Daggerheart General Thread [+]

[Imaro]

Exactly. It's a self-balancing system. More players means more rolls. More rolls means more referee spotlights and fear. More referee spotlights and fear is limited by how many monsters (and what kinds of monsters), but...thankfully...more PCs also means more monsters. The dice will vary and the stats will vary, but the action economy and relative HP/Stress pools will always to roughly balanced against each other.

This is assuming the average over time... not in any particular game which is whete this type of equal randomness can break down... And as I said earlier Hope, due to crits and some PC powers, happens more often than fear so its not really balanceed.

 

[Imaro]

Remember that you start out with Fear that scales by PC count, and your Long Rest fear gain is likewise d4+ PC count. If you feel like you're not getting enough Fear to act, you could consider scaling the Short Rest from 1d4 tbalanced.

Yes but this is where that cap kicks in... its not that it's not enough to act, it's that the combats feel and play out surprisingly lopsided... whichis why I find the claim these fights are supposed to be deadly in total contrast to how they've played out at my tables

Granted we've only played a handful of sessions, I have a larger than normal group, the d20 can be wonky at the worst times...and we are all new to DH at this point so that could skew what im experiencing...

Do you have the rules yet? Have you read through the "how much Fear per scene" and stuff guidelines?

Yes I have though honestly I'm not going to claim that I've stuck to it in the sessions ive run.

 

[darjr]

So those extra items they had for sale are from this.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Remember that you start out with Fear that scales by PC count, and your Long Rest fear gain is likewise d4+ PC count. If you feel like you're not getting enough Fear to act, you could consider scaling the Short Rest from 1d4 to 1d4+1.

Do you have the rules yet? Have you read through the "how much Fear per scene" and stuff guidelines?

I felt that the “How Much Fear per Scene” was the weakest part of the guidelines. Because the strength of individual Fear moves varies so much, it’s meaningless to classify difficulty based on Fear expended.

 

[Vael]

That said, dropping 10 Fear to spotlight 5 Spectral Guardians and let each use their Fear move against every PC at the table is a heck of a dramatic way to open a combat encounter. It might not have been the wisest move tactically, but it was fun.

 

[overgeeked]

I felt that the “How Much Fear per Scene” was the weakest part of the guidelines. Because the strength of individual Fear moves varies so much, it’s meaningless to classify difficulty based on Fear expended.

Yeah, I'd say that part of the advice was outright terrible. Roughly 45% of PC rolls generate Fear so if you follow those guidelines you're going to be Fear capped almost the entire game.

 

[zakael19]

Yeah, I'd say that part of the advice was outright terrible. Roughly 45% of PC rolls generate Fear so if you follow those guidelines you're going to be Fear capped almost the entire game.

I think it was suggesting how much you should think about spending from the bank, or at least that's how I treat it. If a PC rolls with fear, I'm probably going to do something with that as well - but also considering just what the scene is and where I spend it. Are we battling implacable undead to get in somewhere they're guarding? Sure, spend a decent bit. Are we skirmishing with bandits who'd really rather flee? I might spend some Fear to do traps and displacing stuff.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That doesn't help in a combat where there are more PC's to account for and spend Fear for...especially in a climactic or big battle.

It does though.

Like, mathematically, it simply does. You're getting Fear on almost half of player rolls, regardless of number of PCs/actions (also don't tell the players but 1 Fear is way more powerful than 1 Hope).

Right now I often feel like I can only really focus on a few of my players outside of combat because I have to also be really careful to retain some for combats... meanwhile because hope does have a higher chance of being produced and there are more players... it can often feel like (be??) an imbalance.

I don't think raising the cap will make a difference to that particular thing, I think if anything it'll encourage you to sit on Fear more and do less out of combat because you'll be further from the cap. And Fear and Hope are generated at the same per-action rate regardless of player numbers.

The place I can see it would make a difference is with Long Rests, because they're 1d4 + number of players Fear, and with 6 players, that's like, potentially 10 right there, so you could very easily cap out.

That could potentially necessitate a higher cap, albeit perhaps not by much. Maybe raise it by 1 or 2 per player over 4, if Long Rests are capping you out?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think it was suggesting how much you should think about spending from the bank, or at least that's how I treat it.

I mean, it's literally telling you how much to spend, with no qualifications or guidance about "the bank" (which isn't a thing), and it's an underestimate and if followed will definitely leave you Fear-capped. I presume like many things in many RPGs it's a bit of an artefact from some earlier time design-wise or not quite as considered as some other elements.

I do find it slightly odd the game doesn't even mention becoming Fear-capped (or I missed it if it does), or what to do about it, because there are a fair number of ways it could happen. Maybe it was just something not seen as a concern?

 

[zakael19]

I mean, it's literally telling you how much to spend, with no qualifications or guidance about "the bank" (which isn't a thing)

The store, your accumulated amount, that which you have going into a scene. That’s totally a thing. You’re expected to show this accumulation. Any additional fear you get with a scene that you immediately spend may not be explicitly added, and what you spend at the start of a scene or in a row is coming from your prior accumulation.