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Through the Breach FAQ and Errata (4/27/16)


Mason

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10 minutes ago, Didor said:

In Under Quarantine the Trinkets section lists rare weapons with soulstones and a unique ability. Does the staff Insight have any unique abilities like the others?

Its special abilities are all rolled into its stat line; it's a ranged weapon that does good damage at range, using the Sorcery Skill, without any need to every reload or track ammunition.

Magic blasty staff is blasty.

 

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27 minutes ago, zeeblee said:

Interesting... So does the FAQ for when NPCs are defeated override the Fatemaster Almanac ruling of "just make em dead at 0 wounds"?

I'm pretty sure the "just make em dead at 0 wounds" is still there for the NPCs you don't really care about.  :)

The stuff in the FAQ likes like 'In case you don't care for direct fiat, and want some semblance of combat/conflict mechanics between NPCs without breaking out the skirmish rules...'

 

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12 hours ago, zeeblee said:

Interesting... So does the FAQ for when NPCs are defeated override the Fatemaster Almanac ruling of "just make em dead at 0 wounds"?

 

11 hours ago, solkan said:

I'm pretty sure the "just make em dead at 0 wounds" is still there for the NPCs you don't really care about.  :)

The stuff in the FAQ likes like 'In case you don't care for direct fiat, and want some semblance of combat/conflict mechanics between NPCs without breaking out the skirmish rules...'

 

I'm of the opinion that combat works better when everyone is more or less following the same rules, instead of just arbitrarily ignoring the Unconsciousness Challenges and Critical Effects for some enemies but not for others. For the most part, your average Minion probably isn't going to be succeeding on many Unconsciousness Challenges, so most of them aren't going to end up fighting on past 0 wounds in any case.

In fights with multiple Enforcers (or really tough minions), however, it's legitimately possible that more than one enemy will be able to withstand some pretty brutal punishment, which allows Fatemasters more freedom with regards to having fights that can actually challenge the Fated. Similarly, if the Fated are fighting against a group of low-rank minions, it's not fair to the players for the Fatemaster to just decide that one enemy is going to ignore Unconsciousness Challenges because reasons.

 

Now, that being said, if a Fatemaster just wants to say "These guys are at 0 Wounds and they're out," there's nothing wrong with that. No matter the system, combat can sometimes drag out, and if it's near the end of the session and people are looking at the clock, it can often be better to wrap up a fight early than to let it go on.

 

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5 hours ago, GamerCr0w said:

Simple question: Do minions taken with Sycophant talent(ITS) require player to take command action in order to activate like other subordinates? I'm asking this since it says they are controlled by the Fatemaster.

The Peons or Minions gained via the Sycophant Talent are not subordinate characters, so they do not require a (1) Order Action to control.

As you note, the text of the Talent says that they're controlled by the Fatemaster.

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Odd question here, but it has been bugging us for some time now. None of the Social Skills key off of Cunning as their aspect. Not even Deceive. We've been looking at Deceive lately and realized that Cunning makes the most sense as it's governing aspect. In fact, we've read through the write up on the Deceive skill (page 131 Fated Almanac), specifically this sentence: "Not to be confused with Bewitch or Convince, this skill uses neither charm nor logic, it relies entirely on making someone believe a falsehood."  This implies that these three skills would cover the three social aspects, with Bewitch (Charm), Convince (Intellect), and Deceive (Cunning). We are just confused by this sentence, as the Accociated Aspects line contradicts this by having both Charm or Intellect be associated.

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8 hours ago, Tyken12 said:

Odd question here, but it has been bugging us for some time now. None of the Social Skills key off of Cunning as their aspect. Not even Deceive. We've been looking at Deceive lately and realized that Cunning makes the most sense as it's governing aspect. In fact, we've read through the write up on the Deceive skill (page 131 Fated Almanac), specifically this sentence: "Not to be confused with Bewitch or Convince, this skill uses neither charm nor logic, it relies entirely on making someone believe a falsehood."  This implies that these three skills would cover the three social aspects, with Bewitch (Charm), Convince (Intellect), and Deceive (Cunning). We are just confused by this sentence, as the Accociated Aspects line contradicts this by having both Charm or Intellect be associated.

That seems like some fragment left over from the original designer, so I'm afraid that I can't help you much there.

