Fantasy Craft Q&A Thread!

[Crafty_Alex]

Pat, you know how often I travel.  On top of that I have worked in the hospitality industry.
While I am not discounting the negative effects of the poor quality inn, I think what we realized is that the RAW does not account for camping under the stars at all - positively, negatively, with or without some sort of roll (I have seen other systems use Fortitude or Survival in this instance).

Setting up camp and sleeping out in the wilds is one of the iconic elements of the fantasy genre (complete with setting up watch rotations and middle of the night encounters).  And it just feels like it was neglected in the RAW.

It's "negelected" because a night sleeping under the stars is not gear Mastercraft unlike some of our previous games does not try to define every possible situation.

Time to work up a GM improvisation.

That's the spirit

[Crafty_Pat]

While I am not discounting the negative effects of the poor quality inn, I think what we realized is that the RAW does not account for camping under the stars at all - positively, negatively, with or without some sort of roll (I have seen other systems use Fortitude or Survival in this instance).

Setting up camp and sleeping out in the wilds is one of the iconic elements of the fantasy genre (complete with setting up watch rotations and middle of the night encounters).  And it just feels like it was neglected in the RAW.

Time to work up a GM improvisation.

That's certainly your prerogative but we don't think there's a dire need, for a couple reasons. First, Fantasy Craft strives to avoid rolls for mundane and/or routine tasks (like scouting and setting up camp in most areas). Second, the system applies modifiers for situations outside the norm, which wouldn't generally include scouting or setting up camp, unless there's a particular reason it's challenging.

The modifiers for inns aren't there to indicate that you should worry about where the characters are sleeping every night, but rather to showcase how we feel various accommodations should impact the party when it's relevant to the story. It lets the GM set up situations in which a town has nothing but scummy inns, and what's outside the town is worse - or the inverse, where the characters are put up in some fancy digs, possibly by a wealthy noble they just rescued.

Could you set up a nightly Survival check with results mirroring the various inn qualities? Sure, but we didn't in the RAW because we don't think it would add all that much to the experience. In fact, using it every night would probably detract from it, creating artificial "speed bumps" in the action without much  benefit other than simulating the tedious aspects of adventuring. By all means create the check but I strongly recommend it be saved for moments when it will matter to the narrative - when the party is evading cross-country pursuers or trapped in extremely hostile territory.

[Crafty_Alex]

Could you set up a nightly Survival check with results mirroring the various inn qualities? Sure, but we didn't in the RAW because we don't think it would add all that much to the experience. In fact, using it every night would probably detract from it, creating artificial "speed bumps" in the action without much  benefit other than simulating the tedious aspects of adventuring. By all means create the check but I strongly recommend it be saved for moments when it will matter to the narrative - when the party is evading cross-country pursuers or trapped in extremely hostile territory.

To expand on this briefly - an example of why you might take 1 grade of fatigued every night from El Inne De Crappo is that you wouldn't be stuck with a random encounter chance for sleeping outside of town - a bad night's sleep beats the tar out of having your face eaten by an owlbear (and not getting the square 8 you need to recover from certain conditions)

[tfwfh]

Hi all.  I spent a few days reading through this thread, but I didn't see this question anywhere, so here it is.

GM's Action Dice  I've seen it that NPCs have action dice that the GM spends (p 241, Using an NPC), but I've also seen it that the GM has his own pool of action dice (p 365, GM Action Dice).  Surely it's not both?  That just seems like way way too many action dice for the GM to have.  So assuming it's not both, which is it?

Keep up the good work.  I can't wait for Spellbound, and Spycraft 3 for that matter.

[dorward]

GM's Action Dice  I've seen it that NPCs have action dice that the GM spends (p 241, Using an NPC), but I've also seen it that the GM has his own pool of action dice (p 365, GM Action Dice).  Surely it's not both?  That just seems like way way too many action dice for the GM to have.  So assuming it's not both, which is it?

p241 says that NPCs roll action dice, not that they have their own pool. They use the GM's pool.

[tfwfh]

From the pdf:

An NPC’s personal Threat Level and Career Level are each
equal to the current adventure’s Threat Level and his starting
action dice are calculated accordingly.

Unless I'm reading this entirely wrong, that says NPCs have their own action dice.

[dorward]

From the pdf:

An NPC’s personal Threat Level and Career Level are each
equal to the current adventure’s Threat Level and his starting
action dice are calculated accordingly.

Unless I'm reading this entirely wrong, that says NPCs have their own action dice.

huh, so it does. I'd rule that this was a bug and they don't have their own pools.

[Sletchman]

It's probably just for effects that are calculated as X + Starting Action Dice, or AD/Session or Combat.

[Crafty_Pat]

It's probably just for effects that are calculated as X + Starting Action Dice, or AD/Session or Combat.

It is at that. We'll clear that up before we go back to press.

EDIT: Here's the scripted errata...

USING AN NPC
Action Dice (page 241): The second paragraph of this section is now: “An NPC’s personal Threat Level and Career Level are each equal to the current adventure’s Threat Level and his starting action dice, when needed to determine the effectiveness of abilities only, are calculated accordingly (the GM maintains only one actual pool of action dice, as described on page 365). Standard NPCs roll d6 action dice and special NPCs roll 1 die type higher than the highest typically available to player characters.”

[ArawnNox]

Something is bothering me in regards to critical hits and the undead type. The undead type is immune to critical hits, so why give the Risen template monsterous defense I? It reduces the threat range of attacks, but undead are already immune.
This also ties in to the mind boggling weapon in Darkest Hour with it's pointless increased threat range against undead. I've pretty much had to rule that no crit is scored, but the effect of the 1d10 divine damage hitting all undead in 30ft triggers, provided the critical is activated.

