(OOC) The Fight For The Cub

[Ameraaaaaa]

Yes Armour mastery and improved armour mastery both give you more armour- a splint would regularly be 7 armour, you have 9. In addition armour mastery lowers your bulk by 1, so you have a bulk of 2, meaning you'll move faster. But you still have an armour penalty of 3.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Andrethegiant]

Ok, so the fight took a bit longer than expected, but I hope everyone got the basics of combat. You can wrap it with you both having gotten a glancing blow in. Normal damage like that heals instantly.

@Leonard Looking at your derived stats you have added your shield bonus to your armour rating like in DnD, in this system Armour gives damage resistance, but shield only gets your defence up to 13. Sorry for cutting your clash short. I thought we'd get things rolling, hope you got a basic introduction. You and Ameraa will have more combat than you'd ever want before this is over.

[Leonard Van Rin]

@everyone
Wow, happy we did the mock combat. I just saw that I made a mistake. Remember armour penalties reduces your combat defence. So If you have a Splint armour (-3 armour penalty), your combat defence is lowered by 3 when wearing it.

That's how I already calculated it. Though I might have made a mistake... Math ain't my strong side haha

[Leonard Van Rin]

Ok, so the fight took a bit longer than expected, but I hope everyone got the basics of combat. You can wrap it with you both having gotten a glancing blow in. Normal damage like that heals instantly.

@Leonard Looking at your derived stats you have added your shield bonus to your armour rating like in DnD, in this system Armour gives damage resistance, but shield only gets your defence up to 13. Sorry for cutting your clash short. I thought we'd get things rolling, hope you got a basic introduction. You and Ameraa will have more combat than you'd ever want before this is over.

Wait... So I calculated the Combat Defense correctly after all haha Cause it is 13 lol And trust me... This is the second system with combat I like (the first being the combat in WFRP 4e).

[Andrethegiant]

Wait... So I calculated the Combat Defense correctly after all haha Cause it is 13 lol And trust me... This is the second system with combat I like (the first being the combat in WFRP 4e).

Yes, it is very similar to wfrp in that first you take damage then reduce it. As your character sheet said "Amor Rating: 9 (13 with Large Shield)" I just wanted to make sure you hadnt misunderstood. Coming from DnD it can be hard to remember that your AC (combat defence in this system) goes down with armour instead of up.

[Batcathat]

I got most of the mechanics done yesterday and should be able to finish tonight (it's currently 1 pm here). To limit overlap with Lady Vaith, I've decided to go with a sort of combination of my original two concepts and make a schemer who's more about sticking to the background, being mostly unseen and unheard but gathering information and manipulating people here and there. Feels like the best of both worlds, from my perspective.

[Batcathat]

I'm still working on her history and other fluff, but I might as well post the mechanics here so people can take a look if they're up for it. As previously noted, this is the first time I'm making a character in this system so I would be rather surprised if I didn't screw it up one way or the other.

Also, does having an Endurance flaw mean I should calculate Health as if her Endurance was one point lower?

Spoiler: Lady Roanne Scales

Show

Name: Lady Roanne Scales (born Fell)
Age: 42
Gender: Female

Virtue: Devoted
Vice: Cold

Abilities

• Agility: 2
• Animal Handling: 2
• Athletics: 1
• Awareness: 3 (Empathy 1B, Notice 1B)
• Cunning: 2
• Deception: 4 (Bluff 2B, Act 1B)
• Endurance: 2
• Fighting: 2
• Healing: 2
• Language: 3
• Knowledge: 6 (Streetwise 2B)
• Marksmanship: 2
• Persuasion: 3 (Bargain 1B)
• Status: 4 (Stewardship 1B, Breeding 1B)
• Stealth: 5
• Survival: 2
• Thievery: 2
• Warfare: 2
• Will 2

Intrigue Defense: 10
Composure: 6
Combat Defense: 6
Health: 6

Benefits: Connections: The Stormlands, Wealthy

Drawbacks: Flaw: Frail

Personality: To most, Roanne comes off as a polite, soft-spoken and somewhat intelligent woman, a role she has cultivated for years. Beneath it, she can seem cold and controlling, even to those – like her children – she actually cares about, not to mention a certain arrogance born of a conviction that she knows more than most. Although not without principles and respect for traditions, Roanne is a pragmatist at heart and consider the goal more important than what path you need to take to reach it.

Appearance: Roanne Scales is a thin woman, with blonde hair increasingly streaked by grey reaching almost to her waist and usually braided. Her face is more striking than pretty with very noticeable cheekbones. She usually dresses in fine but rather humble clothing and when not expected to wear house colors, she prefers grey or brown.

