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Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 8:20 am
by BaophraT
Hi,

I am wondering how to do with PCs without positive or negative Luck Modifier. All characters should get the Lucky Roll when they are generated at 0 level or only the ones with a positive or negative Luck Modifier ?

Thanks !

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:06 am
by Bilgewriggler
It's totally up to you as the judge. While it may seem pointless to have a character with no modifier roll on that table, remember that a big part of this game is characters questing to get stuff that they want. And another big part is making magic items unique. Let's say a player is dissatisfied at having low hit points due to a poor Stamina and bad rolls. Meanwhile, another character rolled "Bountiful Harvest" as her birth augur but had a 10 Luck score and got no benefit from the birth augur roll. You can pass a note to the Bountiful Harvest character saying she has a prophetic dream one night about the stars in a certain constellation repositioning themselves into the image of a bountiful wheat field ... and then that image falls from the sky to become a tattoo on the chest of her friend with bad hit points. When she wakes up, she has this sense that if the party follows that constellation each night, something will occur to make her friend's body more resistant to damage. Should the party follow that adventure hook, they could find a bottle of tattoo ink in the next dungeon they discover. Using it to tattoo the wheat field image onto the low-hit point character gives him a bonus of +2 hit points per level.

Or maybe someone in the party rolled "Charmed House" but has a 9 Luck. You could let the party find some magical leather armor that is +1 for most characters, but +4 for anyone with the Charmed House sign.

If someone rolled "Survived a Spider Bite" you can make a rule for yourself that any monster spiders will attack that character last, even moving past him to another target if one is available. Will the player or the party catch on that this is why spiders don't attack him? Let them figure it out themselves.

You could also houserule that when a character burns luck on a roll related to their birth augur, that luck burn is temporary, and is recovered at a rate of one point per night.

The main thing is to remember that Birth Augurs, like everything else in the game, should be viewed as more than just a rules mechanic. They're inspiration points for you as a judge to make the game richer and more alive for the players

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:18 am
by Raven_Crowking
See Stars in the Darkness for an example of where your birth augur might matter quite a bit, even if you started with a 10 Luck.

Bonus points: The judge can certainly make magic items that only work, work better, or work worse, due to your birth augur. Birth augur could also be tied to variable magic (as in the Magic Here and Magic There section of the Judge's Rules).

You can make use of it however you like.

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 12:46 am
by BaophraT
Thank you very much for all these observations. Little by little I familiarise myself with this great flexible game system.

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 4:58 am
by Raven_Crowking
baophrat wrote:Thank you very much for all these observations. Little by little I familiarise myself with this great flexible game system.
For my part, at least, you are very welcome!

It is a great system, and you can fold, spindle, and mutilate it into whatever you need!

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:20 am
by Jim Skach
I'm going to try to make this as short as possible...

Characters at first level start in Town A. Due to a certain occurrence under a starless sky, they are transported about 1000 miles to the south. It's been two years or more of playing time, an unknown amount of time in-game, and they finally make it back to the region near Town A. There are only two (of eight) characters left from the original group from Town A...one of which we'll call Bob. Bob has a luck of 10 and his birth augur was Raised by Wolves. So essentially he gets no modifier, positive or negative, to his unarmed attacks. His original occupation, before becoming the mighty Warrior he is now, was a hunter.

About 30 miles outside of the hovel from which he originated, the group runs into a random wilderness encounter - a pack of ravenous wolves.

Bob: "Hey I was raised by wolves! And this is my home! Are these my wolves? I move to the front and howl and bark in the code of The Pack."

Me: "Give me a Luck Check. Just don't roll hi - "

Bob: "Aww crap....20..."

Me: "Not only are these not your wolves, but they are the pack with whom you were constantly warring when you were young and ran with The Pack. And they are far outside their normal hunting grounds. And they look very hungry - almost starving. Your howls and barks send them into a frenzy as your noises identify your group as an enemy pack. Roll Initiative."

That's about all I will say for that...because it's still an ongoing plot point that might get explored in the very near future (and honestly isn't really all that fleshed out beyond some general notions).

All on the fly. All based on the Occupation and Birth Augur. All without the Luck Modifier/Birth Augur combination about which there is often, in my humble opinion, too much consternation...

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:14 am
by Raven_Crowking
Jim Skach wrote:I'm going to try to make this as short as possible...
Ferris Bueller, you're my hero!

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:51 am
by GnomeBoy
Jim, that's what this game is all about, isn't it? Awesome scene.

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:38 am
by Deronius
Came here to ask this specific question. Thanks for the answers.

Re: Lucky roll without luck modifier

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2021 5:37 am
by jpshinny
I just award a minimum of +1 for the lucky roll. It immediately differentiates two characters and has players thinking about their unique skills, even if they are of the same class.