burning luck

[ecz]

at page 95 is finally cleared said that a PC can burn luck before OR after the roll.

I cannot figure a case where could be a good option decide before the roll how much luck burn. the risk is it is not enough or it is too much. Is always better wait and decide after the roll.
Am I missing something?

[Ravenheart87]

Nope, there was a discussion about this already as far as I remember. You can choose before, but why would you?

[TheNobleDrake]

This is not something that you will find actually written anywhere in the book or any of the modules that I know of:

There could be magical effects, strange beings, or magical devices which would augment any Luck spent before a roll - or even require such spending before the roll in order to accomplish some task/effect.

A door could be sealed by some dangerous magic which draws the ire of a supernatural being upon those that toy with it - spend Luck (with the door setting the needed amount) and make a Strength check to push the door open, the Luck loss representing how powerful the agitated being is.

Some foul being with power over probability might be immune to any attack that has not had Luck invested into it prior to the attack/spell roll.

A Lucky Blade might double, or even triple, the effects of any Luck spent while attacking with it... but requires the points to be spent before the attack roll or will refuse to function because it is extremely fickle by nature.

...and so on as your imagination might wish, simply adding some new possibilities that would not be there without the inclusion of "before or" in that passage of text.

[Thoom]

New to DCC so I got a question regarding luck burning. From what I gather, the player doesn't know by how much he missed the roll so he must decided to burn an amount of luck blind, or is it written somewhere that he knows how much is required and I missed it?

[Ravenheart87]

New to DCC so I got a question regarding luck burning. From what I gather, the player doesn't know by how much he missed the roll so he must decided to burn an amount of luck blind, or is it written somewhere that he knows how much is required and I missed it?

Hello Thoom! I usually give a hint.

Eg. if the player fails by 6 points and wants to burn luck:
"I'm going to burn 4 points of luck!"
"That's still not going to be enough I'm afraid...."
"How about 8?"
"More than enough."

[TheNobleDrake]

I am of the opinion that since Luck is such a precious and rare resource that the player be made aware of exactly the amount that would be needed to turn failure into success... otherwise you get a situation where players are even less likely to utilize Luck burn than they already are - and there is no point in even having a rule if no one uses it.

[Skyscraper]

I am of the opinion that since Luck is such a precious and rare resource that the player be made aware of exactly the amount that would be needed to turn failure into success... otherwise you get a situation where players are even less likely to utilize Luck burn than they already are - and there is no point in even having a rule if no one uses it.

I do this as judge, i.e. let players know how much luck points are required to be burned to get a success. It's rare they want to burn luck anyway, might as well make it mean something.

[Thoom]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate. I was really unsure on how to judge this as I felt it was too hard on the player to let them spend luck blind. I like the various suggestions given and willl see what makes sense for my game.

Cheers!

[VengerSatanis]

Why not triple the potency of luck (I call it fortune) burned before the die is cast? Burn 2 points before rolling and get a +6. Wait and see what the result is before burning... ok, 2 points gets you +2.

VS

[Vanguard]

How would you let that affect thieves? At low levels, a simple 1d3 +1 makes sense, but at higher levels where they throw many sided dice it doesn't seem as effective.

Or is this for only non-thieves.

[themightyeroc]

How and when do you reward Luck back to Players. I know what the rule book says, but I want to know how and when you've done it.

The halflings and Thieves regenerate so those players haven't really suffered. But the other PC classes I have in game now are wondering. I have maybe rewarded about 5-6 points since we started playing. I'm thinking I may be being too hard with this.

Does 1-2 points of luck back at the conclusion of each adventure or session played seem too much? I'm thinking I may start doing this.

[TheNobleDrake]

How and when do you reward Luck back to Players.

In one campaign I was running, consisting of the official DCC modules, I awarded Luck to players at the conclusion of each module - that boiled down to a Luck reward about every 3 sessions, and the awards ranged from 1 to 3 points depending upon how well the party did during the adventure.

In a completely separate campaign, the party has only had their Luck scores altered by me once even though we have run 20 sessions so far - the party met a demon prince and agreed to help him teach his son a lesson, and the party had their Luck adjusted based on their alignment and behavior in the negotiations (one lawful character lost a point of Luck by being far too eager to join forces with a demon, all of the chaotic characters gained a point of Luck as the forces of chaos smiled upon them, and the neutral characters and lawful characters with appropriate apprehension had no modification at all).

I think the best way to approach the situation is to decide how much you want to encourage players to spend Luck, and then award them Luck in often enough increments of the appropriate size to keep the party at a relatively steady overall level of Luck - i.e. if you expect the players will spend an average of 1 Luck per session you should probably award around 1 Luck per session, unless you (like me) want the players to feel like their Luck is going to run out if they aren't extremely careful.

[oncelor]

Sometimes I award luck by saying "everybody make a Luck check; everybody who fails gains a Luck point."

[Galadrin]

When I run the Garweeze Wurld (of Knights of the Dinner Table and Hackmaster fame) with DCC, I am going to replace the Luck stat with Honor. This way, characters gain a few points whenever they do something that pleases ye gawds (like challenge a giant to an arm wrestling match) or lose a few points whenever they get properly humiliated (like the old "orc peeing in the waterskin while party sleeps" bit). Thieves and Halflings will keep the Luck stat though, and it will get permanent gains and losses whenever they gain and lose Honor (and temporary losses and gains whenever they spend or restore Luck). My rationale is that there is no honor amongst thieves, per se, and Halflings are sort of like gypsies in the setting (everyone tolerates them when things are going well, but if things turn south, they are the first ones to be blamed and scapegoated).

[finarvyn]

How would you let that affect thieves? At low levels, a simple 1d3 +1 makes sense, but at higher levels where they throw many sided dice it doesn't seem as effective.

Or is this for only non-thieves.

I like the concept of a "double the effect" or "triple the effect" rule, but think it works only if you assume that it's for non-renewing luck. Any luck which comes back should work by the book.

Sometimes I award luck by saying "everybody make a Luck check; everybody who fails gains a Luck point."

I like this idea! Luck becomes pointless if they never get a chance to earn some back.

[Disemvowel]

How would you let that affect thieves? At low levels, a simple 1d3 +1 makes sense, but at higher levels where they throw many sided dice it doesn't seem as effective.

Or is this for only non-thieves.

I like the concept of a "double the effect" or "triple the effect" rule, but think it works only if you assume that it's for non-renewing luck. Any luck which comes back should work by the book.

Sometimes I award luck by saying "everybody make a Luck check; everybody who fails gains a Luck point."

I like this idea! Luck becomes pointless if they never get a chance to earn some back.

The PCs earn luck after adventures