Enemy called shots

[roodie]

I just made a simple amendment - If a hero rolls an Eye of Sauron, the adversary makes a called shot IMMEDIATELY, out of turn.

[Glorelendil]

I just made a simple amendment - If a hero rolls an Eye of Sauron, the adversary makes a called shot IMMEDIATELY, out of turn.

What if the Adversary misses with a Gandalf?

[roodie]

I just made a simple amendment - If a hero rolls an Eye of Sauron, the adversary makes a called shot IMMEDIATELY, out of turn.

What if the Adversary misses with a Gandalf?

Loses it's next normal attack I know that it is not a perfect solution, but I like to keep it simple, and I think it fits the theme: the character makes a wrong move, the adversary sees an opportunity and instantly reacts.

[Glorelendil]

I just made a simple amendment - If a hero rolls an Eye of Sauron, the adversary makes a called shot IMMEDIATELY, out of turn.

What if the Adversary misses with a Gandalf?

Loses it's next normal attack I know that it is not a perfect solution, but I like to keep it simple, and I think it fits the theme: the character makes a wrong move, the adversary sees an opportunity and instantly reacts.

It shouldn't be symmetrical? If the premise is that an Eye/Gandalf fail opens one up to a Called Shot, then it should apply both directions. E.g., when an Adversary misses with an eye, the Hero should get an instant Called Shot.

[Elmoth]

From a misreading of the slipcase rules, my group actually played it this way for years. It wasn't until the revised edition came out that we realized our error. When we started playing it "correctly" my players preferred the way we had been playing it as they thought it gave more weight to the EYE in combat, so we housed ruled it.

My case exactly.

[roodie]

It shouldn't be symmetrical? If the premise is that an Eye/Gandalf fail opens one up to a Called Shot, then it should apply both directions. E.g., when an Adversary misses with an eye, the Hero should get an instant Called Shot.

The entire game is a bit assymetrical regarding combat. And if you check the called shot rules, you will see that when a player character misses a called shot with an Eye, then he simply fumbles, so no, I don't think your reasoning apply here, since it already differs in the rules as written. I could say that the enemy loses his defenses for the next attack instead if they missed this instant called shot with a Gandalf rune, but I thought losing the next attack is a bit simpler, no need to check the stats for the active defenses.

[Majestic]

One thing to keep in mind is that - as the skill levels of adversaries goes up - the chance of that adversary getting a tengwar on their Called Shot dramatically increases.

So when characters are newer, it's usually a good thing when they get an EoS in combat. By the time they're tough enough to face the Werewolf of Mirkwood (who is rolling 4 dice with its attack), it's much more dicey.

[Random221B]

One thing to keep in mind is that - as the skill levels of adversaries goes up - the chance of that adversary getting a tengwar on their Called Shot dramatically increases.

So when characters are newer, it's usually a good thing when they get an EoS in combat. By the time they're tough enough to face the Werewolf of Mirkwood (who is rolling 4 dice with its attack), it's much more dicey.

This is true, so the chance of a successful Called Shot increases. But the chance of hitting with a CS will always be lower than the chance of hitting with a regular attack, so an Eye roll always means your chances of not being hit at all improve (even if the consequences if you *do* get hit will be worse.)

[Majestic]

Very true, but which would you prefer? (and I'm just using rough numbers here, for illustration):

A) Bad guy has a 95% chance to hit you, with moderate damage

or

B) Bad guy has an 85% chance to hit you, with severe damage (or moderate damage with an additional nasty penalty)

Which would you choose?

Bottom line is that as the adversaries become more skilled and proficient, the PCs will be "celebrating" less and less when an EoS is rolled, as it will often represent nasty consequences.

[Random221B]

Bottom line is that as the adversaries become more skilled and proficient, the PCs will be "celebrating" less and less when an EoS is rolled, as it will often represent nasty consequences.

Ok, I will grant you that. An Eye roll will be a good thing less often, as the Adversaries improve in skill levels, and it will become much less of a "phew!" reaction for players. I still find it a little weird that it is ever a good thing for the players, but that's just my gut reaction, not a lack of understanding how and why the rules are set up the way they are. It all makes sense intellectually, but still feels weird to me. And I'll either get used to it, or apply a house rule to make it feel less weird.

But I'm still enjoying the discussions and seeing other folks' opinions and experiences with this.