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As with previous products, the first printing included the fantastic combat images by Matthew J. Jorgensen, a realist piece by Gail McIntosh and finally the cartoon-like figures of Angus McBride in the final version. In this particular instance I actually think Angus McBride's is the best in terms of clarity and Jorgensen's in terms of detail. The interior art of Gail McIntosh however is particularly worthy and actually much better than the cover art, but it is only presented well in the first printing; in latter presentations it almost appears that it was photocopied and stuck on to the page (which very well may have been the case). As separate books the first printing of Character Law was a saddle-stapled book, which was fine. The second printing however, when combined with Character Law, was also saddle-stapled which is slightly too heavy for the staples. Handle with care. The final printing (aka second edition) was perfect bound.
The organisation of Character Law is initially clear but varied in the different editions and, in my opinion, became a bit murky. Effectively however, the key elements are Introduction and Definitions, Personal Characteristics ("stats"), Skills, Character Classes, Character Generation, Experience Levels, Background and a variety of Optional Rules, which are more "expansions and elaborations" rather than genuinely optional in the first edition, but in the second were genuinely optional with alternative stat generation methods, the "no profession" profession, etc. The latter printing editions also included an initial "Introduction to Rolemaster" chapter which included information on movement and exhaustion, healing and injuries, poison and disease, and an equipment list. It was a rather odd place to put these descriptions.
Characteristics in Rolemaster are Constitution, Agility, Self-Discipline, Memory, Strength, Quickness, Presence, Empathy and Intuition. These are rolled on d100 and distributed according to the player's desires; rolls under 20 may be ignored for PCs and any two results may be replaced with scores of '90' if they are allocated to the prime requisites for a given profession. Each stat has two values; a temporary value and a (genetic) potential. The percentage range usually represents a character's relative position within their race whose raw scores provide a bell-curved stat bonus (thus only scores of 75%+ or <25% cause any resolution modifications). In addition to these stat-derived bonuses there are racial bonuses as well. For example, an Elf with Self-Discipline of 99% would receive a stat bonus of +20. However Elves, the flighty and distractable creatures they are, also receive a racial stat penalty of -20; meaning that a highly disciplined elf is the equivalent of an average common man.
Rolemaster had a good principle here, but they didn't always follow it through. On numerous occasions the raw stat was the basis for derived abilities (e.g., development points!) rather than the stat bonus itself. As with the comments given the review of Arms Law/Claw Law it is always better to derive values from the bonus rather than the stat. If this is not carried out the mechanics racial and species differentiation totally collapses. To summarise stat bonuses are an absolute standard across race and species, raw stats are a relative standard within a subspecies.
The first five stats are used to determine the character's 'development points' which are allocated to skills during level advancement. The latter five tend to have a more direct influence in skill resolution. Skills themselves are categorised into six groups; maneuvering in armour, weapon skills, general skills (climbing, swimming, perception etc), magical skills, special skills (ambush, linguistics, martial arts) and the array of more prosaic secondary skills. Skills are learned in ranks which provide a bonus; rank zero is worth -25, ranks 1-10 give a bonus of +5, ranks 11-20 a bonus of +2, ranks 21-30 a bonus of +1 and ranks 31+ a bonus of 0.5 each. Skill resolution is based on an open-ended d100 roll plus the skill rank bonus, plus the stat bonus, and plus or minus difficulty levels and detailed environmental variables. In a very general sense (using the categories from the 'alternative static maneuver table'), a result of less than -25 was a blunder, a result less than 05 was an absolute failure, a result of less than 75 was a failure, a result of less than 90 a partial success, less than 110 a near success, less than 175 a success and greater than 175 an absolute success.
