Re: [dq-rules] Trouble becoming a hero

[William Hough <houghpt@yahoo.com>]

--- jcorey30 <jcorey30@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I think there should be some modification of the
> hero
> qualifications for those warrior types with weapon
> skills that can't 
> go to rank 8.   Giant Axe and battle axe have limits
> of 7, so does
>  hand & a half, and broadsword has a limit of 6.
> Any ideas?
> 
> I have 6 players in my campaign, and only one of
> them is hero level.  
> and he is a spell caster.

Someone asked this question in different form earlier
this year. I will respond the same way I did then.

It all depends on what the overall goals of these
players are with regards to their individual warrior
characters.

Is their ultimate goal to attain Hero status ASAP?
That is what I garner from your description of the
situation.

In that case, appropriate weapon types be damned.
There of course is no rule in DragonQuest that a
certain manner of warrior must use a certain weapon
type, although we have our stereotypes: elves and
rangers use bows, dwarves use axes, barbarians use
heavy swords, etc.

Forget all that if your players want their warriors to
attain Hero Status as quickly as possible. Also, what
I am about to show you is not necessarily an ethical
or even welcome method in most campaigns; it is simply
one solution, and is perfectly legal.

Bottom Line: Start using weapons with both cheap cost
and maximum Rank of 8 or more.

Note that the following weapons have comparitively low
experience point total cost (total of cost from Rank 0
to Rank 4), and also go to Rank 8 or higher (3rd
Edition rules consulted):

Dagger - 400 xp total from Rank 0 to Rank 4
Falchion - 400 xp total from Rank 0 to Rank 4
Spear Thrower - 400 xp total "     "
Blowgun - 400 xp total "     "
Cestus - 420 xp total "     "
Glaive/Giant Glaive - 600 xp total "     " (but see
below)

I say "comparitively low" because they are; a whip
costs a total of 3100 xp to Rank 4 and a long bow
costs 3900 xp to Rank 4!!

OK, so the warriors are able to reach Adventurer
status. Now what?

Same as before. Comparison by weapon cost. I'll make
it easy for you by giving you the total cost in
experience points from Rank 0 to Rank 8 for every
weapon listed in the chart that goes at least that
high and I'll rank them from cheapest cost to most
expensive (3rd Edition rules consulted):

Total Costs from Ranks 0 to 8 for all applicable
weapons

1.  Glaive - 3600
2.  Blowgun - 6000
3.  Dagger - 6000
4.  Falchion - 6000
5.  Spear Thrower - 6000
6.  Cestus - 6020
7.  Javelin - 7000
8.  Rapier - 8000
9.  Main-Gauche - 9400
10. Throwing Dart - 10,000
11. Unarmed Combat - 11,700
12. Estoc - 12,000
13. Quarterstaff - 12,000
14. Scimitar - 12,000
15. Short Bow - 12,000
16. Tulwar - 12,000
17. Long Bow/Giant Bow - 12,900
18. Composite Bow - 15,000
19. Sling - 15,000
20. Whip - 17,600 (!!)

Thus, there are 20 weapons listed in the Experience
Cost Chart that will reach Ranks 8 or higher.

Fancy that -- notice that the cheapest six in reaching
Hero status are the same six that are just as
economical in attaining Adventurer status. Gosh-golly.

One of course needs eight skills or spells at the
appropriate Rank to attain the desired status. You
already know that the two "freebie" language skills
together count as one skill.

What it boils down to is that one of the cheapest ways
for a warrior to reach Hero status is by starting with
the seven (7) cheapest weapons. The total cost would
be 40,020 experience points. If the lucky warrior
managed to get a personal trainer for each weapon (at
10% xp discount), the total would be 36018 xp absolute
minimum. The language skills would make for eight
total skills at Rank 8.

Incidentally, the next cheapest Rank 0 to Rank 8 skill
anywhere is Horsemanship, which is 4450 xp total. So
if you drop the Javelin and go with Horsemanship, the
total expenditure drops from 40020 to 37770 (33993
rock bottom) xp.

The next cheapest Rank 0 to Rank 8 skill is Speak
Language at 7400, so it is not taken into
consideration.

Thus, a warrior must spend an absolute minimum of
33993 experience points to attain Hero status.

By comparison, an Ensorcelemts and Enchantments adept,
taking into account the cheapest seven talents,
spells, and rituals, must spend an absolute minimum
of:

G-4 (xpm 100): 3600
G-5 (xpm 100): 3600
S-1 (xpm 100): 3600*
Q-1 (xpm 125): 4500
S-8 (xpm 125): 4500*
T-1 (xpm 150): 5400
S-3 (xpm 150): 5400*
*--Assuming adept can get together the 2400 silver
pennies necessary to purchase spells at Rank 0.

TOTAL: 27,000 experience points minimal to be spent
for the adept to reach Hero status.

CONCLUSION: Which is why adepts tend to rise far more
quickly than warriors. Air and Fire adepts have it a
little cheaper; some of their spells have xpms of 50
and 75! But if you want a comparison in literature,
consider that Gandalf was more powerful than anyone
else in the Fellowship. So it makes a little sense.

Hope this helps.

Pat Hough

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