Wise Turtle Publishing

Hi, I'm fairly new to OVA...just heard about it earlier today, and bought the pdf online....and I have to say, I really like what I've read.

But, I'm a little confused on how to calculate Threat Value, I've gone through a few of the Sample NPCs, and can't seem to get the same numbers you have for them. I'm wondering if you could give an example from the book, but work it out for us to see, because I'm a bit lost.

I'll go through Ancel, since he has relatively few special cases, and at only 15, he should be fairly easy to calculate.


DT 4(1+pistol 3)
Def 3(Quick 1+Defense 2)
Atk 6(Agile 3+Combat 3)
HP N/A
End N/A

This only comes to 13, two shy of the 15 listed.

Thanks for your time!!

TBP

Glad you like what you see! I hope to continue hearing from you, but for now, let's tackle this Threat Value quandary.

OVA Rules wrote:Simply add the following: The highest Damage Total the character can achieve, the highest Defense Roll the character can make, the highest Attack Roll, and any Bonuses or Penalties to Health and Endurance.

In your example, you're only adding the total of BONUSES to Defense and Attack Rolls. Keep in mind these rolls include the two-dice default. You also did not include Ancel's Frail -2.

Your math should read as:

DT 4 (1 + Pistol 3)
Defense 5 (Quick 1 + Defense 2 + Default 2)
Attack 8 (Agile 3 + Combat Skill 3 + Default 2)
Health -2 (Frail - 2)
Endurance 0
--------------
Which is 4 + 5 + 8 - 2 = 15

Threat Value is slightly confusing, and people have complained in the past that its section is not explained verbosely enough. Unfortunately, page restrictions did not allow me to expand on it.

Hope that helps. ^_^

Clay wrote: Glad you like what you see! I hope to continue hearing from you

That's a dangerous statement, Clay...inviting me to keep talking...it's like inviting a Vampire into your house. Well, I don't suck blood, but I do talk enough to make your ears bleed, does that count? ^_^

Clay wrote: In your example, you're only adding the total of BONUSES to Defense and Attack Rolls. Keep in mind these rolls include the two-dice default. You also did not include Ancel's Frail -2.

Thanks for the clarification, I think it makes more sense. I'm gonna go back and figure out a few of the other's TVs, and see if I'm smarter now ~_^

TBP

You likely won't come up with exact results for certain NPCs. I "padded" NPC Threat Values that I felt had useful enough Abilities to make them tougher to fight. The rules say you can do as much. ^^

Wow, how did I miss this post. Thanks for answering one of my big questions too Clay.

I ran a few things over in my head and decided that things like Armor and Unnatural Weaknesses should be added in as well at Rank. Barrier I don't add as it costs Endurance (though Incorporeal should be added at +1 for Rank 4 and +2 form Rank 5 as that is a dirt cheap auto-miss).

Any other suggestions as to what should factor in?

I believe I gave a +1 to Shadowman for his Barrier Ability. Endurance or no, the ability to negate attacks seemed a worthy bonus to the TV. Similar "Why won't you die?!" Abilities like Heal could also warrant +'s.

In the end, the number is a very loose estimate at best. If you're nitpicking a point or two, you're probably imagining the concept wrong. It's just so you don't throw canaries to the lions (or vise versa.) ^_^