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Part 1 - Introduction Rolemaster Standard System (RMSS) vs Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying (RMFRP)
In 1995, ICE came out with Rolemaster Standard System Rules, RMSS (or RMSR) for short. Close to 30 titles were published under the RMSS title. Most of these had a brownish border on the cover with an inset picture, with the title usually in red, but occasionally in blue. |
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This left players with an incomplete set of books for the RMFRP system, particularly since some of the titles proved to be difficult to get hold of. Most gaming groups will have players that have some sort of mix of books between the RMSS and RMFRP systems. |
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In December of 2001, ICE was purchased by Aurigas Aldebaron LLC, an intellectual property ownership company backed by several wealthy individuals. Aurigas immediately replaced the former ICE management with part of the management team from ICE and its own senior representative. In addition, some of the former employees were recruited, and ICE has since recruited new employees. Two additional titles were released with the reddish cover, then additional titles have been released with a deep red border, a new "Rolemaster" logo, and the title in white. These are still part of the RMFRP line. The purpose of this series of articles will be to give a detailed comparison between Rolemaster Standard System and Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying. There are several reasons for doing this. One is to help people decide which books, if any, they may want to replace/purchase. Another is to assist GM's in knowing what to expect when they are dealing with a group of players that will have assorted versions of these books. I hope to present enough information that if you have the book from either system, and this series of articles, you will have all you need to come up with a consistent set of rules for your gaming group. |
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Part 2 – Compilation Supplements There are several supplements that came out for Rolemaster Standard System that were basically subsets or reprints of material in other Rolemaster Standard System books. These are listed here for completeness, but won't be dealt with individually in much detail. The material in them will be covered under the product that the material was derived from.
Rolemaster is a detailed, state-of-the-art FRP system that adds realism and depth to your campaign without sacrificing playability. Rolemaster:The Basics provides all of the elements that you need to learn to play in one of the most realistic FRP systems available. Experience the ultimate in fantasy role playing, Rolemaster. A simplified version of the Rolemaster System, offers a subset of the main rules to get you started. |
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A collection of the most commonly used tables. |
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This book contains everything that a beginning Rolemaster player needs to know about how to play. This solves the problem of trying to introduce new players to Rolemaster, only to have them balk at the immense volume of information to absorb. In addition, veteran Rolemaster players will find the pre-generated characters and summarized rules a great reference! A subset of the Standard System rules with a general overview of the system and several sample characters. |
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5504 Rolemaster Character Records Rolemaster Character Records features customized pages for each of the 16 races/cultures in RMSS, a weapons skill sheet that provides a master listing of all weapons & their categories, and a spell skill sheet that provides enough space to list all levels of spell development. |
The Rolemaster Annual 1996 provides replacement pages for certain sections of the RMSS (to reflect 1996 additions to the system), as well as providing master tables for many areas of the system. In addition, the Rolemaster Annual also provides character record sheets for the new races and professions in the RMSS (these sheets are not available in any other product.) All pages are provided in an easy-to-use, 3-hole drill, and perforated format. |
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This product brings to you the necessary components of the RMSS that have been updated over the year of 1997. Inside you will find the updated Master Development Point and Master Training Package Tables. Skill and skill category character record sheets have been added for the new professions, and blank record sheets have been added for the genre books. With new spell skill development record, Master spell list, (pages have been updated to reflect the new spell lists in the system) and a Master Height and Weight table for all the races of the RMSS. Three-hole drilled, perforated. |
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Boxed set that contained Rolemaster Standard System, Spell Law, and Arms Law.
