Mechanical discussion

Ser Fendrel Bartheld wrote:How much more does superior equipment cost?

Baelon wrote:From the [url=House Rules thread][/url]:

Reader wrote:High quality equipment

Superior items cost 5x the price of the base items or +1000ss, whichever is higher.

Baelon is correct, but House Bartheld has a Master Armoursmith Artisan investment so that cost is halved for armour in your case.

.

Baelon wrote:From the [url=House Rules thread][/url]:

Reader wrote:High quality equipment

Superior items cost 5x the price of the base items or +1000ss, whichever is higher.

Thank you, Baelon!

EDIT. And thanks for the info, Nathan, as well! (especially that it's indeed armor I'm looking to buy)

Small note of thanks to people for chipping in to help while I don't have full PC access.

Does superior armor grant +1 AR or does it reduce the armor penalty by -1 as well? (I think that might have been a house rule where I last played. I tried looking it up in the book but I can't find anything about superior armor, only superior weapons.)

Reader wrote:Small note of thanks to people for chipping in to help while I don't have full PC access.

No problem! I like to help. I suspect it is my teacher instincts.

Ser Fendrel Bartheld wrote:Does superior armor grant +1 AR or does it reduce the armor penalty by -1 as well? (I think that might have been a house rule where I last played. I tried looking it up in the book but I can't find anything about superior armor, only superior weapons.)

From the [url=House Rules thread][/url]:

Reader wrote:Armour
Full Plate: armour penalty reduced from -6 to -4
Superior armour: reduce armour penalty by 1
Extraordinary armour: reduce armour penalty by 1, increase AR by 1
Armour Penalty does not apply to knockdown tests.

Baelon wrote:

Reader wrote:Small note of thanks to people for chipping in to help while I don't have full PC access.

No problem! I like to help. I suspect it is my teacher instincts.

Ser Fendrel Bartheld wrote:Does superior armor grant +1 AR or does it reduce the armor penalty by -1 as well? (I think that might have been a house rule where I last played. I tried looking it up in the book but I can't find anything about superior armor, only superior weapons.)

From the [url=House Rules thread][/url]:

Reader wrote:Armour
Full Plate: armour penalty reduced from -6 to -4
Superior armour: reduce armour penalty by 1
Extraordinary armour: reduce armour penalty by 1, increase AR by 1
Armour Penalty does not apply to knockdown tests.

Thanks again, Baelon. I really should have looked at that thread in its entirety

I was looking something else up and it occurred to me that the below was never added to the House Rules, and probably should be...
Maybe the clarification/confirmation about knockdowns not using strength dice, too (it was discussed - again - around the same time).

Reader wrote:Converting wealth to good dragons: status (stewardship) TN 9 check. 10GD per dos. Doing this requires the Lord's permission and frequent use may see influence hits/in game events due to your high spending. Use in moderation is fine - it@/ good to be Lord!

Reader wrote:Converting GD to wealth still runs as in the books. 200Gd invested = 1 wealth.

Wealth to GD is lower return as not all wealth is liquid.

Appreciate concerns being expressed constructively and open to debate (had alreadyy done some discussions in house forums) - how about 20GD per DoS? Would that help alleviate worries?

Reader wrote:Adjusted the conversion to 20GD per DoS and will trial the current system. Open to changes if people find this damages their enjoyment of the game - feel free to discuss the issue here or to contact me via PM.

But, how can Yoren now afford all of his useless religious gear?

Yoren longshore wrote:But, how can Yoren now afford all of his useless religious gear?

Do you have any idea how much Tears of Lys for 500 costs? This is serious business!

If it works as a substitute, I can give you tears of Yoren, he'll be crying a river at all the religious apparatus he can't use

Personally I like the inclusion of a red priest in our cast. I can't wait to see what mechanics Reader has created for you and how he balances it out with the poetic/prophetic timing and mysterious mysticism of the low magic setting.

