ladySeion
First Post
to screw my players' life a bit more than usual ![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
and inspired by several game books I used to play long before I came up w/ D&D, I decided to get them a luck testing method. this is done by throwing a d6: 2, 4 and 6 mean good luck, 1, 3 and 5 mean bad luck. if they get lucky, I allow them to do/see several things, if not I don't.
example: an inconspicuous drow is among the crowd, ready to murder the elven king during the spring festivities. my party is among the crowd. I tell them to test their luck: if lucky, they have a bad feeling about the whole thing and can make a spot check. if not, they are distraught by the festivities and don't even realize there's a drow in the crowd. (I don't usually ask for skill checks, so even if they fail, they know there's something going wrong. for this, sometimes luck means nothing at all. I sometimes ask for luck checks just for them to find a silver coin on the ground or so)
also, in some occasions, how lucky or unlycky they are depends on how high the number is.
example: for some reason, one of my player decides to roam around the town for a couple of hours. when he's going through an alley I ask for a luck test. if he draws a 6, he sees a coin on the ground and the attack from a random enemy hidden in the alley fails. if he draws a 4, someone screams and he's able to get out of ir with 1/3 normal damage. if he draws a 2, he can use a reflex save to halven the damage. if he draws 5, he can use the reflex save as well. if he gets 3, he uses a listen check to hear the opponen approaching and receives only 2/3 of the the normal damage. if he gets 1 he receives full damage.
luck testing came to be useful for gambling as well. one of my players is a common gambler, usually dice or cards. instead of gambling against him, I use luck to check for how much did he win with the same method as before (6= compelte win, 1= complete failure, and so on)
I have also used luck testing to make my players enter sidequests, earn/lose gold and receiving non-fighting XP. a good example happened with a newbie player once. e got luck in an inn, the barmaid came onto him and I gave him XP for it (not much, just 70-something).
I don't usually ask for skill checks, I let the players do them. if I ask for luck and the player is unlucky, I won't let him make any skill checks until the unlucky event happens, or he would probably find what was wrong. taking up the first example, I say something like 'You are distracted by the festivities and the guard is heavy around the place. It wouldn't even cross your mind to be worried.'
it's a nice way to spicen the game, imho
and inspired by several game books I used to play long before I came up w/ D&D, I decided to get them a luck testing method. this is done by throwing a d6: 2, 4 and 6 mean good luck, 1, 3 and 5 mean bad luck. if they get lucky, I allow them to do/see several things, if not I don't.example: an inconspicuous drow is among the crowd, ready to murder the elven king during the spring festivities. my party is among the crowd. I tell them to test their luck: if lucky, they have a bad feeling about the whole thing and can make a spot check. if not, they are distraught by the festivities and don't even realize there's a drow in the crowd. (I don't usually ask for skill checks, so even if they fail, they know there's something going wrong. for this, sometimes luck means nothing at all. I sometimes ask for luck checks just for them to find a silver coin on the ground or so)
also, in some occasions, how lucky or unlycky they are depends on how high the number is.
example: for some reason, one of my player decides to roam around the town for a couple of hours. when he's going through an alley I ask for a luck test. if he draws a 6, he sees a coin on the ground and the attack from a random enemy hidden in the alley fails. if he draws a 4, someone screams and he's able to get out of ir with 1/3 normal damage. if he draws a 2, he can use a reflex save to halven the damage. if he draws 5, he can use the reflex save as well. if he gets 3, he uses a listen check to hear the opponen approaching and receives only 2/3 of the the normal damage. if he gets 1 he receives full damage.
luck testing came to be useful for gambling as well. one of my players is a common gambler, usually dice or cards. instead of gambling against him, I use luck to check for how much did he win with the same method as before (6= compelte win, 1= complete failure, and so on)
I have also used luck testing to make my players enter sidequests, earn/lose gold and receiving non-fighting XP. a good example happened with a newbie player once. e got luck in an inn, the barmaid came onto him and I gave him XP for it (not much, just 70-something).
I don't usually ask for skill checks, I let the players do them. if I ask for luck and the player is unlucky, I won't let him make any skill checks until the unlucky event happens, or he would probably find what was wrong. taking up the first example, I say something like 'You are distracted by the festivities and the guard is heavy around the place. It wouldn't even cross your mind to be worried.'
it's a nice way to spicen the game, imho
