Re: one off feats & other rules

From: David Dunham <dunham_at_...>
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 21:09:40 -0700


Tom asked

> Using a feat like the shield smashing feat: If your
> opponent is using a passive defence (like the natural
> 14 defence against magic) what happens if you fail?.
> Do you smash your own shield? (or anything of similar
> consequence). I take it from a previous post (I can't
> remember which one) that this sort of feat is a
> one-off and doesnt use APs.

By default, in a pure game mechanical sense all normal magic is used in extended contests to reduce the opponent's APs.

So if I use my Shield Smashing Feat against you, and you resist with the strength of your ancestors, and you beat my roll, it could be narrated: "David smashes your shield with a fierce karate chop, but Tom calls on the name of his grandfather and holds firm. David cries out in pain, clutching his hand." I lose the APs I wagered.

An all or nothing attack would be more like a Humakti's secret ability to kill with a glance. This too uses APs, but is also a secret, so it's all or nothing in that the Humakti has to wager all his APs (if I remember correctly -- we didn't playtest this). If he fails, he loses a point in the ability, as well as all his APs. But he's not dead.

Wulf asked, of Ralian ponies

> And worse, how many cats could it carry? How many Small 'x' can it
> carry? Can my Weak 12 cat drag a Small 10 dog out of sight?

Who cares? (Well, you care...) It carries as many as makes sense for the story at hand. (I think any amount of cats that could overburden a pony are going to be trouble in other ways first...) Hero Wars isn't a mechanical simulation of the world. It's a set of rules to help you tell dramatic stories. In a dramatic story, either the pony can carry the sack of cats or it can't.

IMO no weak cat could drag a dog, so it couldn't. If the cat somehow had another relevant ability (like Drag Off Prey), I'd ask you to subtract the Weak ability.

David wondered

> This appears to suggest that magic and mundane abilities can be
> either a bonus or an edge (or both?). Is this the case? Can they be
> either, in which case how do you decide which to apply? Or, if they
> are seperate, which are target number bonuses and which are AP stake
> modifiers.

I almost never use edges when I play, but many abilities (magic or not) can be used by themselves, or to augment. For example, I could use my Strong to beat you up. Or I could use it to augment my Brawling ability. I could attack a water monster with my Fireblade feat, or I could use Fireblade to augment my Spear and Shield Fighting ability.

Hero Wars is extremely flexible.

> In a group extended contest, where the AP of a group are combined,
> what happens if one person withdraws from the contest before its
> conclusion? Are their AP pulled from the kitty?

Usually, when APs are combined, one person is in charge (it's usually a leader and followers), so the situation doesn't come up. Nobody gets to withdraw unless the leader deems it.

Characters who act under their own volition usually are simply participants in a contest, or else loan their APs to someone else. Either way, they can withdraw at will (and since their APs weren't combined, nothing happens).

If there were some circumstance where APs were combined (so that only one of the people were actually rolling), then if someone left, I'd probably deduct their full APs from the previous total. But I can't imagine such a circumstance.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

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