I can't wait to understand more either! The advantages of such a diverse cast is that we will see all their special archs unfold. Will Yoren start sacrificing if his vision fails to appear in the future? How mad will he go? Is his prophesies merely the figments of a man looking for signs too long?
Not even R'llor can know all of the questions...

As ever, thanks for the help here in answering questions and gathering things that should be added to the house rules thread. It's on my "
to do"
list for when I've got desktop PC access again.

I still would argue that it should be tied to the wealth stat rather than a flat bonus.

Ok, so I wonder about something.
Given this new flow of players, perhaps we should give the new ones a bit extra xp? Looking at Yoren I see that he is XP wise quite a lit above a starting character, and I suspect that is the case for everyone else as well.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to give new players a bit of a boost, so that they are not left completely useless?

In general, I would say yes - though I wouldn't say they would be 'useless' without it. It might force them into more specialization to be competitive in an area (particularly between houses);
however especially in the smaller houses there is plenty of room to full a missing role without extra XP (and in some cases, without excessive specialization;
e.g. commander of House Longshore's naval forces).

Another option that was discussed previously was increased rate of XP gain for newer characters, until they are more or less caught up to existing players.

I'll try to dig up some of the previous discussion on the topic in lieu of a major re-hashing of this issue. :;
):

In house Longshore you can be a master of anything... Both of us are horrible at everything

Yoren longshore wrote:In house Longshore you can be a master of anything... Both of us are horrible at everything

Nonsense. You've got just as much XP as the rest of us;
if it is more evenly distributed, that means you don't have our strengths but also don't have our weaknesses.
I just used that example because it came up in a thread that I reread the other day (regarding Aemond's War on Dorne).

The previous conversation on XP for newcomers began [url=here][/url], and ends with Reader's post.

Yoren longshore wrote:Ok, so I wonder about something.
Given this new flow of players, perhaps we should give the new ones a bit extra xp? Looking at Yoren I see that he is XP wise quite a lit above a starting character, and I suspect that is the case for everyone else as well.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to give new players a bit of a boost, so that they are not left completely useless?

This is a good point . Thanks to Baelon for linking to previous discussions. Handling this on an adhoc basis with a few extras for our new PCs, will formalise system once my beloved desktop PC is back. Probably a few bonuses bits and pieces for backfilling and then accelerated do until they're almost caught up.

Sorry! I forgot that this had beed discussed... I looked for it in this thread, but didn't think to check the other one.

The search feature on this board isn't as quite as good as I would like, but it's still quite handy for things like this.

Couple of questions

What average combat stats should I be looking for to not get stomped?

Should I be building a character that stands out strong in one area but pretty awful in the rest or a character thats average in everything?

How often does Destiny points get refreshed?

How often does players earn more destiny points?

Is it possible to play a independent character that isnt affiliated to any houses?

Next im just looking some input on a few character ideas I have knocking about.

first character I have is a old leader type character with a cohort and cadre with another cadre on the cohort. Mostly specialised in warfare and fighting while the cohort takes more of a active roll in combat. Backstory isnt fleshed out for him.

Second character is a highly specialised combat character with a 7 in fighting. Most of his shtick is he is not from westeros and is a follower of the lord of light with a interest in finding his half brother.

Last character is a more generalised combat character who is interested in hunting bandits with a emphasis on stealth an ranged.

Average combat stats not to get stomped? If you can handle yourself against this guy, you won't get stomped unless you go looking for trouble:

Knight of Quality - most houses can count on a few knights of this ability as their strongest fighter.
Agility 3 Animal Handling 3 (Ride 2B), Athletics 3,
Awareness 3, Endurance 4, Fighting 5 (Long Blades 2B,
Shields 1B, Spears 2B), Status 4, Warfare 3, Will 3

Should I be building a character that stands out strong in one area but pretty awful in the rest or a character thats average in everything?

I'd say neither, I would recommend a character that can excel in one area, but unless that area is intrigue, you want to have a secondary skillset (and you probably want that even if intrigue is your main shtick).

