Fantasy Craft Q&A Thread!

[Dhampire]

The campaign quality, Luck Abounds (p 324), appears to make Double Boost and Last Chance abilities irrelevant.  Is this the case?  If so, is it what was intended?

[Crafty_Alex]

The campaign quality, Luck Abounds (p 324), appears to make Double Boost and Last Chance abilities irrelevant.  Is this the case?  If so, is it what was intended?

There are a number of campaign qualities which will "adversely" affect specific rules - Corrupting Magic, for instance, impacts Infernalists pretty mightily compared to other spellcasters. Likewise, in a campaign with Hewn Limbs, a relatively "cheap" feature like Sterner Stuff has a vastly larger impact.

This is fully the intent of Campaign Qualities - to let the group activate a blanket rule that affects the entire game environment. There will always be some crossover wtih *other* abilities that might provide the same sort of exemptions to a rule (see Luck Abounds vs. Double Boost/Last Chance all taking the "lid" off of action dice expenditure). The advantage of having Double Boost/Last Chance is of course the character who has them *always* gets them, whether their campaign is using Luck Abounds or not. In this case, opening the door to everyone for a action-dice crazy game seemed more important than preserving the sanctity of a relatively very small segment of the ruleset for just a few charactes.

[FunkMonkey]

Since, when a character goes prone, he loses any stance he is in.. would it be impossible to wield a foot-bow and be in a stance at the same time?

My burglar is a javelin wielding loony that also has bow basics.. so it might make sense for him to pick up a foot-bow to go with it.. but slightly less useful if he can't use his bow basics stance. Thanks.

[Sletchman]

What happens to an Unborn below 0 wounds?  Do they just keep functioning until they hit -10 and then die?  Does this allow them to make a Craft check to stabilise themselves?

[pawsplay]

Does a creature with exactly two natural attacks and no frenzy quality gain any benefits from the second attack?

[Crafty_Pat]

Since, when a character goes prone, he loses any stance he is in.. would it be impossible to wield a foot-bow and be in a stance at the same time?

I would say no.

[Crafty_Pat]

What happens to an Unborn below 0 wounds?  Do they just keep functioning until they hit -10 and then die?  Does this allow them to make a Craft check to stabilise themselves?

Yes.

[Crafty_Pat]

Does a creature with exactly two natural attacks and no frenzy quality gain any benefits from the second attack?

Uh, the ability to make a second attack in the same round? The ability to use either natural attack with each half action? Am I missing something here?

[Kazae]

As I was flipping through my book again, I was deliberating on including a mechanic in my campaign to, for humans and possibly a couple of other races to only be able to acquire the first stage of the available Splinter Race feats, but having the Legacy versions of the feats converted to a more Action Dice powered ability, in a sort of (for lack of better term) Devil May Cry sort of motif.  While it would be viable as a specific sort of genericized feat, I wanted to get the official word on whether that might be more suited as a permanent Campaign Quality, instead.  I was thinking that the spending of one action die would determine how many rounds such an ability would last, or maybe making it a usage that lasts for a time equal to their prefered racial stat bonus, plus the action die result, in rounds.

Would this be viable, or are there any suggestions for how to keep it balanced without granting the full purchase of the second stage of the feat chains in question?

[dorward]

I'm now a bit confused about what limits there are on attacks.

If we discount magic, there are three ways to make an attack:

• Weapons
• Natural attacks
• Extraordinary attacks

I was under the impression that during a given round a character could:

• Make one attack of any kind as a half action
• Make two attacks, as two half actions, which can use the same weapon or natural attacks twice, but can only include up to one extraordinary attack (no matter how many different extraordinary attacks the character has)
• Frenzy, and make an attack with every natural weapon as a full action, even if this means making multiple extraordinary attacks.

However…

Does a creature with exactly two natural attacks and no frenzy quality gain any benefits from the second attack?

Uh, the ability to make a second attack in the same round? The ability to use either natural attack with each half action? Am I missing something here?

… is making me doubt that as it implies that any natural attack can only be used once per round.

What are the limits on attacks?

[pawsplay]

Does a creature with exactly two natural attacks and no frenzy quality gain any benefits from the second attack?

Uh, the ability to make a second attack in the same round? The ability to use either natural attack with each half action? Am I missing something here?

A creature with one natural attack can already make two attacks in a round. For instance, I was making a two-headed creature. Glancing at the Hydra, I saw that it has one natural attack for each bite. I thought to apply the same idea to my two-headed beast, but then realized such a thing could not flurry. I see that the Tiger has only one bite and one claw, even though some creatures have multiple claw attacks. So perhaps the answer is to give a two-headed creature one bite, but add the swift attack quality?

[Crafty_Pat]

As I was flipping through my book again, I was deliberating on including a mechanic in my campaign to, for humans and possibly a couple of other races to only be able to acquire the first stage of the available Splinter Race feats, but having the Legacy versions of the feats converted to a more Action Dice powered ability, in a sort of (for lack of better term) Devil May Cry sort of motif.  While it would be viable as a specific sort of genericized feat, I wanted to get the official word on whether that might be more suited as a permanent Campaign Quality, instead.  I was thinking that the spending of one action die would determine how many rounds such an ability would last, or maybe making it a usage that lasts for a time equal to their prefered racial stat bonus, plus the action die result, in rounds.

Would this be viable, or are there any suggestions for how to keep it balanced without granting the full purchase of the second stage of the feat chains in question?

We tend to prefer campaign qualities with global effects. What you're describing sounds more like just swapping out specific feats for new ones.

[Crafty_Pat]

Hopefully to clear up both questions on attacks, I'm talking about the fact that an additional natural attack gives you an additional option - not necessarily an additional attack. It's just another thing the NPC/creature can do with one of its half actions. Nothing more.

Yes, this means that an NPC/creature with just two natural attacks - especially if the natural attacks are identical - doesn't get anything special for having the extra attack (except, of course, for the extra option).

[pawsplay]

Thanks. I'm going to tweak some of my writeups.

[Kazae]

As I was flipping through my book again, I was deliberating on including a mechanic in my campaign to, for humans and possibly a couple of other races to only be able to acquire the first stage of the available Splinter Race feats, but having the Legacy versions of the feats converted to a more Action Dice powered ability, in a sort of (for lack of better term) Devil May Cry sort of motif.  While it would be viable as a specific sort of genericized feat, I wanted to get the official word on whether that might be more suited as a permanent Campaign Quality, instead.  I was thinking that the spending of one action die would determine how many rounds such an ability would last, or maybe making it a usage that lasts for a time equal to their prefered racial stat bonus, plus the action die result, in rounds.

Would this be viable, or are there any suggestions for how to keep it balanced without granting the full purchase of the second stage of the feat chains in question?

We tend to prefer campaign qualities with global effects. What you're describing sounds more like just swapping out specific feats for new ones.

To wit, I should refluff the actual heritage feats, make them inaccessible but replace with a sort of 'Stage Two of Feat Chain' general meta-feat, or...?

Forgive me if I seem obtuse; while the concept is fairly easy to Rule 0, I'd not mind having it codified for future usage and recommendation to others who like things handle in a similar manner.

I'm not expecting a hard and fast rule, but I would like opinions along the lines of 'If I were attempting to crib the feel of (insert game name here), I'd tweak it like so' from a Crafty-er vantage point.