History: As a girl, it was made clear to Roanne Fell that she was supposed to remain in the background, seen on occasion but rarely heard. Some of the other girls at the castle struggled against it, demanding to be noticed and respected the same way as the boys. It rarely worked out for them. So instead, Roanne made it into a weapon. Turning "sitting unnoticed in the background" into an art form and "just happening to be passing by" into a science, she quickly learned not only about the world around her but about the people and their secrets.

As she became older and bolder, she added new tricks to her repertoire, such as dressing up as a servant or a peasant and sneaking out of the castle. Before she was even old enough to marry, she was quite confident she knew more than most of her brother's advisors. But Roanne had also learned the bitter lesson that while knowledge may be power, it is not always enough. Knowing more than others meant little if they still would not listen to her and knowing someone's secrets meant little if they could silence you, whether by strength of arms or influence in the house.

Thus, Roanne could do little when her brother decided that she was to marry Lord Owen Scales. It wasn't the worst choice, she supposed. While Roanne found both his charisma and intelligence somewhat lacking, he was rarely cruel and mostly left her alone. This gave her time to resume her previous interests, learning not only about Castle Redford and its inhabitants but about the people in the lands surrounding it. And unlike the daughter of House Fell, the lady of House Scales could act upon her knowledge. A whisper into her husband's ear, a comment to a courtier or some gossip during a feast. Little by little, she gained if not power, than at least influence.

Then her husband died by Simon Toyne's hand and everything changed. Roanne did what she could to at least make the men around her think for a moment before acting, but their boiling blood could not be controlled and being stopped by House Wendwater and House Bywater just made it burn hotter. Though at least the shock gave her enough time to take control of the house, not to mention stopping her foolhardy son from risking his own life. In the months that followed, Roanne Scales learned – for better or for worse – the difference between subtly influencing and actually wielding power.

When the new regent arrived, she was at first relieved but as she resumed her former position – though now no longer even the lord's wife – Roanne started to feel the absence of power. She would give him a chance to rule, she decided, but if he failed – or worse, became a threat to her family – she would act.

Possessions:

• Noble garb (three sets worth 400 silver stags each)
• Peasant garb (male)
• Peasant garb (female)
• Scents
• Lantern
• Far-Eyes
• Dagger
• Ink
• Sweetsleep (six pinches)
• Palfrey
• Tent, pavilion
• Saddlebags

Money: 6 GD, 114 SS, 36 CP

Roll for money: (5d6)[1][1][1][3][4](10)

[Andrethegiant]

I'm still working on her history and other fluff, but I might as well post the mechanics here so people can take a look if they're up for it. As previously noted, this is the first time I'm making a character in this system so I would be rather surprised if I didn't screw it up one way or the other.

Also, does having an Endurance flaw mean I should calculate Health as if her Endurance was one point lower?

Spoiler: Lady Roanne Scales

Show

Name: Lady Roanne Scales (born Fell)
Age: 42
Gender: Female

Virtue: Devoted
Vice: Cold

Abilities

• Agility: 2
• Animal Handling: 2
• Athletics: 1
• Awareness: 3 (Empathy 1B, Notice 1B)
• Cunning: 3
• Deception: 4 (Bluff 2B, Act 1B)
• Endurance: 2
• Fighting: 1
• Healing: 2
• Language: 2
• Knowledge: 6 (Streetwise 2B)
• Marksmanship: 2
• Persuasion: 3 (Bargain 1B)
• Status: 5 (Stewardship 1B, Breeding 1B)
• Stealth: 5
• Survival: 2
• Thievery: 3
• Warfare: 2
• Will 3

Intrigue Defense: 11
Composure: 9
Combat Defense: 6
Health: 3 or 6

Benefits: Connections: The Stormlands, Wealthy

Drawbacks: Flaw: Frail

Roll for money: [roll0]

You can max drop one stat to one sadly. Further your status can't be 5 as the house influence is only 24 (5 status would be a powerful large house). Your health stays at 6, it doesnt drop. Otherwise good work for a first time character.

[Batcathat]

You can max drop one stat to one sadly. Further your status can't be 5 as the house influence is only 24 (5 status would be a powerful large house). Your health stays at 6, it doesnt drop. Otherwise good work for a first time character.

Alright, at least having one stat too low and one too high meant it almost evened out (I've increased Fighting to 2, lowered Status to 4 and Thievery to 2, does that fix everything?). Thanks for taking a look, I should have the fluff (or at least a usable, bare-bones version of it) finished later tonight.

