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I promised a long time ago to move the thread from general to here.

To recap: I proposed a new Virtue for Slayers that would, after one-shotting adversaries, allow either an Intimidate Foe as part of the same turn, or give a bonus to an Intimidate Foe the following round.

Here are two variants:

"When you strike a blow in Forward Stance that kills an adversary, on the following round if you perform Intimidate Foe you may add one Success Die (two if the attack was a Great Success, three if it was an Extraordinary Success.)"

The other version might be:
"When you attack an adversary at full health, roll an Extraordinary Success, and kill the enemy with that one attack, you may immediately perform an Intimidate Foe combat task as part of the same round."

Thoughts? Ideas for other Calling Virtues?

Rich's "Additional Rules" compilation also has ideas for Calling Virtues. But maybe it's time to brainstorm some new ones.

I like the 2nd option better, as it is simpler (I'm not sure about all the conditions), because you make the Intimidate Foe roll immediately and don't have to remember whether you had a Great or Extra success.

As for changing the conditions, you could consider this:
- Whenever you kill an opponent via 0 End AND a Wound in one attack who is your chosen "enemy" (Orc-lore, Troll-lore, etc.), you may immediately make an Intimidate Foe roll. This Intimidate Foe only works against the other enemies present who have the same or lower attribute level as the defeated foe.

This still might be too complicated, but the idea is, since it is for a Slayer, it should apply to your chosen foe. Also, it doesn't matter if the killed enemy has already taken a wound or Endurance damage; the point is, you cause a wound AND reduce them to 0 in one shot. Otherwise, this ability would only work against weak Orcs or Wolves or something. It should absolutely work against big enemies like Great Orcs or Trolls (or Dragons?). It's all in how powerful your hit was. I also think this doesn't make it overpowered (you can't spam it like "Royalty Revealed"), but it has less drawbacks and is completely different thematically from Royalty Revealed.


As for other callings, I think Wardens (or Scholars) could have some Virtue tied to Holdings, and Wanderer's could have some Virtue tied to Pipe smoking (there isn't enough of that in the game!).

Yeah, I think that was one of the options I put in my original list. Somehow I think either "starting from full Endurance" or Extraordinary Success should be part of the equation. It shouldn't just be a fine blow, but a really spectacularly impressive one. You didn't just kill the goblin, you obliterated him.

The problem with requiring a one-shot (that is, from full Endurance) is that it would never trigger off of killing a troll, and surely...as you suggest...finishing off a troll with a mighty blow should, in some situations, have some effect on the morale of all the little orcs.

Another option would be that you roll Intimidate Foe with Success Dice equal to the Attribute Level of your victim. One-shotting a Snaga Tracker is no great feat, but killing a Black Uruk? More impressive. In that case maybe triggering it on combined Pierce + zero Endurance would work.

I'm torn about the favoured enemy idea. On the one hand it's a nifty bit of flavouring, but: a) The adversaries wouldn't know they are your sworn enemy, so they wouldn't know to be intimidated, and b) by providing a distinct mechanical advantage it would offer an undesirable incentive to choose favoured enemies for reasons other than roleplaying.

So here's what it would look like:
"Whenever you get a killing blow on an Adversary that both reduces its Endurance to zero and gets a Wound, you automatically perform an Intimidate Foe task in the same round, using the Attribute Level of the slain enemy in place of your Awe skill."

P.S. Oh, and I think the part about affecting only the same AL or lower would be extraneous, because Intimidate affects lowest AL first, anyway, so it would only come into play in limited circumstances. Plus you'd be rolling fewer dice against higher TNs.

I could see Wardens having an ability where if they get Tengwars on Corruption tests they can let companions pass their own tests. (Or does that ability already exist in the game?)

Here are two (similar) Virtues I like from Rich's "Additional Rules":


DARKER SECRETS (Scholar):
There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world.
Exposure and experience have imparted hard-learnt secrets, things the likes of which Men should not know. Add your current Shadow score to all Lore and Riddle rolls.

SLY FINGERS (Treasure-Hunter):
A really first-class and legendary burglar would at this point picked the trolls' pockets - it is nearly always worthwhile, if you can manage it.
A proper and skilled burglar can wrest finery from the deepest pocket and prise the stoutest lock. When picking locks (Craft) or pockets (Stealth), add your current Shadow to your rolls.

But if those were options I would want there to be more than one Virtue per Calling, so that characters who maintain really low Shadow have options.


And here's my new idea (language needs some polish):

MANY FRIENDS (Wanderer)
In your travels you have met many strange and curious folk. During an Encounter with Free Folk while on a Journey, you may make a Riddle roll to determine if you have some connection to them, with successes counting toward the encounter, but failure having no consequence. On a Success you have heard of one of the Loremaster Characters, or vice versa. On a Great Success you have a mutual acquaintance. And on an Extraordinary Success you have met each other in the past. If any Success is made with an Eye of Sauron the knowledge or acquaintance is negative, and the Successes count as failures instead unless a point of Hope is spent.

Oh, I like the Many Friends idea. It's totally one I would pick.

Rue wrote:Oh, I like the Many Friends idea. It's totally one I would pick.

Thanks. I'm kind of proud of that one.

Glorelendil wrote:

Rue wrote:Oh, I like the Many Friends idea. It's totally one I would pick.

Thanks. I'm kind of proud of that one.

You should be, it's very good.

Agreed, the Virtue is very appropriate given the Calling, has a nice mechanical benefit that is also quite narrative, and has a nice downside that creates for perfect story "uh oh" moments. The best moments are always a surprise to the players AND LM, then see how the players figure out how to react.

I like it, too. Well done!