RE: Week 3 rule questions...

From: Bruce Ferrie <bruceferrie_at_...>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 20:52:53 -0000

On Tuesday, March 16, 2004 7:42 PM, Steve Rennell wrote:

>

> There's a vingan devotee trying to use her "run on treetops" feat to
> move quickly over the forest in such a way that she can get behind the
> broo that are chasing the parties hunter. I was making her roll for the
> feat every time she wanted to start again (i.e. she ran to one spot (1
> roll) threw a javelin at a broo, and ran to another spot (1 more roll)
> and threw another javelin. The Player pointed out that unless she was
> significantly better than she is, she was going to fail reasonably
> often even against a resistance of 14 (and fall and be broken) and was
> this what the rules intended as it made the feat much less useful.

Surely no self-respecting hero with "run on treetops" magic should fail to run along the treetops under normal circumstances. I look at it in much the same way as a hero with "run fast". He doesn't need to roll to see if he falls over every time he breaks into a sprint. Maybe if the ground is treacherous or something. Generally, I'd be rolling it when he's under pressure, but the issue there is more how fast he's running, not whether or not he's running at all.

For the Vingan? I'd probably assume she can easily run on the treetops any time she likes without a roll unless, say:

• The trees actively don't want her to.
• Conditions are bad - windy, icy or whatever.
• Someone else is trying to knock her out of the tree. Throwing things at her, trying to blow her down with storm magic, etc.

If you were doing this as an extended contest, I'd assume that all that running around on the treetops was her using her "run across treetops" ability to get an advantage over the broo. I'd treat it as an AP bid, resisted by some suitable ability that the broo have to let them know she's outflanking them - "alert", "keep watching the skies" or something.

> I'm not sure - any opinions? Should I roll for the "activation" of the
> feat, and then let her run on treetops until she gets back to ground,
> or should I make her roll every time she stops and starts?

Like I said above, I'd only make her roll if there was some good reason why she should fail. Under "normal" circumstances, I wouldn't make her roll. If she is up there in difficult conditions, and wants to get moving after stopping for a while, I might want another roll. Depends how things feel at the time.

> He asked whether it was possible to use his movement affinity as his
> base rather than his non-existant running skill. I wasn't sure. I think
> he can "improvise" a feat that devotee's of Orlanth the hunter have,
> but not just use the affinity as an ability. Am I right?

Yeah. Check out HeroQuest p118. It's at a -10 penalty (-5 if he's concentrated his magic use). If he was an initiate of, say, Varanorlanth (from Thunder Rebels), he'd be able to improvise the Outrun Pursuer feat with his Movement affinity.
Otherwise, he can only use the affinity to augment.

Regards,

Bruce