degrees of comfort

as you all know jatori and i have recently found some people to play with………..which is all good and happy fun, but where we play is not as all good and happy fun as some of the people are……………………..the sessions have been held at the dm’s house in a room he has for gaming…………….the room is moderately sized, but there isn’t enough sitting room for all so we moved to the lounge………….you’re probably wondering how can there be a problem with  playing in someones lounge, the problem lies in the fact that this dm has: 6 cats, 3 guinea pigs, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits – not the cute dwarf kind, but still cute , 2 birds, 2 mice and a young daughter…………….i find animals as cute as the next person but when there are that many in a carpeted house, the smell isn’t cute………..not to mention that both jatori and i get all itchy eyed when there are cats around……………….we’ve decided to just suck it up for the sake of getting to play with some decent people……..now reader, dear, your turn what would you put up with for the sake of playing some dnd?

Death at the Carnival

Round 1 of the RPG Blog Carnival has come to an end. A round of applause to all those that participated. A summary can be found here at the Core Mechanic.

carnivals can be scary places

The second RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by the Flumph Sanctuary. This round is running until the end of September. The topic: Homebrew. Awesome! I love homebrewing. Stay tuned for my views on the subject and perhaps the views of the other tenletter authors too (though we already know where Trashcondor stands on the idea of homebrewing – go d0!).

j

Flee! For that way Madness lies!

Gorgons and Hydras, and Chimaeras—dire stories of Celaeno and the Harpies—may reproduce themselves in the brain of superstition—but they were there before…

—Charles Lamb: Witches and Other Night-Fears

Dunwich. The town is poor.  Decrepit, abandoned buildings abound.  Inhabitants are inbred, uneducated and very very superstitious.  In the Miskatonic River Valley, the town waits for unwary investigators to arrive. Sounds like a fun place to go for a weekend.

Dunwich Horror is the first large expansion (second overall expansion) for Arkham Horror the board game. And what a large expansion it is. Additions include: More investigators (8), more Ancient Ones (4), more monsters (20), 7 additional location cards per location, more methos cards (36), more gate encounter cards (32), more cards in general (15 item cards, 25 unique item cards, 21 spell cards, 11 skill cards, 5 ally cards) and lastly a whole new piece of board to expand the already huge Arkham board.

As if that was not enough the expansion adds all new features: Injury and Madness cards, The Dunwich Horror (and its cards), Rail pass and Sheldon Gang membership cards and finally 4 Condition cards. And did I mention all new location cards for the new locations on the new board?  And as added bonus internet download: A new herald for Yog-Sothoth. But first, the board.

What's in the box?

The most apparent thing (besides the loads of new locations) are two new “otherworld” locations.  These ones are horrible.  If you get a gate encounter card (otherworld encounter card) that matches one of these locations while in that location, prepare for the worst. Bad things happen there.  Don’t go there.  But its not like the investigators have much of a choice in where the gates open.

Ok. Second thing about the new board are the tiny little gates (Vortexes) with roads into them.  These are for monsters only.  Monsters walk down roads as normal, dissappear through the gates and increase the Dunwich horror track by one (which only has 3 spaces). Luckily monsters in Dunwich do not count towards the total number of monsters in Arkham.  However it should be noted that when a card says “Arkham” it means any expansion boards as well.  So just because an investigator is in Dunwich portion of the board, he is not safe from those nasty Environment cards.  Flying monsters can fly between boards using the sky as interim stopping place.  And as usual all monsters in sky count towards the total number of monsters in Arkham.

When the Dunwich horror track is filled (all 3 of them), the Dunwich Horror appears.  This is a nasty monster with 5 toughness and random abilities.  The Dunwich Horror’s abilities are only revealed after an investigator has committed to the attack.  If it is killed, the investigator can search through the item or spell deck for a card of his choice but death is a more likely outcome.  If the Dunwich Horror is left to wander around the streets, it could add doom tokens to the ancient ones doom track. Horrid thing.

So after one dies from attempting to defeat the Dunwich Horror one has to toss half of ones items (including spells) and half of ones clue tokens.  But now investigators can keep their stuff and take an Injury or Madness card instead (Injury if one died from stamina loss, Madness from sanity loss). These cards can severly cramp ones style. If an investigator gets the same named card twice, he is devoured.  Take one of these only after thinking about it for a long time, since these cards usually lead to collecting more of them.

I left out one of the most fun and yet annoying new additions to this expansion.  It is the first expansion to add Gate Bursts.  Methos cards with a red background to the location name where a gate should appear causes a gate burst. Which means that even if a gate is sealed at that location a gate bursts forth as normal but a doom token is not added to the doom track. Considering one needs 6 sealed gates to win, this could hamper unlucky investigators serverly.

But how do investigators get between Arkham and Dunwich?  The train. But it costs a dollar a ride. Unless the investigator obtains a handy Rail Pass which lets him ride for free. As an added bonus, one could join the Sheldon Gang, and steal from people in the streets.  Easy money.

The four condition cards are global party rewards which no one keeps and everyone has access to, once received. I like the ability to trade clue tokens as if they were items. Very handy especially since one of the investigators is always short of one clue token. The condition cards appear in locations that investigators do not really frequent such as Velma’s Diner and the Library.  Though even with these cards I probably still would not waste valuable time there unless there really was no other option.

Finally, as if the game was not hard enough, the Dunwich Horror herald can make your game even harder, especially if the ancient one is Yog-Sothoth.  Heralds were first introduced in the third expansion (The King in Yellow) so these online updates add heralds to the first two expansions. Try ‘em, if you dare.

Until next time: Don’t make deals with the dark man on the hill.

println(“foo”);

I never thought that it could happen to me

;_;

dreadnaught diceless rpg, magic

I’m particularly happy with this part of Dreadnaught – the magic system. There is a very clear and powerful divide between arcane and divine magic (which originally was formulated to control the use of healing spells).

Arcane magic typically isn’t as powerful as in DnD, but in exchange it is largely free to cast it. Costs are only incurred to increase the potency of magic. Generally the application of magic itself is free. In game terms that means that arcane magic usually requires expenditure of EPs (so whenever an arcane spell is cast the caster is assumed to have “2 * BP + level” in EPs available (as if she started her round of combat). In a non-combat situation that usually means that she has all her EPs available for casting spells – in combat her EPs are additionally spent on movement, defense, etc.

Divine magic is typically very expensive, more so than in DnD, but in exchange it tends to be more powerful. In game terms that means that divine magic usually requires expenditure of daily APs.

Whenever a character levels she may chose to obtain the “arcane caster proficiency” or “divine caster proficiency” feats (no limit to the number of times they are obtained). The effect of the feat is that it gives “spell buying” points equal to the character level of the character (minimum 2). Spells are bought according to their level, so a level 3 spell costs 3 spell buying points. Additionally before a spell of greater than level 1 can be bought, the character must possess at least 2 spells of the level directly below the desired spell’s level. (So you need 2 level 2 spells before you can purchase a level 3 spell, but subsequent level 3 spells do not require additional level 2 spells.)

An additional effect of “arcane caster proficiency” and “divine caster proficiency”: each time the respective feats are acquired they raise the Arcane Level (AL) and Divine Level (DL) of the character as appropriate. The AL and DL typically control the maximum power level of a spell.

The basic framework above would allow relatively few spells to be known to a character, so to that end additional feats and templates that help specialize in spell casting are available as well – which may cheapen the acquisition of spells, or increase the spell buying pool. Furthermore magic is a more role-playing friendly aspect of Dreadnaught, the GM may quite happily award a magic-playing character with an encounter with a powerful mage that would be willing to part with some spell knowledge.

(Design philosophy of spells, the nature of the distinction between Divine and Arcane magic is to enforce a bigger decision in following either divine or arcane paths – since they are somewhat synonymous in DnD; furthermore to allow for a clear distinction in powerlevel for using APs and EPs for magic. In other words, as a rule arcane magic is EP based and divine magic is AP based – correspondingly arcane magic is much more freely available compared to divine magic – spell creation needs to keep this in mind when creating spells. To some extent this paradigm can be understood as a innate shift of arcane magic to the “Warlock” class in DnD, whereas divine magic tends to be a powerful form of classic DnD magic.)

Example spells (incomplete list)

Spells, arcane

** Invisibility, minor **
Type: arcane, full-round action
Minimum requirement: character level 3
Minimum cost: all EPs in possession
Range: self
Effect: caster turns invisible for a number of rounds equal to arcane level, any non-movement action reveals the caster. However, while a defender cannot see an attacker, the defender takes a -2 penalty to defense
Additional: –

** Magic Missile **
Type: arcane, standard action)
Minimum requirement: character level 1
Minimum cost: 0 EPs
Range: 20 feet + 5 feet per character level
Effect: deals physical damage to target equal to a half of EPs spent on spell
Limitation: can only invest EPs upto two times AL of the character
Additional: a “0″ cost Magic Missile is effectively a pretty, albeit ghostly light that flies towards a target at some speed. The target will become aware of the hit of the Magic Missile, but not be hurt. It could thus be used to get the attention of a character, or to distract him.

Spells, divine

** Divine Eye, anger **
Minimum requirement: character level 8
Minimum cost: 4 AP
Range: 10 feet
Effect: turns target to stone unless it can make a Fortitude save vs invested spell cost. The target has a number of rounds equal to its BP before the petrification is complete – if the caster is killed (or choses to relinquish the spell) before petrification is complete then the petrification is undone. The target takes a penalty of -1 to all actions per round until its complete petrification or the petrification is undone.

** Healing Touch **
Type: divine, full-round action
Minimuum requirement: character level 1
Minimum cost: 1 AP
Range: touch
Effect: heals damage to target equal to 10 times APs spent on spell
Limitation: must touch the target directly, skin-to-skin; can only invest APs upto DL of character
Additional: –

word challenger

No deep and insightful post today. I just thought I’d share something that I am currently and thoroughly enjoying. Word Challenge is a game created by Playfish and is playable on Facebook (search for it under applications).

I’m addicted.

The game play is simple:

You are given 6 letters and from those letters, you must create as many 3+ letter-long words. However, you have a time limit. Luckily, for every 4+ letter-long word, you get a bit of extra time. The aim of the game is to get as many words as you can before your time runs out. You can opt for a new set of 6 letters to work with, if you get stuck, but this hampers your scoring potential, as the more you get from one set of letters, the more you score.

If you create a 6 letter word, you can access a mini-game in which you have to find a friend’s name amongst a new set of scrambled letters (yes, the game does access you profile information on FB and if you’re not comfortable with this, then, unfortunately, you can’t play).

I love Scrabble, so it’s only natural that I enjoy this shortened online variation of the classic boardgame.

My current high score sits at 33791 (points, not words). Any challengers?

That’s ingenious!

With still two Arkham horror expansions to go (The goat is not released yet), I have decided to sidetrack to take a look at one of Reiner Knizia’s games. Reiner Knizia is an award winning games designer with his own web site.  But on to the game of double hexes. And I don’t mean witchcraft or sorcery. Tis Ingenious.  (Another Fantasy Flight Game.  They really should pay me to do this :p) 2005 Mensa Select winner but that along with a game called “Loot” so I don’t know if that really counts.

Now that’s a pretty box: elegant yet simplistic.  Makes me feel smart just holding it.  Inside the box, one finds a board of hexes that form a giant hex. Hexcellent (I ignore your groans). Four score cards, four plastic stands, a nice black bag (I wish Arkham Horror came with a bag like this for the monsters), score keeping blocks of all the right colours and last but not least, loads and loads (120) of game pieces made up of two hexes glued together on one edge.  As one can tell from the picture, each hex has one of six colours/symbols. That’s two symbols per game piece. Colours always match the symbol for easy identification. Think Dominoes here, but with hexes and more colour.

What's in the box?

So now that we know what’s in the box, how do we score? By taking a look at the examples of scoring picture:

Got it?  Let me explain. Scoring is quite simple, yet takes a bit of getting used to. That makes it not so simple right? OK, moderately simple then.  From the double-hex piece that you place, you draw a straight line from one of the hexes to an adjacent hex with the same symbol as your hex and continue with the line until the next hex in the line does not have the same symbol as your hex.  For each hex your line passes through, you gain one point for that colour (not including the piece you just placed). One can never draw a line through your last placed piece since all lines are drawn from it. After drawing all possible lines from both hexes on ones last placed piece, your turn is done and the next player may place One Piece.

But how does one win? By having the highest lowest value.  Think about it. It makes sense.  the point of the game is not to have one value at maximum but to have all values as high as they can go.  In the example above the red is at 3 points and this is what is looked at when the game is over. On a tie, the next lowest value is looked at etc.  So get all of ‘em blocks as high as you can, usually if they go past 9 they are relatively safe, usually.

But getting to 18 is not all bad. Since in that case, one must shout “ingenious” and may then immediately get another turn.  Of course getting all 6 colours to 18 means you are an instant weinner (haven’t seen this happen yet).  The game ends normally when no more pieces can be placed on the board.

This game is short, about 45 minutes even with analysis paralysis which makes it an hexcellent filler game (much like Carcassonne). Best played with 2-4 people but does include rules for a 1 player game.

But if this game seems too “thinky” (I believe the word is “mental”) or abstract for some people, they can always make pretty shapes out of the hexes.

Until next time: Post your shapes

println(“foo”);

Quest Completed: Looking For Group

It’s been a long 9 months since we relocated to Durban. In that time, We had a few false start gaming sessions that never led to anything concrete (Lia, Willow and Raistlin have unfortunately passed onto the unfinished campaign PC heaven in the sky). This past Saturday, however, I think that Peasantbutcher and I found a gaming group that we can roll some serious dice with (in between the role-playing, of course).

I’ll be playing a 4th level 4e half-elf paladin this coming weekend (thesis workload allowing). I’m going to try and build the character (mechanically) without looking at the builds floating on the internet and see what I can come up with. I’ll report on my character’s performance (both roll and role) after the event.

PB is playing an Eladrin ranger and I’m sure she’ll be posting a few stories too.

The group is an interesting ensemble of individuals and I’m sure a few stories will creep onto this blog in the near future, especially since we have one of those players. Placing players into player archetype boxes is a horrible habit of mine, which I picked up from Mark Rosewater during my Magic days, but still a somewhat necessary habit when it comes to GMing (at least I think it helps me). When I refer to those players, I am referring to the ones that always place the rest of the players into a bit of a pickle when ever the opportunity arises, because they tend to shoot first, loot later.

Till later, remember that hacking up the corpses nets you more expees.

-j

P.S. For those interested, I’m a Johnny-Spike Magic player (more Johnny than Spike), favouring a blue-green approach to the game.

Dreadnaught diceless RPG – Gameplay (combat)

Each entity in combat receives encounter action points (EPs) equal to twice their BP, plus one additional EP per level of that entity, every combat round. Additionally, on the first round, each entity that is not surprised, flat-footed or otherwise distracted receives an additional 4 EPs. For the purposes of clarity the “Combat Potential” (CP) is defined at this point. Without the effects of feats, templates or abilities the CP is simply equal to the BP.

Combat, essentially, boils down to a secret bidding war. Characters and monsters secretly invest EPs into actions and the GM resolves the actions as appropriate. Naturally this means that the GM needs to determine NPC/monster EP-investments before he sees player EP-investments. To facilitate the bidding war, a large number of combat options are made available to the PCs and NPCs.

In many ways combat in Dreadnaught is similar to the DnD 3.5 combat mechanics. Each character gets a turn per combat round and they can spend this time doing a full-round action, or a standard action with a movement action, or two movement actions. The free 5-foot-step doesn’t exist in Dreadnaught.

Events and actions in combat

• Moving (cost: movement action) – characters may move up to their speed in 5 foot increments (thus a speed of 4 allows 20 feet distance to be covered by a character). Movement costs no inherent EPs, but EPs can be spent on movement in two ways: firstly, every two EP spent can increase the defense against Attacks of Opportunity (AoO) by 1 (this defense bonus applies to all AoOs that the particular movement action may provoke) – in the case of an AoO a defender can still spend additional EPs to further increase her defense against that attack. EPs can also be spent to increase the movement rate of a character for that turn – each EP spent allows an additional 5 feet of movement.
• Single attack (cost: standard action) – an attack always costs at least one EP, the attackers CP is added to the attacks AT (and additionally feats, templates, abilities, items and circumstance bonuses may be added if appropriate).
• Full attack (cost: full-round action) – the attacker may make a number of attacks equal to his or her CP / 2 (minimum 1). Each of these attacks gains a bonus of +1 to the attack (not the damage). Each attack requires a minimum investment of 1 EP.
• Additional attacks (cost: EPs) – any character that is performing a full round attack may add additional attacks after the normal set of attacks from the full round attack are completed. An additional attack costs the corresponding amount of EPs to initiate (the first additional attack costs 1 EP, the second additional attack costs 2 EP, etc) – the additional attacks do not require a minimum EP cost (apart from having to be bought) but if no EPs are invested in the attack itself the damage is halved. A player may buy additional attacks on a single standard-action attack as well. In this case, however, the costs of additional attacks is doubled. The “additional attacks” mechanism allows feints in combat.
• Damage (cost: none, event) – should an attack hit, then the damage is equal to the CP (though note the “Defense” and “Targeted attack” descriptions below) – the player may chose to spend additional EPs up to the value of the EPs spent on the attack itself to increase the damage by the corresponding amount. Naturally templates, feats, abilities and items can increase the damage.
• Defense (cost: none, event) – whenever a character is attacked the attack’s AT must equal or exceed the ST of the defense to deal damage. The ST is equal to the defender’s CP plus any EPs spent by the defender (as well as the effects of feats, templates, abilities, items and circumstance bonuses). Should the AT equal but not exceed the ST then damage does not include the CP bonus, though the attacker can still push damage using EPs.
• Active defense (cost: movement action) – a character may chose to be in “active defense”, he may invest any number of EPs but give up a movement action for his turn. The invested EPs are added as a bonus to his defense whenever appropriate until the start of his next turn.
• Total defense (cost: standard action) – a character may chose to be in “total defense”, she may invest any number of EPs but give up a standard action for her turn, additionally for that round the character’s speed is halved. The invested EPs are added as a bonus to her defense whenever appropriate until the start of her next turn, and additionally any combat damage dealt against the character is reduced by the number of EPs invested into total defense.
• Flanking (cost: none, event) – when a character is flanked he receive a -1 penalty to all his defense actions. This penalty is increased to -2 if he’s flanked by two more enemies (being flanked twice but one flank position is shared by the same enemy does not qualify in this case) – though the penalties do not subsequently increase with additional flanking.
• Grapple (cost: attacks) – any attack within touch range of the defender may be declared to be a grappling attack. Should the attack succeed then no damage is dealt but the attacker and defender are considered to be in grapple and the attacker is considered dominant. Should the attack fail then the defender has the choice to allow the grapple to happen (but then the defender is dominant) or simply to prevent the grapple. A dominant grappler may abort a grapple at the cost of a move action, or at the cost of an attack (that succeeds automatically). A dominated grappler can escape the grapple by succeeding on an attack against the dominant grappler. Alternatively a dominated grappler can attack to achieve dominance in the grapple. Entities in a grapple can only direct attacks at each other, furthermore grapplers receives a -2 penalty to defense against attacks from entities *not* participating in the grapple. The dominant grappler may chose to use attacks to deal damage against the dominated grappler, these are resolved as normal attacks. (Note though that some weapons and items may be unusable in a grapple, and some weapons and items may infer bonuses or penalties in grapples.)
• Charge (Cost: full-round action) – the attacker may chose to charge at least 10 feet in a straight line towards an enemy, followed by an attack that gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage – though the attacker takes a -1 penalty to defense until the start of his next turn.
• Targeted attack (Cost: full-round action) – the attacker may move a single 5-foot step (provoking AoO as appropriate) and deal an attack against a target. EPs invested into the attack count double for the purpose of determining the attack’s AT. Should the attack succeed the damage does not receive the CP bonus, instead all damage needs to be bought using additional EPs.
• Sunder (cost: attacks) – any attack may be directed against an item, the item breaks provided the AT equals or exceeds the item’s ST. If the item is wielded or worn by an opponent then the CP of the opponent is added to the item’s ST (as well as any EPs that the opponent may spend on keeping his item intact). If the AT is less than the ST, but within one or two points of the ST, then the ST is reduced by 1 for subsequent sunder attempts; typically this is known to the GM but not necessarily the players – though maybe they do notice cracks appearing or some material fatigue.
• Knockback (cost: attacks) – any attack may be declared as a knockback attempt – on success no damage is dealt, instead the “damage” is reduced by the Fortitude or Reflex of the target (whichever is better) as well as any EPs the target may spend to resist the knockback. For each point of “damage” that is not resisted the target is shoved 5 feet backwards (should an obstacle impede further motion than the remaining “damage” is dealt in damage. If the knockback attempt fails then the defender receives an AoO against the attacker where each EP spent by the defender counts double for the purposes of attacking and dealing damage.
• Trip (cost: attacks) – any attack may be declared as a trip attempt, the defender may chose to use either Reflex or Fortitude as a basic bonus to defense against the trip attempt (rather than his CP). On a trip success the defender falls prone, no damage is dealt. On failure the defender receives an AoO against the attacker where each EP spent by the defender counts double for the purposes of attacking and dealing damage. A prone character receives a -1 penalty to all actions except defence vs ranged attacks. A prone character can spend half his movement action to stand up.
• Disarm (cost: attacks) – any attack may be declared as a disarm attempt, the defender may chose to use either Reflex or Willpower as a basic bonus to defense against the disarm attempt (rather than her CP) – on success the defender’s weapon (or shield) is dropped to the ground on the same square as the defender. On failure the the defender receives an AoO against the attacker where each EP spent by the defender counts double for the purposes of attacking and dealing damage.