I agree that Cunning probably makes more sense, but I tend to just keep rolling with Intellect, since changing it would probably create more of an annoyance for players than not changing it. If you want to use Cunning for Deceive in your games, however, there's certainly nothing wrong with it.

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I believe there are also notes somewhere about skills not being 100% tied to aspects, and you should feel free to use the most appropriate to the situation. I often couple Intellect with magic skills when my players are testing for knowledge about spells and junk.

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The errata for the impose and trick actions are much appreciated, especially as a fatemaster. But I have a follow up question about those actions; What is the range for the actions? It does not give one, and the errata has not specified yet. I don't want my sniper to be able to use impose on enemies from outside a range they can match. Even simpler than that, imposing an enemy that is engaged with an ally while not engaged with them myself seems strange to me. It's a thorny rabbit hole that I have just avoided in my game so far, but I like the idea of characters having some more action options. 

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6 hours ago, SilentEric said:

The errata for the impose and trick actions are much appreciated, especially as a fatemaster. But I have a follow up question about those actions; What is the range for the actions? It does not give one, and the errata has not specified yet. I don't want my sniper to be able to use impose on enemies from outside a range they can match. Even simpler than that, imposing an enemy that is engaged with an ally while not engaged with them myself seems strange to me. It's a thorny rabbit hole that I have just avoided in my game so far, but I like the idea of characters having some more action options. 

The best answer is probably that the target needs to be able to see and/or hear the imposing or tricking character.

I can absolutely see someone shouting someone ten yards away, threatening them and drawing their attention while her allies creep around behind them, or a melee fighter calling out to an enemy who is fighting someone in combat, demanding that they come fight someone their own size.

And it's not like the road doesn't go both ways. If a melee PC is beating on Terror Tots, maybe the Young Nephilim on the other side of the battlefield calls out to her, distracting her from the smaller Nephilim swarming around her.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Normally when a character casts the Heal Magia, if the casting fails the target can't benefit from the Heal Magia again until the next sunrise.  If a character uses the Heal Magia and the Pulse Immuto but fails to cast the spell, is it just the target that cannot benefit from another Heal?  Or are all legal targets within range of the Pulse also unable to benefit from Heal until the next sunrise?

I ruled it's everyone in the Pulse, but it's generated a very long discussion among my players both for and against including "Pulsed" targets.

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I could swar that someone had dropped a batch of 'Rank 0 bonuses" for the core pursuits, to put them on equal footing with those in Into the Steam and under Quarantine, but for the life of me I can't seem to find that anymore. Was it a fan-creation and not in the FAQ? Egads.

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12 minutes ago, Wakshaani said:

I could swar that someone had dropped a batch of 'Rank 0 bonuses" for the core pursuits, to put them on equal footing with those in Into the Steam and under Quarantine, but for the life of me I can't seem to find that anymore. Was it a fan-creation and not in the FAQ? Egads.

We haven't done anything of the sort on our end. :)

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Then clearly I'm on crac... no, wait. Need something appropriate for the era. Hrm. Hrm hrm.

 

Clearly, I'm on Clark's Snake Oil.

 

There! Much better.

(Professor Stanley Clark's Snake Oil, accept no substitutes! Also the maker of fine tonics, elixers, and assorted medical provisions nonpareil!)

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On 5/30/2016 at 10:15 AM, War Disciple said:

Normally when a character casts the Heal Magia, if the casting fails the target can't benefit from the Heal Magia again until the next sunrise.  If a character uses the Heal Magia and the Pulse Immuto but fails to cast the spell, is it just the target that cannot benefit from another Heal?  Or are all legal targets within range of the Pulse also unable to benefit from Heal until the next sunrise?

I ruled it's everyone in the Pulse, but it's generated a very long discussion among my players both for and against including "Pulsed" targets.

You only check for the initial target. Any characters that happen to be standing nearby the initial target might be affected... but the spell is already cast at that point and doesn't affect the caster's TN. This would also hold true if a character with Counter-Spell was in the pulse range; it would not strip any suits from the casting character.

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On 5/30/2016 at 10:11 AM, War Disciple said:

With Subordinate Characters, if a subordinate is Ordered it takes an action and the ordering character flips for the result.  If an Ordered subordinate is attacked later in the round, does that subordinate flip to defend itself (i.e., for Df and Wp duels)?

No. It only flips cards for the duration of its Ordered turn.

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I have a question from one of my players:  What is the official definition of "corpse"?  Is it the remains of anything that once had the Living Characteristic?