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There are several supplements that came out for Rolemaster Standard System that weren't reprinted in any form for Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying. These remain the most up to date versions of this material and can be used with Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying without difficulty. |
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Weapons Law: Firearms provides all of the tables and information you need to resolve combat involving firearms from the Renaissance to the modern day. Weapon Law: Firearms gives you more than 40 attack tables covering all firearms through the modern day, new critical strike tables, and a new weapon failure table. You'll find complete statistics for over 500 specific weapons covering all major areas and times from medieval to modern, and rules for incorporating firearm combat into your role playing game This book is now available for purchase as a pdf file from the ICE Store |
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5541 Race & Cultures : Underground Races Come to the depths of the world and explore these fully detailed cultures! Each of the underground races in this volume, including Dwarves, Gnolls, Gnomes, Goblins, Halflings, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, five different kinds of Orcs, and Troglodytes, has pages of specialized weapons, lifestyle and religious notes, training packages, spell lists, adolescent development tables, and much more! In Races & Cultures: Underground Races you will find all manner of lore about those peoples who dwell beneath the earth! |
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Inside this sourcebook, you will find details on the history of castles, the construction of castles, the folk who dwell in and around castles, as well as how castles age to become ruins. |
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Now you can probe the origins of the most powerful, but hardest to control, type of magic: Arcane. This companion explores the dangerous world of Arcane spells, the professions adopted by the Arcane spell users, and the ancient and powerful Arcane spells themselves. Includes four new professions, 46 Arcane spell lists, and new spell attack and critical strike tables. A Spell Failure table unveils the risks and perils of using Arcane magic. For Gamemasters, we include a discussion of Arcane magic, as well as rules for controlling the acquisition of Arcane magic. |
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The Martial Arts Companion adds true depth to martial arts in your game. Whether you run historical, fantasy, or even modern day campaigns, the rules in this product will assist you in giving martial artists the strengths (and weaknesses) they deserve. With new and redesigned martial arts skills, examples of historical martial arts styles, guidelines on how to make the concept of martial arts fit into your campaign, and rules to customize martial arts styles. Introducing new variants of the Monk profession with new and revised spell lists for each, and new attack tables for martial arts weapons. |
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From forgotten tomes of magic to the schools of wizards, now comes forth a deeper exploration of the realm of Essence! The Essence Companion delves deeply into the magical realm of Essence magic. Inside, you will find new professions, variant rules, new options, and a wealth of spells. NOTE: Due to contractual problems between the authors of the Essence Companion and the original ICE, a large part of the print run for this supplement was destroyed and as a result it is very difficult to find a copy of this particular supplement. The good news is that the Guild Companion has made arrangements with the new ICE and the authors and will be making this available as a pdf file in the near future. |
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Black Ops brings you into the complex, and often dangerous world of modern day covert operations with new rules for creating characters and handling combat. Inside this genre book you'll find 3 new professions, training packages for modern characters, and guidelines for using Weapon Law in the modern world. You'll also get equipment lists, guidelines on terrorism and counter-terrorism, a timeline of major world events, and sample adventures. |
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Pulp Adventures gives you everything you need to run adventures in the pulp genre, from GM info on the nature of the era to guidelines on how to resolve dramatic chase scenes. Includes three new professions for characters in the pulp world-the Academic, the Technician, and the Noble Savage; more than a dozen new training packages; and details on how to adjust the RMSS skill system for use in the pulp era. With guidelines on how to use Weapon Law: Firearms to provide a fully detailed combat system for the modern world, details on how to use magic in the pulp era, and equipment lists for characters in the pulp world. |
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In the not too distant future, technology has spawned a darkness no one knew could exist. The darkness swept like a tidal flood across the Earth, threatening to make mankind just another extinct species. But from Earth's own shadowy corners arose a savior in the form of a Dark Angel. Now, the human race struggles to live from day to day, torn between two evils... torn between two shades of Darkness. Shades of Darkness features new training packages, rules for blending lost technology and fantasy, guidelines on how corruption affects characters in play, and new spell lists. |
| Part 4 – Reprinted Supplements This section deals with the books in RMFRP that are basically just reprints of the RMSS books. Arms Law