Gameplay, combat, magic

In combat whenever magic is cast it provokes an attack of opportunity from enemies that threaten the caster, provided the attacker recognizes that magic is being performed. If the caster can cast without verbal, material and motion components than it is not obvious to enemies that do not some innate way of knowing magic is performed.

Casting magic normally requires a time component (usually a standard action), details are provided per-spell.

Casters can “cast defensively” by making use of the “active defense” and “total defense” options. (The later requires feats.)

Gameplay, combat, aiding

Similar to the non-combat form of aiding, a character may chose to use EPs to help another character. Again the total limit of aiding is a bonus of 2 to the action – while the cost is double the bonus. Again it is up to the DM’s discretion to allow cases of aid that exceed the normal limits of aiding.

Gameplay, combat, damage types

Combat will typically generate the “physical” damage type – this is not innately resisted in any way, but feats, templates, abilities and items may reduce (or increase) the damage taken.

Additional types of damage exist – usually conveyed through magical means. Any of these may be reduced/enhanced through feats, templates, abilities or items, the descriptions below assume the least complex situations:

• Spiritual and mental damage – passively reduced by Willpower
• Elemental and magic damage – passively reduced by Fortitude

Reflex is the only save that doesn’t reduce a damage type innately – but it is also the most likely save to avoid damage types entirely: various spells or effect may allow a Reflex save to avoid taking damage.

Gameplay, combat, example

Dunder (CP 4, EP 7) is facing a goblin (CP3, EP 6) in combat – he decides to charge it and invest a single EP into the attack, the goblin, expecting to capitalize on reduced defense in his turn, uses 4 EPs to defend against the attack (the attack’s AT of CP + EP + chargebonus = 6 clearly fails to meet the defense’s ST of CP + EP = 7); however Dunder’s charge and attack was a feint, he proceeds to use 2 EP to buy himself another attack (additional attacks rule, cost based on non-full-round attack) and uses another 2 EP to increase the attack’s AT to a total of CP + EP = 6 that exceeds the desperate goblin defense (who invests all remaining EP) of CP + EP = 5. Dunder additionally invests his remaining 2 EP to increase the damage he deals to CP + EP = 6. This is enough to slaughter the little goblin.

dreadnaught diceless rpg – gameplay (non-combat)

Before getting into more depth on creation and leveling (the feats and templates in other words), first a word on the basic gameplay mechanic:

Most actions can be performed for “free”, requiring nothing of the player apart from stating that he or she wishes to pursue a particular action. However, in the face of adversity or challenge players make use of their action points to sway the fates.

Actions of all players and NPCs may be awarded a “role-playing” bonus of +1 by the GM. This bonus is only appropriate if the entity in question adds a significant circumstantial spin on the action; accompanied by an “Aha!” moment. Simply performing a run-up to a jump is not sufficient for this role-play bonus (rather the lack of a run-up would incur a circumstantial penalty). The final decision regarding this bonus rests, as always, with the GM.

In non-combat situations such as searching a door for traps, or attempting to decipher a message, a character attempts to equal or exceed the Success Threshold (ST) of the task using his or her skills. An Action Threshold (AT) is provided by the character – provided no feats, templates or abilities modify this step the basic AT for any action of a character is equal to his or her Base Potential. If the player feels it is necessary, the character can use some of his or her daily action points to enhance the action in the hopes of meeting or exceeding the Success Threshold.

The Success Threshold of an activity depends on the difficulty of the task at hand, naturally the ST is determined by the GM and is not generally made known to the players. The ST can be modified by circumstance, as well as roleplaying (or the lack thereof) of characters and NPCs. The ST of a non-living thing (such as a trap, or an encrypted message) is fixed and set appropriately by the DM. The ST of a living entity is typically set to the BP of that entity – barring feats, templates or abilities that modify the ST for specific tasks.

Example 1

Thorst is furious with anger and attempts to break down the door of a local casanova to exact vengeance for an indiscretion. His BP of 3 and the additional 3 daily action points spent by Thorst are, unfortunately, not enough to break down the reinforced oak gate that has a ST of 7.

Example 2

Barli (BP equal to 3) is down on her luck and attempting to rectify this by picking the pockets of a likely looking drunk (BP equal to 4) in the local inn. She’s distracting him with her feminine wiles (+1 to her AT) and waits for the victim to become quite well inebriated (-2 to the ST). Finally Barli attempts the pickpocketing, she adds no additional action points, trusting in her well thought-out staging of the scenario, and given her total AT of 4 (Barli BP + roleplay) that easily exceeds the ST of 2 (victim BP – circumstance) she finds herself a few gold richer.