[IC] Graveyard Shift: Session 1

1 threat on the Discipline check = they've noticed you!

Are you trying to cast a Swift and Haste Augment on Tronus? He is already at short range, so he isn't faced with difficult terrain anymore. Basically, there's a clearing where the fight is taking place, but everything AROUND the clearing is full of bushes and underbrush that makes it hard to move through UNTIL you get to the clearing itself. In other words, if you want to Augment Tronus, we should perhaps say it's a standard Augment + Range (since he's across the clearing from you), meaning he gets +G to all checks next round.

Alternatively, you could instead cast a Swift Augment on two allies closer to you (Barvek and Hildar, say, or Hildar's two suits of armor). That would allow them to ignore the difficulty terrain and attack this round instead of next.

Does that make sense? In either case, the roll is fine as is. I just need to know who you targeted. The 1 threat means you lose 3 strain instead of 2 for the spell.

Got it! OK, Barvek is blessed with an Augment + Swift. He ignores the difficult terrain (so he can engage with any of the groups of dogs this turn with two move maneuvers: Medium to Short to Engaged). He also gets +1 Green to all skill checks this round (meaning both the Fear check and any attack he makes).

Two more PCs up! The next person gets a boost die to their Fear (Discipline) check.

ArMedBeta, you didn't specify which group of dogs you were attacking. There are three clusters of thee: 1 and 2 are on Lyssie, with an injured member in one of the two packs, and 3 is chasing Benji up a tree. I'm going to assume Barvek attacked the wounded dogs, as getting more threats out of the fight is probably in y'all's best interest.

See above about the results of the failed fear check. Barvek is disoriented (automatic setback for all checks in the encounter) unless he can be rallied with a Leadership check (or creative magic use). However, on the plus side, with Augmented Brawn, he does 5 base damage, for a total of 8 wounds on the dogs Lyssie already injured.

Hildar and his two suits of armor are up!

I'm still getting a feel for the magic system, so I'm going to rule that for this encounter, these summoned creatures can indeed be Ironbound. With that in mind, they do need to make the Fright Check when they move forward, which will be this turn. (This adds a bit of strategy to things you summon going forward: If you're facing the full-sized dragon, say, your summoned creature's Discipline becomes just as important as its Brawn!)

Here's why I'm not worried about this being overpowered: First, you have to maintain two concentrate maneuvers each turn to keep the Ironbound in play and to give them orders. That means you can't even walk as long as these guys are in play.

Second, even one threat rolled against HIldar could result in "the active character loses the benefits of a prior maneuver" from the threat/despair chart. That could mean that the creatures don't do what they're told or even disappear. Seems kind of lame for 1 threat, but it's RAW. I'll probably reserve such a thing for more threat or a despair (if I do it at all), but that's always a possibility.

Third, we haven't established whether these are real Ironbound, or just facsimiles. If they're real, it's possible that Hildar has really pissed off someone in Nerekhall, which could have repercussions down the road. I'll leave it ambiguous what their provenance is for now... :P

The point is, summoned Ironbound are pretty powerful. But on the other hand, they severely handicap Hildar for as long as they are on the battlefield. I'm cool with that. Let's see how things shake out.

GM edit: Post has been overridden per OOC discussion.

I've replied to your questions in more depth in the OOC thread. But, in short, I'm open to you revising your post to say you want to stabilize Lyssie if you flip a Story Point. It would require 1 move maneuver to get to engaged range to her, 1 concentrate maneuver to maintain your spell on Barvek if you wish, and a Hard (PPP) Divine check (plus 2 strain) to revive an incapacitated character. Totally up to you!