EDIT: No, wait, I think I'm still 10 EXP short, aren't I? I'll fix that later.

[Andrethegiant]

Alright, at least having one stat too low and one too high meant it almost evened out (I've increased Fighting to 2, lowered Status to 4 and Thievery to 2, does that fix everything?). Thanks for taking a look, I should have the fluff (or at least a usable, bare-bones version of it) finished later tonight.

EDIT: No, wait, I think I'm still 10 EXP short, aren't I? I'll fix that later.

Yeah, at 250, but otherwise your character looks good.

[Batcathat]

Yeah, at 250, but otherwise your character looks good.

Alright, I lowered Cunning to 2, which should take care of it.

What should I do about my starting money now that my Status is lower? Reroll (which I wouldn't hate, obviously, considering my previous roll) or just subtract from my previous result?

[Andrethegiant]

Alright, I lowered Cunning to 2, which should take care of it.

What should I do about my starting money now that my Status is lower? Reroll (which I wouldn't hate, obviously, considering my previous roll) or just subtract from my previous result?

Take a reroll.

[Batcathat]

Added some history and personality. I might expand on it a little in the next few days, but it's enough to get started, at least.

Unless I'm mistaken, all that's missing is some equipment so I'll reroll and start shopping.

One question... maybe I'm blind or looking in the wrong place but I can't seem to find the cost of poison, does anyone know where to look?

Money, money: (4d6)[5][4][4][6](19)

[Wymmerdann]

@harmony

I love it. Let's go with Darren, dead in the ambush. This ties you in to any feud with House Wendwater, but also makes you close family, while also making the ties with Dorne meaningful, and a source of tension given Dorne's connection to the King.

We might still use Callith as the master at arms, just to fill out that role, but not married to Lady Vaith?

One question... maybe I'm blind or looking in the wrong place but I can't seem to find the cost of poison, does anyone know where to look?

Page 137. The high end ones are very pricey.

Also, the Lady looks great - a good fit for the relationship I with her son I had in mind. Watch out though - language 3 is required to read and write.

[Harmony]

Alright, sounds like a good deal. Amyra is the aunt to the young Lord by marriage, and now a widow. She remains with House Scales to raise her daughters and to hold the alliance alive.
I'm fine with keeping (Ser?) Callith, just removing the parts about his marriage with Amyra.

Perhaps a suggestion that Amyra serves as a "temporary" Castellan, which sort of maintains her friendly rivalry relationship with Callith with the two having a bit overlap.

For the house:
She also brings in a Veteran Cavalry unit as her Cadre.

Also I rolled a 4 for the House. May I suggest investing those into Power and having 2 of those points go to upgrading the personal guards to veterans, and the other 2 to upgrading the Cadre Cavalry to Elite?

[Batcathat]

Page 137. The high end ones are very pricey.

Also, the Lady looks great - a good fit for the relationship I with her son I had in mind. Watch out though - language 3 is required to read and write.

It seemed I was indeed a bit blind, thanks (I had also missed the part about reading and while she's more about learning from people than from books, I would like her to be able to read, so I sacrificed a bit of Will to raise Language).

Anyhow, I'm done shopping and hopefully I didn't screw the math up too bad (someone should really introduce decimal currencies to Westeros ). So with a little over an hour remaining of Friday in my timezone, I did keep the deadline though I probably won't have time to actually post something until tomorrow.

[JoyWonderLove]

For the house:
She also brings in a Veteran Cavalry unit as her Cadre.

Also I rolled a 4 for the House. May I suggest investing those into Power and having 2 of those points go to upgrading the personal guards to veterans, and the other 2 to upgrading the Cadre Cavalry to Elite?

Harmony, there might be a way for you to do exactly what you want (upgrade the personal guard to Veteran and the Cavalry to Elite), and give us a free upgrade to do it.

We already have two points spare in Power, even before you help us. If you instead choose to put your 4 points into Wealth, we'll have just enough there to upgrade the Horse Husbandry to include War Horse Herds (page 11 of Out of Strife, Prosperity ---- it costs 5 Wealth, but lowers the costs of our cavalry by 2 permanently). With the upgrade, our Power becomes high enough again to cover the exact improvements in training you're after as Castellan.

Sound fun?

[Harmony]

Harmony, there might be a way for you to do exactly what you want (upgrade the personal guard to Veteran and the Cavalry to Elite), and give us a free upgrade to do it.

