385 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
385 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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LUCK ATTRIBUTE
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Luck (Lck) represents accidental fortune, good or bad. Luck helps
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a character when he needs it most. Luck is not pertinent to any class
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but is beneficial to all.
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As with all ability scores, roll 3d6 to get this ability score.
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Ability Luck Fate Divine
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Score Points Points Intervention
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1 0 0 0%
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2 0 0 0%
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3 1 0 0%
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4 1 0 1%
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5 1 0 1%
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6 2 0 2%
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7 2 0 3%
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8 2 1 4%
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9 3 1 5%
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10 3 1 5%
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11 3 2 5%
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12 3 2 5%
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13 4 2 6%
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14 4 3 7%
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15 4 3 8%
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16 5 3 9%
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17 5 3 10%
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18 5 3 10%
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19 6 3 11%
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20 6 3 12%
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21 7 4 13%
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22 7 4 14%
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23 8 4 15%
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24 9 4 18%
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25 10 5 20%
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LUCK POINTS
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Introduction
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Players have a lot of control over their characters' actions and
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performances. A person who plays intelligently and thoroughly
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understands the game can usually direct the fortunes and progress of
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his character. But when the character faces a moment of great peril,
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the player is often left at the mercy of the dice. All the clever
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strategy and heroism in the world can save a character from a poor
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saving throw or an unlucky attack roll. The player can only hope for
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the best or for a benevolent GM who will fudge the die rolls and
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sacrifice a few points every now and then for the sake of the players
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and for the sake of the story.
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The luck ability described here is a way to give the players a
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little more control over the fate of their characters. Instead of
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letting the dice totally control a crucial situation, a player may use
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these luck points to try to affect the dice in the player's favor. In
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certain circumstances, a player may apply luck points as a bonus to the
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character's die roll, or may use luck points as a penalty to an
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opponent's roll.
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Usage
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A character may expend any or all of his luck points within a 24-
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hour period (or however long a campaign day is). Once all points are
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used, the character must wait until the next campaign day to renew the
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points. Unused points at the end of the day are simply wasted. Points
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cannot be hoarded for future use, nor can they be borrowed from the
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unused points of any previous day.
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Luck points are expended to try to affect important die rolls,
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such as "to hit" rolls, saving throws, or damage rolls. Luck points can
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only be applied to the simple die rolls such as "to hit" rolls, damage
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rolls, saving throws, or common percentile rolls. Luck points cannot be
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applied to things like spell duration, area of effect, or range of a
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spell, nor can luck points alter the number of creatures affected by a
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spell. The GM should make judgment calls on what should and should not
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be affected by luck.
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The player must declare the use of any luck points before the roll
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is attempted. The luck points are then applied as a bonus or penalty to
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the roll. Once the point use is declared, the luck points are spent
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regardless of what the die roll result may be. If the character would
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have made the roll even without the luck point modifier, then the luck
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points are simply wasted. No more than five luck points may be expended
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on any given roll.
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When a player elects to apply luck points to his own die roll,
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each luck point translates into a +1 bonus. Luck points may sometimes
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be used to impose a penalty to an opponent's die roll, with each luck
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point acting as a -1 penalty. The player must always give a sound
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reason why he or she may impose such a penalty. The character must have
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a clear and obvious influence over the opponent's roll.
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Luck point may be used to influence certain percentile rolls by
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translating each luck point into a +5% bonus or -5% penalty. The GM
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must decide which percentile rolls would conceivably be influenced by a
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character's luck, and which are outside a player's control.
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Racial Ability Score Adjustments
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Humans and halflings are the luckiest races because they are not
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tied by fate and destiny. Dwarves and elves are the unluckiest because
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they seem to be most attached to the path set before them. Gnomes are
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neither luckier or unlucky. The following is the racial adjustment to
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the luck ability score.
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Race Adjustments
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Dwarf -1
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Elf * -1
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Gnome 0
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Halfling +1
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Human +1
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* Kender elves of Krynn are the exception and have a +2 bonus
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because they possess incredible good luck.
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Optional Extending Luck Rule
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The luck point system is intended for PCs and NPCs (or just major
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NPCs), but it is very reasonable to give all living creatures a luck
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ability score. If the GM wishes to limit luck to PCs and NPCs then the
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rule is that only creatures with souls can have luck and therefore only
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PCs and NPCs can have luck points. If the GM wishes to allow certain
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creatures to have luck but not all then he can limit luck to only
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creatures with above animal intelligence. Else the GM can give luck to
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all living animals.
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The GM may also allow players to extended their luck to personal
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items (ex. item saving throws) because it would be lucky for their
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items remain safe.
