Product_Page

Product Line: Rolemaster
Product Edition: RMFRP
Product Name: Arms Law
Product Type: Supplement
Author: ICE
Stock #: 5810
ISBN: 1-55806-598-9
Publisher: ICE
Page Count: 80
Release Date: 03-Apr
Language: English

Format	Cover Price	Released
Softcover	$16.00	03-Apr
PDF	$8.00	17-Jun-04
PDF	$9.00	23-Jun-11

Purchase:
Arms Law at DriveThruRPG
Arms Law at Noble Knight Games (Used)
Cover/Jacket Text:
Get Critical! Arms Law is about FRP combat – the kind that leaves you shaking and bragging to your friends about your character’s exploits. If you prefer safe, ho hum, by the numbers RPG combat then Arms Law is not for you. If you ar loking for FRP combat that leaves you breathless, your quest ends here.

Arms Law is a fantasy combat system designed to be used with ICE’s Rolemaster rules or the RPG rules set of your choice. Arms Law slides right into any other game system quickly and easily.

What makes Arms Law special? Criticals and Fumbles. From the ‘E’ Puncture Critical Table:
“Pierced through the heart he reels 10 ft. before dying….”
From the Two Handed Arms Fumble Table:
“Stumble over an imaginary unseen dead turtle. you lose two rounds off attack, but can still parry.”

Arms Law includes 29 individual weapon attack tables, 13 special attack tables, and dozens of critical strikes, and fumbles. Remember… it’s not the bruises that kill! Critical damage is what wastes your enemies.

Notes:

From Bruce Neidlinger (ICE CEO) when asked why Arms Law was being redone:

We were running out of the old Arms Law and we took the opportunity to
redo a product that sorely needed it. We did a complete graphics update
as the old one was fairly dated and, well, lame. We changed the tables
to be like The Armory as they are much easier to read especially with
the flexible crits change. We tossed the old rules sections and
conversion sections and redid them completely so they make a lot more
sense and restored the modularity of the product. It is now truly useful
as a product to get plugged into another system like D20 that needs a
lift in its combat system.

The critical hit tables were completely redone in terms of color text,
because [ the 1999] version had taken a lot of the fun text out for some
reason. Arms Law now has better and more colorful fumbles and criticals then
ever. This was done to make the product more fun.

One other big change is that it is now an 80 page saddle-stitched book
so it is easier to use. The 1999 version was a 120 page perfect bound
that was bigger due to the number of duplicated critical charts. Heike
never felt they were much use due to the small size. The 80 pages kept
the price down too. If we had kept the 120 page book it would have gone
to $20+ on reprint.

So, overall, its a much better product with a much higher functionality.
We maintained cross verion compatibility however, as the combat damage
differences should be immaterial and the critical chart effects are the
same- just the desciptive color text has been changed. We did it so we
could have a product we were proud of and to make it easier to go after
the non-Rolemaster market with upcoming marketing campaigns. The new ads
entitled “Magic & Mayhem: Life is good” are hitting magazines right now.

Old players do not have to buy the product unless they really want to or
need a new one. New players are much more likely to buy it now though,
and that is a very good thing.

 

For a detailed look at the various versions of Arms Law and Claw Law from
1980 to 2003, checkout my Evolution of
Arms Law article

http://www.ironcrown.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3122

Table of Contents:

Introduction ................................................. 3
1.0 How to use Arms Law ............................. 4
1.1 Armor ...................................................... 4
1.11Armor Types ........................................ 4
1.12Armor Penalties ................................... 6
1.2 Defensive Bonus ..................................... 6
1.21 Quickness Bonus ................................ 6
1.22 Position and Cover ............................. 7
1.23 Special Items ....................................... 7
1.24 Shields ................................................. 7
1.25 Parrying .............................................. 7
1.3 Offensive Bonus ..................................... 8
1.31 Weapon Bonuses & Modifications .... 9
1.32 Skill Bonus – Expertise ...................... 9
1.33 Stats – Physical Prowess ................... 10
1.34 Special Items ..................................... 10
1.35 Profession Bonus .............................. 10
1.36 Weapon Quality ................................ 10
1.37 Position ............................................. 10
1.38 Range ................................................. 10
1.39 Armor Missile Attack Penalties ....... 10
1.391 Reloading ........................................ 10
1.4 Additional Notes & GM Guides .......... 11
1.41 Additional Weapons ......................... 11
1.42 Animals and Monsters ..................... 11
1.43 Animals and Monsters Attacks ........ 11
Weapons Stats Chart .............................. 12
Animal Stats Chart ................................. 13
Monsters Stats Chart ............................. 14
1.5 Definitions .......................................... 15
1.6 Roll them Bones: Arms Law Die
Rolling Conventions ........................... 15
2.0 Making an Attack ................................. 16
2.01 Reading the Attack Tables ................ 16
2.02 Reading the Critical Strike Tables ... 17
2.03 Critical Strikes Against
Large and Super-Large Creatures ....... 18
2.04 Optional Criticals ............................. 19
2.05 Things Fall Apart:
Weapon, Item & Device Breakage ...... 19
2.1 Battle Axe Attack Table ...................... 20
2.2 Bola Attack Table ................................ 21
2.3 Broadsword Attack Table ................... 22
2.4 Club Attack Table ............................... 23
2.5 Composite Bow Attack Table ............. 24
2.6 Dagger Attack Table ........................... 25
2.7 Falchion Attack Table ......................... 26
2.8 Flail Attack Table ................................ 27
Table of Contents
2.9 Handaxe Attack Table ........................ 28
2.10 Heavy Crossbow Attack Table ......... 29
2.11 Javelin Attack Table .......................... 30
2.12 Lance Attack Table ............................ 31
2.13 Light Crossbow Attack Table ........... 32
2.14 Long Bow Attack Table .................... 34
2.15 Mace Attack Table ............................ 34
2.16 Main Guache .................................... 35
2.17 Morning Star .................................... 36
2.18 Polearm Attack Table ....................... 37
2.19 Quarterstaff Attack Table ................. 38
2.20 Rapier Attack Table .......................... 39
2.21 Scimitar Attack Table ....................... 40
2.22 Short Bow Attack Table .................... 41
2.23 Short Sword Attack Table ................ 42
2.24 Sling Attack Table ............................. 43
2.25 Spear Attack Table ............................ 44
2.26 Two-Handed Sword ......................... 45
2.27 War Hammer Attack Table .............. 46
2.28 War Mattock Attack Table ............... 47
2.29 Whip Attack Table ............................ 48
3.0 Special Attack Tables ............................ 49
3.1 Beak / Pincer Attack Table ................. 50
3.2 Bite Attack Table ................................. 51
3.3 Brawling Attack Table ........................ 52
3.4 Claw / Talon Attack Table .................. 53
3.5 Fall / Crush Attack Table .................... 54
3.6 Grapple / Grasp / Envelop / Swallow
Attack Table ......................................... 55
3.7 Horn / Tusk Attack Table ................... 56
3.8 Martial Arts Strikes ............................ 57
3.9 Martial Arts Sweeps ............................ 58
3.10 Ram / Butt / Bash ............................. 59
3.11 Stinger Attack Table ......................... 60
3.12 Tiny Attack Table .............................. 61
3.13 Trample / Stomp............................... 62
4.0 Critical and Fumble Tables ................. 63
4.1 Brawling Critical Strike Table ............ 64
4.2 Grapple Critical Strike Table ............. 65
4.3 Krush Critical Strike Table ................. 66
4.4 Large Creature Critical Strike Table .. 67
4.5 Martial Arts Strikes Critical
Strike Table .......................................... 68
4.6 Martial Arts Sweeps Critical
Strike Table .......................................... 69
4.7 Puncture Critical Strike Table ........... 70
4.8 Slash Critical Strike Table .................. 71
4.9 Subdual Critical Strike Table ............. 72
2
4.10 Super Large Critical Strike Table ..... 73
4.11 Tiny Animal Critical Strike Table .... 74
4.12 Unbalancing Critical Strike Table ... 75
4.13 Weapon Fumble Table ...................... 76
4.14 Non-Weapon Fumble Table ............. 77
5.0 Converting to Arms Law from Other
Systems ................................................ 78
5.1 Dungeons & Dragons Third edition®
(D20®) .................................................. 78
5.2 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® ..... 79
5.3 GURPS® .............................................. 79
5.4 Legend of the Five Rings™ ................ 79
5.5 Werewolf: the Apocalypse™ .............. 80
5.6 Dice Pool Systems .............................. 80

Related Products:

Cover	Stock Number	Product Name	Release Date	ISBN	Pages
	Arms Law Claw Law
	1100	Arms Law	1980	?	? 48
	1500	Claw Law	1980	?	? 48
	1600	Arms Law & Claw Law Box	1982	?	72
	1100	Arms Law & Claw Law	1984	?	72
	1100	Arms Law & Claw Law	1989	1-55806-090-1	96
	6502	Arms Law	01-Feb-07	1-55806-620-9	119
	5801	Arms Law	1999	1-55806-551-2	124
	5813	The Armory	10-Dec-02	1-55806-595-4	64
	rmfw1P	Fantasy Weapons	2003		16
	5510	Rolemaster 3 in 1 (AL, SL, RMSR)	1997	1-55806-251-3	784
	5520	Arms Law	1994	1-55806-214-9	144
		Aamuzu Roo & Kuroo Roo: Bujutsu Taiten (Arms Law & Claw Law)	1990
	159jp	Arms Law in Japanese	18-Feb-09
	5810/5813h	Arms Law / The Armory	08-Jun-07
	RMU-GCP-001	Rolemaster Unified Core Law	02 December 2022		283