We already have two points spare in Power, even before you help us. If you instead choose to put your 4 points into Wealth, we'll have just enough there to upgrade the Horse Husbandry to include War Horse Herds (page 11 of Out of Strife, Prosperity ---- it costs 5 Wealth, but lowers the costs of our cavalry by 2 permanently). With the upgrade, our Power becomes high enough again to cover the exact improvements in training you're after as Castellan.

Sound fun?

Sure, go for it!
But I think it would make the Cadre upgrade "free"? It costs 0 as Veteran, and would cost 2 as Elite, but with -2 that still becomes 0?

[Wymmerdann]

I was vaguely planning to hold onto wealth in case we wanted to field a few hundred green mercenaries on short notice, but I'm happy to use power to upgrade trained troops to veterans. However, taking elite units raises two issues.

1) Elite troops are the world's best - troops like the Unsullied, elite corps of the Golden Company, Brave Companions etc, Our House has not been involved in a wide scale conflict in some time (probably the War of the Ninepenny Kings over twenty years ago) and doesn't really have a reason to have troops that good. Even if they were involved in the siege of Duskendale, which is more recent. If we want to justify troops of that quality, we'd probably need to be running a mercenary army that we hire out to fight in essos.

2) Rules as written, a Cadre are not a house holding, they are a personal benefit, and cannot be improved with a house's power. It's also important to note that this is a group of ten doing the job of either twenty horsemen or one hundred infantry - by operating as a Veteran Unit, they are already nearly superhuman. As an elite unit, they'd be Kingsguard quality or higher.

So at the end of the day I'm happy to make any change to our roster that you guys support, we just need to work through the logical consequences of that choice. Once we've locked this in, I'll draw up a final draft for the House.

[Harmony]

I was vaguely planning to hold onto wealth in case we wanted to field a few hundred green mercenaries on short notice, but I'm happy to use power to upgrade trained troops to veterans. However, taking elite units raises two issues.

1) Elite troops are the world's best - troops like the Unsullied, elite corps of the Golden Company, Brave Companions etc, Our House has not been involved in a wide scale conflict in some time (probably the War of the Ninepenny Kings over twenty years ago) and doesn't really have a reason to have troops that good. Even if they were involved in the siege of Duskendale, which is more recent. If we want to justify troops of that quality, we'd probably need to be running a mercenary army that we hire out to fight in essos.

2) Rules as written, a Cadre are not a house holding, they are a personal benefit, and cannot be improved with a house's power. It's also important to note that this is a group of ten doing the job of either twenty horsemen or one hundred infantry - by operating as a Veteran Unit, they are already nearly superhuman. As an elite unit, they'd be Kingsguard quality or higher.

So at the end of the day I'm happy to make any change to our roster that you guys support, we just need to work through the logical consequences of that choice. Once we've locked this in, I'll draw up a final draft for the House.

Yea, you're likely right on that front. Do as desired!

[Andrethegiant]

It's also important to note that this is a group of ten doing the job of either twenty horsemen or one hundred infantry - by operating as a Veteran Unit, they are already nearly superhuman. As an elite unit, they'd be Kingsguard quality or higher.

Minor correction: the people in a Cadre has "veteran" status, so they will be excellent fighters. The way they are intended to work in large scale combat works is that they work as a subdivision for a unit. Look at the rules under "attack portions of a unit".

[Wymmerdann]

Hopefully I haven't jumped the gun IC. I just want to reaffirm that Casyr is the ruling lord, but at 15 is a year short of his majority so doesn't actually have the legal authority to issue commands. He's trying to put on big boy clothes here and be in charge, but if your character has their own ideas, there won't be any repercussions for that.

Minor correction: the people in a Cadre has "veteran" status, so they will be excellent fighters. The way they are intended to work in large scale combat works is that they work as a subdivision for a unit. Look at the rules under "attack portions of a unit".

That makes sense. In the past I've seen the discussion of rallying and reorganising as a justification for it operating as a full unit on the battlefield, but then you get the "ten men are the same as a hundred". I'm very happy to go with your ruling. I also don't want to make presumptions about how you feel about elite units in the game, so if you feel they are common and its not a big deal for our house to have them, please correct me.

[Harmony]

Minor correction: the people in a Cadre has "veteran" status, so they will be excellent fighters. The way they are intended to work in large scale combat works is that they work as a subdivision for a unit. Look at the rules under "attack portions of a unit".