Put fast and furious combat into your adventures with the critically acclaimed Arms Law. Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing has combat power, but Arms Law gives you more: more weapons, more critical hit tables, and more carnage for your game. With Arms Law, players and GMs will feel the battle rage around them and leave their foes bleeding in the gutter. The first two items (5520, 5801) are virtually identical, even down to both of them missing a row for a result of 60 on the Dagger table. However, they did fix the typo for a result of 149 against Armor Type 10 on the Broadsword Table in the RMFRP version. It now has it properly listed as doing 22EK instead of 18EK. The RMFRP version eliminates one extra printing of the Krush Critical Strike table. The chart on page 92 in RMFRP is missing the listing for 4.14 Non-Weapon Fumble Table, but the chart itself is in the book. A couple of the appendices on how to use Arms Law with Rolemaster that were in the RMSS version are missing from the RMFRP version, these are "The Tactical Combat Sequence" and "Maneuvering and Movement" and "Optional Rules". Several charts are also missing. In April 2003, a new version of Arms Law was released for RMFRP, the first product to use the new Rolemaster logo. This version of Arms Law is an 80 page saddle stitched book instead of a 120 page square bound book like the previous version. Most of this space is gained by not including the half size Critical Tables on the backs of the Attack Tables. This is the first version to actually change the attack tables, replacing the single number progression used in previous versions with a smoothed progression, i.e. 67-69, 148-150. This is the same way the Attack Tables for Spells are done, as well as the Attack Tables for Spacemaster. This style of table was also use in The Armory, an Arms Law supplement which was released in 2002. The Armory had also introduced the idea of a weapon having a primary critical such as Slash and for many of the weapons, one or two alternate criticals that the attacker has the option of choosing. The choice must be made before the attack roll is made, and there is set penalty ranging from 5 to 30 points that is subtracted from the attack roll if the alternate critical is selected. This is also used for many of the weapons in this new version of Arms Law. Another change is that the weights and lengths of some of the weapons
have been adjusted after comparison to historical weapon weight and
lengths. NOTE: Since originally writing this article, it has come to my attention that there are more differences between the 2003 (5810) version of Arms Law than previous version than I first realized. Some discussions about the differences can be found on the ICE Forums at: http://www.ironcrown.com/forums/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=3122 I intend to do a more detailed study of these differences and create a summary of them for this article eventually Creatures & Monsters
Encounter dragons, sprites, gorgons, saber tooth tigers and foes of all stripes, spots and scales. Even a herd of elephants or a leviathan dragon is not too big for ICE's comprehensive bestiary for Rolemaster. This is a compendium of information and statistics for two key elements of fantasy role playing: creatures and encounters. The RMSS version has 320 pages whereas the RMFRP version only has 208 pages. Most of this space was gained by eliminating the basic statistics that were listed under each individual monster. This was information that was duplicated from the tables at the beginning of each section anyway. If nothing else, it solved the problem for some creatures like the Winged Panther where the information on the chart wasn't the same as the information listed with the creature. After a quick look, it appears that most of the creatures are the same in both books, but I haven't gone through them in a lot of detail. Overall, if you have a choice of buying either version, I would recommend the RMSS version, which is now available from ICE in a hardcover version. Spell Law
Spell Law now consists of three distinct volumes, one for each of the three realms of power: Channeling, Essence, and Mentalism. This highly acclaimed core Rolemaster component provides magic fabulous enough to improve any game. This mighty collection of tomes can add realism and depth to your campaign without sacrificing playability. These three concise books contain all the spell lists available in Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing as well as the spell lists for the additional professions in Character Law: all up to 50th level. Included are over 2,000 spells on 183 different spell lists based upon three realms of power and 18 professions! As a Gamemaster, you will probably want to purchase all three volumes, but as a player you need only purchase the book necessary for your character! …Of Channeling explores the miraculous gifts of the divine. From the forgotten rites of lost religions to the dutiful chants of young acolytes, open the realm of Channeling fully to your prayers! Inside …Of Channeling you will find over 50 spell lists-with hundreds of spells. Plus all of the character information needed to expand the core Channeling professions of your Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing game, including the Animist, the Healer, the Sorcerer, the Paladin, and other spirited adepts! Attack tables and critical strike tables give results for all kinds of magical attacks. And summary tables make all of the details easy to manage! Now when the evil priest begins chanting, you know that your soul itself is at stake…. …Of Essence probes the realms of the living force that binds and surrounds all living things-the magic of the universe is all around us. Tap into the natural Essence and shape your destiny! Inside …Of Essence you will find over 50 spell lists: with hundreds of spells. Plus all of the character information needed to expand the core Essence professions of your Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing game, including the Illusionist, the Sorcerer, the Mystic, the Monk, and other mind-over-matter adepts! Attack tables and critical strike tables give results for all kinds of channeling attacks. And summary tables make all of the details easy to manage! Now when the sorcerer raises his hand, you know that the world is about to crumble at your feet..... ...Of Mentalism presents the enchantments deriving from the mental powers of strong-minded individuals. The power of the mind lies just beyond the reach of most. Now you can tap into the ultimate personal power! Open the doors of your mind and the realm of Mentalism will be yours! Inside …Of Mentalism you will find over 50 spell lists: with hundreds of spells. Plus all of