Hey everyone. Bunch of quick questions. I am hoping that I can get a quick answer from the various folks who know the game well already and have been in beta.
When rolling an attack on behalf of an NPC vs. a PC. If there is a tie in the contest roll, are we saying the attack succeeded because the attacker met the # of success of the defender, or are we saying the attack was deflected because we always take the point of view of the player and the player met the # of successes of the non-playing character?
Can I safely assume that anywhere a rule says a player can use Momentum, the player can generate Threat instead? (I know the reverse is not true and there are plenty of examples of situations where a rule states Threat can be generated without the possibility of achieving the same with Momentum.)
What’s the consequence for a character of being defeated in a fight? Safe to assume that in most cases, the playing character is wounded and perhaps unconscious, may have to sit the rest of the fight out, and may receive a trait to that effect (“Wounded”) until helped by a friend?
What’s the general view of “double duty” rolls for contest rolls with mooks? I.e., treating a mook like a 1, 2, 3, 4 obstacle instead of a take turns and having them roll?
Easy one to start. The defenders roll becomes the difficulty, pg 158. So in the case of a draw the attacker wins, regardless if they are a PC or an NPC
Not really. Threat can be used instead of Momentum for buying d20s, pg 155.
But Momentum can also be used for creating Traits & Assets, obtaining information or triggering certain Talents.
That is RAW though, so a GM may allow you to use Threat for Momentum spends if they want. I’d certainly be lenient here, personally.
Largely GMs discretion. Default status is that they are out of the fight, but that could mean forced to withdraw, knocked out, captured or similar. The only unlikely result is death, but I can see a GM inflicting a Duelling scar if someone failed badly for example.
Sounds fine to me. Mooks are there to showcase how awesome the characters are, so having the Swordmaster dance through an enemy squad while the Bene Gesserit uses the Wierding Way to take out the guards on the door without having to spend half the session rolling dice sounds good.
Totally agreed. The rulebook mentions a couple of other specific situations, though, when Threats can be added instead of spending Momentum: when paying for a supporting character to be added for a scene; when keeping initiative; and when resisting defeat.
Personally, I’d probably allow player’s to add threat instead of spending Momentum in other cases as well, unless something gets too broken.
Thanks. More questions as I am parsing through the rules on conflict.
P166. “You may spend 2M to move an additional zone.” Is this cumulative with Keeping Initiative? I.e., you make a subtle move, which you succeed, and you spend 2M for an additional move and you get to Keep Initiative for 0 (because of Subtle move).
This feels overpowered to me. The way I interpret (and would rewrite) the rules is. You get to use your turn to make a move. If it’s an “ordinary” move, you don’t roll, and you can spend 2M to Keep Initiative for an additional move. If it’s a “subtle” move, you roll, and if you succeed you get to Keep Initiative for 0M, and you can make a follow-on move as a result.
Do I have it right that you can only spend 2M to Keep Initiative if you succed (or don’t roll) on any first action (no matter what it is, move or not)? So two questions in there: it’s not just moves that allow you to Keep Initiative and, separately, you have to succeed what you do (or auto-succeed) to be able to Keep Initiative?
Can you assist an ally (i.e., use a single 1d20 on someone else’s action) in addition to your turn, or doest that count as one action? P166 doesn’t specifically state that supporting an ally counts as an action (only specifically mentions removing a complication or aiding an ally as an action). I’m torn on this. I mean I wouldn’t allow it probably.
As written, I think your interpretation is correct. The extra move for 2 Momentum is not applicable only to subtle or bold movement, but for any movements.
Your alternative may be valid - to be tested, though. My personal experience so far is that if a player only moves 1 on his/her turn, that’s a slightly boring turn, so moving an extra zone (or even moving another 1 zone) is not a hugely imbalancing thing.
Your interpretation is not stated generally in the rules, but I think it’s safe to assume so. It is mentioned specifically for Move tests, for Use an Asset, and for Attacking that if you fail, you cannot Keep the Initiative.
Not specifically stated, but I would think Assisting is an action for the assisting character. Assistance is actively helping in another’s action. Doing any significant thing actively in a conflict would mean an action for me. I guess it would also depend on how the Assistance is carried out, but I cannot think of anything right now which would be meaningful enough to count as an assistance and could still be done by the character out of his turn.
The way we used it in our own home game: the assisting character had to take his turn first, use her action it to assist. We do not roll at this point yet. Then, if the assisted character took his assisted action before the assistant’s next turn during the next round, and indeed performs the main action, then the assisting character may roll her extra die.