Travel Fatigue and Traits

[Tantavalist]

In a thread concerning yet another house rule for armour fatigue the subject of Dwarves and how they're supposed to be able to be able to not tire regardless of armour came up. Now while their cultural trait does reflect this, another way to show it occurred to me as I was considering the matter.

Is there any reason at all that a Dwarf (or other character for that matter) can't take a Trait like Energetic, Hardy or Robust and use it to make every test for Travel Fatigue an automatic success?

If so, then this makes a big difference to the RAW, let alone any house rules concerning it.

[Looping]

Is there any reason at all that a Dwarf (or other character for that matter) can't take a Trait like Energetic, Hardy or Robust and use it to make every test for Travel Fatigue an automatic success?

I believe the original rules state that the LM is free to accept or refuse the invocation of a trait for an automatic success so I don't see why not.
Invoking Energetic, Hardy, or Robust may be fine for easy journeys (TN 12-14) but not for treks through rough terrains (TN of 16+).

[Majestic]

I'd personally let a player invoke such a trait for a single automatic success, but I wouldn't let them do it over and over (say, with a journey).

[Looping]

Like Majestic, I would ask my player to roll the dice for longer trips, though I would be flexible and may let the player use the trait twice depending on the terrain, travel conditions, season, and equipment the character carries (e.g. does the character have a tent and a cot/sleeping pad; can the character get enough sleep in between travel, hazards, and watch duty; etc.).

[Stormcrow]

I've never understood why a Hardy character wouldn't be allowed to travel the wild without suffering fatigue (hazards notwithstanding). That's what it means to be Hardy.

Yes, the Loremaster can override the trait, but on what grounds, besides "I want to see your character suffer"?

[Tantavalist]

I can see why some people might rule that for game balance reasons, someone isn't able to use a trait over and over. This would have to be something specified in advance for the players, not something just used at the GMs whim. Otherwise, how is saying "You can't use Hardy to succeed at every roll this journey" becomes no different than any other restriction. "There's a lot of social interaction this session, you only get to use Fair-Spoken once" or "The whole adventure is set in Mirkwood, so Mirkwood-Lore can only be used once this session".

These would be pretty big restrictions on how Traits are used, but at the same time I can see how they can be abused. Anything that helps with travel fatigue is likely to be the biggest issue, but Mirkwood-Lore for a group playing the whole Darkening of Mirkwood campaign is also going to be heavily used.

It's probably a knee-jerk reaction to previous experience on my part with a GM who changed the rules on a case-by-case basis whenever he felt they were letting the players escape his railroad plots, but I've never been happy with a rulebook saying that the official rule is for the GM to wing it and use judgement. There should always be a default interpretation of the rules that the GM is free to ignore or amend if there's a good reason for it. And "Because I want your character to suffer/fail" is never a good reason IMO.

[zedturtle]

Remember that a character that uses a Trait to automatically succeed is denying themselves Advancement Points. Furthermore, dwarves have Travel 3 out of the box... they'd be shooting themselves in the foot (long term advancement wise, at least) by always claiming a Trait usage.

[Majestic]

I was just going to point that out, too. They also are taking away the chance to get a Superior or Extraordinary success (the opportunity for their character to really shine).

I wouldn't disallow it just to make the character suffer, but to give the game a bit more depth, rather than just having PCs default to Traits to roll right past everything. Using them regularly is great. Using them for every single task/test seems a bit excessive to me.

[Looping]

They also are taking away the chance to get a Superior or Extraordinary success (the opportunity for their character to really shine).

Is there any benefit in obtaining a superior or extraordinary success on a Travel test besides gaining Advancement Points?
How do you interpret such lucky dice rolls when travel is concerned?

As a side note, I reviewed the description of Energetic, Hardy, and Robust and to me, only Hardy seems to be an appropriate trait.

[Falenthal]

I would let him invoke the Trait as much as he wants. As Looping said, however, only Hardy seems appropiate to me.
And, as zedturtle said, invoking a Trait has benefits (no chance of failure), but also drawbacks (no chance of improving your character).

If you don't feel comfortable with letting a character auto-succeed at all his Travel rolls, then maybe Loopings idea would be what I'd recommend:

Invoking Energetic, Hardy, or Robust may be fine for easy journeys (TN 12-14) but not for treks through rough terrains (TN of 16+).

At least there's a logic to why the Trait can't be used everytime.
To be fair, you should then house-rule that Trait-usage is only available for TNs of 14 or less. Otherwise the Hardy player can feel mistreated.

Another version of Looping's idea is that invoking an appropiate Trait lets you reduce the TN by 2 points. But again, that should be another house rule. Remember that this one would have as a consequence that the character can roll, so he may gain Advancement Points for using a Trait.