the character information needed to expand the core Mentalism professions of your Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing game, including the Lay Healer, the Mystic, the Seer, the Magent, and other mind-over-matter adepts! Attack tables and critical strike tables give results for all kinds of mental attacks. And summary tables make all of the details easy to manage! Now when a seer gazes into the future, there are no secrets that can remain hidden.... Spell Law has been broken into three separate books, one for each realm. The spell lists from Spell Law can be found in the various RMFRP Spell Law books. Each of the RMFRP Spell Law books also have several professions that were previously in the RMSS Standard Rules. The Attack Tables, Spell Critical and Failure Tables from RMSS Spell Law are duplicated in each of the RMFRP Spell Law books. Many of the Spell List Notes from the RMSS Spell Law are duplicated in each of the RMFRP Spell Law books as well. The section on Healing, Death, and Injury is now in the main RMFRP book. The section on Item Creation in the RMSS Spell Law is now in the RMFRP version of the Treasure Companion. The section on "How to use Spell Law Without Rolemaster" has shrunk considerably, mostly due to the removal of the entire section on "The Tactical Combat Sequence". The section on Other Spell Lists has also been removed. This contained the spell lists for Astrologers, Alchemists, and Seers. There are a couple of slight differences in some of the spell lists, mostly clarifications, the one's that I noticed minor changes in are Anticipate Missile, Anticipate Blow, Turn Missile, Turn Blade. Turn Missile has changed in RMFRP RMFRP: Anticipate Missile is different too: RMFRP: I believe they were changed because in RMSS the two spells were virtually identical, now they are at least a little different. However, I think they do have the ranges screwed up now, Turn Missile should be 100' and Anticipate Missile should be Self.
The RMSS version states: Other than the word "The" being a typo for the word "This", this version is ok, but not great. It isn't perfect with regard to game mechanics since there could be somewhat different interpretations on how to use it since there is no Perception skill or ability in RMSS. The RMFRP version states: A significant improvement upon the RMSS version. It tells you exactly which skill categories and skills are modified. You know precisely which game mechanics to use and how it affects them. This is similar to the RMSS version, but RMSS does not have Perception, it has Awareness Categories and Searching / Senses / Alertness skills. If you are a Gamemaster and the RMSS version is available, it is probably the better buy. If you are a player who only likes to play one particular style of magic, you might be better off with just purchasing the individual spell book that interests you. The RMSS version is now available again from ICE in a hardcover version.
Treasure Companion Treasure Companion is designed to allow Gamemasters to quickly generate normal and magical treasures to be discovered and won by the characters in their games. Inside this book are full discussions on the nature of wealth and magic in a FRPG, as well as complete item descriptions for over a hundred unique magic items, as well as tables for generating all types of treasure (including a detailed system for creating gemstones and jewelry). Three new Alchemist professions and 22 Alchemist spell lists bring these creators of magic items to life The RMFRP version of this is almost an identical reprint of the RMSS Treasure Companion, with section 7.4.4. of the RMSS Spell Law being added into Section 9.0, Item Construction. The added subsections are Creating the Base Item, Enchanting an Item, Embedding Spells, and Making Artifacts. If you have a choice between these two, pick up the RMFRP version. Gamemaster Law Gamemasters , learn how to use Rolemaster to its fullest potential! Gamemaster Law provides a wealth of guidelines and details that a Gamemaster needs to run a Rolemaster game or any other FRP game. This book also provides tips and guidelines on group dynamics, player motivations, and story presentation that will prove invaluable to GMs of all systems. Some of the questions that Gamemaster Law covers are: • How many players should I try to handle at a time? • Will my game be more successful if I focus on political intrigue or simple adventuring? • How can I pull the characters from the jaws of death without it seeming contrived? • How can I keep the “power” in my game from getting out of hand? If you have ever asked yourself any of these questions, then this reference book is for you! The RMFRP version is a complete reprint of the RMSS version, with an additional section at the end for Race Generation and Options for Talents and Flaws that was taken from the RMSS Talent Law book. There is also a short section on generating height and weight for your characters, along with a Master Height and Weight chart. These charts come from RMSS Rolemaster Annual 1997. Given a choice, pick up the RMFRP version, particularly if you do not have RMSS Talent Law. Channeling Companion At last, the ancient priests of forgotten gods have brought forth new information for the realm of Channeling! The Channeling Companion explores magic of the gods in detail. Within this book you will find new professions, variant rules, new options, and (of course) a wealth of spells: Three new professions: the Summoner (a pure spell user that uses channeling magic to summon creatures and forces), the Warlock ( a hybrid spell user that focuses on scrying, fate, etc.), and the Mythic (the religious infiltrator). • More than a dozen new training packages for characters to develop. Many of the packages focus on some very specific aspects of the realm of Channeling. • Guidelines on divine status showing how much favor a character has with his deity. • Optional rules for handling divine intervention. • Rules for creating specialty priests so that the priests of the god of war would have different abilities than those of the god of the harvest. • Dozens of new spell lists for the realm of Channeling. • New critical tables for holy weapons! A quick run through these books didn't show any noticeable differences between them. Either one will work fine.
