Editing Samsara:Attributes (section)

==Contest Rating==
This is the most simplified system of modifiers.  There is only one modifier, called the Contest rating.  Use this number for any contest that occurs with this character.   Is this realistic?  Not entirely.  

But it is simple and really, how much do you need to know about Guard #3?  He has a Contest rating of +2.  He can probably defeat most average folk (though not overwhelmingly) and will be easily handled by anybody competent.  Done and done. 
	
This is even more useful for non-entity opponents.  The masterwork which the artist from Chapter 1 was trying to create has a Contest rating.  It only needs to represent one thing: how hard it is to compose.  You don’t need any other information about it.  Ditto the sudden storm which the character must use his survival skills to outlast.  The contest rating is the modifier subtracted from the character’s PER + STA + Outdoorsman roll (or whatever attributes you want to use for survival skills).

===Goon Squads===
One Contest Rating can also be used to describe multiple antagonists.  Heroic types frequently contest with groups of essentially unimportant foes.  Such enemies are sometimes called “mooks” or “goons”.  Goons are individually quite weak, more-or-less average folks whose only strength lies in numbers.  Evil geniuses tend to collect such fellows; think of the old Batman show.

Since goons act as a group, for contest purposes consider them one actor.  They have a default Contest rating of +1 for each individual goon in the mob.  So if our old friend Captain Smashing is lured into a dark alleyway by six henchman of his arch-nemesis, Baron Vile, when they come to blows, the good Captain will contest with an opponent with a +6 Contest rating.  This would be enough to overwhelm an average fellow, but fortunately, Smashing is an expert swashbuckler and can easily handle these villains.

Since goons act as a group, they make one contest roll which represents all of their actions.  Vile’s goons thus roll d12 + 6 – Smashing’s relevant abilities as the sole mechanical representation of their combined actions.  Each check delivered to a goon squad means that one of the goons has been removed from the contest.  If Smashing delivers two checks, then two of Vile’s cronies have been rendered corps de combat in some fashion.  

As always, bear in mind that combat examples are the easiest to visualize, but contests are not limited to fights.  A gang of teenagers ridiculing someone and attempting to destroy their confidence is an example of a social contest involving goons.  A Senate confirmation hearing might be a mental contest in which the Senators act as a group to try and confuse the nominee.

The default of +1 Contest rating for each individual goon is only a baseline.  If your goons are tougher than average (a goon squad composed of zombies, perhaps), then make it +2/individual.  If the goons are weaker (a horde of teddy bears attack the character), then make it +1/3 individuals.  If you change the baseline, that changes the effect of checks delivered.  In the Great Teddy Bear Massacre, every check delivered to the stuffed beasts means that three bears are removed from the contest.


[[Samsara:Main Page|Main Page]]

1.[[Samsara:Fundamentals|Fundamentals]]

2.[[Samsara:Contests|Contests]]

3.[[Samsara:Modifiers|Modifiers and the Character]]

4.[[Samsara:Attributes|Attributes]]

5.[[Samsara:Abilities|Abilities]]

6.[[Samsara:Motives|Motives]]

7.[[Samsara:Checks|Checks]]

8.[[Samsara:Character generation|Character Generation]]

9.[[Samsara:Samsara points|Samsara Points]]

10.[[Samsara:Long term play|Long Term Play]]

11.[[Samsara:Examples of play|Examples of Play]]

12.[[Samsara:Ultramundane abilities|Appendix A - Ultramundane Abilities]]

13.[[Samsara:Settings|Appendix B – Settings]]