Question on Rewards

[Rich H]

I kept hoping they'd errata this, but I guess Francesco really likes thrown only spears.

... And they use bows for ranged attacks as well so, yep, having a spear reward and just for use with ranged attacks seems a little strange.

[Angelalex242]

They've got reasons to stick to their guns, I guess. By now they must surely know it's a terrible virtue, and brazen armor is statistically a curse.

Indeed, the Lake Men would be calling their brazen armor 'deathtraps and 'pincushions' rather then good armor.

This can't be the first time anyone's made their dissatisfaction with it known.

[Glorelendil]

They've got reasons to stick to their guns, I guess. By now they must surely know it's a terrible virtue, and brazen armor is statistically a curse.

Indeed, the Lake Men would be calling their brazen armor 'deathtraps and 'pincushions' rather then good armor.

This can't be the first time anyone's made their dissatisfaction with it known.

That's a rather extreme interpretation of the data. "Sub-optimal" is more accurate.

[Angelalex242]

Sub optimal? Well, until other cultures notice how the armor works and tell their archers 'pick off anyone wearing brazen armor first.'

Hence, pincushions and death traps.

"Yeah, the last wearer died when somebody noticed he was wearing it and trained all their archers on him. Took an arrow to the knee...and the chest, and the face, and..."

[Glorelendil]

Longsword of King Blad would make a LOT more sense considering their swordmaster virtue and weapon packages. Bardings don't even get spears as a primary weapon type. I kept hoping they'd errata this, but I guess Francesco really likes thrown only spears.

For....no discernible reason.

Pretty much every time I've scratched my head about one of Francesco's decisions, I've eventually discovered that he was several steps ahead of me after all. I haven't figured out Spear of King B yet, but I would put money on there being a really smart rationalization behind it.

The best thing I've come up with is that two Feat die on a spear gives a very high chance of a Pierce. Piercing something on an opening volley is highly effective. Therefore, Spear of King B is great for thinning out the ranks of weak enemies (low Protection) before the fight even starts.

I'm not saying you should spend your Rewards this way, but a Fell & Keen Spear of King B...with enough skill dice...would really kind of be an amazing goblin/attercop killer.

That said, if I had a close combat Barding character (oh, look...I do!) I'd buy Fell/Keen/Grievous on my sword before taking the spear.

But I haven't yet ruled out Francesco knowing something I don't about this.

[Glorelendil]

Sub optimal? Well, until other cultures notice how the armor works and tell their archers 'pick off anyone wearing brazen armor first.'

Hence, pincushions and death traps.

"Yeah, the last wearer died when somebody noticed he was wearing it and trained all their archers on him. Took an arrow to the knee...and the chest, and the face, and..."

I suppose if Brazen Armour has a specific look in your game, and it's common enough that people would get used to seeing it, and that would include Orcs and Evil Men....yeah, that could be a problem.

But having enemies "train all their archers" on you is going to hurt regardless.

[Angelalex242]

Men-folk out of the East favour suits of armour made of overlapping brass plates, or composed of small scales arranged in a mesh, like the scales on a fish or the feathers of birds. Many of these elaborate coats have been hanging on the walls of the great hall of Lake-town, waiting for heroes worthy to wear them.

That's distinctive enough, compared to a mail shirt or other chainmail to give every sentient enemy a TN 14 Lore check. If they succeed..."Spearmen, archers, kill THAT guy first!"

[Glorelendil]

So should all "men-folk out of the east" be considered to be wearing Brazen Armour? So if heroes fight any Wain-riders or Haradrim, for example, they should use bows and spears?

[killianred]

On a (sort of) similar note, I also was shown an error in my judgement (as LM) because I created an Heirloom of lost Arnor for a ranger character with a blessing "foe slaying". I did not realize at the time that every time the player gains a level of Valor, the weapon Edge goes down automatically. That seems almost broken to me, but we are going with it.

The beauty of RPGs is that we each get to tailor them to our own desires, but just in case you weren't clear on the rules-as-written: the "Blessing" on an Heirloom of Lost Arnor is not the same as an "Enchanted Quality". The Blessing on the Heirloom is supposed to be the same as a Blessing on a Wondrous Artefact: a bonus equal to the character's Wisdom to a single common skill.

I do understand the difference, that's why I said it was only "sort of" related

[killianred]

Yeah, Foe-slaying is an Enchanted Quality. But that big reduction (to the Edge) only works against Bane creatures it's used on, not all adversaries.

I get that too, but there are a LOT of bane creatures. Just seems to me that if you take it as a starting character, then go up two or three points fairly quickly, you now have a weapon that can score an edge (against bane creatures) much more easily, and nothing has really happened to make it a better weapon. Gives the player quite an advantage. Again, that's okay, the characters are supposed to be heroes, but it just seems like the player is getting a lot for a very little