Second session: More questions

Torchbearer An Adventurer's Essentials
1

A couple more from our follow-up session!

#1) Dim light is a factor in all tests (save riddling). An Ob 0 test (say Attack vs. Atack) in a Conflict does not count for P/F advancement. Does making a Fight test (or any test) that is Ob 0 in Dim Light count as Ob 1 and thus qualify for P/F tracking?

#2) Does Dim light effect Disposition roll?

#3) It’s pretty clear to us when you can use your Nature… but when can you use it outside your descriptors? Can you use your Nature to “act outside your nature” on any roll? Or does it have to be pretty clearly opposed to your nature; e.g. a Human humbly requesting; or a halfing intimidating down an ogre?

#4) Still not sure how weapons work in a non-Kill/Drive Off conflict. The group was exploring the bottom of sinkhole in a large cavern when a flock of stirges dived down upon them; the party responded by trying to flee to a nearby underground lake to dive in.

I set it up as a Flee conflict. (which as it turns out… the Stirges are very good at beating you at)

I used Giant Bat stats (but made them Might 2).

I described the Stirges as using their tough leathery wings as “weapons” (according to the book) giving them +1D,+1s to Attack actions. Which through play the group figured out.

So my players were wondering can they use their “Shoes” as weapons? Or “Peasant’s Endurance” or something else that wasn’t exactly material/physical to gain some bonus dice or successes to certain types of actions?

#5) In the aforementioned scenerio; the party ran out of disposition (Having no weapons against the +1D,+1S leathery wings quickly made them lose). But managed to do about half the stirges disposition… so this was a Flee result.

So the logical result is the stirges caught them… so should we then proceed to a Fight conflict? Or can I just rule and assign conditions? We ended up saying that the party made the lake; but not before each was stung and blood-drained several times… leaving them all Exhausted Is that call in the ballpark of what we should be doing?

#6) Lastly in the aforementioned sinkhole; the party had made a successfull Dungeoneering test to lower themselves on ropes to the bottom. After the incident with the stirges they wanted to return to camp…

  • Do they need to test Dungeoneering again to climb up and out? (essentially does Let it Ride work here at all?)
  • If; while in the sinkhole; they decide to spend a turn making a Cartographer test to “update” their map… and pass… can they “quick-travel” back to their camp even though they are at the bottom or a sinkhole with a treacherous rope climb ahead of them?

Thanks!

Having lots of fun with the game! The group seems more in love with provisioning themselves and “pimping out” their small camp then they do actually adventuring!

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  1. Sure does.
  2. Yes.
  3. As long as you don’t have the skill involved, you can use your Nature for any test. But if it is not within your nature, your risk taxing it. See Acting Against Your Nature and Taxing Nature
    on page 133.
  4. The weapons for Flee conflicts are listed on the Weapons of Wit table on page 179. Look under Chase. You can only use Locals if a member of the party is actually a local. You can use the Maps weapon if you actually have a map of the area the chase is occurring in. Dirty Tricks would be things like pit traps or trip lines the group set up before the conflict started. Right Tools would be things like a a rope set up ahead of time to help you scale a cliff or maybe a boat to quickly get across a river. I don’t think shoes count, though I would apply an Evil GM Factor to anyone that lacks shoes–barring halflings).
  5. That’s up to you as the GM and what feels right. Having the stirges corner them and force them to fight is certainly an acceptable result. But so is giving them conditions as you did.
  6. Again, that’s up to you as the GM. If you feel they took appropriate precautions (maybe they tied loops for handholds, took extra precautions in securing the line, and or drove spikes into the wall of the sinkhole to provide footholds) then sure, let them climb out without a test. If they make the Cartographer test and the rope is still there, then sure, let them climb out without a test. If the rope is gone, then that obstacle needs to be dealt with.
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#2 ) I think i need some clarification on how dim light affects the disposition roll in detail. The only way i can get these two concepts together is by translating ‘increasing any obstacle by one’ (p. 61) into -1s for the disposition role. Would this then only apply if the conflict captain is considered to be in dim light, similar to how being exhausted affects disposition, or would any party member in dim light trigger the effect; just like ‘hungry and thirsty’?

4

Only penalties that affect the roller will matter.

So, for instance is player 1 is rolling and has no conditions and player 2 is helping but is injured, the die pool isn’t reduced by 1 die.

5

Yes, +1 Ob on a test that is normally Ob0 is, essentially, -1s for that roll. Think of it this way–you get disposition equal to your Ability plus the measure of success on your skill roll. Usually that would be equal to the number of successes you roll, but if your conflict captain happens to be in dim lighting, it’s going to be affected. In the case of Exhausted, this is specifically translated in the rules into a -1s penalty for ease of use.

And I would apply the effect for dim lighting based on the Conflict Captain, because it’s their positioning that is the focal point for the conflict itself. If they don’t have a good sense of the environment and the disposition (haha) of their available resources and challenges, they’re going to start out with a handicap since they’re calling the shots. It doesn’t matter if everyone else on your team can see what’s what perfectly. They’re just foot soldiers.

6

The rules (p. 68 ) for how conditions affect the disposition role exemplify two different strategies for affecting the disposition role. Exhausted affects the disposition roll based on the conflict captain. The condition is only relevant if the conflict captain is exhausted. Hungry and thirsty, on the other hand, affects disposition based on the whole party. The condition is not only relevant if the conflict captain is hungry and thirsty, but any party member. The reasoning you propose is similar to the way the exhausted condition works. But one could also make the case for making dim light affect the disposition role the way hungry and thirsty works. As you pointed out, the conflict captain needs to have a good sense of her team’s state and position in order to make an informed decision. But if the conflict captain can’t properly see her team because they stand in dim light (or darkness), she will have a harder time strategizing; thus applying the penalty if any member stands in dim light.