How often does Destiny points get refreshed?

Not often enough for them to be spent lightly. The answer of one at the start of a chapter, once or twice within a chapter and then everything at the end of a chapter is the accurate one, but not very useful I think, chapters has loads of content in them, and difficult to grasp that before we're a few in-game days into it.

How often does players earn more destiny points?

Once per chapter, but with opportunities to get free benefits through personal goals, which may be earned at a faster rate.

Is it possible to play a independent character that isnt affiliated to any houses?

It might be, nobody has done that so far, and IMO, half the fun comes from being affiliated to a house. Affiliation need not necessarily be strong, however.

Next im just looking some input on a few character ideas I have knocking about.

first character I have is a old leader type character with a cohort and cadre with another cadre on the cohort. Mostly specialised in warfare and fighting while the cohort takes more of a active roll in combat. Backstory isnt fleshed out for him.

Be aware that cohort benefit has been nerfed somewhat AND that internal self-policing wants us to see actual story contribution from the cohort to justify having one because it's probably the most powerful benefit there is. I believe we've had players swap out the benefit because of this self-policing.

Second character is a highly specialised combat character with a 7 in fighting. Most of his shtick is he is not from westeros and is a follower of the lord of light with a interest in finding his half brother.

Reader is not going to approve abilities above 5 afaik, beyond this, see comments on strong in one area, awful in others. But even just having fighting 5 can still be pretty devastating with the right supporting stats and benefits.

Last character is a more generalised combat character who is interested in hunting bandits with a emphasis on stealth an ranged.

No comments in particular to this one.

I see no problems with a war leader, non-westerosi fighter or hunter type, all of them can be made to fit our tale, I get the impression from your post that you might be overestimating the power-level a PC needs to be at to excel in this particular game, but reader will sort you out on that account.

First off: welcome I will numerate your questions and answer them one by one:

hendy wrote:

1)What average combat stats should I be looking for to not get stomped?

2)Should I be building a character that stands out strong in one area but pretty awful in the rest or a character thats average in everything?

3)How often does Destiny points get refreshed?

4)How often does players earn more destiny points?

5)Is it possible to play a independent character that isnt affiliated to any houses?

6)Next im just looking some input on a few character ideas I have knocking about.

7)first character I have is a old leader type character with a cohort and cadre with another cadre on the cohort. Mostly specialised in warfare and fighting while the cohort takes more of a active roll in combat. Backstory isnt fleshed out for him.

Second character is a highly specialised combat character with a 7 in fighting. Most of his shtick is he is not from westeros and is a follower of the lord of light with a interest in finding his half brother.

9) Last character is a more generalised combat character who is interested in hunting bandits with a emphasis on stealth an ranged.

1) I'd advice that you have 4 or 5 in fighting, with at least 3 in the other combat stats. Then you would be a good, but not the best fighter. Add a few qualities and a few more speciality dice to become a very good fighter.

2) You should probably specialice a bit, to have your uses (which makes playing more fun) but being dynamic and spreading your stats around a bit is always a good idea, depends on your concept.

3) Usually you regain one (if any was spent) in the middle of each story.

4) Rarely, once in the offseason seems average, but it varies.

5) Yes, although you lose some of the action due to your lack of house objectives. Hoverver, you may also get an interesting angle on the conflict if you are a lone outsider.

6) I will comment these too, although the final decision is yours.

7) Sounds cool, but remember that you need a persuasion of 5 to get the cadre, so you need to use some xp on that too!

We have a hard cap on 5 in stats, as otherwise you'd be a legendary hero capable of washing the floor with all other PCs. I love the R'hllor approach too, as I am a R'hllorian we could gave some interesting discussions.

9) Rangers are always badass and cool, we need more of those too:)

*Edit, I didn't notice that Theomore said the exact same as me, sorry for parroting him!

Reader indicated that I might get cadre without persuasion 5, so I am not too sure if that one applies, I ultimately decided against it though, then again, I have deception 5 which might act as a substitute.