Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar setting, home to the legendary Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, is the first officially licensed setting for the DCC RPG.

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celorbelor
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Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by celorbelor »

Hey all,

We recently started a new game of DCC and are using Fleeting Luck and the Luck as Healing rules in lieu of Clerics. One question that came up during our first gameplay session last night was how the Luck as Healing, specifically the rules on rousing dying characters, works for Thieves or Halflings who naturally regenerate luck. It's hard to ascertain if the intent of the rule is that spending Luck in this fashion is a permanent loss or if it can regenerate per the normal Thief rules. The rules that came with Free RPG Day seem to indicate that using Luck to heal is the same as burning Luck, but to me it seems more in character that Luck used to recover from Death is a permanent loss, even for the Lucky classes.

What do you guys think? Is it too harsh of a punishment to make Thieves or Halflings lose their precious Luck when they return from the dead? Or does it make more sense that all mortal men's Luck will eventually run out?
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finarvyn
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by finarvyn »

Permanent seems pretty harsh to me, but it does set a grim tone if that's the style of campaign you want to run. I like the idea that characters can stay lucky and keep getting out of tough spots because of it, but that's more of a style thing I suspect.
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michaelcurtis
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by michaelcurtis »

Thieves (and Halflings) recover Luck as per DCC RPG rules. If the point of Luck the character spent to recover 1 hit point and be roused from unconsciousness is normal Luck, he would regain it as normal. If it was a point of Fleeting Luck, he would't regain it from his class ability but could recover it as per the rules for gaining Fleeting Luck.

Technically, that point of Luck isn't being spent to recover from death. If the character is reduced to zero hit points he begins bleeding out and must be saved by an ally. He can't spend a point of Luck to heal his own wounds when he is dying. After he has been saved (his wounds staunched or otherwise pulled back from the point of death) and the battle is over, he spends his point to regain 1 hit point and regain consciousness.

If he dies because he bleeds out, the body can be rolled over as normal to see if the character is really dead. If he makes his Luck check, he suffers the normal penalties from his brush with dead but is otherwise revived and has 1 hit point. He doesn't need to spend a point of Luck to regain that 1 hit point. He's had a bad enough day already.

Does this clarify the mechanic, celorbelor?
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celorbelor
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by celorbelor »

Hey Michael,

Thanks for the insight, that definitely helps a lot. I guess I read the rules a little differently. I do agree it adds a very dangerous tone to the game. For some background, I'm running Frog God Games' Rappan Athuk but retuned for DCC. In the very first combat we had 3 characters go unconscious and our two Thieves used their Luck to help them get back up. I didn't have the Fleeting Luck rules doc on hand at the time so I kind of winged it.

I'll have to toy around with the idea. I already gave the players some very powerful characters (4d6 drop lowest for stats, reroll 1 on Hit Dice, and only positive Lucky Signs), so I'm contemplating taking the Luck spent to Rouse as a permanent reduction. In my mind a near-death encounter is very unlucky and not something easily recovered from. Plus I want to give the characters a sense of mortality. The campaign is being run really similarly to Darkest Dungeon, if you are familiar.

Overall I think players really enjoyed the new rules and having a bit of a more "sturdy" DCC character compared to our previous game using the stock rules. As a Judge, I find Fleeting Luck to be an awesome addition. My players were avidly spending it to help boost their attacks and overall I think they felt more heroic with the Luck backing them up. Looking forward to the full Lankhmar rules!
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by michaelcurtis »

Did the thieves use Luck to revive themselves during the battle in which they were reduced to zero hit points? Using RAW, they'd have to wait until the battle was over. It's not a case of "fall down, spend Luck, get back up."

You're of course free to house rule as you wish, but getting knocked out of the fight and being at the whim of your enemies unless your side wins the fight is pretty gritty as it is without a permanent Luck loss.
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celorbelor
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by celorbelor »

The Thieves did use Luck after the fight was finished. So far this was our only session with combat so I'm still learning how I want things to flow. Your input's really helpful though and I think for now I'll keep it as you've suggested. Permanent changes to characters are harsh already and it's not that easy to recover from later on into a game. If I do decide it needs to get amped up later, I can always find a reason to suddenly curse the poor PCs.
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catseye yellow
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by catseye yellow »

guys you are speaking in tongues?

mr. curtis, is it time yet to give us rundown of the changes in dccL? especially luck-healing and stuff.
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catseye yellow
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by catseye yellow »

The rules that came with Free RPG Day seem to indicate that using Luck to heal is the same as burning Luck, but to me it seems more in character that Luck used to recover from Death is a permanent loss, even for the Lucky classes.
hm, i can not find any in my FRPGD module...
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catseye yellow
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by catseye yellow »

ok. found it. i are stupid.

btw, why not treat fleeting luck just as 'normal' luck. what would be different? just dole out more luck during the play. stat would fluctuate up and down more quickly than in regular DCC but that would be also part of the fun.
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by Raven_Crowking »

catseye yellow wrote:ok. found it. i are stupid.

btw, why not treat fleeting luck just as 'normal' luck. what would be different? just dole out more luck during the play. stat would fluctuate up and down more quickly than in regular DCC but that would be also part of the fun.
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catseye yellow
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Re: Luck as Healing and Thieves.

Post by catseye yellow »

Raven_Crowking wrote:
catseye yellow wrote:ok. found it. i are stupid.

btw, why not treat fleeting luck just as 'normal' luck. what would be different? just dole out more luck during the play. stat would fluctuate up and down more quickly than in regular DCC but that would be also part of the fun.
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whoa!
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