Contest Holding

[Arius Vistoon]

after fews party, i find the decrease of 1d3 level in holding after a contest succesful is hard....
perharps, the rule optionnal page 103 will be applicate for this. i'm explain :
the contest is successfull, 1 level is lost
successful by 10 2 level is lost
sucessful by 20 3 level is lost

or less difficult ( successful by 5, 2 level, successful by 10, 3 level )

what are your opinion ?

[Mark_Aurel]

Think of it like this:

A contest action should generally have about a 50% chance of succeeding, all things being equal - sometimes a greater chance, sometimes a lesser chance, depending on who is contesting what, and how much resources either side possesses, and how much effort is spent on the action or on resisting it. Generally, the regent using the contest action has the advantage of preparing for it; the regent defending it should usually be willing to spend more, however. The average outcome of 1d3 is - tada - 2.

A contest action has a "counteraction" - rule - which adds 1 level. Rule doesn't automatically succeed either, of course, but generally, regents probably have less resources to spare resisting actions like this than actions like contest - it affects them less directly.

Generally, this puts the offensive on a domain level on a fairly even footing with the defensive - but it gives the party that "takes the offense" an advantage - anything else would be boring.

Offense option: Contest - damage 1d3 (avg 2)
Defense option: Outbid contest action - negate 1d3 damage
Defense option: Rule - repair 1 contest damage

The alternatives would be either contest-rule-contest-rule-contest rule ad nauseam, and make for one less viable offensive option, or it would be a system which would require a bit more bookkeeping, but not really provide any greater level of payoff in the end, and which made high-level holdings slip as fast as low-level ones.

It stings a bit to have something be contested, but it should be entirely possible to overcome it - on average, a successful contest should reduce income by about 2 RP and 1-2 GB.

[Osprey]

In general, I agree with mark's response. However, beyond the D3 loss when Contest is successful, the offensive regent has one other distinct advantage: Skill Synergies. A Contesting regent can essentially save RP (relative to the defender) by spending a character action and adding any bonuses due to skills and relevant feats (Master Administrator, possibley Master Merchant, Regent Focus, etc.). This can be significant when those bonuses start stacking.

For instance, imagine the level 7 Guild Regent (like, say...Guilder Khalien at 7th level) who contests while possessing 10 ranks in Administrate, plus the feats Master Administrator and Master Merchant. That's an automatic +6 to the Contest Action. Now imagine if they also had the Regent Focus: Contest Holding feat. Now we're at +10 to contest rival guilds. Yikes! :unsure: That means a defending regent has to spend 10 RP just to even the odds, and likely additional to actually have a fair chance of successful defense.

I've wondered about ways to help balance this type of advantage.. One would be to allow regents to add in their skill synergies when defending against a Contest action, especially if they're able to be physically present at the time of the action. As things stand, there's no real system for using Character Actions in defense of one's domain. If there were a way to integrate this, it might help even things a bit without changing the "D3 damage" effect (which I like, all in all).

Food for thought...
-Osprey