Allies and Additional Enemies:
King of Armdor named me the Court Abjurist
Blessed by Harpa - The Shining One
Friend to Bosephus the Cleric, Theodan the Magician, and Karolina the Warrior
Offended Velkethir the Elven Ranger
Mount:
Stone the Donkey
Known Spells:
Dance of Fireflies
Lightness of Being
Thread of Friendship
Wisdom of Sages
Wizard’s Aegis
Abilities:
Will (5)
Health (3)
Nature (3/3)
Resources (2)
Cricles (3)
Might (3)
That’s reasonable. I’ve found that the expected specificity of instincts varies from table to table. My GM (@Lord_Mordeth if he wants to chime in) has definitely held me to a strict interpretation of this instinct. If what I want to do isn’t clearly preparing for further exploration, it doesn’t fly. Since it is a camp instinct, it’s also only happening once per camp phase. It is unlikely to trigger more than once per session for me.
If I was at a table where the GM preferred single-skill instincts, I would change it to: “Always map our progress in camp”. That’s what I use it for 80% of the time anyway. I think the slight flexibility makes it more interesting without opening it to abuse.
I actually quite like thematic instincts that trigger against multiple skills but in very specific situations.
I did struggle a bit with how broad Orrin’s and one other player’s instinct were. Lagos the Assassin had “Always prepare for the next kill when in downtime.” It was the same deal, basically. Lagos could get a free test if he could reasonably argue it applied only to a future kill.
Specifics were effective in convincing me. Did you know what you were exploring/killing? Was the desired test the best thing you could do in camp to accomplish that?
Orrin only got tests that were only about exploration. Which tended to be Cartography, I recall… but if there were a known obstacle like a steep cliff and he wanted to explore above it, I may very well have allowed a weaver test to make a rope.
For me, if it says something about the character (and it doesn’t go off ALL the time) then that’s more important than tying it to a particular skill.
