Give this a try and please discuss what your thoughts are about it:

Step One: During combat the attacker compares their Agility Rank to that of the defender:

If the difference is within one rank then there is no modifier.
If the attacker's agility is two ranks lower than the defender's agility then the attack modifier is -2CS.
If the attacker's agility is three ranks lower than the defender's agilty then the attack modifier is -4CS.
If the attacker's agiliity is four or worse ranks lower than the defender's agiltiy then the attack modifier is -6CS.

An attacker does not gain bonuses if their Agility Rank is greater than the defender's Agility Rank.

Step Two: Apply the modifier to the ability that the attacker is using to execute their attack FEAT.

EXAMPLES:

Slugfest or Ranged:

Ax Saxon has Amazing Fighting and Excellent Agility. His nemesis, Lord Abbaddon, has Amazing Agility.
The Reflex Ratio is determined by noting that there is a 3 column difference between Excellent and Amazing. Therefore, Ax Saxon takes a -4CS to his Fighting Rank when attacking Lord Abbaddon. This drops his FEAT roll to Good
If Ax were throwing his battle axe at Abbaddon, then his Excellent chance for the agilty based attack would drop -4CS dropping his chance to Feeble.

Charging:

Magnificent Mullah has Incredible Endurance and Typical Agility. She is going to charge attack her foe Mastadon who has Excellent Agilty. Mullah is two areas away from Mastadon.

MM gets +2CS to her Endurance attack due to the movement bonus (+1CS per area moved through maximum +3CS), however, the Reflex Ratio knocks her back down -2CS because her Agility Rank is two ranks lower than Mastadon's agility.

To complicate matters, Mastadon will dodge. The FEAT roll comes up Yellow. Therefore, Mullah's Endurance based attack drops another 4CS to Good.

Grapple or Grab:

Brickhouse has Monstrous Strength and Good Agility. In addition to her natural ability she has the Wrestling Talent and Martial Arts B. This combo gives her +3CS to her Strength attack. That makes her a wrestler with Shift-Y ability. However, Grappling attacks in the MSH RPG require a Yellow FEAT to succeed.

Her enemy is Zig Zag who has Monstrous Agility. The Reflex Ratio drops her Yellow Shift-Y chance to a Yellow Remarkable chance.

NEGATIVE SHIFTING (shifting below Shift Zero):

As far as shifting below Shift Zero, I advise a dramatically drastic penalty system. If the modifier(s) cause the attack to shift just one column past Shift Zero, then the attacker can only succeed with a Yellow Shift Zero FEAT. The color result is what it is; if the only way the attacker could hit was with a Yellow result then the appropriate potential Battle Efect is applied.

If the modifier(s) cause the attack to shift two or more column shifts below Shift Zero, then the attacker can only succeed with a Red Shift Zero FEAT. As with a Yellow result, the Battle Effects table could come into play.

These ideas would make it much more difficult for common or low level attackers succeed in hitting major characters, hero or villian.

For instance, a street thug with Typical Agility shooting at Spider-Man would no longer have a 50/50 chance at shooting Webhead. The Reflex Ratio and Negative Shifting Ideas drop that thug's chance from Typical to Red Shift Zero.

Thank you for your time,
Secret Defender

In all honesty I’d probably never use such a Modifier….. Even way back years ago my game Table had very specific actions defined between all the FASERIP…..



Basically the “Fighting” Rank is the most complex on Game Mechanics… The general idea was “Fighting” defined how well your Character used the other 6 Attributes [ASE and RIP]…….


Thinking like a Gear-Head….. [ASERIP] is a 3 and 3 (V-6) Engine and The “Fighting” is the Transmission and Drive Line, Suspension, Tires……. Pretty much the rest of the ‘CAR’ (or Vehicle is a better word)


So with that thought; The “Fighting” Rank can handle nearly ANY action your Character Performs…. But the Action must be ‘Combat’ oriented…..


