Confused about Fatigue/Endurance

[Captain Curmudgeon]

So I'm trying to understand the whole Fatigue/Endurance/Weariness dynamic as it relates to failing Travel rolls (aka fatigue rolls) during a journey.

My "too long, didn't read" question is this: Isn't adding to your Fatigue score just another way of saying to subtract from your Endurance score?

I'll give an example:

Let's say I'm playing Bob the Woodman, who has starting Endurance of 25. His Encumbrance from war gear is 13 and this is his Fatigue threshold. If his Endurance drops to 13 or lower he is Weary.

He fails two Travel tests during a Journey in Spring. His spring Traveling gear has Encumbrance of 2. The rules say to add the Encumbrance of his Traveling gear to his Fatigue score for each failed Travel/fatigue roll. This would be a total of 4.

So here's my confusion. Am I actually adding 4 points to his Fatigue threshold, making it 17, or am I subtracting 4 points from his Endurance, reducing it to 21? Either way you say it, I have an 8 point buffer before I become Weary.

Thanks for your help!

[Glorelendil]

The difference is that it's relatively easy/fast to recover Endurance, and difficult/slow to recover Fatigue. So gaining Fatigue is usually* worse than losing Endurance.

(*Endurance 0 means unconscious, so in some cases Endurance loss is worse than others...)

And, yes, both of your examples are correct. (EDIT: I read your example too quickly and didn't parse what you were saying correctly; as feld points out you add 4 to Fatigue in that case.)

And although you didn't bring this up, you do NOT add traveling gear Encumbrance to base Fatigue.

war gear* = base Fatigue
traveling gear = additional Fatigue for each failed travel test

*and Treasure, although I personally don't count Treasure unless it's either excessive or in a particular bulky form

[feld]

My "too long, didn't read" question is this: Isn't adding to your Fatigue score just another way of saying to subtract from your Endurance score?

No. Endurance is also lost in combat and relatively quickly. Endurance crosses Fatigue on the way down and your rolls get much worse (the Weary state). Endurance gets to zero and you're unconscious.
Fatigue going up reduces your threshold to the Weary state.
What this allows is for an adventurer to engage in combat during a journey and still be at max endurance (just as hard to knock out as they were at the start of their trip) yet be worn out (Weary) in combat more quickly than if they hadn't just hiked halfway across Eriador.

Am I actually adding 4 points to his Fatigue threshold, making it 17, or am I subtracting 4 points from his Endurance, reducing it to 21? Either way you say it, I have an 8 point buffer before I become Weary.

Thanks for your help!

You are actually adding 4 points to the Fatigue score as per Journey rules on pg.159.

[Captain Curmudgeon]

So Bob the Woodman would have his full Endurance, but his Fatigue threshold would rise from 13 to 17. So if I have this straight, if Bob loses 8 Endurance during a Battle, dropping him to 17, he would then become Weary (and possibly Wounded, depending on circumstances)? And alternatively, if he failed four more Travel rolls and added 8 points to his Fatigue (making it equal to his Endurance score), this would also make Bob Weary?

[zedturtle]

Yep, let's give it a few examples... Let's say Bob has 25 Endurance, thus having a basic Heart score of 5. He failed two Fatigue tests and thus has a Fatigue score of 17.

He then gets into a fight, causing his Endurance to drop to 17. When that happens, he becomes Weary (the Wounded condition is only caused by Piercing Blows, so we're going to ignore that for a little while).

After the fight, the heroes have enough time to recover (page 130 of The One Ring Roleplaying Game), so his Endurance goes up to 22. He's still Weary, however.

Later that evening, Bob is able to take a proper night's rest. He recovers up to 7 points of Endurance since he's not Wounded. His Endurance score is now 25 and he's no longer Weary. Even if he didn't get back to his full Endurance as long as his prolonged rest's recovery is sufficient to get him over his Fatigue threshold he will no longer be Weary. His Fatigue level stays at 17. He can't reduce his Fatigue until he gets to a safe refuge.

The next day, Bob and company get in another fight (they're having terrible luck on this journey).

He once again goes down to 15 Endurance but this time he becomes Wounded due to failing an armour Protection test. His companion treats the Wound. He's Weary too, since his Endurance is lower than his Fatigue.

After the fight, he is unable to recover any Endurance. When he rests at night, he recovers only 2 Endurance. He'll wake up the next day at 17 Endurance. He's still Weary and Wounded.

The second night, he recovers 2 more Endurance. He's now at 19 Endurance. He's no longer Weary (having had a prolonged rest and his Endurance is now above his Fatigue). He's still Wounded and will be until he gets back to 25 Endurance.

— • —

Yes, if he continues to fail Fatigue tests, his Fatigue could go up so high as to make him begin the day Weary and have no way of not being Weary until he reaches a safe refuge. Travel in Middle-earth is dangerous and those who are not prepared for dangers of the Road often suffer.

[Captain Curmudgeon]

So recovering from Weariness depends on two things occurring--proper night's rest AND getting above the current Fatigue threshold?

[zedturtle]

So recovering from Weariness depends on two things occurring--proper night's rest AND getting above the current Fatigue threshold?

Yep. Check out "Shake off Weariness" on page 132.

[Captain Curmudgeon]

So recovering from Weariness depends on two things occurring--proper night's rest AND getting above the current Fatigue threshold?

Yep. Check out "Shake off Weariness" on page 132.

Yeah makes sense to me now.

So are you planning on (or interested in) being a LM for any "play by post" games of TOR in the near future? I've seen old threads of your rpg.net games and you seem like a natural at this.

[zedturtle]

So are you planning on (or interested in) being a LM for any "play by post" games of TOR in the near future? I've seen old threads of your rpg.net games and you seem like a natural at this.

Thanks for the kind words! Unfortunately, I'm just a bit too busy* in order to run PbP games and had to set things aside. I still credit them with getting me in the habit of writing every single day, which has been extremely helpful.

— • —

( * For clarity's sake, I've been fortunate enough to help out with The One Ring and Adventures in Middle-earth in an official capacity for a little while now. )

[Glorelendil]

An effective P2PbP ("Pay-to-Play-by-Post") platform would let Zed give up his day job...