Aha, I got the impression that it added a full unit from the text. The attack portions of a unit seems to add a lot of complexity (and makes no difference if the unit is already veteran for instance), and if so it might be better to just pick another quality instead.

[Andrethegiant]

Hopefully I haven't jumped the gun IC. I just want to reaffirm that Casyr is the ruling lord, but at 15 is a year short of his majority so doesn't actually have the legal authority to issue commands. He's trying to put on big boy clothes here and be in charge, but if your character has their own ideas, there won't be any repercussions for that.

Yes, what the chain of command is here will be a fun theme to explore. Captain certainly wont take charge.

That makes sense. In the past I've seen the discussion of rallying and reorganising as a justification for it operating as a full unit on the battlefield, but then you get the "ten men are the same as a hundred". I'm very happy to go with your ruling. I also don't want to make presumptions about how you feel about elite units in the game, so if you feel they are common and its not a big deal for our house to have them, please correct me.

The advantage of a Cadre is of course loyalty and independence. The cadre is with you here, your men are not.

It would be possible for you to have elite soldiers, but it would make you remarked upon in the region. Given how you have one of the brightest military minds in your rank she could have feasibly trained a hundred men to hold a high standard. The difference between your elites and the unsullied for example would be numbers. It would be a "big deal", but not impossible.

[Andrethegiant]

Aha, I got the impression that it added a full unit from the text. The attack portions of a unit seems to add a lot of complexity (and makes no difference if the unit is already veteran for instance), and if so it might be better to just pick another quality instead.

Yes, feel free to change it if it wasnt what you were after.

[Harmony]

I’m just a bit uncertain about what scale they are at. They are not “cohorts” and they do not seem to be enough (about 20) to from a cavalry unit, which was what I was under the impression that it did as it referenced the House creation chapter, but attempts to use them in warfare would require a very slow special rule, so I’m mostly trying to understand how they would be used. Any clarification would be very helpful!

[Andrethegiant]

I’m just a bit uncertain about what scale they are at. They are not “cohorts” and they do not seem to be enough (about 20) to from a cavalry unit, which was what I was under the impression that it did as it referenced the House creation chapter, but attempts to use them in warfare would require a very slow special rule, so I’m mostly trying to understand how they would be used. Any clarification would be very helpful!

They are essentially a 10th of a unit in scale. In warfare they'd be useful in supporting other units. In mechanical terms their disruption would deal 1 damage if they succeed in their shock attacks.

However a lot of their use is usually out of combat. You are less likely to get cheated at dice with 10 grizzled veterans surrounding the potential perpetrator. If you need to secure the perimeter of your camp and you give them awareness they will be far more effective than the average sentinel. These kind of tasks is why people usually get the quality.

[Harmony]

They are essentially a 10th of a unit in scale. In warfare they'd be useful in supporting other units. In mechanical terms their disruption would deal 1 damage if they succeed in their shock attacks.

However a lot of their use is usually out of combat. You are less likely to get cheated at dice with 10 grizzled veterans surrounding the potential perpetrator. If you need to secure the perimeter of your camp and you give them awareness they will be far more effective than the average sentinel. These kind of tasks is why people usually get the quality.

Ah, so there's two of them as they are cavalry (as a cavalry unit is 20)? I think that purpose might better served by a Cohort in that case.

[Andrethegiant]

Ah, so there's two of them as they are cavalry (as a cavalry unit is 20)? I think that purpose might better served by a Cohort in that case.

I see the problem. No, you get 10 of them, otherwise they wouldnt be very useful outside of war. But we will consider them to be a 10th of a unit for the sake of war, so that the benefit isnt just another unit.

[Andrethegiant]

So, it looks like Casyr naturally takes command in the tumultuous situation. As nobody said anything to the contrary I assume you follow his plan, however there is always room for individual action.

Casyr, you may coordinate. This is a hectic situation, so it is considered "combat" (DC 12) if you want to guide one of your companions. You may also try to assist them all in their different tasks, then it is a DC 18.

Gareth you wanted to roll knowledge, do so in general rolls like that can just be rolled, and if there is nothing to be aware of then I will tell you. The difficulty is only 6, but additional degrees of success will allow you to recognize more important details.

Lady Heartly, you can roll a difficulty 15 animal handling, as the horses get whipped into frenzy at the sudden chaos.

Master Pyke you can roll a difficulty 12 warfare as you need to command the right people belowdeck without using the necessary crew for navigation.

Ser Beryl you may roll a persuasion test against difficulty 12 to get attention from neaby ships. However your impressive size gains you +2 Dice as people naturally listen to the giant.