Mechanics questions or I take it all back combat is not easy

[Kullervo]

Seems like whenever I get on these forums I have more and more questions about the game...

Well, in any case! Yesterday we had a particularly brutal session where most of us nearly died (if someone was wondering, I believe we're in some sort of fusion of Marsh Bell and To Eagles Eyrie) - we were defending against a huge amount of orcs and only won (I think, at least) because three people in a row rolled an Epic Feat on an attack on the huge orc. Az something, after which his little army scattered.

In any case! That got me to start looking into some rules that I thought were odd/weren't clear to me, if anyone can share some insight on em, would be awesome!

1) The Defensive Stance 'Protect' action. At what point is the Defending character supposed to declare he will block an attack on the char he is defending? As in, does he get to see the roll the attacker makes? Or does he simply see 'Oh, my ward is being attacked, better block', and THEN the LM rolls vs the Defensive Parry (yours)?

2) Travel. The question here is this: I distinctly recall that during a Journey, a Guide was allowed to make a roll for another companion who failed, assuming the Guide rolls at least a Great Success. I cannot locate this no matter what I do, am I delusional? Or does this exist?

Thanks guys!

[zedturtle]

1) The rules say "when attack" and then talk about calculating the TN using the defending character's Parry. So it should be before the roll. Of course, in play by post I end up letting people pick after the roll, just for logistical reasons.

2) this sounds kind of like of the Ranger's special ability. I think that may be where the confusion lies.

[Kullervo]

Yep, I'm pretty sure you're right about the travel thing being a Ranger ability. That sounds like what I read. Thanks!

[Majestic]

Besides the Rangers' Strength of Will, that mechanic is also used by anyone - when a group is ambushed - to warn others of the attack (p. 57 Revised).

[robert_pat]

Don't forget to review the rules for the Lore roles prior to a Journey. Good rolls can make characters automatically succeed on Fatigue tests. If you're finding Journey's a bit tough, this could help.

[Rich H]

Don't forget to review the rules for the Lore roles prior to a Journey. Good rolls can make characters automatically succeed on Fatigue tests. If you're finding Journey's a bit tough, this could help.

Not in the Revised Rules; the preliminary Lore rolls provide Bonus Dice. These don't mean a character "automatically succeed on Fatigue tests". If you're referring to the older ruleset then you can pick from 3 options with a successful Lore test and the option to auto-succeed works on one fatigue test for one character.

[Kullervo]

Don't forget to review the rules for the Lore roles prior to a Journey. Good rolls can make characters automatically succeed on Fatigue tests. If you're finding Journey's a bit tough, this could help.

Eh, its not even the Journey Rolls that give us trouble (though I'll admit, our rolls yesterday were 7 different kinds of awful, with all of us failing them, even me with 3 dice and not being weary yet), its that monstrous encounter with ... 25 orcs plus their chief? We survived though!

Besides the Rangers' Strength of Will, that mechanic is also used by anyone - when a group is ambushed - to warn others of the attack (p. 57 Revised).

Yep, we've been using the hell out of that recently, due to my own awareness being zero and my tendency to roll an Eye every single time the Awareness matters.

Don't forget to review the rules for the Lore roles prior to a Journey. Good rolls can make characters automatically succeed on Fatigue tests. If you're finding Journey's a bit tough, this could help.

Not in the Revised Rules; the preliminary Lore rolls provide Bonus Dice. These don't mean a character "automatically succeed on Fatigue tests". If you're referring to the older ruleset then you can pick from 3 options with a successful Lore test and the option to auto-succeed works on one fatigue test for one character.

Wasnt even aware of the older rules... We've just been using the Lore as encounter advantage dice thing in th elatest updated book.

[Rich H]

Eh, its not even the Journey Rolls that give us trouble ... its that monstrous encounter with ... 25 orcs plus their chief? We survived though!

It is meant to be an epic battle but the orcs should have attacked in waves and the terrain should put the PCs at an advantage along with the help of Balin and his two companions. If the LM didn't run it with those factors in place then he wasn't running the encounter as I'd written it and intended it to be run; therefore it would have likely been a lot more dangerous and unbalanced.

Don't forget to review the rules for the Lore roles prior to a Journey. Good rolls can make characters automatically succeed on Fatigue tests. If you're finding Journey's a bit tough, this could help.

Not in the Revised Rules; the preliminary Lore rolls provide Bonus Dice. These don't mean a character "automatically succeed on Fatigue tests". If you're referring to the older ruleset then you can pick from 3 options with a successful Lore test and the option to auto-succeed works on one fatigue test for one character.

Wasnt even aware of the older rules... We've just been using the Lore as encounter advantage dice thing in th elatest updated book.

It's why I made the comment as I suspected, correctly, it could have confused without clarification.

[Kullervo]

Eh, its not even the Journey Rolls that give us trouble ... its that monstrous encounter with ... 25 orcs plus their chief? We survived though!

It is meant to be an epic battle but the orcs should have attacked in waves and the terrain should put the PCs at an advantage along with the help of Balin and his two companions. If the LM didn't run it with those factors in place then he wasn't running the encounter as I'd written it and intended it to be run; therefore it would have likely been a lot more dangerous and unbalanced.

I think it was more our fault... Basically this is what happened: we ran into the scouting party, massacred them with little issue (they ran pretty fast, and we barely killed them on time before they reached main force). My char had the idea to hide the bodies to prevent the main force discovering them too quickly but digging a pit was too slow, plus no tools; hanging them up in a tree among branches was deemed to not hide them at all, and in general, we ran out of time because our Huntsman, who killed the final orc, killed him really close to main force and didnt hide the body. So after a forced march to the tower (Mirkwood-Lore)... the problems began. We all rolled Athletics horribly and got fatigue for it. Then we ALL failed the Battle roll for prepwork (except one person) so we were able to only get two traps made.

Then our Scout went ahead and hid, shot three times out of Stealth, ran back to tower, somehow made it. After that it becomes kinda hazy because I didnt see the map much (had to move to phone and roll20 is bad on there). I remember GM rolling to see how Orcs scale the hill and walls, us getting advantages there, since not all attacked at once. The issue was, they got a LOT of Eyes, WE got a lot of Eyes, next to no Gandalfs, a bunch of failed rolls... As a result, two NPCs nearly died, I was reduced to 10 endurance, half the party got wounded. We figured out what we were meant to do (I think?) when I asked if my Orc-Lore would justify me rolling Riddle to see if we kill the giant orc, will the others be demoralized and maybe flee. GM said yep, so we held out a few more rounds and then ganged up on him. First the Woodsman, then my dwarf, then the archer, we all got something ridiculous like G-6-6 on a hit, which was apparently enough to end him. We mounted his head on a spear and put it over the tower to scare off the orcs.

It was cool though. Still closest to dying in a tabletop, I was certain I'd have to do a heroic sacrifice scene since I was mostly dead anyway.