[Kromm]

Originally Posted by tbone

1) Acid vials: Corrosion (Exploits 53) reduces DR by 1 per full 5 pts of basic damage. An acid vial does only 1d-3 damage. So, a standard acid vials doesn't reduce DR, and can't get past DR3 or higher. Do I have that right?

Mostly, but keep track: If three acid vials do 1, 3, and 1 damage (1 being the minimum for a corrosion attack), that's a full 5 points and reduces DR by 1. If the target had DR 3, it now has DR 2, making future acid vials more dangerous.

Originally Posted by tbone

(Side thought: Good non-magical locks in DFRPG can cost thousands of $, yet are automatically defeated by a $10 vial of liquid. Hmm, I'm not sure anyone would bother using such locks. . . )

Nobody said fancy machinery was worth the price – I can wreck a $40,000 SUV with a free rock. :) But don't overlook "these things may be difficult to find in shops." Ordinary burglars don't have acid; delvers do. On the flipside, ordinary orcs don't have acid, either, but delvers may have padlocks to protect their stash.

Originally Posted by tbone

2) The temple is open . . . or is it?: Does the temple refuse to heal Excommunicated PCs?

The temple heals anybody who can pay. It uses "mundane skills, healing waters, spells, and prayer," so it has ways to work around a mere -3. It isn't subject to penalties for multiple healings per person per day, either. In fact, the temple – like God – does not play dice.

Originally Posted by tbone

3) It's tough to be a druid: Nature's Strength reduces the potency of druidic abilities by 10% per -1, rounding down. This would mean that even the generic -1 penalty for dungeons reduces DR from the Nature's Shield ability by 1. Do I have that right?

Yes. DR 2 becomes DR 1.8, which rounds to DR 1; DR 4 becomes DR 3.6, which rounds to DR 3. Druids are mostly meant for outdoor adventures . . . where the GM can reward them with Nature's strength at +1 to +5.

Originally Posted by tbone

4) Leohippus: I was going to ask what sort of hybrid the DFRPG karkadann is supposed to be – a lion head on horse, or horse head on lion, or what? But then I remembered that DF Monsters 1 should have a pic. And it does. So questioned cancelled. (The beast in the pic, by the way, looks like a lion and horse averaged out all around.)

As long as it has four legs, sharp teeth, claws, and a horn, it's fine. There might be some variation in the amount of "horse" and "lion," but you'll be okay as long as you think "murder unicorn." Or "rhino."

Originally Posted by tbone

5) Fear the 13: Here's a deeper question: Why the cap of 13 on Fright Checks?

That's one of those "because it works that way in GURPS" things. From Exploits, p. 10:

If final, modified Will exceeds 13, reduce it to 13 for this purpose. That is, a roll of 14 or more is always a failure for a Fright Check.

From p. B360:

If final, modified Will exceeds 13, reduce it to 13 for the purpose of the Fright Check. This means that a roll of 14 or more is automatically a failure.

There's no difference.

Originally Posted by tbone

Say Normal Norm resists fear on 13 or less, and Fearless Frieda (before a cap) resists on 19 or less, thanks to spending much more on Will, Combat Reflexes, and Fearlessness. What's gained by ruling that both fail equally on a 14 or higher? Even when faced with a more easily resisted case (a small Elder Thing) that offers a bonus, Frieda oddly faces the same 10% chance of failure.

It's not the bonus case that's interesting . . . it's Fright Checks at penalties. See, for instance, the -10 for violet mold (Monsters, p. 43), the arbitrary penalty for powerful specters (Monsters, p. 51), the Fright Check at -5 for the deep beyonder (Monsters 2, p. 14), and the Fright Check at -3 for the Terror spell (Spells, p. 55). Norm's 13 might become 10 or 8, or even 3 . . . Frieda's 19 becomes 16 or 14 (both capped at 13), or even 9.

It is something of a big deal because "Those who fail a Fright Check suffer mental stun for seconds equal to their margin of failure – a potentially fatal development in combat!" There's no recovering early. So if the violet mold gets Norm and Frieda and they both roll 10, Norm is hors de combat for 7 full turns but Frieda, most likely for just 1. So the monsters hiding nearby get one free shot at Frieda, but Norm is toast.

Originally Posted by tbone

6) A big change: As DFRPG makes pretty clear on pages like Exploits 95, target SM applies to ranged and melee attacks alike. That's a pretty big change from Basic Set (which mentions no SM mod for melee); it makes wee monsters pretty hard to hit, and it means every gnome PC enjoys a -1 penalty on foes' TH rolls, and every halfling PC a -2.

That isn't so much a big change as a place where we must admit that the Basic Set dropped the ball by forgetting to list SM on p. B547. There are several places where the Basic Set implies SM applies to all attack rolls (e.g., "It is a modifier to rolls to hit you in combat," p. B19 – no mention of "ranged" – and there are others), but not the one place where it's most important. In short, the DFRPG makes something clear that's supposed to be true in GURPS as well.

Originally Posted by tbone

7) Cheetah Sprint: Say a martial artist uses Tiger Sprint to double Move, then uses Uninterrupted Flurry to take two Move actions every turn. She's now zooming along at 4x normal Move. I assume this is perfectly kosher (and fun!); am I missing anything that prohibits this?

That's how it's supposed to work!

Originally Posted by tbone

8) Holy symbols: Do DFRPG clerics need a holy symbol for anything besides Turning?

No. To be blunt: The combat application of divine interdiction (Turning) requires a prop that can be dropped or knocked away in combat. Noncombat uses (like Exorcism) do not.

Originally Posted by tbone

9) Talented medics: Chi Talent adds to what are called Chi Skills, including Esoteric Medicine (Chi), but Power Investiture does not add to Holy Skills (Esoteric Medicine (Holy) and Exorcism) or Druidic Skills (Esoteric Medicine (Druidic) and Herb Lore). Do I have that right?

Correct. In essence, a martial artist's special skills work not unlike a cleric or druid's spells. Thus, they get a bonus from the profession's special Talent, and some even require concentration and/or cost FP – see the pattern? A cleric or druid's special skills are distinct from their spells, and represent mundane teachings as opposed to magical powers, so that they're unaffected by sanctity or Nature's strength.

Originally Posted by tbone

10) Light range: For an Area spell, a radius of 1 means one hex; a radius of 2 means that hex, plus the surrounding six hexes; and so on. But my understanding is that distance for light sources works differently: a torch's distance of 2 doesn't mean the holder's hex and the hexes around it, but rather the holder's hex and up to 2 more hexes out (i.e., what would be radius 3 in spell terms). Do I have that right?

Yes. Use "distance from the source" for point sources like candles, Light spells, lanterns, and torches; these are not meant to be true areas of effect, but semicircles in front of the bearer out to the listed range. For area sources, use the rules for Area spells.

Originally Posted by tbone

Bonus question, one that I expect only an SJG insider could answer: This (now closed) thread notes that DFRPG's unusual book size (8"x10" instead of 8.5"x11") entailed considerable extra cost and labor. The question: Why was that size chosen? I like it, for no reason that I can explain in particular, but I wonder what spurred the idea. Better fit for a pre-selected box size? Just curious.

Because it's the largest size that fits into the box that's considered standard for boxed sets at games shops. Bigger and smaller boxes exist, but those are harder to shelve and not well-liked. Bigger and smaller books exist, too, but 8" × 10" is the biggest one that fits in that box, and we went for the biggest because that's easiest to read. The unboxed add-on books are the same size for consistency, mainly.