Losing a duel to an imbecile with 2 martial

[Km]

I have a 26 year old Mali Emperor, 21 martial /w 66 personal combat skill, level 3 in the warrior lodge, lots of duel experience. Also sabotage the duel with high intrigue skill... Lose to a rival with 0 in EVERYTHING (He has the 1+1= ? imbecile trait) except for humdinger 2 martial skill with a whopping -35 personal combat skill. The duel happens and apparently my character is "amazed by his graceful skill" and he promptly cuts my throat. Makes sense to me. LOL. Kill me now.

[DonJuanDoja]

Well it doesn't happen often but I had a ruler with over 45 martial and about 200 PC and some 70 year old lady with 10 martial beat me in a duel.

Guess I underestimated her...

Oh and they already did kill you lol.

I think it's actually pretty good because once I get around 200 PC I don't lose very often at all and I don't want it to be invincible because that's just not realistic.

Thing about duels is they should be a little risky... you have to consider you may be injured or die and what the chances are...

[xycotta]

Well, if you figure PC can get to 200s. 66 is is about at, you can hold it without stabbing your self. So yeah, you see this fumbling twit and go 'oh this will be easy' and leave your guard down. Then wham, wait he can move that fast?

Makes sense to me given the range of numbers. Anything under 100 is 'proficent' or less.

[AnotherGuy]

my 128PCS emperor lost his life to a -3PCS mercenary band leader while raiding
29 martial (me) - 6 (him)

[Jirki88]

One thing to keep in mind is that some traits affect duel outcome as well. Take for instance Proud - if you have the Proud trait, you're much more likely to turn your back on a mortally wounded opponent to take in everyone's amazement, and subsequently you get spitted by said opponent who won't go down alone. I'm quite sure there are other traits that affect outcomes, but the Proud one is the one I've noticed most.

Also, for the record: the Martial attribute has nothing whatsoever to do with duels.

[DonJuanDoja]

Originally posted by Jirki88:

One thing to keep in mind is that some traits affect duel outcome as well. Take for instance Proud - if you have the Proud trait, you're much more likely to turn your back on a mortally wounded opponent to take in everyone's amazement, and subsequently you get spitted by said opponent who won't go down alone. I'm quite sure there are other traits that affect outcomes, but the Proud one is the one I've noticed most.

Also, for the record: the Martial attribute has nothing whatsoever to do with duels.

How do you know this? I haven't seen any documentation on how PC skill is calculated.

Seems to me characters with higher martial start with higher PC skill and gain it faster.

I don't know for sure but based on experience I'd say it doesn't Directly affect it but indirectly it does.

[xycotta]

Originally posted by DonJuanDoja:

Originally posted by Jirki88:

One thing to keep in mind is that some traits affect duel outcome as well. Take for instance Proud - if you have the Proud trait, you're much more likely to turn your back on a mortally wounded opponent to take in everyone's amazement, and subsequently you get spitted by said opponent who won't go down alone. I'm quite sure there are other traits that affect outcomes, but the Proud one is the one I've noticed most.

Also, for the record: the Martial attribute has nothing whatsoever to do with duels.

How do you know this? I haven't seen any documentation on how PC skill is calculated.

Seems to me characters with higher martial start with higher PC skill and gain it faster.

I don't know for sure but based on experience I'd say it doesn't Directly affect it but indirectly it does.

I think that is because a number of traits/education/genetics/lifestyles that raise martial also raise PC

[Fellow]

I still feel their should be a hard cap for losing in a sense. If you have 200 combat and lose to a -20 then that's jsut ridiculous. I feel like someone ought to have a chance to kil lyou regardless at around 20 combat.

[Jirki88]

Originally posted by DonJuanDoja:

Originally posted by Jirki88:

One thing to keep in mind is that some traits affect duel outcome as well. Take for instance Proud - if you have the Proud trait, you're much more likely to turn your back on a mortally wounded opponent to take in everyone's amazement, and subsequently you get spitted by said opponent who won't go down alone. I'm quite sure there are other traits that affect outcomes, but the Proud one is the one I've noticed most.

Also, for the record: the Martial attribute has nothing whatsoever to do with duels.

How do you know this? I haven't seen any documentation on how PC skill is calculated.

Seems to me characters with higher martial start with higher PC skill and gain it faster.

I don't know for sure but based on experience I'd say it doesn't Directly affect it but indirectly it does.

Martial and PCS is separate, simple as that. You are right in that characters with a Martial Education start with higher PCS (as the education itself gives a bonus to both), but that doesn't mean higher Martial stat is relevant for duels. It's PCS that matters for duels, and you could in theory get a very high PCS without even being half-decent in Martial (for example by racking up a high Duel Experience count). But most traits that gives PCS (such as Genius, Strong, Shrewd, Brawny, Duelist, Brave) also gives Martial, so most often PCS and Martial goes hand in hand.

The Martial stat however doesn't affect duels in any way - it's only by association to all the traits that give PCS that it's 'relevant'.

[xycotta]

Originally posted by Fellow:

I still feel their should be a hard cap for losing in a sense. If you have 200 combat and lose to a -20 then that's jsut ridiculous. I feel like someone ought to have a chance to kil lyou regardless at around 20 combat.

I would think the difference should modify the injury unless it is a kill duel. If you have a 200 and your opponent has a -20 and you manage to lose, you avoid death or a perm injury due to your high skill but lose the fight.

'You watch your opponent fumble with their weapon briefly before you sigh. As you are thinking maybe you should just give them a chance to run, they lunge and manage to trip themselves but ram into you knocking you over. Your reflexes managed to parry the blade away harmlessly but as you fall backwards you hit your head on a rock and instantly are knocked out. Least that is what they told you what happened.'

[xycotta]

'You opponent's skill is abyssal. You are surprised they have not killed themselves yet. For what ever reason they decided to choose a ball and chain as a weapon and are whipping it around like a mad man. You manage to deftly dodge a number of swings and are preparing to step into the arc and dispatch them when they do the unexpected, leaving themselves completely undefended they swing the ball in an over head arc catching your sword hand with the ball causing you to drop your weapon. Seeing you disarmed they jerk the chain from the ground and charge you swinging in a wild arc.....with wraps around their neck and kills them instantly.

There will be some debate for years on who 'won'.'

[Richard]

RNG

[The Devil]

are you sure it wasn't some dumb way of life event that ignores PC completely

[Weizen1988]

You realize that skilled warriors can still totally die to lucky shots? Also as i understand it Martial score is your ability to lead, direct and manage troops, not your personal ability to stab things, but your understanding of warfare.

[Soul Binder]

My personal favorite wtf moment so far was when my OP Viking emperor chases down cowerdly rival leader in a Siege and forces him into a duel. I'm thinking yes kill this guy and end the war fast. But then one of my wives who happens to be my marshal and nearly as OP as my guy suddenly charges in front of me saying I got this!
Somehow he seriously wounds her and manages to escape the battlefield.

She healed ok and I eventually caught up to the dude and killed him but I was like ok so He was My rival, I'm head of the Wolf Warrior lodge with a list of Dueling kills as long as my arm, and she was supposedly leading another one of my armies in another county s how the hell could she show up in the middle of this fight and then manage to get herself hurt when she had a PC score like 250 above his (guy had a seriously negative PC rating wasn't just that me and wife were OP).

[Weizen1988]

I think bodyguards, and also marshal it sounds like, have the ability to just teleport from anywhere to your side at any time, much like how my ruler has been at two parties, his own wedding, two funerals, and on a quest looking for a magic apple all at once.