Mentalism Companion The Mentalism Companion explores the magic that uses the power of your character's mind. Inside you'll find four new professions; the Seer, the Astrologer, the Armsmaster, and the Enchanter. Dozens of new spell lists, new training packages, and rules for handling mental combat... Open your mind and let the Essence of the Universe flow through the channel into your soul! The Mentalism Companion explores the magic that is mastered by the sheer power of your mind. The RMFRP version of the Mentalism Companion is almost identical
to the RMSS version, in fact, the references to other Rolemaster
products in the RMFRP version haven't even been updated to reference
RMFRP versions instead of RMSS versions. There are a few minor differences,
a three page section on Mental Spells has been removed from the RMFRP
version. This was a set of optional rules for dealing with Mentalism
Spell Attacks. |
| Part 5 – Overview of Remaining Products
Now we get into the more difficult comparisons. If you take RMSS Standard Rules and RMSS Talent Law and compare them to Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying Hardcover, RMFRP Character Law, and RMFRP School of Hard Knocks The Skill Companion, you get basically the same material, with some changes. Noticeably, you end up with more detailed information on the Skills with the SOHK Skill Companion, and the Talents and Flaws from Talent Law got a fairly significant overhaul in Character Law, lots of rebalancing, shifting of points, etc. All the Talents were given a Lesser, Minor, Major, or Greater classification so they could be used with the basic talents/flaws system. The following articles in this series will examine the differences in Talents & Flaws, Skills, Professions, Races and Training Packages in detail. My recommendation for those who have the RMSS rulebook and Talent Law is to try and purchase Character Law, although you will be able to get by without it with this series of articles, but it is worth picking up if you can. The Skill Companion has some very good example difficulties for all the skills, and a section on Healing that is great to have, but if you have the RMSS Rulebook, I would have to say this one is not a necessity, although out of all the RMFRP books, it has the most new material. A detailed review off the Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying Hardcover can be found at: http://www.ob1knorrb.com/RMFRPreview.htm And a detailed review of RMFRP Character Law can be found at: http://www.ob1knorrb.com/character_law_review.html The next set of articles will deal with Talents and Flaws in detail (parts 6 through 16), this will be followed by an detailed examination of differences in Skills, Professions, Races and Training Packages between RMSS and RMFRP. |
| Part 6 – Special Training Talents This article examines the differences in the Special Training Talents between RMSS Talent Law and RMFRP Character Law in detail SPECIAL TRAINING Acrobat Cost - no change Instead of +15 to your Athletic · Gymnastics skill Category and a special bonus of +25 to a Special Attack skill that doesn't use a weapon, it is now a straight +20 to Athletic - Gymnastics skill Category Arcane Discovery RMSS Cost - 7 points RMFRP Cost - 6 for minor, 11 for major. Minor is the same as RMSS(Own Realm - Open), Major allows you to learn one Arcane spell list as an Own Realm - Closed list. Assassin Training RMSS Cost - 5 points RMFRP Cost - 8 points Reworded, instead of Ambush being half cost rounded up, it is now just classified as Everyman. Deadly Training RMSS Cost 17 points RMFRP Cost 15 points Remains the same, added clarification that the bonus does not apply to critical modifications Directed Weapons Master RMSS Cost 10 Points RMFRP Minor 10 points, Major 15 The Major version of the skill is the same as the RMSS version. The minor version gives one weapon skill as everyman. Disarm Skill Cost - no change Bonus in RMFRP is reduced to +20 from +25 in RMSS Elvish Training No changes Exceptional Skill at Arms No changes Fluent No changes. General Weapons Master RMSS Cost 10 Points RMFRP Cost - Minor 10, Major 20, Greater 30 The Minor skill in RMFRP is the same as the RMSS skill. Major gives a +20 bonus, Greater gives +30. Geographic Awareness Eliminated a few words in the text, but otherwise no changes. Gymnastic