Rivendell Preview 3: Rangers and High Elves

[Rich H]

I think it's extremely important to have mechanical balances for these two cultures rather than just relying on RPing and group restrictions to offset their greater capability.

Well, as you can see in the preview, there's both mechanical balances and roleplaying balances.

Yes, I was extremely worried when I started reading and less so towards the end. Like I say, I'll refrain from holding a party in the street until I see the full text of these cultures as the devil will be in the detail! I'm not a fan of mechanical system advantages simply being offset by RP disadvantages as different groups RP the game differently so often they don't balance in play for many gamers which makes for a poor play experience. Will have to see if the mechanical disadvantages are enough to offset the mechanical benefits. With this preview they look like they could be; which is good.

[Rich H]

Back on topic: At first glance I really like the Ranger mechanics. Not being able to share the Fellowship Pool is both thematically in line...

That's not quite what was said. It wasn't said that they couldn't use the Fellowship Pool just that they couldn't use it to restore their personal Hope. Theirs a subtle difference there; you may be right but as it's currently been described in the preview I'd say that they can use the Fellowship Pool directly on tests etc but not to restore the personal Hope (ie, just take points from the Fellowship Pool and add them directly to their Hope score).

[Glorelendil]

Back on topic: At first glance I really like the Ranger mechanics. Not being able to share the Fellowship Pool is both thematically in line...

That's not quite what was said. It wasn't said that they couldn't use the Fellowship Pool just that they couldn't use it to restore their personal Hope. Theirs a subtle difference there; you may be right but as it's currently been described in the preview I'd say that they can use the Fellowship Pool directly on tests etc but not to restore the personal Hope (ie, just take points from the Fellowship Pool and add them directly to their Hope score).

Oh...am I misunderstanding the existing RAW? I thought the only use for Fellowship Pool was to restore personal points, if the party agrees. I didn't realize you could spend FP points directly.

[Rich H]

Oh...am I misunderstanding the existing RAW? I thought the only use for Fellowship Pool was to restore personal points, if the party agrees. I didn't realize you could spend FP points directly.

FP points can be spent directly, I'm pretty sure. Afraid I'm not at home so can't give you a reference, sorry.

EDIT: Although thinking about it more, you may be right. It may just be emergent play style where my players effectively spend it directly in order to simply reduce the number of steps - ie, spend FP directly rather than spending Hope first then boosting it with FP afterwards.

[Yusei]

I'm not sure I would allow a Ranger or High Elf in a group of newbies, unless they all are OK with one of them being more powerful. However, they seem to be an interesting alternative when adding a new character to an experienced fellowship.

It seems that even they cannot reach higher that 6 in Valour and Wisdom, right?

[Andrew]

While the end result is the same, Fellowship points can only be spent to restore your own Hope (which you can then spend right away, of course) (TOR, p132). Rangers can't do this.

[Andrew]

I'm not sure I would allow a Ranger or High Elf in a group of newbies, unless they all are OK with one of them being more powerful. However, they seem to be an interesting alternative when adding a new character to an experienced fellowship.

It seems that even they cannot reach higher that 6 in Valour and Wisdom, right?

We come out and say both "don't allow a Ranger or a High Elf in a new company" and "don't have more than one or two in a company" for a reason. Of course, the Cubicle 7 ninjas won't come round and stop you, but that's our advice right there in the book. And that's about as far as we go as far as 'roleplaying balance' goes.

And no, Rangers and High Elves are still capped at 6 Valour and Wisdom. Both have starting attributes that go up to 8, however...

[jamesrbrown]

Wow! Wait till my players hear this stuff. I can pinpoint two players right now - one who will want to play a High Elf and one who will want to be a Ranger of the North. However, one of my others will play a Dwarf always...

I am itching for the pre-order!!!

[beckett]

EDIT: Although thinking about it more, you may be right. It may just be emergent play style where my players effectively spend it directly in order to simply reduce the number of steps - ie, spend FP directly rather than spending Hope first then boosting it with FP afterwards.

My group handles it this way as well. At first it annoyed me a little since the rules state that the Fellowship Pool can only be used to restore spent Hope. But I got over it because, as Andrew said: The End result is the same.

In my heart (even though I know this feeling is a bit silly) it still feels slightly misused to be handled in this way.

[bigsteveuk]

Odds on I won't let anyone play either, but they both sound mint.

I think the content in this book is going to be superb. I am loving these previews as well, great way to show of the product.