Re: Followers

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 08:30:50 -0700


Stephen

> I was wondering whether anyone has had problems with players abusing
> the followers rules.

No, not really.

They're actually one of the cool distinguishing features of the Hero Wars system.

> As far as I can see, from examples in the book, they are an excellent
> source of Action Points in combat whilst allowing you extra attacks
> and to defend against multiple attacks with very little
> consequences.

Followers die first, they suffer heavier consequences in a combat.

BTW, keep in mind that they help in non-combat situations too (one of my characters had a skald follower who could add AP in some social situations).

Also, while AP are good, actual target number is better, so they aren't as unbalancing as they may appear on paper.

And keep in mind the most important thing: they don't act independently. There are almost no circumstances where you'd ever roll their skills. (When's the last time you saw a Star Trek red-shirt in a scene by himself?)

> In other systems I'd be heavily penalising through treasure and
> experience awards but I'm not sure how you balance out the followers
> thing....

Bad guys come in groups too.

And people who lose all their followers (see above, consequences are greater for them) may have a hard time replacing them (replacing, BTW, does not cost HP). Plus, if the followers were needlessly sacrificed, you can have social consequences (as their kin come after the hero with a lawsuit).

> Do you roll ability checks on the relationship in tricky situations,
> or simple contests if asked to fight someone with a heavy reputation??

Generally, followers follow.

Allies might not, but generally we have them there for the entire session if you make the relationship roll.

Wulf added

> I have started to award FPs - Follower Points - for when the follower
> does the heroic bit.

I don't understand this. How come followers are acting on their own and being heroic? Something's wrong.

Besides, followers improve automatically, as the hero does.

Oops, looks like Harry doesn't agree:

> It also takes Heropoints. If you want your follower to get more
> powerful, then at the end of the session you've got to spend some
> of the heropoints you'd normally use on yourself on your followers
> and suddenly you find yourself advancing a little bit more slowly
> than you'd expected.

See p.25. Followers gain abilities as the hero does.

Also note that the Character Development Costs chart has nothing about improving followers.

Stephen again:

> In a combat if the followers are worse equipped than the Hero, does
> that change the edge given by weapons (or penalty -forget the correct
> term- given by armour) to AP transfers?

I don't think that edges from armor are worth worrying about for heroes, but they REALLY should be ignored for followers (or if you use them, just use those of the hero). The follower rules let you run mass combats very quickly, and stopping to figure out minor differences in armor will destroy the flow of the game.

-- 

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

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