[ArawnNox]

On a similar note, and this might be better for the errata, thread, but the entry for adding the rootwalker species to an NPC. It's entry says they get light sleeper, but they would already get that as a part of being the plant type for no cost. Not sure if that's figured into the +9 XP cost for that race template.

[Crafty_Pat]

Something is bothering me in regards to critical hits and the undead type. The undead type is immune to critical hits, so why give the Risen template monsterous defense I? It reduces the threat range of attacks, but undead are already immune.
This also ties in to the mind boggling weapon in Darkest Hour with it's pointless increased threat range against undead. I've pretty much had to rule that no crit is scored, but the effect of the 1d10 divine damage hitting all undead in 30ft triggers, provided the critical is activated.

Alex and I are planning to have a rules talk tomorrow. I'll add this to the list. We've been considering errata to allow critical hits on undead (with one or two other little tweaks to simulate what that rule was trying to do), and it's certainly the easiest way to address all of this. More soon.

On a similar note, and this might be better for the errata, thread, but the entry for adding the rootwalker species to an NPC. It's entry says they get light sleeper, but they would already get that as a part of being the plant type for no cost. Not sure if that's figured into the +9 XP cost for that race template.

We caught that one earlier. You'll be seeing a few small changes to those rogue templates as well, one addressing this very issue.

Thanks!

[Sletchman]

Something is bothering me in regards to critical hits and the undead type. The undead type is immune to critical hits, so why give the Risen template monsterous defense I? It reduces the threat range of attacks, but undead are already immune.
This also ties in to the mind boggling weapon in Darkest Hour with it's pointless increased threat range against undead. I've pretty much had to rule that no crit is scored, but the effect of the 1d10 divine damage hitting all undead in 30ft triggers, provided the critical is activated.

Alex and I are planning to have a rules talk tomorrow. I'll add this to the list. We've been considering errata to allow critical hits on undead (with one or two other little tweaks to simulate what that rule was trying to do), and it's certainly the easiest way to address all of this. More soon.

For what it's worth, I've been allowing critical hits on undead since release.  I'm lucky no one has taken the Path of Death yet.

[Rei Malebario]

A couple of questions and a sort of observation fo what I would deem a bug.

First the questions:
1: Does damage reduction reduce the damage taken from the Bleeding condition? It makes no sense for it to do so but the phrasing in the description of Bleeding does not indicate that it doesn't.
2: Using treatment to stop a Bleeding condition: Does the character stop taking damage from Bleeding when the treatment starts or when it concludes? The check takes two hours and a character would take 1200 points of subdual damage during that interval, so if it's the latter, it seems a little pointless. Perhaps stopping Bleeding should be a Stabilize check instead?

And the observation/bug.
Some weapons (specifically the Scourge, Bullwhip, Rapier and Razor) inflict Stress damage. As Stress damage bypasses Damage Reduction, this means armor (natural or artificial) makes almost no difference against these weapons* making them perfect for use against tough, heavily armored opponents - not really the situation where these weapons should be at their finest. Adding to that is that they target the Will save so they're extremely effective against tough, brawny types but not against highly willful characters regardless of scrawnyness.
And to make it even more absurd, as Regeneration doesn't help against Stress damage, they're also great for fighting, say, a Tarasque or a Troll.
It seems a bit weird for our claymore-wielding barbarian to see some huge, heavily armored monstrosity to pack away the claymore and, between clenched teeth, mutter "Time to whip out the straight razor..."

*Except for their Damage Resistance: Plate will help against Scourges and Bullwhips but not against Rapiers or Razors and Chain and Scale vice versa.

[Crafty_Alex]

1: Does damage reduction reduce the damage taken from the Bleeding condition? It makes no sense for it to do so but the phrasing in the description of Bleeding does not indicate that it doesn't.
2: Using treatment to stop a Bleeding condition: Does the character stop taking damage from Bleeding when the treatment starts or when it concludes? The check takes two hours and a character would take 1200 points of subdual damage during that interval, so if it's the latter, it seems a little pointless. Perhaps stopping Bleeding should be a Stabilize check instead?

DR does not apply to bleeding - after all the damage is coming from wounds you've already suffered, and you applied DR to the hit that caused the bleeding (effectively reducing the chances you'll bleed in the first place.) I suppose we can make it explicit, though it seems pretty obvious to me The treatment thing has long since been errataed, and you'll see the official changes in the next round.

Some weapons (specifically the Scourge, Bullwhip, Rapier and Razor) inflict Stress damage. As Stress damage bypasses Damage Reduction, this means armor (natural or artificial) makes almost no difference against these weapons* making them perfect for use against tough, heavily armored opponents - not really the situation where these weapons should be at their finest. Adding to that is that they target the Will save so they're extremely effective against tough, brawny types but not against highly willful characters regardless of scrawnyness.

We condider stress damage-dealing weapons a feature, rather than a bug While the model may not perfectly fit everyone's perception of how traditional weapons work, we use the damage type to represent nflicting weapons which cause pain moreso than physical damage. Note that you can't kill someone with a stress damage weapon outside of a coup de grace, so there's the counterbalance.

And to make it even more absurd, as Regeneration doesn't help against Stress damage, they're also great for fighting, say, a Tarasque or a Troll.

Yep, except for the fact you won't kill them, only cause them so much agony they pass out. Who's to say that because something regenerates it doesn't actually get hurt? The Tarasque will blow off a number of saves with its huge Resilience and cagey, while the Troll may occasionally get staggered by some ouchy weapons (for example the LOTR movie trolls don't seem to like getting shot with arrows or being chopped on by halflings). If the aforementioned barbarian wants to wade in toe-to-toe with that straightrazor against a Troll or Tarasque instead of beating him down....well, I wish him luck