Training Cost - No change Instead of the second bonus being to one chosen Self Control skill, you now must pick either Adrenal Leaping, Adrenal Landing, or Adrenal Balance. Herbalist RMSS Cost - 13 points RMFRP Cost - 7 Points The bonus to the skills is reduced from +30 to +20 Inner Reserve RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - Lesser 5, Minor 10, Major 15, Greater 20 The bonus in RMSS was +3, in RMFRP it is +1 for Lesser, +2 for Minor, +4 for Major, and +6 for Greater Internal Clock No change Judge of Angles No change Judge of Weaponry Now simply gives a +40 to Weapon Evaluation Skill Lightning Strike RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 12 points No change in description Martial Arts Training RMSS Cost - 30 points RMFRP Cost - Minor 10, Major 15, Greater 30 The RMFRP Greater Talent is the same as the RMSS Talent except that the bonus is +20 instead of +15. The Major Talent is a +15 bonus, but doesn't include the everyman skill. The Minor Talent is +10 and also doesn't include the everyman skill. Natural Archer RMSS Cost – 5 points RMFRP Cost – 8 points The bonus for bow ranges is the same. An additional +5 bonus to Missile Weapon category has been added. Natural Facility With Armor No changes. Natural Horseman No changes. Natural Weapons Master No changes. Outdoorsman RMSS Cost - 15 points RMFRP Cost – 12 points No changes to the description. Portage Skills No changes. Power RMSS Cost – 30 points RMFRP Cost – Lesser 5, Minor 10, Major 20, Greater 30. The Greater Talent in RMFRP is the same as the RMSS Talent. Lesser gives 3 ranks, Minor gives 10 ranks, Major gives 25. Precision An additional note is added that the GM will assign modifications to this maneuver based upon the combat situation. Racial Training No changes. Shield Attack No changes. Skilled RMSS Cost – Familiar 5, Expert 15 RMFRP Cost – Lesser 5, Minor 10, Major 20, Greater 30 An additional note is added that A skill or skill category can only be chosen if its bonus progression is combined or standard. Familiar in RMSS is the same as Lesser in RMFRP Expert in RMSS has no equivalent, was a category bonus of +10 or skill bonus of +15 Minor is a category bonus of +10 or a skill bonus of +20 Major is a category bonus of +15 or a skill bonus of +30 Greater is a category bonus of +20 or a skill bonus of +40 Sleight-of-Hand RMSS Cost – 10 points RMFRP Cost – 13 points No change in the description. Swift Dresser No changes. Trained Regular Footman No changes. Underground Upraising RMSS Cost – 7 points RMFRP Cost – 8 points Warrior Extraordinare RMSS Cost – 25 points RMFRP Cost – 35 points Adds an additional Combat Maneuvers skill as everyman. Weapon Control No changes. |
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Part 7 – Physical Ability Talents This article examines the differences in the Physical Ability Talents between RMSS Talent Law and RMFRP Character Law in detail PHYSICAL ABILITIES Accelerated Mending RMSS Cost – 7 points RMFRP Cost – 3 points RMFRP adds the phrase “- this does not apply to concussion hits” Acute Hearing RMSS Cost – 5 points RMFRP Cost – 7 points No changes to descriptions. Acute Smell No changes. Ambidexterity RMSS Cost - 5 points RMFRP Cost - Lesser 5 points, Minor 10 Points The Lesser skill in RMFRP is the same as the skill in RMSS. Minor skill adds a special bonus of +15 to Two-weapon Combat skill. Battle Cry No changes. Blazing Speed RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 5 points No changes to description. Cold Resistance RMSS Cost - Lesser 5, Minor 10, Major 15, Greater 20 RMFRP Cost - Lesser 5, Minor 10, Major 15, Greater 20 In RMSS the bonus starts at +5 at Lesser and goes up by 5 for each category. In RMFRP the bonus starts at +10 and goes up by 10 for each category. Combat Reflexes RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 10 points The bonus to DB and OB stays the same. Initiative changes from a +5 bonus to rolling an extra die, then choosing which one to discard. Also notes that this talent may not be taken if Lightning Strike is taken. Commanding Demeanor RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 18 points Talent is completely redefined: RMSS - "While in combat, all of your allies who can see you gain a special bonus of +5 to their OBs. Any foe who can see you must make a Fear RR (using your