I understand the 2d12, the d10 and +6 (quality and Mighty)...where is the other +1 coming from?

I also understand that dice can sometimes just get hot. (This happened 1x with Mark Fischer during the last Arcanicon round, but it only happened 1x)...he just happened to have it happen to him on top of 2-3 others pulling the same numbers. Having an occasional hot dice scenario can make for an interesting story to tell in and of itself (e.g. Indiana Jones vs. the Cairo Swordsman)...but if you have a T3 Adversary with 80-ish Stamina and most tables are 2-shotting him, it seems to be a very anti-climactic story. If (story-wise) fights are meant to be easy, they will be (and we had some examples of them at Arcanicon). However, if an encounter is designed as Lethal (like, say, facing a Master Ymandragoran Harvester, multiple Thralls, and friends)...it should be an intensely scary fight. If it isn't, then that is a concern either in terms of rules balance or writing/fight construction.

Hmm. Ursula swings a heirloom Tralian Hammer with a d10 Might die. Assuming I'm not doing anything fancy just a basic attack, I figure I average 12 points of damage every 6 ticks. Assuming hit of course. Don't see that as all that overpowering. Hitting somebody comparable to me would mean 7 points of damage after AR. Hardly a game changer. IF dice explode that's another story... . As a GM or a player my radar goes off if something seems to good to be true. And I will ask how you did that. One to make sure you are playing fair, and two to make sure I'm not missing something I can take advantage of.

I don't know if he actually had the huge talent or was just describing himself as huge (6' tall gnome).

I asked him about his damage and he explained the dice part (which sounded legit but I didn't double-check sources or anything). I didn't get a chance to ask about the static +8 as I only played with him the last two slots and the only real combat was in the last slot (and I was tired and the slots didn't leave a lot of extra time for talking).

One ironic thing (to me) is that it is legal to get Smite (talent) and Smite (spell) dice on the same attack (at least I think it is - I haven't double-checked as I don't yet have the spell).

All a Smite Spell and Smite Talent does is (as per the errata) die bump the static d4 in the talent. I am not a fan of this, but it still makes the combo effective.

Just letting you guys know, I started a new thread about this damage analysis so we do not (further) derail this topic about Solidify Water (sp).

I know the gnome’s player well, but don’t know the exact build. He’s an Ansharan gnome with an 8 might, hunched back (+2 damage) and large hands (might die bump to d12). He uses rings of might (a might rune) to boost his might die to 2d6. He uses skin of thorns which give +2 damage and poison 1d8, (Attack/Speed: 2 at 4 Ticks/4 Tick). So I know where he gets the 2d6 + d4 + 4 and +d8 potential poison (ave 16 damage, plus lingering poison). Not sure how he got a total of +8 instead of +4, but he might have some, or there might have been allied bonus’s in play at the time. The killer is that he's speed 3.

He's not huge, he's just a large man sized (6' before the hump), which is not what most people think of for a gnome.

Back to angry Yaricites ...



I am mixed about this. I think that if you really were helpless then...yeah you should "gack-able." That's what it means to be helpless. Try not to end up there. But maybe reading behind what Josh wrote, I also don't think PCs should be helpless very often. I can be helpless in real life. I expect my PCs to be more capable.

If we just fix the spell we are potentially leaving other situations open where a PC might be rendered "helpless" by a combat effect. Is this what we want? The only other big source of helplessness I know of are Ymandragoran Thralls who leave people helpless for 12 ticks. Do we want to change that as a campaign? Or are the Thralls supposed to be *that* scary? That's really a question for the campaign...but I agree with Josh that's its something that should be revisited and thought out.

Bad experience with those. 36 ticks in one combat just standing there, waiting to be killed...

Short answer, yes. They are supposed to be that scary.

That said... Helpless is a really, really rough mechanic. We'll take a look at it (at least within the shared world campaign) and see what, if anything, needs to be done.

A review of the mechanics make things far less dire under normal circumstances than is being considered. This isn't to say that quick ways to render lots of characters helpless couldn't end in a TPK, but please consider the following:

First, so we're clear on the mechanics here, let me bring the condition as written in:

A:RPG 318
"Helpless
A Helpless creature cannot defend itself, cannot act, and is typically prone unless otherwise propped up. Such a creature is complete at the mercy of the environment and the actions of others. Helpless characters have an Avoidance of 11. Successful melee attacks against Helpless characters are automatically Critical Successes. The attacker may, at his option, elect to withhold Wound damage inflicted by a melee attack against a Helpless creature to reduce its Stamina to 0."

A few additional points here.
1. As soon as the first attack lands while under the effects of Solidify Water, the spell ends. I would expect this would be to drop the character to 0 stamina, but if a wound is dealt instead they are no longer helpless just wounded.
2. A character vanquished by stamina is also considered Helpless. So the situation comes up far more frequently than some may think. (Details: A:RPG p.315 - The Damage Roll)
3. A character vanquished by stamina can still be returned to combat using Leadership, Channeling, or similar healing spells. They will certainly be a lot more likely to go down again, but can be put out of immediate danger.
4. To kill a PC who will have 3 wounds or more starting at a Vigor of 3 (most mods run under the massive damage rules these days) would take 4 attacks to cause the target to be bleeding out. The first to drop them to 0 Stamina, the next 3 to do enough Wound damage to cause them to be vanquished by Wounds. Even then the player gets a TN:15 action roll to avoid death. The truly dangerous spell here is Strength of Fallen Foes. That spell specifically states "You must cast this spell upon a living creature that has been vanquished within the last 12 ticks. That creature is instantly killed..." (A:RPG p. 431)
5. GMs are provided instructions under the Vanquished section. (A:RPG p.316) Specifically: "It is recommended that Chroniclers reserve lethal encounters for major climactic points in the story. Heroes shouldn't die hollow and meaningless deaths."

Based on the above, I am not convinced that either the condition or the spell needs fixing. If there is something I'm missing, please call it out.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul