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So the Gondorian virtue Piercing Sight allows the character to roll an additional die for Awe, Insight and Riddle during encounters. But then it follows that up with an odd sentence.

Additionally, the first time any one of such rolls
is successful, you gain 1 Advancement point (check the
appropriate skill group).

Seeing as I have a player with this ability, the question of what constitutes a "First Time" has come into question. First time that encounter; that session; that adventure; that career? My feeling is that it is in the middle there, but there is definitely room for interpretation.

So...any thoughts you Tolkien heads?

Well, basic successes are already a way to get advancement points the first time per skill group...so unless it's per Encounter, the sentence doesn't mean much.

And in fact, the actual language of the rules text in full is as follows:

During encounters, add one Success die to all your Awe, Insight and Riddle rolls (up to a maximum of six dice). Additionally, the first time any one of such rolls is successful, you gain 1 Advancement point (check the appropriate skill group).

I think the second sentence pretty directly follows from the first, which implies the same interpretation as above. That interpretation also isn't overpowered at all, since it still maxes out at 3 Advancement Points per category. Really, it nets you 3-6 Advancement points at most, and IME, often not that much (decently experienced characters can usually manage all three in most categories even without that benefit).

I can't see it netting anyone any more than 3 AP, being as it's the first time only.

I'd allow one to gain an AP even if the player had already checked off two boxes in that particular skill group already. In other words, it doesn't matter where you're at when you use it (1 AP in that category, or 2, or 3), it nets you one (up to the maximum of 3) the first time you use it for any of the three (Awe, Insight, and Riddle).

Majestic wrote:I can't see it netting anyone any more than 3 AP, being as it's the first time only.

I'd allow one to gain an AP even if the player had already checked off two boxes in that particular skill group already. In other words, it doesn't matter where you're at when you use it (1 AP in that category, or 2, or 3), it nets you one (up to the maximum of 3) the first time you use it for any of the three (Awe, Insight, and Riddle).

And you may also have gotten those APs even without this - ie, the success was for the 1st AP in a group or you rolled a great+ success or you had a trait you could invoke to get a later AP check.

It really is only 3 more at the most and likely not even that many.