current experience level as the attack level) or fight with a penalty of -10." RMFRP -"You receive a special bonus of +25 to your Leadership skill. In addition, you can take a 50% action (requires a Leadership maneuver) to instill fear in a foe that can see and hear you (foe makes a Fear RR versus your level). Also, you can take a 25% action (requires a Leadership maneuver) to inspire your allies that can see and hear you - they get a +10 bonus to their OBs and DBs." Dead Eye RMSS Cost - 7 points RMFRP Cost - 7 points Changes from being a special bonus of +10 to the Missile and Thrown Weapon categories to halving the missile range penalties. Dense RMSS Cost - Double 10/30, Quadruple 20/40 points RMFRP Cost - Major 15, Greater 25 The RMFRP Major talent is the same as the RMSS Double 10 point talent, except that in RMFRP you must choose to take double concussion hits from an attack that delivers a critical strike in order to reduce its severity by 1. This replaces the reduction of Impact criticals in RMSS version. The RMFRP Greater Talent is the same as RMSS Quadruple, except that in RMFRP you must choose to take triple concussion hits in order to reduce a critical strike severity by 2. This replaces the reduction of Impact criticals in the RMSS version. There is no longer an option to spend extra points to be able to turn the Talent on and off. Dwarfism RMSS Cost - Half 5 points, Quarter 10 points RMFRP Cost - Lesser 5, Minor 10, Major15 RMSS Half - half height, one-third weight, +3 QU RMSS Quarter - one quarter height, one sixth weight, +6 QU RMFRP Lesser - two thirds height, normal weight for reduced height, +3 QU -3ST RMFRP Minor - half height, +6 QU, -6 ST RMFRP Major - one third height, +9 QU -9 ST Ear for Music RMSS Cost - 7 Points RMFRP Cost - 5 Points No change in description. Extra Limbs RMSS Cost - +1 5 Points, +2 10 Points, +3 15 Points, +4 20 Points RMFRP Cost - +1 10 Points, +2 15 Points, +3 20 Points Description is the same, RMFRP adds " Any combat skills developed for extra limbs should be in the Special Attacks or Special Defenses skill categories (GM decision). Eye of the Tiger RMSS Cost - 10 points. RMFRP Cost - 7 points Bonus is reduced from +25 to +20. Flight RMSS Cost - 20 points. RMFRP Cost - 25 points. No change in description. Fluid Wrists (15 points) No changes. Giantism RMSS Cost - Double 10 points, Quadruple 20 points. RMFRP Cost - Minor 10 points, Major 15 points, Greater 25 RMSS Double - Twice as tall, three times weight, OB +10, DB -10, treated as Large for criticals. RMSS Quadruple - Four times as tall, six times weight, OB +20, DB -20, treated as Large for criticals. RMFRP Minor - 1.5 times as tall, double weight, +2 ST, -2 QU RMFRP Major - Twice as tall, four times weight, +4 ST, -4 QU, Criticals reduced by 1, A = A -25% RMFRP Greater - Three times height, six times weight, +6 ST, -6 QU, treated as Large for Criticals Gliding RMSS Cost - 10 Points RMFRP Cost - 15 Points No changes to description. Golden Throat RMSS Cost - 10 Points RMFRP Cost - 8 Points No change to description. Great Arm RMSS Cost - 7 points RMFRP Cost - 5 Points No change to description Hammerhand No changes Heat Resistance RMSS Cost - Lesser (+5) 5 points, Minor (+10) 10 points, Major (+15) 15 points, Greater (+20) 20 points RMFRP Cost - Lesser (+10) points, Minor (+20) 10 points, Major (+30) 15 points, Greater (+40) 20 points. The bonus to the RR's and DB versus heat- and Fire-based attacks has doubled. Description in RMFRP also specifies that the bonus applies to "attacks and damage" High Jumper RMSS Cost - 5 points RMFRP Cost - 4 points No change to description High Range Voice RMSS Cost - 5 points RMFRP Cost - 7 points Description is the same with the addition of specifying that using the scream is a 50% action. Hypercharged Adrenaline No changes Infravision No changes Intense Eyes No changes Light Sleeper RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 5 points Maneuver roll changes from an Observation maneuver in RMSS to an Alertness maneuver in RMFRP. Manual Deftness No changes Natural Physique RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 8 points Description changes from Body Development being classified as Everyman in RMSS to being a straight +20 bonus in the Body Development skill in RMFRP. Natural Weapon RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 