Questions from play

[Chriscdoa]

Finally started what i'm hoping will be a campaign not the odd one-off for TTB. Both players picked Quarantine pursuits and life line build so i started with a QZ penny dreadful (Bad Moon rising). We had a lot of fun and i was amazed to see them make it through, although the young nephilim was a close thing - 3 matures before winning that. Having the mercs was very handy.

In play a couple of things came up which i couldn't find answers for in the books or FAQ.

1. How does damage/wounds work for NPCs? PCs can go on for a while after max wounds but the FM book simply says NPCs will usually be taken out when KOed. But that still implies doing a lot of toughness saves. I had NPCs (mercs and nevers) go KO at max wounds and then stay there until end of combat, simply because it was easier. I could have made the hooded rider go past that but it would have been too hard to take him down and it was late!

2. What signifies a 'kill' by an npc on another npc? The nephilim get grow when they kill. But does this mean max wounds, or failing KO roll, or getting 20+ on severe crit? again we played this by having Youngs attack defenceless KOed mercs as kills.

3. How do low rank npcs hit high rank npcs? It became apparent very quickly that the mercs couldn't hit the neverborn unless ordered as their attack was lower than never defense. This seemed a bit annoying so i started flipping for them.

4. How do +or- flips work for npcs. I was going to focus the mercs then realised i didn't know what that would do...

5. Can you cheat heal rolls AND does the preceeding skill roll (doctor/magic etc) give you +or- flips based on margins of success?

 

Looking forward to next session. Would love to run a full penny dreadful but figure the one-shots or a chronicles adventure would be quicker to read!!

[Chriscdoa]

one more, thought i'd seen it but can't find answer now.

6. How do NPCs get triggers for attacks when the suits aren't in their Acting Value? i can see lots of examples of this.

[Mason]

4 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

1. How does damage/wounds work for NPCs? PCs can go on for a while after max wounds but the FM book simply says NPCs will usually be taken out when KOed. But that still implies doing a lot of toughness saves. I had NPCs (mercs and nevers) go KO at max wounds and then stay there until end of combat, simply because it was easier. I could have made the hooded rider go past that but it would have been too hard to take him down and it was late!

Check to see if the character can pass the Unconsciousness Challenge just like a regular character.

If the character can't pass the Challenge, then they'll get knocked unconscious when they hit 0 Wounds.

Otherwise, the character will keep on fighting, likely requiring it to be killed via Critical Effect. Good luck!

 

6 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

2. What signifies a 'kill' by an npc on another npc? The nephilim get grow when they kill. But does this mean max wounds, or failing KO roll, or getting 20+ on severe crit? again we played this by having Youngs attack defenceless KOed mercs as kills.

Killed is killed. If a character is unconscious on the ground, they probably have 0 Wounds, so any attack against them will generate a Critical Effect. Since you add the amount of damage a character is below 0 Wounds to the total of the Critical Effect flip, it will add up to a death effect sooner or later, particularly if there are multiple enemies attacking the fallen character. 

 

13 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

3. How do low rank npcs hit high rank npcs? It became apparent very quickly that the mercs couldn't hit the neverborn unless ordered as their attack was lower than never defense. This seemed a bit annoying so i started flipping for them.

Generally, they don't.

Since NPCs don't flip cards unless the Fated are involved, their actions are predetermined; a character that will miss a character will always miss them, unless a PC Fated - those characters who can twist fate to their benefit - are involved. See the answer to the / question below, though.

 

16 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

4. How do +or- flips work for npcs. I was going to focus the mercs then realised i didn't know what that would do...

There's a note about this in the upcoming FAQ!

When an NPC is attacking another NPC, treat a as a +2 modifier to the NPC's acting value and a as a -2 modifier.

Note that these modifiers work differently with regards to NPCs attacking Fated characters (as described in the Fated Almanac).

 

17 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

5. Can you cheat heal rolls AND does the preceeding skill roll (doctor/magic etc) give you +or- flips based on margins of success?

Healing flips cannot be cheated, per their description on Pg. 218 of the Fated Almanac.

Characters using First Aid (also on pg. 218) can cheat the Doctor Challenge, and higher results allow them to heal more damage.

