Does the player make the roll for the Emperor's Blessing (+1 Fate Threshold) at the start of each session, or when the character is created?

If he fails the roll does he get anything else instead, because if it;s only determined once in his life that's a pretty crappy deal.

It sonly once at the character generation.

If he fails, he gets nothing (the emperor can be cruel sometimes ).

But its the same randomness as with stats or with wounds.

Does the player make the roll for the Emperor's Blessing (+1 Fate Threshold) at the start of each session, or when the character is created?

The player rolls once during Character Creation and never again.

If he fails the roll does he get anything else instead, because if it;s only determined once in his life that's a pretty crappy deal.

The player does not get anything instead.

However, remember that a player's current Fate Points are refreshed at the beginning of every session, and remember that the GM is free to increase a character's Fate Threshold if he wants to.

I find that the ideal Fate Threshold varies with the size of the group. Large groups need a low Threshold, down to 2'ish with a group of 7. Smaller ones - like 2 players - may need as much as 5.

It sonly once at the character generation.

If he fails, he gets nothing (the emperor can be cruel sometimes ).

But its the same randomness as with stats or with wounds.

Yeah, I don't like that either. I don't really see the point of forcing a situation where the PC is left less than optimal. Either give the PC the +1 Fate, or give him +5 Wounds or something. I enjoy rolling dice and it's a fun gimmick, but it's a stupid clumsy rule that can short change the pc for no good reason and I'm opposed to that. I'm honestly surprised that made it through playtesting.

I find that the ideal Fate Threshold varies with the size of the group. Large groups need a low Threshold, down to 2'ish with a group of 7. Smaller ones - like 2 players - may need as much as 5.

But the group has no say in the outcome, only the player - in fact only the dice.

But the group has no say in the outcome, only the player - in fact only the dice.

Larger groups tend to have more attempts at an action, making Fate Points less valuable for the more mundane stuff.

Again, its irrelevant: the group has no say in how many fate point individuals receive.

I think this was a missed opportunity. In fact I'd go do far add to say ffg should have found better play testers.

A better solution would bye to have everyone roll fire the blessing at the start of each session, fate point replenish each session anyway.

Again, its irrelevant: the group has no say in how many fate point individuals receive.

I completely agree that it's be better if things like Characteristics and FT was Point-Buy.

That said, the GM is free to hand out FT has he sees fit. And free to engineer situations where players are pretty much forced to burn FT. So in practise it's not true that it is beyond the group's control. In practise the GM has full control over the FT of the players.

For example, I have 6 players, and make sure that they all start each session with 1-3FT. Because roughly 2FT per player is what I find works best for a group of our size with out kind of playstyle.

It sonly once at the character generation.

If he fails, he gets nothing (the emperor can be cruel sometimes ).

But its the same randomness as with stats or with wounds.

Yeah, I don't like that either. I don't really see the point of forcing a situation where the PC is left less than optimal. Either give the PC the +1 Fate, or give him +5 Wounds or something. I enjoy rolling dice and it's a fun gimmick, but it's a stupid clumsy rule that can short change the pc for no good reason and I'm opposed to that. I'm honestly surprised that made it through playtesting.

Welcome to the Grimdarkness of the 41st Millenium.

Live is more often than not cruel, not to mention short.

Plus there is a point buy system as an optional rule during creation for stats. I believe this time it is "start at 20 in every stat, don't go higher than 45 in any given stat with the 100 points" Plus a nice +5 -5 depending on aptitudes.

Personally I prefer rolling stats ( especially in a game where your class/roll whatever is determined after stat generation) as I often find that it makes for better roleplaying, especially if your group can handle randomish characters.

While society and the cosmos in the grimdark may be cruel and unfair, the rules system should not be.

Rolling for the Emperor´s Blessing each session actually sounds like a pretty good fix.

It´s worse in Only War, btw. In OW the starting numbering of fate points is not even 'balanced' against other aspects of character generation. Everybody first creates their character on (presumably) equal terms. And then you roll on the fate point table and a lucky player will get three times the number of fate points (and thus survivability) of an average rolling player.

Personally I think all players should start with the same number of fate points, given their importance. All players are invested equally in making their characters. I don't see why some characters should get more "lives" than other characters.

Again, its irrelevant: the group has no say in how many fate point individuals receive.

I think this was a missed opportunity. In fact I'd go do far add to say ffg should have found better play testers.

A better solution would bye to have everyone roll fire the blessing at the start of each session, fate point replenish each session anyway.

This exact same solution was proposed on the beta forums and several people argued against it as balance being a bad thing and unfairness being part of the universe. FFG should have found better customers.

I don't mind some randomness in Fate point totals since it's not excessively randomized. Everyone is generally going to average at 3 Fate points starting, while some will have 2 or 4.