He's trying to decide on a Genus Immuto for a starting Grimoire that might work with Raise Dead, specifically regarding the possible creation of Undead Beasts.  I'm thinking of requiring the Beast Immuto to be a part of the spell, but I'm not strictly sure that's necessary.  In the books, whenever there's mention of a corpse in an example it's a human corpse.  The only exception I've found is the Necromancer's Specialist Talent, but I'm not sure that's a good indicator because Talents are supposed to add small tweaks and exceptions to the rules.

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On 6/3/2016 at 9:13 AM, War Disciple said:

I have a question from one of my players:  What is the official definition of "corpse"?  Is it the remains of anything that once had the Living Characteristic?

Yup. 

 

On 6/3/2016 at 9:13 AM, War Disciple said:

The only exception I've found is the Necromancer's Specialist Talent, but I'm not sure that's a good indicator because Talents are supposed to add small tweaks and exceptions to the rules.

Note that with regards to raising an undead dog into unlife, you usually just get an undead dog and not a Canine Remains. 

Canine Remains are specially created.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have a bit of a situation with a pair of Magia...

  • Physical Enhancement (Fated Almanac, p234)
  • Mental Enhancement (Into the Steam, p197)

I think these need to be revisited, as the way that they are currently written leaves things open to abuse.


Request for a Clarification

Both of these Magia bestow a Condition (Physically Enhanced +1 or Mentally Enhanced +1, as appropriate) which gives "+1 to her [Physical or Mental] Aspects, to a maximum of 5."

I take it this is a maximum Aspect value, not Condition value?


The Situation

Here is what prompted me to bring this up.

There is a Grave Robber character in my group who recently came into possession of a Talent that allows grimoires to be expanded.  His grimoire already included the Pulse Immuto, and he decided to add the Physical Enhancement Magia.  There now exists a situation where this character casts Physical Enhancement with Pulse in Narrative Time, repeatedly, and boosts all the Fated's physical Aspects to 5.  Even with the character flipping to cast the spell each time, Pulse reduces the times the spell needs to be cast and it almost always worked out to less than a minute to max everyone out.  His combination of AV and TN-reducing Immuto essentially means he needs to flip just a 3 to cast the spell, even with Pulse, and he already has a Talent which adds the required suit to his Enchanting Skill.  While the spell lasts for only an hour, when that hour expires the Grave Robber simply casts the spell again.  

This is seriously skewing Fated abilities.  Skills which would normally have an AV of +1 to +5 now have AVs of +6 to +8, and Derived Aspects are giving everyone a Defense 7, Walk 7, Charge 9 and +3 Wounds.

With stats like these, Ongoing Challenges requiring physical Skills are getting bulldozed in just one or two Durations with almost no risk of gaining a Failure Requirement.  Also, Fatemaster Characters less than Enforcer Rank can barely affect the Fated but easily get creamed in combat.  It really sucked the enjoyment out of the game, but there was little justification to stop from a character perspective.  As one player put it, why would a character not want to be constantly at peak performance if it was possible?

If the Grave Robber character had chosen to add the Increase Duration Immuto to his grimoire, he could have stretched this effect out to last a half day or a whole day with little impact on his ability to cast the spell.  At worst, it would take him minutes to cast the spell enough times to bring everyone's Aspects to 5.


Some Suggestions

I know I could "house rule" this, but after last night's session I thought I should bring it up because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only Fatemaster who's come across this situation.

My players and I came up with some ideas on how to "soften" this spell a little so it is still useful but cannot be used to so easily to create a party of demigods.  These suggestions could be used singly or in combination.

  • The Magia affects only one Aspect, not all of them, though that Aspect can be specified when the spell is cast.
  • The base duration is greatly reduced, perhaps to 1 Minute.  
    • This would allow the spell to be useful as a "surge" but without the Increase Duration Immuto it couldn't be used to skew Ongoing Challenges or steamroller an opponent in combat.  
    • If anyone wanted to stretch out the duration it would seriously raise the Target Number to get to the point where the spell would last for an hour or longer.
  • Raise the base Target Number of the Magia to 10.
  • The Target Number to cast the Magia is increased by the value of the Physically Enhanced or Mentally Enhanced Condition already on the target.

My personal preference would be for both the first two points:  Limit the spell to 1 Aspect, and really shorten the base duration.

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