Lifting

[shootingwomprats]

I have been very unhappy with the Lifting skill and rule mechanics for some time. I am kicking around the idea of a character being able to lift 25kg X every full D of Strength with a Moderate roll. Difficulty goes up goes up or down one level for each halving of amount lifted.

25kg X full D is Strength

Very Easy .25
Easy .5
Moderate x1
Difficult x2
Very Difficult x4
Heroic x8
Heroic+ (double amount)

EXAMPLE: Dar Forgast has Strength 4D. Very Easy 25kg, Easy Easy 50kg, Moderate 100kg, Difficult 200kg, Very Difficult 400kg, Heroic 800kg.

I came up with this idea when I was trying to make load lifting and construction droids. I had decided that I would just give them a maximum they could lift. This would be a amount they could safely carry with an Easy difficulty, but I never went much further, if they wanted to lift more. That is the reason I came up with these rules.
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[garhkal]

Droids i do feel should have a flat out max lift capacity, i can see humans(aliens) being different in their max is based on how well they roll, to showcase those instances where a granny lifts an SUV off their loved one we all hear about in the news from time to time.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[griff]

This was something that I have tried to quantify for a long time. The Lifting Skill and the Strength Attribute Stat. If a character has a Strength of 2D and a Lifting skill of 4D could the character lift a load beyond what the Attribute could. The way that I made sense of this in my mind was that there is a lot more to lifting then just brute strength, as in technique. But I like the idea basing the difficulty off the Base Strength Code. A character with a Strength of 2D should have a more difficult time lifting 100kg than a character with a Strength of 4D. There also should be an upper limit of weight that can be lifted per Strength Die Code.
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"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.

[atgxtg]

I've been thinking of going with a doubling progression, with each D of STR doubling the amount the character can lift. Say 25kg for 1D, 50kg for 2D, 100kg for 3D, and 200kg for 4D.

The reason why I like a dobuling progression over a lineral one, is that there is quite a difference in STR and lifting capability than a lineral progression would suggest. FDor instance, a Bantha (STR 8D) is actually far stronger than four average men (STR 2D)


I was thinking that each D of STR (or lifting) past the required amount would double the time the object can be lifted for.



I think lifting skill should help the character lift safely, and affect how long the character can lift the item for. For instance, going over the lift time could apply fatigue penalties (MAPs) that reduce lifting skill. If lifting drops below STR, the character's lift capacity is lowered as well.

[jmanski]

I like that line of thinking. Simple and makes sense.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[shootingwomprats]

[atgxtg]

[griff]

I have a thought in the past that with the Strength Attribute that any improvement in any skill, the character points would also raise the Attribute itself. The thinking behind this was that the training, working out it would take to improve a skill would make the character stronger. The more lifting you do, the stronger you get. The cost remains the same (x10 the number before the D) (creation dice don't count). This eased my mind a bit, a 2D+1 STR character with a 6D lifting seemed to much out of wack.

The other thought about this was the Strength Attribute was in relation only to the amount of damage a character could take i.e the static physical capacity to with stand injury, not raw power the character could generate through action.
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"EXECUTE ORDER 67. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like order 67..... No, wait. Yes, yes it does. EXECUTE ORDER 68" Palpatine's last moments - robot chicken.

[atgxtg]

Well, it is probably a case of improving only certain muscles rahter than all of them (i.e. STR).

A similar example would be with archery. In years past archers had longbows with draw weights over 100 pounds. Now today, despite our being bigger and stronger in general, and with out bodybuilding techniques, few modern archers can wield such heavy bows! Apparently all that time the medieval archers spent practicing developed certain particular muscles in their arms, back and legs to a degree that we just don't reach normally today.

Lifting might be like that. It improves those muscles needed to lift things. But, I do think they should have factored the STR attribute in more than they did.

Maybe averaging lifting skill with STR dice, or upping the CP cost to irmpove based on multiples of STR? That is if your STR is 2D it cost double to raise lifting past 4D, triple past 6D and so on.

[Tupteq]

In my games lifting dificulties don't depend on STR value, but I'm limiting lifting to double value of STR attribute (e.g. STR 3D+1, max lifting 6D+2). Also (as in D6 Space), combat damage depends on lifting, not directly on Strength, so PC may increase lifting abilities (and combat damage) raising only as skill, but there's a limit that can be only exceeded by raising the attribute.

[atgxtg]

[Tupteq]

[quote="atgxtg"]