There are numerous exceptions to this impressive and detailed general resolution method many of which weren't really as necessary as they were made out to be. For example, for spell resolution the skill rank method generated a bonus for learning a bloc of spells, whereas for linguistics it developed rank with relative competence expressed in a table. For Body Development (the ability to remain conscious) it developed a variable die roll for extra hits (based on race, not profession). In all cases these could have been substituted with the skill rank bonus system. One interesting skill (with a full page for description) is Channelling; the ability to send spells or power points over distance. Others include the attunement skills, being the ability to determine the power of a magic item by picking it up or, in the case of runes, by reading them and the ability to develop skill ranks in directed offensive elemental spells (i.e., like a weapon).
The skill range and detail in Character Law is excellent, but actual use proves very troublesome especially with the extremely low bonuses that beginning characters will experience. Most first level characters will usually be limited to a bonus of +20 in skills that they specialise in; barring any stat bonuses, this will mean that most attempts on anything with an average difficulty will result in failure.
Character Law provides some nineteen professions, differentiated by the different realms of magical power or arms. The realm of arms includes the Fighter, Thief, Rogue and Warrior Monk. Essence users include Magicians, Illusionists and Alchemists. Channelling users are Clerics, Animists, and Healers and the realm of Mentalism includes Mentalists, Lay Healers and Seers. Hybrid spell users include the Sorcerer, the Mystic and the Astrologer whereas combining arms and magic ("semi-spell users") are Monks, Rangers and Bards.
This is all pretty standard fantasy fare and standard criticisms apply; most people in the medieval-fantasy genre are brought up primarily as peasants, artisans and merchants with the occasional fighter or mage. Further, is there really such a need to differentiate between several different classes of (for example) essence spell caster, to the point where they have specialist spells which are quite inaccessible to others of the same realm? One cannot help but think that Rolemaster contributed significantly to the unfortunate tendency in many games to think that by having more character classes and more skills this axiomatically improves the substance of the game. It is simply not true.
Different professions have different prime requisites (e.g., Quickness and Self-Discipline for a Warrior Monk) and different level bonuses allocated to skill groups (e.g., Fighters gain +3 per level to combat skills). A core feature of Rolemaster is that no character is prohibited from learning a skill; rather there are extra difficulties involved as the training and mind-set is conducive to some areas of expertise and not for others. Thus, a Fighter will be able to pick up a new weapon and learn it with relative ease; not so a Magician - and of course the reverse applies for learning spells.
Character Law uses an experience points and level system for character development. Starting characters at first level are assumed to have gained the equivalent of two levels of prior experience as their adolescence and apprenticeship. At each level a character develops the skills according to development point allocations in the prior level and develops their stats towards their potential. Experience points are gained for various combat related activities (both giving and receiving damage!), travel, ideas, maneuvers, religious experiences and even the destruction of crystals for magical purposes. Experience point costs are 10,000 per level for the first five; 20,000 per level for the next five, then 30K, 40K and 50K per level after twenty. The values given and the level requirements inevitably result in pretty slow rate of development in the first few levels. This, combined with the low levels of competence in starting characters, really should suggest that RM GMs should start campaigns at perhaps level 5, rather than level 1.
Some of the more interesting optional rules in Character Law include background options (extra gifts, skills or cash), the extensive range of secondary skills (albeit with minimal description), the greater range for level bonuses for different professions, the alternative static maneuver chart and a simplified (and slightly kinder for low-level characters) experience chart. As mentioned previously most of these optional rules are closer to being elaborations and clarifications.
Character Law contained some very impressive innovations in its time, many of which remain important today (potential stats, professional/realm biases, wide range of skills), with a good task resolution concept. However, like many of Rolemaster's innovations, the execution was not as good as the idea or principle. Further, the organisation of the book was a bit below average, with the earliest printing perhaps the most clear! Partially this was because much of the more useful material was contained in the optional rules and the necessity to scatter the various and numerous tables throughout.
By contemporary standards this is a below average game; at the time however it provided a solid challenge to restrictive notions of character generation and development whilst still keeping a class and level system. The fact that such notions are now largely incorporated into, for example, contemporary editions of Dungeons & Dragons is indicitive of the product's value and contribution to roleplaying.
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