[jgants]

OK, since I left out discussions of the rules from the main review, I decided to go ahead and post some notes here for anyone not familiar at all with Palladium.

Attributes
Characters have eight attributes: IQ (intelligence), ME (mental endurance - basically willpower), MA (mental affinity - basically charisma), PS (physical strength), PP (physical prowess - basically dexterity), PE (physical endurance), PB (physical beauty), and Spd (speed of movement).

Attributes are rolled using 3d6, except that a roll of 16+ lets you roll an additional d6 and add it to the total (thus, there are no naturally rolled 16s).

Attributes provide bonuses at 16 and above. Attributes below 16 have absolutely no effect on play (no bonuses or penalties). Attribute bonuses vary - for example, IQ may add a bonus to all skills, while a high PS gives a damage bonus for melee weapons. The only exception is Spd - it provides no bonus.


Other Character Statistics
Characters have hit points (HP) to track damage, as well as something called SDC (structural damage capacity). SDC is basically "bonus" HP that is taken off before damage effects HP. Why are there two scores? I never understood that myself.

Hit points start at PE + 1d6, and add 1d6 per level.


Skills
Every character has a plethora of skills, with the choices determined by the character's class. Some skills are very narrow in scope, others are very broad. Skills are rated as percentages, and a 1d100 roll is used to make skill checks. Skill percentages raise as the character gains levels.

There are also a bunch of special physical skills that can be selected that will raise ability scores, provide combat bonuses, or increase the character's SDC. For example, the skill "boxing" raises PS by 1, adds +1 attack per combat round, and adds 10 SDC.


Experience and Advancement
Palladium uses a class / level paradigm with XP points awarded each session. Rather than just "killing monsters and taking their stuff", the Palladium experience system rewards ideas, plans, saving people, and other non-combat actions.


Combat
Combat uses a 1d20 roll for everything. Initiative is determined and every character is given the opportunity to use 1 of their melee attacks in turn before starting back over at the first character. When everyone has used all their attacks, the round is over (most characters will have 4-6 attacks per 15-second combat round).

The attacker rolls 1d20 and adds any bonuses to strike. Any roll of 5+ hits in melee combat, 8+ for ranged combat. The defender may choose to parry a melee attack (which does not usually use any of the defender's attack actions) or dodge a ranged attack (which usually does use one of his attack actions).

To parry or dodge, the defender rolls 1d20 and adds the appropriate bonuses. If the roll is higher than the attacker's strike roll, the attack misses.

Any hits do damage to armor first, until it is depleted. Only then will they injure the wearer.

SDC vs MDC
The Splicers world uses a concept called MDC (mega damage capacity) for the robots/Splicers weapons/armor. Basically, regular weapons can't damage their armor, only MDC weapons can. MDC weapons, in turn, do 100x normal damage to non-MDC structures; basically, they will vaporize anyone not wearing armor in one hit.

So, for example, if your character is fighting with rioters inside the human underground without his armor on - he's going to take SDC damage from their attacks and become injured himself. If he's out fighting robots in his Splicer suit, he'll be taking MDC damage to his Splicer armor. And once that's gone, he'll be killed.


I think that about covers all the high points. Feel free to ask for more clarification.