Goodman Games

Can thieves use their luck to add extra damage to backstabs or on their roll on the crit chart? Actually can luck be used to increase damage at all? Any advice is appreciated.

rules say you can burn luck to add to 'a roll', doesn't limit what kind of roll it is, so yes you can burn luck to add damage

In my games, yes to both questions.

It's a prime ability of the Thief (and the Halfling) do that sort of thing.

I just played a Thief in a game at Bride of Cyclops and I was pretty sure the damage dealt with a hit was *close* to taking down my target, so I burnt 1 Luck to push it up -- totally did the trick! Making Crits worse is fair game, too.

Awesome thanks guys

In the RttSS tournament at Bride, the only one I know of that was denied was attempting to change the Deed die to be a success when it was a failure.

Other than that...Luck was flying fast and furious...

Jim Skach wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:46 pm ...the only one I know of that was denied was attempting to change the Deed die to be a success when it was a failure.

Rightly so, IMO.

One thing I would say, is you could still add luck to the deed die, it doesn't make the deed successful, but it would add +1 to hit and +1 to damage for each point of luck, but thats just the way I see it.

Well, that's the split, isn't it -- are you adding Luck to the *die* or are you adding Luck to the *roll*...

as long as you understand that the "natural" result of the die roll is what is needed to determine success/failure of the deed itself, then it doesn't matter too much if you're squeezing a bonus to hit and to damage by burning luck.

Can you point out where in the rules is says that a deed only succeeds on an unmodified Deed Die roll of 3+, or that luck (either burned by the Warrior or by a Halfling PC in the party) cannot modify a Deed Die roll. The closest I can come is:

P88: "If his deed die comes up as a 3 or better and the attack lands (e.g., the total attack roll exceeds the target’s AC), the Deed succeeds."

One could read this as "unmodified" deed die. But then that begs the question of why this does not apply to the deed die:

P19: "Characters can burn off Luck to survive life-or-death situations. Any character can permanently burn Luck to give a one-time bonus to a roll. For example, you could burn 6 points of Luck to get a +6 modifier on a roll, but your Luck score is now 6 points lower."

Given this, I think you can argue either way. Perhaps GG should provide clarification.

"If his deed die comes up as a 3 or better..."

To me, this is a specific reference to the result on the die. This, to me, translates to an unmodified result. So in order for a deed to succeed, the unmodified roll must be a 3 or higher.

The Warrior's Deed Die is a component of the Warrior's attack roll. In other words, the Deed Die is not a roll unto itself. It replaces a static modifier for other classes. Therefore, I would rule that one cannot burn luck to increase the Deed Die, only the overall attack roll.

This is my interpretation and in no way represents an official answer from Goodman Games - which is not likely going to happen because the entire ethos for the game is to decide what the interpretation fits best for you and your group.

There is zero indication anywhere that Luck "changes" the face of any die. It just changes the outcome in the same way other modifiers do... If burning two Luck could turn a roll of 18 on an attack into a crit, why then not the +2 to hit from your Class making your 18 into a crit?

That answer is that there's the result of the die, and then there's that number being modified by other factors, arriving at an effect in the game. That the Deed Die needs to be a 3 or higher, is to say it is not influenced by other factors -- the face of the die tells you how that element of the roll turned out. Deed Dice work like attack dice crits and fumbles -- the number rolled is where it's at... No matter how much you're adding into your attack roll, be it +1 or +1000, a nat 1 is a fumble. In the same way, it takes a 3+ for a Deed to work.

I am convinced by your well laid-out arguments. Thanks.