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Optional Lucky/Unlucky Day rule
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For each game day a player rolls 1d20. A 1 indicates a lucky day
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for his character and that character receives 1d4 additional luck
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points for that day. A 20 indicates an unlucky day for his character
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and that character loses (not to fall below 0) 1d4 luck points for that
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day.
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Examples
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If a fighter uses two luck points for an important "to hit" roll,
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the fighter gains a +2 bonus to the roll. Through a lucky effort, the
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fighter may expend four luck points to gain a +4 damage bonus.
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Furthermore, a character may spend luck points to gain a better chance
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to dodge a dragon's fiery breath, to win the initiative in a critical
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melee round, or to make a difficult archery slot.
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A cleric trying to avoid the swing of an ogre's club may, through
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a lucky defensive effort, apply four luck points as a -4 to the ogre's
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"to hit" roll, or may reduce the ogre's damage roll by 4 hp.
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A bard who tries to charm a trio of stone giants may spend three
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luck points to reduce each giant's save vs. spells by -1.
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A thief might expend three luck points to gain a +15% bonus to
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pick a difficult lock.
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A fighter might use two points as a +10% bonus to a "bend bars"
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roll.
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A paladin might be lucky enough to resist a bard's seductive song
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by using five luck points as a -25% penalty to the bard's "charm
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percentage" roll.
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Question & Answers
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Why not impose a negative number that the GM controls as unlucky?
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Negative numbers are not imposed because this ability is designed
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so that players can help their characters. Using negative numbers
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causes the GM to assign penalties to characters when he wants. Because
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the GM is all knowing in an adventure, he would most likely impose a
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penalty at the most opportune moment of the adventure. This "bad-luck"
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would only occur at the most crucial time because it is the GM's
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decision. This could lead to accusations of bearing a grudge against
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the player. "Good-luck" could come at any time and usually not a
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crucial time because it is the player's decision and the player has no
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foreknowledge. Of course, some GMs can allow the players to decide when
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to use the negative luck points, but most players would use them on
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unimportant rolls. GMs could make extensive rolls for penalizing
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players that don't use their negative points but this makes the ability
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very complicated and takes away from the intended purpose of the
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ability.
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Furthermore, bad-luck could be defined as those characters that
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have 0 luck points thus no say in their fate. Also, other beings that
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use their luck as a penalty to characters can be considered "bad-luck"
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for the character.
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Why not add a random factor to the system?
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Having a random factor (ex. base factor with a random number of
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additions) with an ability score defeats the purpose of having an
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ability score. If a person wants to have a random factor, then another
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system should be devised. A person should also consider how complicated
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the system can become. Right now it is simple and not hard for the GM
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to manage, but adding extra things can make it cumbersome.
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Won't the luck ability lead to game imbalance?
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The luck ability will not imbalance the game. The highest amount
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of luck points for a standard character is 5 per day. Any only a
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foolish character would use all 5 points at one time. During one day in
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an adventure a character comes across many circumstances that is
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decided upon by a die roll of a player. Before making any quick
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judgements on raising the time span for luck points, the GM should
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count how many times a single player rolls the dice. Also note that
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using luck points is announced before the die rolls. Thus, luck points
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could and usually are wasted.
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Isn't luck already in the players and GM, thus making an extra ability
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redundant?
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If a person believes that luck does exist in the real world, then
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luck will manifest itself threw those that roll the dice.
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Unfortunately, characters aren't lucky. It is the GM and players that
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cause the luck but characters have no say. Unlucky players will always
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have unlucky characters and visa-verse. This isn't fair.
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If a person doesn't believe that luck exists in the real world,
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then everything is probable and characters are subject to randomness.
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This is fine, but the purpose of the luck ability is to give characters
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an extra chance of success.
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It may be argued that anytime the GM requires a roll for success
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(ex. saving throw, ability check, etc.) can be considered luck. These
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rolls are important actions that separate heros from mere peasants in
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the RPG realm. However, all heros make them and therefore cannot be
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considered luck.
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Isn't changing the core rule's abilities dangerous?
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An argument for changing core rule's abilities is that it is
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usually much more difficult to move the characters to another
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environment or play in another person's world. This is true but the
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luck ability isn't a change in the core rule's abilities. It is an
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added ability. And if another GM doesn't wish to use it, then the
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player can forget about using it under that GM.
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Shouldn't the GM have more control?
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The purpose of the luck points is to give players some control.
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Making extra rolls (like percentage rolls) to see of the player can use
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his luck ability is redundant and slows things down. Using luck points
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is announced prior to any rolls. Letting players use all his luck
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points or just a few is fine. They could and usually are wasted once
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the important roll comes but the extra 1-5 points may really make a
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difference. Extra rolls to see if luck can be used isn't worth the time
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because generally the luck ability isn't that great of an ability to
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make such a big fuss over.
