First timer with a few questions

Torchbearer An Adventurer's Essentials
1

Hello,

the forum answered a lot of my questions. But there are still a few remaining - or showed up during our game on last saturday. I was the GM, three poor souls (warrior, cleric, elf) entered the halls of Hathoor-Vash and were… not the most successful adventurers in this part of the world (or any). There’s an after action report here, but it’s in German, so I’ll give a short summary.

Spoilers ahead (though I suspect that most forum members here know the Crypt of Skogenby):

We built characters. I explained a few thing, gave a short exposè and we started right at the entrance. The group entered immediately - who needs to take a look for any hints? - met the guardians, cast Fury of the Lords of Life and Death and entered into a kill conflict against the last two. Attack vs. attack with the first card. Both skeletons down, the warrior injured and exhausted thanks to a rusty, pointy stick in his belly. Wow, that was a short fight… Only two turns on the grind done. The pacing got a little slower after that opening. They did some reading, ritual washing, tending to injuries, more reading of more nasty runes, that crawled under the elf’s skin etc. They were in the dungeon for about 15 to 20 turns divided between two adventure phases and a very short, very early camp (one check). The end came with a twist, when the last oil burned down in the lantern (they still had quite a few torches), while searching the sarcophagus. Corpse Candles appeared, the elf swallowed some water and got sick. The last action was a conflict with Hathoor-Vash, when they tried to negotiate with her, after she took control of the elf. They wanted to persuade her that they leave with the girl, if they return everything that was stolen. Her goal was to get rid of the adventurers, while she kept everything of her possessions and the original grave robber. That included the elf - or at least his skin. Runes there…

So the cleric and the warrior left the ruins, took a long detour around Skogenby and were never seen again in this part of the world, while they were happy to be still alive.

Besides, the Dread Crypt of Skogenby was probably the most important read before we played. I was a little at a loss after I read the rules. The adventure answers A LOT OF QUESTIONS when I read through the different suggested actions and outcomes. Very helpful.

(1) Skill advancement to level 2 seems very fast. One successful Beginner’s Luck gives level 1. One successful roll with level 1 increases the skill to level 2. Is that correct? Question answered. I found it in the Skill chapter, not in the chapters about Beginner’s Luck or skill advancement.

(2) Can you always use Nature for skill checks, if you don’t have the skill?

(3) Is there a way to get equipment that’s not on the list prior to the first adventure, i.e. a bow for the elf? No armor and only a dagger. Poor man.

(4) The elf tended to the warrior’s injury with the heal skill during camp phase. The warrior was exhausted at that time. Did they have to take care of that before?

(5) Moving from room to room seems pretty effortless. The group easily skimmed through the rooms. And I didn’t want any Cartographer rolls for only four rooms (they didn’t proceed beyond the secret door). It felt a little strange. A long time ago, when I played dungeon crawls before Torchbearer, time passed when the group moved around. Things (barred doors, traps, monsters) happened when the group moved around. In Torchbearer, things happen, when adventurers do stuff, i.e. skill rolls. Time doesn’t pass, when you move between rooms, unless there is something around. I know, I can throw in a wandering monster, when the movement becomes too effortless. Or I’d let them make cartographer checks, when the halls and corridors become more labyrinthine. But in such a small structure, I wait for the adventurers to dig their own grave while exploring the different features of the rooms. Less “move to encounter A, proceed to B, get to C…”, the players have to be more proactive. It feels different, and I think I like it more.
(No question, more of a musing, yet I’m interested if other people had a similar experience with Torchbearer.)

2

i Skill advancement to level 2 seems very fast. One successful Beginner’s Luck gives level 1. One successful roll with level 1 increases the skill to level 2. Is that correct? Question answered. I found it in the Skill chapter, not in the chapters about Beginner’s Luck or skill advancement.
[/i]

Beginner’s Luck requires a number of tests equal to the character’s maximum Nature rating.

i Can you always use Nature for skill checks, if you don’t have the skill?[/i]

Yes, if it’s within nature (e.g. an elf without Orator skill substituting Singing Nature).

i Is there a way to get equipment that’s not on the list prior to the first adventure, i.e. a bow for the elf? No armor and only a dagger. Poor man.[/i]

Yep, make it using Survivalist or Armorer or scrounge it up using Scavenger. Or start your halfling burglar with a bow and do a gear trade with the elf during the first session.

3

Hi there! Welcome!

As Jared notes, you need to make a number of Beginner’s Luck tests equal to your current maximum Nature. If you have Nature 5, you need to make 5 Beginner’s Luck tests before you learn the skill. When you learn the skill, it opens at 2. See Learning a New Skill on page 30.

(2) Can you always use Nature for skill checks, if you don’t have the skill?

I need to tweak Jared’s response here a bit. You can ALWAYS use Nature if you don’t have the skill, whether the action is within your Nature or not. The only caveat is that if something is against your Nature, your Nature is taxed by the margin of failure if you fail. See Nature on page 26. Pay special attention to the Acting Within Your Nature, Acting Against Your Nature and Taxing Nature subheads.

(3) Is there a way to get equipment that’s not on the list prior to the first adventure, i.e. a bow for the elf? No armor and only a dagger. Poor man.

Not by the rules as written. Don’t feel sorry for elves. Elves are extremely potent characters with many, many benefits. It won’t hurt them to have to buy or make a bow or armor in play. You can always house rule it, of course.

(4) The elf tended to the warrior’s injury with the heal skill during camp phase. The warrior was exhausted at that time. Did they have to take care of that before?

