Post originally by Benjamin (BBRACK) at 2003-07-20 12:28:34
Converted from Phorums BB System

One thing we did with the Reflexes special attribute is to give slower folks the chance to end up with an advantage in combat. The reason we made a Reflexes roll every Combat Turn instead of every Combat session was to enhance the "winds of war" effect. That unknown, random, completely indeterminate x-factor that sometimes blows your way.

Most characters have a Reflexes score between 10 and 20. That's a very small margin of difference between "fast" characters and "slow" characters on a percentile basis.

When rolling for Reflexes, you roll the Trinary dice (D% + D10). If the D% is less than or equal to the Reflexes score, then you add the value of the D10 (the Effect Die or ED) to the Reflexes attribute--gaining an advantage.

While the folks with more actions (higher Reflexes) may be able to do more things, it's still only a marginal difference over who goes first--and it is left entirely to the winds of war.

At first it's a little tedious--but after a short time, the Reflexes rolls become second nature.

One house-rule we have played with is voluntary rerolls on the turn. So, if you're happy with the number you rolled last time, you can keep it. Few combats have lasted long enough to worry about this being unbalancing--but if you wish, you can say that everyone <i>must</i> roll reflexes on the 2nd (or 3rd) combat turn and they may choose to keep or re-roll as they wish on the other turns.

(I wonder if I should post that as an optional rule on the website?)

B