You may be familiar with the concept of Fate Points from WFRP. If not, they're pretty simlpe. A Fate point allows you to ignore a critical damage roll.

Can Luck be used in the same manner by burning a point of Luck?

On one hand i'd say "No", because the player already had a chance to affect the roll with his defense declaration, and may further affect it with using his bonus dice afforded by Luck.

On the other hand, one could argue "yes" because it allows for extended character lifespan while depriving the character of advancement.

Edit: THe problem with this approach is that combat becomes a lot less deadly, with players thinking "Meh...I'm not going to bother to defend. If he hits me, i'll just Luck it away."

What do you all think?

I allow burning luck in combat. If they do, then they may re-roll that exchange/terrain roll/whatever.
And even if it makes combat less deadly, it still burns SA's. And my players, at least, sees a sessions as a "failed" one if they gained three SA points but had to burn four Luck points.

I believe the rules say that you use a point of luck to roll another die. You BURN a point of luck permanently (even if already spent) for a guarenteed single success.

So if a guarenteed single success on a defense roll is enough to drop a wound from "you're dead" to "you're not dead yet"...then great.

Were you thinking something more than that?

actually, the book says you can burn luck for an instant success in a matter outside the characetrs hands like a hay load under the tower the PC leapt out of. I allow the PC's to burn luck in combat in those wonderful OH SHI! moments if the PC's can give a good explanation as to how luck saved their rears in that combat... things like "he slips and falls down" doesnt cut it for me, "He swings and would have normally sliced me in half but as I was jumping out of the way I slipped and fell in the pool of blood from the guy I decapitated and this caused his blow to only cut me" (level 0 wound and minus a few combat dice for the stumble, better than being dead). This allows for more drama in the game and a greater cinematic feel. It also allows the characters some degree of risk taking so they aren't entirely afraid to put their prcious characters on the line and constantly avoid direct confrontation. Of course I let badguys with SA's do the same with their luck to even things out and further increase the drama.

I agree with Ashren. Luck is one of those SAs that just doesn't really balance unless you give it some leeway. Consider that with a standard SA I get somewhere between 3 to 5 extra dice per action, compared to "an extra 1-5 dice a game"...Plus its not like Luck is easy to boost up either. Permanently burning a Luck point is a bitch to recover, so I always fall in favor of, "Its worth doing permanently, alright, you live".

Chris

actually, the book says you can burn luck for an instant success in a matter outside the characetrs hands like a hay load under the tower the PC leapt out of.

This allows for more drama in the game and a greater cinematic feel. It also allows the characters some degree of risk taking so they aren't entirely afraid to put their prcious characters on the line and constantly avoid direct confrontation.

I allow the PC's to burn luck in combat in those wonderful OH SHI! moments

Well, perhaps this is just two much of the rules lawyer in me, but the text doesn't say "A point may be spent permanently to afford instant success in any manner..."

It says "A point may be spent permanently to afford AN instant success in any manner..." (emphasis mine)

I interpreted that as specifically referring to the equivelent to a bonus die that automatically beats the target number. As opposed to simple spending of luck which is a bonus die that may or may not beat the target number.

Granted, good points everyone, although I think there are quite a few things that are "out of player hands" that can certainly be accomplished with the directorial power that Luck can grant.

In combat, I wouldn't have the simple, "I dodge" result, it'd be more like, "His sword catches in my armor in a weird way and gets stuck!", "His weapon slides out of his sweaty palms, flying in a random direction! Someone duck!"etc. In other words, luck wouldn't just be "yaay, I got success!" but rather include its own set of possible complications and problems.

Aside from that Arxhon, while I'm sure your group is getting a fair amount of Luck by odds alone, its not like any other sort of SA that you can "power up" by choice, you're pretty much stuck with hoping for the best. Plus, like I said, even with that option, its still the slowest growing SA amongst them all.

Chris

Hey Valamir,

I understand where you are coming from now. I agree, actually.

Hmmm....Bankuei, i think i'll look at getting the players to be more descriptive in their use of luck in combat. No cool description set of possible complications and problems, no use of Luck.

I also dont let them use luck in the what the hell I have a luck die fashion without some consequences, when you count on luck saving you it might not do so in the way you imagine- example, if the PC is planning to use the luck die to save himself in a situation he should never have gotten in like the example given, then I let him do so but it ends up worse for him than the NPC. Example.... the NPC barely missed killing the PC since the PC's armor caught he sword in a wierd way, the poblem is the armor is no longer fit correctly and is getting in the way, - 2 CP for the rest of the fight and now you need to repair the armor. This discourages the munchkin thought process really fast.

Oh, the best way to wipe out minmaxer attitudes is to place the PC's in a tight spot that the Min part really hurts them in- Example, the idiot socialless fighter with no willpower must explain his killing actions to the local duke, if he fails to explain himself, well off to the gallows.

MAke them pay for the mins in the minmaxing. Its easy to do with TROS and since the game is lethal, well, the third or fourth character might be more balanced.

Example.... the NPC barely missed killing the PC since the PC's armor caught he sword in a wierd way, the poblem is the armor is no longer fit correctly and is getting in the way, - 2 CP for the rest of the fight and now you need to repair the armor. This discourages the munchkin thought process really fast.