Do you use a luck mechanic?

[Stalker0]

I use a homebrew luck mechanic.

Whenever you roll a 10 on a dice, you add your charisma mod to it.

Just like the paladin's blessing to saves, I see charisma as a stat that represents a character's blessing by fate and the like. This seems to make charisma a little less of a dump stat.

 

[S'mon]

I use Fate Points from Conan (& WFRP). I dislike Action Points, especially "spend a point to confirm a crit". Not as bad as Buffy Drama Points though, which give +10 on d10 rolls & totally dominate the game.

 

[Zjelani]

Now that I think more about it, Action Points seems not the right way to simulate luck.

Maybe you could houserule a new ability score: luck (in addition to Str, Dex, etc.). That would emphasize that some people are lucky and others are not. A pickpocket for instance would attempt to rob the character with the lowest score. Then, if they really need luck (like having someone come out of nowhere save them from inescapable death), they could spend an Action Point plus make a Luck check. If the check is successful, something lucky happens.

Well, this houserule needs to be more thought out, but my point is to say that some people are lucky and others unlucky (at least in a fantasy setting), then that something like Conan's fate points is more apropriate.

We're actually trying this right now (Luck as a 7th ability score), and it definitely needs some fine tuning. Some checks are obvious (like when the characters are hanging out in a tavern and try their hand at the card game, or the classic pickpocket choosing his mark), but I'm still trying to think of other ways it can come into play that don't feel too contrived.

Right now, we're using a rule that when you roll a natural 1 or 20 on an action, the PC makes a Luck check (just like a Str check, Dex, etc.). I haven't determined exact DCs and what not, but if the check is pretty high, and it was a 1, then maybe in some roundabout way it is still beneficial, but if it's a natural 1 and a bad Luck check, then you have a classic case of the broken weapon, lockpick, etc. Natural 20 and bad luck roll is still good, of course, but I've considered that maybe when you critical the orc, you hit him so hard you are now off balance or something. However, natural 20 and good luck roll is usually something really beneficial, of course.

I don't know if it's just having a new mechanic or not, but the extra roll on every natural 1 and 20 feels awkward right now. It only comes up a couple times a session, but it feels real tacked on. So we might drop it and just stick with making occassional Luck checks for certain activities. But we'll see. I'm definitely fine tuning as we go (only been 7 or so sessions of a new campaign) and I haven't had a chance to actually list all the different ways the standard ability scores come into play and how I can do similar stuff for a Luck ability score.

 

[the Jester]

No luck rules. No Fate/Action dice. I'm a bona fide rat bastard DM, and thats the way it's going to stay.

Same here. The closest I come is wyrd, which is acquired in-game and comes with restrictions and costs.

 

[Staffan]

Eberronian action points is it for me. I'm considering adding Charisma modifier to the number of AP you get each level, to make Cha less of a dump stat (and it's not as if wilders, sorcerers and paladins don't need the help).

 

[LostSoul]

We're actually trying this right now (Luck as a 7th ability score), and it definitely needs some fine tuning. Some checks are obvious (like when the characters are hanging out in a tavern and try their hand at the card game, or the classic pickpocket choosing his mark), but I'm still trying to think of other ways it can come into play that don't feel too contrived.

Some interesting stuff.

What if you had PCs make a Luck check every so often - it could even be a skill - and, based on that skill check, something dramatic happens. It would be pretty abstract, and not for any specific situation...

For example:

Your swashbuckling Rogue5 wants to sneak into the evil baron's castle. Before he makes any Hide or Move Silently checks, the DM has him roll (or the Player asks to roll) a Luck check. The DC is based on the level of security in the castle. The DM figures the evil Baron to be a paranoid bastard, so the DC is 25.

The Rogue rolls...

• a 27. He gets lucky - the guards sit and talk for a while when they are changing shifts, giving him an excellent chance to make a Hide & Move Silently check to get in.
  
• a 35. One of the guards has his girlfriend come over, and he's away from his post. No stealth rolls needed.
  
• a 20. Basic situation, untampered by the Fates.
  
• a 15. Bad luck. One of the guards is seeing his girlfriend, so the Rogue thinks he can slip by easily. But he slips in the window at the exact wrong moment, and the guard's girlfriend enters the room. She screams like a banshee.

The DM would have to be quick on his feet for something like this to work. Or he could surrender some control (Gods No!) and let the Player have a say in what happens.

 

[LeapingShark]

I use Luck based off a simplification of Spycraft's action point system (always 1d4, explodable, and can only be used to boost d20 rolls, nothing else). It's different than most people's systems in that this roleplaying award can be gained more frequently, averaging about 1 awarded per real time hour. After we started using it a couple years ago, the roleplaying around the table has increased in dramatic fashion. It's really cool!

 

[Boojum]

After considering adding an action-point system to my game for some time and seeing the system in GR's Advanced Player's Guide, I took some ideas from various sources as well as my own thoughts and put together a system. At the beginning of each session, while people are arriving and setting up, every character draws a 3-card fortune from a deck of playing cards. This determines the character's luck score for the night, which is on the same scale as the other ability scores, although it encompasses a wider range. I call for luck checks from time to time in situations where luck would be a determining factor, but the biggest effect is that for every point of Luck bonus, the character gets a Fortune Token or a Misfortune Token, depending on whether the bonus is positive or negative. Fortune Tokens are spent to get a reroll, but substituting the Luck Modifier rather than whatever ability score the check normally uses, or can also be used to get an unquantifiable lucky break in the manner of the jailer's daughter somebody mentioned above. Misfortune Tokens, on the other hand, are spent by the DM to force a PC to reroll a check. The idea was to give an occasional safety net to use when necessary, but without the confidence of being able to always keep a couple of action points in the bank, which I didn't like about some other systems. So far, it has worked pretty well, helping soften the deadliness of my game a bit and increasing the unpredictability (I did kill 3 PCs in the last 2 sessions, but that was mostly because of bad tactics).

 

[Nighthawk]

No, although I would like to try playing with some version of the rule. It would be interesting to find out how it affects gameplay in the playing group.

 

[The Shaman]

Dice.

And Action Points.