Characters need to Recover in order, but treatment is not Recovery. You can use Healer to treat someone’s injury no matter what conditions they have. Note that if you fail a Recovery test, you can still seek treatment. But if a Healer fails to treat you, Recovery is no longer possible. Instead, you must suck it up (See Treatment for Injury on page 77). If possible, it’s better to attempt Recovery first, since treatment is all or nothing. However, but the benefit of treatment, as you discovered, is that you don’t have to recover conditions like exhausted first.

(5) Moving from room to room seems pretty effortless. The group easily skimmed through the rooms. And I didn’t want any Cartographer rolls for only four rooms (they didn’t proceed beyond the secret door). It felt a little strange. A long time ago, when I played dungeon crawls before Torchbearer, time passed when the group moved around. Things (barred doors, traps, monsters) happened when the group moved around. In Torchbearer, things happen, when adventurers do stuff, i.e. skill rolls. Time doesn’t pass, when you move between rooms, unless there is something around. I know, I can throw in a wandering monster, when the movement becomes too effortless. Or I’d let them make cartographer checks, when the halls and corridors become more labyrinthine. But in such a small structure, I wait for the adventurers to dig their own grave while exploring the different features of the rooms. Less “move to encounter A, proceed to B, get to C…”, the players have to be more proactive. It feels different, and I think I like it more.
(No question, more of a musing, yet I’m interested if other people had a similar experience with Torchbearer.)

Yes, that’s pretty much how it works. Cartographer is something you test after you’ve explored for a bit and want to make a map of what you’ve explored.

4

Thanks for the answers. I think I’ll find a few more, soon. :wink:

5

And here are a few others:

(1) I love those one- and two-pagers from Michael Prescott. Awesome maps. The adventurers can find a blade in the Stellarium of the Vinteralf that emits a blinding light. How do you model that? The effect would be that the adventurer is hampered like in total darkness or at least in dim light. I’d probably combine the status with the Exhausted condition. The adventurer loses the affliction, when he recovers from exhaustion.

(2) Can you always scribe scrolls from your spells? Our do you have to cast it into the scroll for later use, so you need to have it prepared. Let’s say an elf has supernal vision, but he hasn’t prepared it right now. He rolls Scholar and gets a scroll of Supernal Vision. Then he uses the scroll. Does that work? The group needs one more turn for the spell effect, but that would make casters far more versatile.

(3) Follow-up of (2). Let’s say my spellcaster has the instinct “I always scribe scrolls in camp”. And soon everyone has loads and loads of scrolls in their inventory. Where is the limiting factor?

6

I had always assumed the spell slot was consumed when the scroll was made. The scroll was a way to “bank” unused spells and reward conservative play.

But… I can’t seem to find that language anywhere in the book. I’ll be watching this thread.

7

I had assumed that scrolls did not require having the spell prepared, as long as you have it in your current spell book.

The limiting factors are inventory space, which is pretty darn limiting, where’s your food, water, and loot going to go? Will your friends even won’t to take up their valuable inventory space with scrolls they can’t cast? They could be carrying poultices and potions that they can use instead. The other limiting factor is the fact that it doesn’t seem realistic that you could scribe a scroll while actively adventuring. You need a nice reliable light source, like a campfire, you need to get all your stuff out, you need to arrange your paper and ink, and you need to spend a fair amount of time inking the mystic runes. Doing all that during the adventure phase seems a bit dubious.

So yeah, that’s one of the better instinct choices, but it does have its limits.

Also, I don’t think casting a spell from a scroll uses a turn, right?

8

Magicians and rangers may scribe any spell they know, even if it’s not currently in their traveling spellbook. See Scribing Scrolls on page 43. Doing so costs a turn in the adventure phase, a check in the camp phase or increases lifestyle in the town phase. The instinct above would allow you to bypass that cost in camp and scribe one scroll per camp without it costing a check. Casting from a scroll does not​ take a turn/check/lifestyle increase.

Scribing a scroll does not “consume” a memorized spell. You don’t even have to have a spell memorized to scribe it.

Clerics, on the other hand, may only scribe scrolls of prayers they currently have memorized. See Scribing Scrolls on page 50. Scribing scrolls doesn’t consume memorized prayers either.

9

Aaaaand I now have a pile of easy 1-shots to throw at players, thank you.

Being afflicted by particular effects that aren’t encompassed by the existing conditions can be a twist. Giving them additional woes on top of Exhausted would fall under the ‘cruel GM fiat’ category. One person suggested on the blog page: “Change hours to turns (for blindness effects) and cut the times in half for easy Torchbearer conversion.” This is more-or-less feasible.

There’s a lot of variations on how you can do this… I’ll lay out one and bracket some options.

Procedure:
Foolish mortals gaze upon the starsword Grugnir. Test Health, Ob 4 (OR Will depending if you want this to be a mental effect. Ob can vary but 3-4 feels appropriate to me in this situation. OR no test and give twist below. Not advised.)

Suggested failure result: Twist. 1d2 Turns later (OR immediately) the character is blinded for 2d4 Turns. A blinded character is treated as effectively being in darkness; any class benefits that allow the character to act in darkness may still apply at GM discretion. Optionally, a Healer may be able to treat the blindness as if it were the Injured condition. (OR Condition: exhausted instead of being blinded; if the entire party fails the Health test it may be wise to give the condition to a couple people instead of blinding everyone. A party of blind adventurers makes for a very swift and lethal end to a game session.)