New Fatemaster Questions

[Joe Sansone]

Hey all, ran my first game today and came up with a few questions from the players and game play.

1.  Some of the players were considering playing as Stitched.  The rules in Under Quarantine indicate that they could have been identified by a Scrutiny TN 12.  As I read this, that would mean the players need to make a Convince, Deceive, or Bewitch test against a TN 12 to contest.   The modifiers for different type of stitched would modify this card flip appropriately.  Then one of my players pointed out that the Necromancy trigger for Masks called "It's Alive...ish" is a Scrutiny TN 12 which now causes some confusion.  Is this target number for the Fated to meet or does the Fatemaster characters need to meet this TN to even guess at someone being undead?   This would mean a lot of the common folk, peons and minions, wouldn't have much chance to recognize Fated Stitched.  Looking at the artwork of stitched and the feel of the game, makes it seem that your common undead should be difficult to conceal.  I do realize that the Fated are not common.  How should this be interpreted? 

2. In a Fatemaster vs Fatemaster duel, how do you determine the damage done?  I ruled that it was minor damage since it was not a margin of success and had the attack beat the defense by 5 it would have been moderate, etc.  Is there official ruling here? 

3.  One of the players met their first Destiny step and wants the power to have "Muscles of Steel" to count as Heavy Armor that doesn't subtract from defense.  This seems pretty powerful to me, but would like any more experienced Fatemasters to weigh in on this as I'm very new and concerned that this might unbalance things.

Thanks! 

 

 

 

[EnternalVoid]

1. It is what the Fatemaster NPC needs to spot that the person is a Stitched.  Mind you that is likely under the impression that the Stitched is trying to hide what they are, at least how I have taken it.  Wearing clothing, gloves, hat, and other things to hide the obvious stuff.  Wearing Cologne or perfume if they smell.  Basically this is if the player is not flaunting their undead status.

I personally would modify this according to the scene.  Guild Patrols doing full searches at a checkpoint?  Ya big bonus.  Death Marshal, bonus to scrutiny in these cases.  Also if you want to make it a challenge of sorts, you could have a scene where they will be found out unless they use another means to get through.  Such as Deceive or Bewitch to get through the guards, or Stealth & Acrobatic to sneak over the wall.

2. That is up to the Fatemaster technically.  You could go off there actual attacks against defense and flip damage accordingly but some penny dreadfuls just tell you who will be able to hit who and what sort of flip or damage they will do.  It will be up to you and how you want it ran.  I would suggest considering a flat course for scenes were you are controlling the narrative, such as when the baddie hits one of the bystanders he does half their wounds per hit.  In turn the Bystanders only hit half the time for only 1-2wds depending on what they are armed with.

3. Ya.. honestly that is a tad to much in my opinion for a first destiny step manifested power.  It basically is a huge buff as not only do they get heavy armor they cannot lose but they don't suffer the negative for having said armor.  There are several ways you can go with this.  You could make it a once per session ability that lasts for a set duration or one dramatic time.  You could have it only trigger under certain conditions, like After losing half their wounds or requires an action to take an Athletics TN13 duel to start it up.  Or they have to take a (0) action and a test to have it last till the beginning of their next turn.  Or it only works till they take half their wounds then they're to hurt to use it.  Or maybe they lose it the moment they take a Moderate or Severe damage till they are healed.

Also it should be tied to the Destiny step like the examples in the book, did he actually do anything to earn such a power in his Destiny?

 

[Joe Sansone]

Thanks for the response.  

So if I'm understanding you correctly then for #1, the TN 12 Scrutiny should be for the NPC.  A minion (5) with a Scrutiny of (3) and Cunning of (3) would have an 11 and not spot the Stitched. But if the NPC had a Scrutiny of 4, it would hit the Scrutiny check and then be aware.  I'm not having every encounter necessarily require this, but at the same time, if a party of undead moves into town, might be a concern they should have to deal with from time to time.

I appreciate the advise on number 3.  Going to submit some of those ideas to the player.  

[Mason]

13 hours ago, Joe Sansone said:

How should this be interpreted? 

It's essentially a "passive" check for NPCs. If a Stitched characters walks into town and a TN 12 Scrutiny check is needed to notice they're undead, most people (Minion 6 or lower) are probably not going to hit that TN, so the character is generally fine. If they come into contact with Enforcers, Henchmen, or Masters, it becomes increasingly more likely that someone important will realize that they're an undead character (which is generally not good for said undead character).

 

13 hours ago, Joe Sansone said:

2. In a Fatemaster vs Fatemaster duel, how do you determine the damage done?  I ruled that it was minor damage since it was not a margin of success and had the attack beat the defense by 5 it would have been moderate, etc.  Is there official ruling here? 

Core Rules, pg 288:

"Fatemaster Characters vs Fatemaster Characters
When a duel involves two Fatemaster characters, just
compare the sum totals of their Acting Values plus
their Rank Values. The character with the higher
final duel total wins the duel.

In the event of a tie, the Fatemaster character who is
the aggressor is considered to be the winner."

After that, the damage flip is based upon the difference of their duel totals, just like normal.

Some Penny Dreadful adventures have adjusted rules to make large battles involving lots of NPCs go quicker.

[EnternalVoid]

On 11/12/2018 at 12:08 AM, Joe Sansone said:

Thanks for the response.  

So if I'm understanding you correctly then for #1, the TN 12 Scrutiny should be for the NPC.  A minion (5) with a Scrutiny of (3) and Cunning of (3) would have an 11 and not spot the Stitched. But if the NPC had a Scrutiny of 4, it would hit the Scrutiny check and then be aware.  I'm not having every encounter necessarily require this, but at the same time, if a party of undead moves into town, might be a concern they should have to deal with from time to time.

Another thing to remember is that is the 'norm'.  Say the Stitched Character is in a fight in that town and after the smoke clears they are still standing but have three bullet holes.  While looking over his attacks some of the town folk come forward to see if they are okay.  If the character does not try to deceive them or slip away they could start to notice the lack of blood from his wounds.  How could this work rule wise?  if a NPC gets a positive you could rule it adds +2 to their result like a Fatemaster NPC vs NPC.  So you could have that Minion (5) with a Scrutiny of 3 and Cunning of 3 would have an 11 so normally would not spot the Stitched.  But due to the lack of blood or overly helpful nature of the minion trying to help their injuries, they could get a to their scrutiny test, thus making their result a 13.

Or while most of the town are a bit slow on catching on, you could have that that local sheriff, saloon owner, town hero, or Mayor be an Enforcer (7) with a Cunning of 2 and Scrutiny of 3.  Now the Stitched have to avoid this person's attention or else they might be found out.