As an Example: A Character ‘Throws’ or ‘Shoots’ a Base Ball at You… (For fun, make it a ‘Steel Ball’ that’s Scorching Red-Hot and it will Explode on impact)

For a Defense you can use Agility to totally Jump out of the way… OR Catch it, then Enter the Next Game Round….. Then Hurl it at your Opponent….

OR

Use your “Fighting” to turn the Defense FEAT into an Attack….. Catch the Ball, immediately spin around and hurl the Ball back with all your Might…… All in the Same Game Round.

OR “Short” Dodge (Duck) the Ball and throw your own Attack at the Opponent…. All in the Same Game Round….



In Game mechanics I observed a few aspects by playing this way….

+ With “Fighting” Actions your Character stays Planted in the Same Map Area….. He’s dancing like Wild Fire…. But he stays in the Same Map Area..

+ With “Fighting” Actions your Character can ‘Counter Attack’ making the Defense FEAT into an Attack in that Same Game Round.



+ With “Agility” your Character moves from one Map Area to another Map Area… Then enter to the Next Game Round.

+ With “Agility” your Character forfeits a possible ‘Counter Attack’ in that Game Round… Then enter to the Next Game Round.


When a Character has Low “Agility” it doesn’t always imply that the Character is “Slow”…… Thor, Juggy, Hulk, Iron-Man, Ego the Living Planet…. All have “Low” Agility but they are not slow by any measure, These Guys “FUUUUUUUGGGGGGGEN Hella FAST”..

That Raw, Sheer Speed is being handled on the “Fighting” Rank rather than the “Agility”




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2008 11:30PM by TankerAce.

I see your point regarding the Fighting ability. For instance, in the rules Fighting is used to determine if the attacker can Shoot two or three times as well as Slugfest. Ergo, the connection between agility and fighting. Also the Evade tactic is linked to Fighting. That maneuver is described as a series of feints, parries, and minor dodges.

Fighting also represents experience. Translated to a system like D&D, Typical rank would be 1st level fighting and perhaps Amazing is comparable to 13th level. Also the higher the level, the more hand to hand attacks per round.

Back to Evading. . .

To make evading more palatable, the defender would use a variation the Reflex Ratio when figuring what their Evade FEAT chance would be.
This variation is based upon Fighting v. Fighting inlieu of Agility v. Agility.

EXAMPLE:

Blind Justice has Excellent Fighting and Incredible Agility. Her foe is Snakegodd who has Incredible Fighting and Excellent Agility.

During their slugfest, Blind Justice chooses to Evade. Instead of comparing their Agility ranks the Fighting Ranks are used. Since Blind Justice's Fighting is two ranks lower, she takes the -2CS to her Evade FEAT. This gives her a Typical chance to completely avoid Snakegodd's fists.

If she had not chosen to Evade, then the usual Reflex Ratio would be applied. In that case, Snakegodd would have a Excellent chance to slugfest BJ.

Speaking of, RAGNARöK posted a Color FEAT Table that defines [-CS Counts]…

[www.classicmarvel.com]


Instead of Column Shift Counting every Action; the Table Defines ‘What’ your Character can contend with…. It generally handles actions, which are —20 to +20 Points within your own FASERIP Levels…

So with say RM:30 Abilities (Any of the FASERIP or Powers) your Character can hang with a Maximum of AM:50 Abilities at RED FEATS… And you gain ‘Automatic’ supremacy over GD:10 Abilities….


On the older table Say you have AM:50 Abilities… your Character could hang with a Maximum of SX:150 Abilities… And you gain ‘Automatic’ supremacy over EX:20 Abilities….

But AM:50 -=VS=- SX:150 seems a little improbable so some players use an expanded Table that goes by 10’s and 5’s…… Making AM:50 able to contend with MN:70 (Just a sliver below Full-On Monstrous and referenced as “Ferocious”)

[www.classicmarvel.com]

You play differently than I do. I stick closer to the Revised Basic Set (1991) and only recognize the Universal Table from that version of the game.
Your ideas are well designed but too complex for my way of running the game during a fight.