Continuing my
exposition on table procedures for common exploration feats & rules, which
began here with
part one.
Introduction
I don’t buy
the rationale of the fearless adventurer.
A surefire way
to depersonalize a character and effect the reverse alchemy of flesh to
cardboard is not giving a man anything to fear. This is sometimes handled
through roleplay and at others through some shade of background, but it’s
never really supposed to be a hurdle, just a dash of colour within the edges.
Fear is the
Mind Killer
The inclusion
of the following considerations can fundamentally alter the tone of a game so I’ll
have to give that some serious mind-chewing.
The aim’s to
add some psychology at a low overhead cost. Adventurers are presumed to lead
interesting lives and be adequately world-weary, not needing to test their
courage at the sight of any old harlot’s dentata, but they’re also expected to
be nibbling and pushing at the borders of The Known,
meaning encounters with the wondrous, the incredible, the fantastic, the deadly
and the weird, often all rolled up into one. This will also mean some
degree of DM adjudication and intrusion, as a mechanic structure cannot
hope to remain simple and at the same time cover all the nuanced instances of
when a character should or shouldn’t have to prove his mettle. It’s not a clean
or entirely neutral structure, is where I’m ultimately getting at.
As a golden
rule, mundane fear should be modelled without infringing on a player’s
freewill, rather allowing the character action albeit at reduced efficiency.
This means changing the Frightened condition, which if it is to feature more
often should have an accordingly mitigated impact.
The Crunchy
Bits
What is tested?
In the books Wisdom
is described as governing Fear, whereas Charisma counts for Willpower.
I get that one may fear what one doesn’t understand, but courage is not really about understanding
danger, rather one can be foolhardy or blatantly courageous in the face of situations
when how much in danger one is eludes one’s perception utterly, sometimes for
the better.
Anyway, even
in game balance terms, Wisdom is already well endowed, so I’m moving Courage
to Charisma, as it is both an expression of willpower and also one
of the most charismatic traits you can hope to find on a person.
When to test?
This is a
tricky one. This mechanic should be used sparingly, tests being
called only infrequently and for situations that truly fall outside the
hard-boiled normality of an adventurer’s life, as a way to starkly underline
the exception that the character is being faced with. It also follows that
the more experienced a character becomes, the less is left of the world to
leave him dumbstruck.
I’m making a
swing for Challenge Rating as a semi-objective numeric signifier, but
outnumbering and quite a dizzying number of other circumstances – control of
the environment, fallen comrades, foe’s observed performance in a fight, the
character’s own past performance and trauma or how unnatural the opposition is
– can all conspire to precipitate or immunize a character from testing.
- When asked to test his mettle, a character must pass a [Charisma Save, DC (10 or creature’s CR, whichever
is higher)] for being presented with a significant threat to life and limb
from a creature with CR higher than the character’s level or from a group of
lower CR foes that outnumbers the party’s highest level by at least 2:1 (a
typical level one party is considered outnumbered by sixteen or more 1/8 CR
creatures, etc).
- Disadvantage on
the above check happens if the creature is of Large or even bigger size, or, if a
group, it outnumbers the party by more than 3:1.
- Advantage wil
come from special abilities, since natural motives for granting Advantage will
likely mean the character simply doesn’t need to roll altogether.
- On a
failure, the character becomes afflicted with the Frightened condition.
Gone with a whimper: Frightened condition
- A Frightened
creature has Disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source
of its fear is within line of sight.
- Movement by
the creature that brings it closer to the source of its fear counts as being
made over difficult terrain.
- This
condition is ended once a [Charisma Save, DC (10 or the source of fear’s CR,
whichever is higher)] is passed.
- Multiple
sources of fear are all resolved by a single saving throw, made against the
highest present DC.
The first part
remains equal, the second and onward is where the subtle shift happens. I get
that the PHB’s condition is meant to emulate magical sources of fear whereas
I’m more interested in the mundane effect.
Retainer and NPC Morale
Of wider reach
than just determining if a character is affected by a debilitating condition,
NPCs are to have a morale stat, which will determine surrender, avoidance and
fleeing, unlike the above test.
Exclusive for
redshirt retainers and other NPCs lacking player agency, I’m simply coopting
the classic Warhammer leadership system of 2d6 morale, put to excellent use by
Alexis Smolensk in his campaign, where it gave some additional feeling of
retainers having their own decision centres, as they rolled not just for
life-or-death decisions but rather when faced with any sort of
activity that implied danger and defied their comfort zone, including something
so simple as deciding if the retainer descended underground in the
first place and if they forged ahead through hardship or folded back to
civilization when presented with the chance.
- When
faced with danger and threatening uncertainty, an NPC rolls 2d6 and
compares the result to its Morale score; if the result exceeds it, the NPC
takes measures to avert or remove himself from the source of distress.
In a nutshell:
the test is of the roll-equal-or-under kind and having a high stat is a good thing. As a
quick and dirty way to figure out a typical Morale score, assign a base value of 5
or 6 and modify this with either the Wisdom or Charisma modifier found in the
MM stat-block, whichever feels more appropriate to the creature in question.
Akin to a Reaction Roll, the Bell-curve
distribution serves the purpose better than a spiky d20 since running away or
holding the line ought to be a more predictable event than swinging to attack.
I’ll deal with Intimidation et al in a short while.
Running on Fumes: Temporary Hitpoints
- Temporary
hitpoints are crossed out after expenditure of regular ones.
This means
that even if a character chances into additional, higher, sources of tHp, the
benefit to be reaped will still only come to the fore after the body has given
out.
Blunting the
Edge: Intoxicated condition
Wizards’
family-friendly version of DnD has no room for upshots to intoxication, even if
there is historical precedent: to them it’s down to the literal proverb-proven case of picking your poison when fetching the bottle. Even as a
social drinker who sometimes gets very social, I don’t endorse drinking but the
game option is to me a mandatory inclusion.
What follows
is for alcohol, different intoxicants can definitely have different effects
(wait until the barbarian gets a-hold of the wode ‘shrooms).
- After
consuming a significant portion* of intoxicant from liquor or some other
substance, a character must pass a [Constitution save, DC 10+] (+1
per additional portion) or gain a level of Intoxication.
As he gains levels of Intoxication from alcohol, a character:
- First gets Disadvantage on Dexterity then, cumulatively, on Wisdom and finally on Intelligence rolls.
- His fumble range increases across the board by one for each level of the condition.
- If the level of Intoxication goes past a character’s CON modifier, he will also now count as Poisoned.
-
Intoxication’s benefits begin at “1”, then progress to “d4”, “d6”, etc; For
every level of Intoxication, a character adds the benefit to any d20 rolls to
test the character’s courage and as a number of
temporary hitpoints per level, rolled accordingly.
*(content
varying from drink to drink, and certainly not something I feel a need to
preestablish).
Closing
Thoughts – Breaking the Rules
Awesome! Love the idea of being drunk = temp HP.
ResponderEliminar