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Why are the luck points distributed as they are?
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Because 3d6 is used to get the ability score, this forms a bell
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curve. Thus, the luck points are distribute in a bell curve fashion
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with 10 and 11 at the peak of the bell.
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FATE POINTS
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Introduction
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All characters are made for greater things in life then being a
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laymen. Thus, a character takes to adventuring to become a fabled hero
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and participate in the grand scheme of the universe.
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A player tends to get very attached to his character and doesn't
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like him dying, especially by accident. Without throwing the game out
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of balance, fate points will let a character survive for a little while
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longer, especially at low levels.
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Usage
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When something happens to a character that would bring his hit
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points below his death point (whether 0, -10, or whatever death system
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the GM uses), the player gives up a fate point and thus saves the
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character's life. The character's hit points, no matter how low, goes
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to 1 hit point. Hence, an act of the gods prevents the death of a hero,
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this time...
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Fate points can never be recovered by nothing less than a wish
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spell.
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Optional Sound Rule
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The GM can require the player to make a sound that simulates an
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extra life on computer games. Even better, the GM can record the sound
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and play it back every time a fate point is used.
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Optional Shock Rule
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The character must make a successful system shock roll or
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permanently lose 1 point of constitution. Vindictive GMs can forget
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about the system shock roll and make the character permanently lose 1
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point of constitution.
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DIVINE INTERVENTION
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The chance for divine intervention gives a player one last hope in
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a hopeless situation. In the past, only the mighty GM could allow a
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deity or divine minions interfere. Now a player can roll percentile
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dice and, if successful, have a divine entity look upon his character.
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Of course, the GM still decides what the intervention will be. A few
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examples are sending minions to help fight, healing the character,
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delivering a magical weapon or other useful item, speaking words of
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wisdom, temporarily boosting the character's abilities, teleporting the
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character out of danger, or destroying all the enemies around.
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A player can roll for divine intervention any time he wants as
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long as it is a crucial moment for his character. Deities don't worry
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about trivial things in a character's life. For example, a thief can't
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hope for divine intervention when picking a lock. However, a fighter
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that just stole an important artifact from evil beings and is currently
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surrounded by them with no hope for escape should have a chance for
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divine intervention. When a player can and can't try for divine
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intervention is under the discretion of the GM.
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Don't think of divine intervention chance as a hindrance to the
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GM. Now when the players get their characters in a sticky situation,
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they can't blame the GM for making it to hard to get out of because now
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the player has a chance to save his character. The GM can use the
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divine intervention chance as a shield from those that continue to
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whine because they get their characters in trouble.
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LUCK ABILITY CHECK
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As with other abilities, a GM may find some good use in asking for
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an ability check for luck in different situations.
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The usefulness of an ability checks vs. luck is best illustrated
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via examples:
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EXAMPLE #1: A fighter who has just managed to escape his dungeon
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cell enters an armory room, opens a cabinet, finds 10 identical swords,
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and picks one at random. The problem is that two of the swords are
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magical and one is cursed. So which one did he get? The basic procedure
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would be to assign a number to each sword and roll a 1d10. But if the
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luck ability is involved, the GM could secretly roll an ability check
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with any modifiers he finds convenient and if it succeeds the fighter
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gets a magical sword. He could also rule that on a bad role of 19 or 20
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the fighter gets the cursed one.
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EXAMPLE #2: The party is walking on a stone path to an evil
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stronghold. Unknown to them, the path is actually a medieval version of
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a "mined field". A few of the stones have been enchanted in a way that
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they explode when stepped on. The GM has everybody roll a luck check
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(with any appropriate modifiers). Anybody failing the roll gets blasted
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into the air.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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NON-WEAPON SKILL
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# OF RELEVANT CHECK
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NAME SLOTS ABILITY MODIFIER Group
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Gaming 1 Special see below General
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The character knows most common games of chance and skill,
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including cards, dice, bones, draughts, and chess. When playing a game,
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the character makes a skill check, with success indicating victory. If
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two proficient characters play each other, the one with the one with
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the highest successful die roll wins.
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The relevant ability used for the ability check is dependant on
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the type of game played by the character. For example, craps is purely
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a game of chance so Luck should be the ability used. Chess is a game of
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intelligence and thus Intelligence should be used. Some games like
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poker use elements of intelligence, luck, and charisma. A good idea
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would be to make the ability check vs. Intelligence with modifiers of
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+1 if a successful check is made vs. Charisma and a +1 if a successful
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check is made vs. Intelligence. The GM should make the decision on what
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would be the appropriate ability and modifiers.
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A character with gaming skill can also attempt to cheat, thus
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gaining a +1 bonus to his ability score. If the skill check for the
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game is 17 to 20, however, the character has been caught cheating (even
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if he won the game).
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