Fierce Folk

[Glorelendil]

As the dunlending keeps using this...

Balrog: I can show you the Eye...the power of Mordor is much stronger, tell me human, when did you last let your Shadow decide...

I do not believe that any Balrogs are in the employ of Mordor.

[zedturtle]

But Seriously I would not allow him to use this ability, if he were at Shadow = Max Hope

If I am reading this as the PC could use fierce folk until his shadow= his max hope that seems like a reasonable limit.

It is a reasonable limit, though it seems like the rules would allow the Dunlending to continue to accrue Shadow past that limit. Of course, I haven't yet seen a Dunlending in actual extended play yet... the behaviour you get in a play-test or a one-shot can be different from an extended campaign.

[guver]

We have a dunlendin in our party. We have played through several years of adventure, and he's already in the second flaw of his madness... very close to retiring his character. First madness he got in Dol Guldur. Second one he got during a big battle that ended up with him hiding in a burning house and abandoning his mates to die in the field of battle.
Two more of these and he's out. The Fierce Folk "blessing" definitely helped taking that character to miserable statuses and forcing bouts of madness. So this may be the BEST cultural blessing, by far, but it has a long/slow impact on the character. Something I don't like is that the game designers should have made clarification or rulings against using dunlendings in short adventures, or conventions games. There they definitely can be abused.

[zedturtle]

I do have to say that the Dunlending that we have in one of the campaigns is playing out totally differently than it did in the one-shot and in a good way. As the great LM Spear-shaker once said, the (actual-)play's the thing.

[Arthur Fisher]

Can you post the stats for your Balrog?

You know, in case my players get a little too big for their britches?

[Angelalex242]

A Balrog is a maia, like Gandalf or Saruman or Sauron himself.

Just give him crazy insane OP stats with attribute 12, Denizen of Darkness (Doubling to 24!) and favored weapon skills, favored armor, and favored every common skill. And as many special abilities as you find it amusing to give him.

[Arthur Fisher]

Yes, but that would be my Balrog. I want to see what other people's Balrogs looks like. To create a collaborative way to screw players.

[Glorelendil]

"There are many Balrogs, but this one is mine."