HeroQuest -> Donjon

[dunlaing]

This is what I get for uncharacteristically trying for brevity :)

Another character had pulled a rope out of his Provisions and they were passing the Sticky shoes back and forth using the rope.


Otherwise I would have. :)

[dunlaing]

When you succeed at something, can you keep the successes as dice without knowing what you want to use them for?

Example: Clatu uses his Tap ability (defined as a normal ranged attack) on a Broo and gets 4 successes. He uses all 4 successes as bonus dice for a later magical action, but doesn't specify what later magical action, just writes down "Tap Pool: 4 bonus dice" and leaves it at that. He then rolls damage versus the Broo.

This seems like an elegant solution to create a Tap-like ability (he'll use one of his damage successes to state that the damage goes to Cerebrality or to the Broo's Chaos Feature or whatever). But is it kosher?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Trading items: sure. It seems like you have crafty players.

On the Tap: that works fine, but the player has to keep one success to have successfully hit, and therefore done damage. (This is just my ruling, not official rules or anything.)

[dunlaing]

2) You can put spells on yourself for extended durations, with bonus dice on yourself working just like penalty dice on opponents.

How do penalty dice work on opponents? Say you cast a blindness spell on a kobold and get three successes. Does he lose three dice from any action he needs to see in order to perform? Or does his opponent/the resistance get three extra dice? Or is it something else (like 2 dice if you have to spend one success to even have it happen).


Also, let's say I cast "Shapechange into Dragon" on myself and get 4 successes. Do I get to use the 4 successes to give myself Fly 1, Tough Hide 1, and Breathe Fire 2? Or would I need to use 1 success just to turn into the Dragon? Or what?

[Catalyst]

In Donjon, it's the effect that's the key. If you blind someone in Other Games, there's usually a host of effects keyed off of being in the state of being blinded, such as attack penalties, defense penalties for active defense such as dodging, etc. In Donjon, you come up with those end results, whether penalties or bonuses, apply that, then rationalize for the effect as far as the story/game is concerned.

"Kobold is blinded by 3 points/dice" isn't enough of an effect, it has to have the effect specified with regard to directly affecting the target's abilities or attributes. The question is what to penalize where, as you noted. In Donjon, this is weird and yet simple, and is something that takes some getting used to. But think of it this way, these 3 dice need to be applied to something on the kobold to give the in-game effects of the kobold being blinded. Then work back from there.

I can see a few possibilities for this one. You could damage the kobold's Perception with regard to sight-based tests. But that doesn't affect combat much, which is probably the characters' goal, to make the kobold less effective in combat. I'd damage the kobold's Adroitness myself, which affects its combat ability and many other tasks fairly appropriately. In my opinion, of course, YMMV.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I can see a few possibilities for this one. You could damage the kobold's Perception with regard to sight-based tests. But that doesn't affect combat much, which is probably the characters' goal, to make the kobold less effective in combat. I'd damage the kobold's Adroitness myself, which affects its combat ability and many other tasks fairly appropriately. In my opinion, of course, YMMV.

Except destroying Perception screws the kobold for initiative. Also remember that three successes blinding the kobold could be three facts stated about the kobold:

* The kobold is blind.
* The kobold walks off the nearby cliff.
* He drops his sword on the way.

[Catalyst]

All too true! :)

[dunlaing]

But I've seen penalty dice referred to. There must be a definition. Are they:

a) taking dice away; or
b) adding dice to the resistance