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Beran wrote:Excellent work I really like both Cultures. One thing that did stand out a bit was the 22 "points" worth of skills for the Rangers starting template. Isn't that a little much? Most of the Cultures in the Core set average about 18 "points." Are you suggesting that the Rangers be more experienced then the avarage starting PC?

No, it's balanced with other Common Skill spends on other races.

Spend 29 points with no skill achieving a final value higher than 3. To begin with a starting value of 1, spend 1 point. To begin with a starting value of 2, spend 3 points. To begin with a starting value of 3, spend 6 points.

Definetly will be using the Ranger as PC Culture if my game starts up. Really like the the Blade of Numenor option and the Steel Bow. Imaginative work who ever came up with them.

I would suggest several tweaks for Leolas:

Bump his Dagger skill up to 3 (or even 4).

Add the following:

New Weapon: Mirkwood Fighting Knives. Usually crafted in pairs, these exceptionally well-balanced blades are meant to be wielded in a two-weapon fighting style, similar to the Lake-men's Cultural Virtue of Shield-Fighting. if you get a "G" on the Feat die when attacking with an Elven Fighting Knife, you inflict double the normal Damage (3 + 3 = 6).
- Damage: 3
- Edge: "G"
- Injury: 12
- Encumberance: 0
- Group: Daggers

New Cultural Virtue - Mirkwood Elves: Two-Weapon Fighting. If you are fighting with two weapons, both must be one-handed weapons. The secondary weapon cannot be larger than a short sword* or larger than your primary weapon. When you successfully hit an enemy roll the Feat die again: on a role of 8+ you inflict an additional loss of Endurance equal to your Damage rating plus the Damage value of your secondary weapon. Your secondary weapon can be used to defend as if you were using a buckler (for a dagger) or as a shield (for any other weapon).

* Secondary weapons are limited to: dagger, short sword, axe or club.

I think the Mirkwood Fighting Knives should require a Virtue to be spent on reducing there Edge to 10.

Parry bonus should be more along the lines of +0 for daggers and +1 for short sword. A proper shield is much better at defending than either of these. There are no parry daggers in middle earth.

I would simplify it by saying that dual wielding adds +3 to the damage of your weapon, or decrease the Edge value. And maybe the +1 parry bonus you mention for short sword.

However, take in mind that this is a movie invention. Legolas does not dual wield at all in the books. I find it to be OK for a Steven Seagal film, but prefer to keep it out of the real middle earth.

Good point about the Elven knives being a film-invention. I still think that they are an appropriate option for Wood-elves and I would at least allow Tauriel to keep them (what with her being a movie invention herself). I'm gratified that no one is objecting to the weapons, themselves, in principle. Rather than making them keen, if you get a "G" on the Feat die when attacking with an Elven Fighting Knife, you inflict double the normal Damage (3 + 3 = 6).

I based my two-weapon fighting rule as nearly as possible on the Shield-Fighting rule in the Lake-town suppliment. The biggest change was that I did have to allow for how a secondary weapon might be used for defense--as opposed to a shield that is made for that purpose. No bonus whatsoever to parry with a dagger seems a bit harsh to me, especially if you are willing to allow the +3 bonus to parry with a short sword.

Eh. I didn't want to add any custom gear to any of them.

I only did that for Anduril because it isn't possible to make something Sauron would be scared of (and actually damaged by) by the rules. The biggest baddest mofo on middle earth takes a lot more then a mere grievous/keen/fell weapon, even if you put a 4th racial reward on it. to scare.

Everyone's done a great job posting these & I'm looking forward to using some of them - with modifications.

E.g., I have to agree with Elmoth's point about the knives being a film invention. I also only use the weapons that we can verify from the books, & don't even allow crossbows, for the same reason (which is probably also why ToR doesn't use them).

That aside, however, every LM writes our own mix & these are very useful - thank you.

Upon review, Legolas has been updated. 52 XP version is left unchanged for people who don't think he's this strong.

Name: Legolas Greenleaf

Culture: Elf of Mirkwood Standard of Living: Martial
Cultural blessing: Folk of the Dusk
Calling: Warden Shadow weakness: Lure of Power
Specialties: Elven-lore, Mirkwood-lore, Shadow-lore
Distinctive features: Fair, Swift
Body: 4 Heart: 4 Wits: 6
Body (favoured): 7 Heart (favoured): 6 Wits (favoured): 7

-Common Skills-

• Awe: 3 Inspire: 3 Persuade: 2
• Athletics: 6 Travel: 3 Stealth: 3
• Awareness: 3 Insight: 3 Search: 2
• Explore: 3 Healing: 2 Hunting: 3
• Song: 3 Courtesy: 2 Riddle: 3
• Craft: 2 Battle: 3 Lore: 3

-Weapon Skills-

• Bow: 6
• Dagger: 4
• Sword: 4

-Rewards-: Woodland Bow, Grievous, Keen, Fell, Cunning Make
-Virtues-: Wood-elf Magic (all uses), Elvish Dreams, Deadly Archery, The Speakers, Shadow Bane
-Gear-

• Bow damage: 7 edge: 9 injury: 16 enc: 1
• Sword damage: 5 edge: 10 injury: 16 enc: 2
• Dagger damage: 3 edge: G injury: 12 enc: 0
• Leather corslet enc: 6

Endurance: 26 Starting Endurance: 26
Fatigue from Encumbrance: 9 Fatigue from Travel: 0 Total Fatigue: 9
Hope: 12 Starting Hope: 12
Temporary Shadow: 0 Permanent Shadow: 0 Total Shadow: 0
Armour: 2 Headgear: 0
Parry: 6 Shield: 0
Damage: 0 Ranged: 0
Wisdom: 6 Valour: 6
Experience: 0 Total Experience: 0
Fellowship: 0
Advancement: 0
Treasure: 0
Standing: 5

Standing reminds people he's a prince. Standard of Living remains 1 higher because he's a prince.

But can your Legolas jump on to a dwarfs head while he's riding a barrel, balance on that and another dwarf while shooting a bow and killing many orcs. If not then he's not really Legolas