow for the skill user to know that the ranger band can go toe to toe, and how? Add that to any single Token of Power's rating, since ToPs factor in, or just take the highest value in the group -- either ToP rating or Lore Master exponent? Or Lore Master + the highest ToP's rating?

I'm just throwing stuff out there.

[doycet]

Olag Hai, Great Eagles
Oliphant, Nazgul's Beasts, Shelob
Balrog
Dragons

How does that look?

It looks excellent, though I'm feeling a little nerd-tweaky about small parts of it.

Bats and other vermin
Wolves, Goblins, Spiders, Hobbits, Horses*
Men, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Wargs, Wights, Mearas
Cave and Hill Trolls, Uruk Hai, Great Bats, Nazgul's Beasts**
Olag Hai, Great Eagles
Oliphant, Shelob
Nazgul***
Balrogs****, Dragons

* - Yes, they're big, but no, they're not particularly hard to kill. Putting them on the same tier as Cave and Hill trolls means that a wolf can't kill a horse.

** - Theoden kills one single-handed, ergo...

*** - They can be destroyed. Even the witch-king can be - provided you meet the requirements - and the others were not so protected by prophecy.

**** - Just my personal opinion, but Balrogs and Dragons were kicking ass and taking names when Sauron was the sweet-talking Lieutenant of the Big Bad. Especially in the 4th age, these (and the Nameless Things in the Deeps) are just about the Biggest Bad around.