Otherwise, it sort of depends on the healing method used and its specific rules. 

 

11 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

6. How do NPCs get triggers for attacks when the suits aren't in their Acting Value? i can see lots of examples of this.

When an NPC attacks a Fated character, they use the suit of the Fated's defense flip to determine their triggers (if any).

 

 

20 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

Finally started what i'm hoping will be a campaign not the odd one-off for TTB. Both players picked Quarantine pursuits and life line build so i started with a QZ penny dreadful (Bad Moon rising). We had a lot of fun and i was amazed to see them make it through, although the young nephilim was a close thing - 3 matures before winning that. Having the mercs was very handy.

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that you liked it!

Bad Moon Rising is a tough one. Did they manage to stop the Hooded Rider?

[Chriscdoa]

When an NPC attacks a Fated character, they use the suit of the Fated's defense flip to determine their triggers (if any).

I thought that was the case but couldnt find it in the book.

Thanks for the replies - super fast as well.

They did manage to stop the rider but as i said - only because i made it quit at zero wounds and the BBS stayed back on purpose.

it was a case of just dumping enough damage on it, and using focus to get neutral flips for damage so we could cheat and hit severes. One character has a rail hammer - so 6 on severe. We did it in 2 rounds, we knew by third it would be too hard. I didn't use and terror tots cos i thought it would be hard.

The hard fight was the young nephilim. They just destroyed the mercs and went mature. Its a good job they don't have armor. 

The Pcs do have slightly higher stats than normal though because we like combat and there are only 2 PCs (plus GMPC). although no-one has a df/wp higher than 5 or ml/rg higher than 5. The mercs helped a lot by being a shield. I imagine they'll be hiring some on the future.

And it didn't all go well. Upon trying to repair peacekeeper we flipped black joker. So that was that! Got the stone out though.

[Mason]

22 minutes ago, Chriscdoa said:

And it didn't all go well. Upon trying to repair peacekeeper we flipped black joker. So that was that! Got the stone out though.

Hey, free Soulstone at least.

[Chriscdoa]

Its quite a hefty one as well.

Couldn't use it in second session (we ran the bete noir one from chronicles) but by end player bought harness 1, and put charm up to 2 via destiny and now has total of 3 and can use it. Session went very well again. punk zombies almost downed the tank but luckily got healed. The lovestruck resser was walking around with loads of negative wounds but luckily his toughness+rank was enough to keep him awake. 

Players are now quite good in combat (well on attack, not defense). Brutal knives, enlarged rail hammer and brutal+accurate clockwork pistols for lots of + flips thanks to the blacksmithing forgotten. All glass cannons though. Until the augmented can get the regen off path of sinew.

Thinking of doing rottenburg next if i can read act 1 in time.

[Chriscdoa]

Rather than starting a new new thread...

Are there any modifiers to KO tests? I ask because normally i just skip them for NPCs but yesterday i didn't. But theni realised that all the NPCs (Nythera act 1) had AVs of less than 10 so got Auto Koed anyway. Which would also mean anythign with an AV of >10 would not be KOed until you get the woozy result or a worse severe crit. Have i missed something or is it always TN 10?

Are there any restrictions on using abilities and spells out of dramatic time? This one came up because we noticed a few obvious abuses of the physical and mental enhancement spells. [Note- we didn't abuse it, but noticed we could]. Namely that because they last an hour AND stack. IT would be possible to just keep attempting to cast it on the party until everyone had physical and mental enhancement +3/+4 and had 5 in main stats. This would work because as a mage the player picks a card if he fails. So lets say he casts the spells 50 times. He needs about 18 successes (3 players MandP). But every time he fails he gets another card. So in the 30 fails he would cycle his deck about 3 times. And these 50 casts would take about 100-150s~2 minutes. (based on 1AP, 2AP~5/6s so 1AP~2/3s). Is there anything in rules to stop this? We simply didn't do it as we thought it would be boring and stupid. We only had one encounter where the PCs were even prepared and he casted it 3 times, once on each player and that was it. as FM, if the player had gone for a 2nd round i would have had them ambushed.

