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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 4017840" data-attributes="member: 13892">Incidentally, this reminds me of a rule mod that I had worked out for another system -- basically, in exchange for extra points up front (for character building), a player defined conditions of their PC's ultimate fate (i.e., dies in combat, dies fighting a High Priest, dies in the Valkan city of Graile, etc). A player would receive three extra points to spend for each broad condition (i.e., a condition that doesn't mention proper nouns, such as the "dies in combat" above), two points for narrow conditions (conditions that make use of a single proper noun, such as the "dies fighting a High Priest" above), and one point for very narrow conditions (those that mention more than one proper noun, such as "dies in the Valkan city of Graile" above). In D&D, I think that adding two to each of the above values makes more sense. These points may be spent on a 1:1 basis to increase skills, or on a 3:1 basis to increase ability scores. Characters are free to choose as many conditions as they like, though these conditions do have an impact on actual play -- whenever a character is taking action under one of these conditions in actual play, they make all related die rolls at a penalty (thus, increasing the likelihood of misfortune). IIRC, the original mod was to penalize rolls by the same number of points initially granted by said conditions. In D&D, I'd be temped to have the penalties be something like "-1 for broad conditions, -2 for narrow conditions, and -5 for very narrow conditions". In actual play, broad traits occur more often but carry a less severe penalty, while narrow and very narrow traits occur less frequently but carry a much more severe penalty. This system allows the DM to maintain an atmosphere of high lethality while still imparting some level of power to players with regard to how their characters ultimately meet their end. Fate can be cheated, of course, and that's where Chance (in the form of dice rolls) comes in. And alternative (for even more narrative-centered play) is to simply have a player whose character is subject to defined conditions make a Fate Roll with a DC of 10 that is modified by conditions thusly: -1 for broad traits, -2 for narrow traits, -5 for very narrow traits. And maybe, you could have them add their Wisdom mod to the roll (being wuise enough to 'see it coming' might prove handy). Failure to meet or exceed the DC results in instantaneous character death. This is more or less how the mechanic worked in the original mod, though I think that the other method plays more to D&D's strong suits and architecture as a game.</blockquote>

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