So back to the business of converting the Deductionist from Pathfinder to Rolemaster. I said earlier that the obvious way to treat the problem was to simply treat the Deductionist's special abilities as if they are spells, organise them into lists, assign a set of development costs and hey presto! A new profession is born.
Straight away, there are fundamental differences - before one even tries to create spell lists! Consider the basic chassis of the Deductionist: a 'fair' BAB, good Will Save and poor Fortitude and Reflex saves. Rolemaster simply doesn't roll this way.
Resistance Rolls v. Saving Throws
For a start, RM Resistance Rolls are not linked to profession, they're a function of level and stat bonuses. There have been a few optional rules over the years allowing Resistance as a Skill, but they have never been core, and they are not, as of the beta playtest, reappearing in any form in RMU. Further, RM doesn't even have an equivalent to Reflex saves: avoiding damage in such a fashion is a function of skills and Defensive Bonus.
So, short of introducing a Resistance skill (an idea I've always rather liked, but will shelve for current purposes), we have to look at alternative ways of simulating saving throws. As a quick and dirty method we might try this: Will saves influence the cost of Concentration-type skills and Reflex saves influence the cost of Athletic/Gymnastic style skills. Fortitude saves do have a clear analogue in RM - there is a category of RR that deals with Poison and Disease - but, again, this only improves as the character levels up, and only in the most generic and abstract way. Fortitude saves might influence skills such as Body Development, some Concentration skills and other skills such as Disease/Drug Tolerance (and, if you're using the old Arms Companion, a number of skills there).
There are also Background Options (or, in later versions of Rolemaster, 'Talents') that might lend themselves to boosting RRs, but, again, these are not tied to professions.
So that's problem #1. Let's move on.
Base Attack Bonus v. Weapon Skills
In Rolemaster, there's no BAB. Proficiency in combat is a function of skill level in weapons, paid for during the development phase at each level. There is a wide variation, of course: Fighters and similar professions pay less for their weapon skills than professions that concentrate on magic, with stealthy professions and Semi-spell users inhabiting a middle ground in terms of cost. Only if one uses the optional Level Bonus rules in 2nd edition Rolemaster is there a kind of automatic improvement as the character levels up. Fighters and their ilk get the full bonus, whilst Magicians and Sorcerors and other specialist magic users get none.
Assuming the use of Level Bonuses, we are left with translating BAB into development point costs.
Pathfinder has three BAB progressions: 'poor', 'fair' and 'good'. As a rough guide, we might decide that 'poor' progressions allow the development of one rank per level at a high cost, 'fair' allows the development of two ranks per level, with the first at low cost and the second at a higher cost. The 'good' progression then grants two ranks per level, with the first very low and the second not too expensive. If you were looking at Rolemaster professions in this way, you might decide that most Pure or Hybrid spell users are 'poor' BAB, most Semi-spell users and non-combat specialist Arms users are 'fair' and combat specialists are 'good'.
Assuming that's adequate, our Deductionist has similar weapon costs to the Thief, Bounty Hunter, Ranger and Bard. So far, so good. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Deductionist has the following costs for weapon categories: 3/7, 3/9, 5, 6, 8, 8 (there are six costs, and they are apportioned to the categories of the players choosing. I'm also giving the Deductionist a level Bonus of +1 per level.
Problem #2 is OK for now. Next time we'll look at skills and try to come up with a means of resolution for Problem #1.
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