On a similar note. Is there any restrictions on spells and abilities in downtime? Because at the end of the session we theorised that he if casts mental enhance on the player with blacksmithing he would have intellect 4 plus blacksmith 2 gives total of 6. Which would then allow further modification of our weapons to weapon+mods total 6. Again here our main point against is that the spell only lasts an hour...but with increased duration we'd get around that. This one i might allow, because all it is really doing is delaying the wait until the player has blacksmithing 4...

Again we really enjoyed the session. Less combat and more talking and the ongoing challenge was a nice change of pace, and the PCs are really enjoying the versatility the game allows. The ghosteater has now switched into mage and still favours his guns. The Forgotten will start using the grimoire with raise undead we found. And my GMPC now has 2 pneumatic arms, along with the melee mastery now has  to attack flips. so OP. And yet when faces with 2 masters still ran. I fully expect them to get to the end and join the fairy queen (or whatever she is)...

Keep up the great work, and thanks for any replies

[Mason]

3 hours ago, Chriscdoa said:

Rather than starting a new new thread...

Are there any modifiers to KO tests? I ask because normally i just skip them for NPCs but yesterday i didn't. But theni realised that all the NPCs (Nythera act 1) had AVs of less than 10 so got Auto Koed anyway. Which would also mean anythign with an AV of >10 would not be KOed until you get the woozy result or a worse severe crit. Have i missed something or is it always TN 10?

Sure, but nothing direct.

For instance, the most notable one is the Dazed Condition, which increases the target's TNs by +2. Since you can get the Dazed Condition from Critical Effects, it's entirely possible to get Dazed and suddenly find yourself failing an Unconsciousness Challenge you otherwise thought you were going to pass.

Otherwise, yeah, some NPCs can keep fighting through some serious wounds. As they take more and more damage, however, the Critical Effects will get progressively worse and worse.

 

3 hours ago, Chriscdoa said:

Are there any restrictions on using abilities and spells out of dramatic time? This one came up because we noticed a few obvious abuses of the physical and mental enhancement spells. [Note- we didn't abuse it, but noticed we could]. Namely that because they last an hour AND stack. IT would be possible to just keep attempting to cast it on the party until everyone had physical and mental enhancement +3/+4 and had 5 in main stats. This would work because as a mage the player picks a card if he fails. So lets say he casts the spells 50 times. He needs about 18 successes (3 players MandP). But every time he fails he gets another card. So in the 30 fails he would cycle his deck about 3 times. And these 50 casts would take about 100-150s~2 minutes. (based on 1AP, 2AP~5/6s so 1AP~2/3s). Is there anything in rules to stop this? We simply didn't do it as we thought it would be boring and stupid. We only had one encounter where the PCs were even prepared and he casted it 3 times, once on each player and that was it. as FM, if the player had gone for a 2nd round i would have had them ambushed.

By the rules, that seems legit.

And yes, it is kinda boring and stupid.

It seems like the sort of thing that probably requires an adjustment to the spell's duration.

 

3 hours ago, Chriscdoa said:

On a similar note. Is there any restrictions on spells and abilities in downtime?

 

That's more of a Fatemaster and Player preference, depending upon how active you all want the characters to be during downtime. However, due to the duration on the Magia in question, it does make sense.

 

 

3 hours ago, Chriscdoa said:

Again we really enjoyed the session. Less combat and more talking and the ongoing challenge was a nice change of pace, and the PCs are really enjoying the versatility the game allows. The ghosteater has now switched into mage and still favours his guns. The Forgotten will start using the grimoire with raise undead we found. And my GMPC now has 2 pneumatic arms, along with the melee mastery now has  to attack flips. so OP. And yet when faces with 2 masters still ran. I fully expect them to get to the end and join the fairy queen (or whatever she is)...

Keep up the great work, and thanks for any replies

Nice! I'm glad that everyone's having a good time.

[Chriscdoa]

Thanks for reply. the stuff that can be abused is fine by me. I know in other games people go crazy and say the game is broken and such-and-such is OP...I tend to think the GM just says says or no to match what's feasible and fun. Luckily my players agree. 

Plus in Malifaux even if you try to make 'OP' characters there will be something big and scary to smack you down. Like, it was good to see my players run from Kaeris and Kirai and not attempt to join in.