15 points No change to description. Navigation Gift No changes Neutral Odor RMSS Cost - 3 points RMFRP Cost - 5 points No changes to description. Nightvision RMSS Cost - 5 points RMFRP Cost - 7 points No changes to description Nimble Skeleton RMSS Cost - 15 points RMFRP Cost - 10 points No changes to description. Pain Resistance RMSS Cost - 5 points RMFRP Cost - Lesser (-1) 5 points, Minor (-2) 10 points, Major (-4) 15 points, Greater (-6) 20 points. Description changes from being a straight +5 bonus to Body Development in RMSS to any concussion hit damage from an attack is reduced by a number of points (to a minimum of 1) in RMFRP. Peripheral Vision No changes. Poison Sack RMSS Cost - 10 points RMFRP Cost - 10 points In RMSS, the poison attack is at half your level (rounded down). In RMFRP it is a 5th level poison. RMFRP specifies that the skill developed falls into the Special Attacks category. RMFRP also gives you a +25 bonus to resist your own poison. Quiet Stride RMSS Cost - 15 points RMFRP Cost - 15 points Description is the same, but specifies that the +10 to the Ambush maneuver does not apply to the critical modification. Regeneration RMSS Cost - Lesser (1/rnd) 5 points, Minor (2/rnd) 10 points, Major (3/rnd) 15 points, Greater (4/rnd) 20 points RMFRP Cost - Minor (1/min) 8 points, Major (1/rnd) 15 points, Greater (3/rnd) 25 points Description is the same but the actual regeneration rates are different, with RMFRP being slower. Resilient RMSS Cost - 15 points. RMFRP Cost - 15 points. Description changes from having the rates reduced by half (round down) in RMSS to having the rates reduced by half (round up) in RMFRP. The sentence "If the wound only gives a 1 per round "bleeder," it heals itself completely in d10 rounds." has been eliminated in RMFRP. Reverbative Strength No changes. Shield Mastery No changes. Steel Grip RMSS Cost - 5 points. RMFRP Cost - 5 points. Second sentence changed from "Any fumble that results in dropping your weapon may be resisted (as Disarm Foe for RR)." in RMSS to "All fumble ranges for melee weapons is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1)." in RMFRP. Strong Lungs No changes. Sturdy Build RMSS Cost - 20 points. RMFRP Cost - 15 points. No changes to description. Subconscious Preparation RMSS Cost - 5 points. RMFRP Cost - 6 points. No changes to description. Subtle RMSS Cost - 7 points. RMFRP Cost - 8 points. No changes to description. Tensile RMSS Cost - 15 points RMFRP Cost - Minor 10 points, Major 15 points, Greater 20 points. Description in RMSS matches the description for the Minor talent in RMFRP. Major allows two types of criticals to be chosen, Greater allows three types. Tolerance RMSS Cost - 15 points. RMFRP Cost - 12 points No changes to description. Tough Skin RMSS Cost - Wolf 5 points, Tiger 15 points, Insect 30 points. RMFRP Cost - Wolf 10 points, Tiger 15 points, Insect 30 points. No changes to description. Unnatural Stamina No changes. |
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Part 8 – Mystical Ability Talents
This article examines the differences in the Mystical Ability Talents between RMSS Talent Law and RMFRP Character Law in detail MYSTICAL ABILITIES Aggression No changes Archetype RMSS Cost - 15 points RMFRP Cost - 18 points No changes to description Archmage Abilities RMSS Cost - 15 points RMFRP Cost - Major 20 points, Greater 30 points Wording changes from: "You may develop spells as a Pure Arcane spell user. If you are not using Arcane Companion, you may develop spells as a Hybrid spell user." in RMSS to: "Your development point cost is only 4/4/4 for Arcane open spell lists. However, your realm is determined normally for your profession and does not change because of this talent. A non spell user that takes this talent must chose Aracne as his relm, and he has three realm stats: Em, In, and Pr." This is for the Major talent, the Greater Talent is the same except your development point cost is also 4/4/4 for Arcane closed spell lists. Aura RMSS Cost - 7 points RMFRP Cost - Lesser 5 points, Minor 10 points, Major 15 points, Greater 20 points The description in RMSS is the same as the description for the Lesser Talent in RMFRP. The additional degrees each add an additional power point per rank, i.e. Lesser 1 PP, Minor 2 PP, Major 3 PP, Greater 4 PP Danger Sense No Changes |