Hello everyone,

My group is getting ready to start playing the 3rd edition. After reading the rules (we haven't played yet) I have a question or two to you guys! I'm afraid the trickle is going to change into something bigger soon.

So

1. Unfortunately the combat example in the book deals only with the PC making an attack. What happens next? The beastman attacks the elf, which means the Game Master rolls the dice, uses an action for the beastman and so on. Right? The elf can declare dodge or parry or block (assuming he is eglible for those). The defense actions are reaction actions right? They don't count towards the action limit of a PC?

2. Social encounters. Are they as simple as just rolling the dice and GM setting a difficulty (adding challenge/black dice to the pool)? Can NPCs influence characters the same way?

Thanks for your help!

Skie said:

1. Yes, you pick turns based on the initiative track, so if the beastman initiative token is next the Beastman get to act; he can then use any of the basic actions (or if he has any special actions he can use them). Reactions can be used whenever their trigger occurs, so the elf can actually declare that he uses all three of the active defenses if he wants (and has a shield equipped, which I don't think he has) or one of them, or none. Reactions do not count toward the limit of one action per turn (even if you make a reaction in your own turn).

2. Social encounters are really badly covered in the core rules. A social encounter encounter is played in encounter mode, if you only have one check (a PC haggling with a merchant) it would not be an encounter but rather just a check during story mode.

A basic social encounter could involve the use of an event tracker which is used to measure how close the PCs are to completing a task (and can also involve events along the way, rally phases, branching points and so on). If there's an opponent in the social conflict they can have their own token that gets to advance on the track. During the social encounter you take turns with initiative as in combat, but now play social actions rather than combat actions. Perform a stunt can be used by characters that don't have any social actions. Skills can be used as manouvres (only for skills that do not affect the opponents or the event track itself, that's hwo we play it at least). But using only the core rules you have to do a lot of stuff yourself to construct a social encounter.

The Lure of Power contains more material for social encounters. Here the concept of Shame is introduced as a kind of wound threshold for social encounters.

1. Yes, that sounds right.

2. Social encounters can be handled a variety of ways, depending on the circumstances. It is usually up the the GM. Social encounters could be a race, or a tug-of-war to influence someone. Usually those are tracked on a tracker. Social encounters, obviously, for the most part use social actions. Typically social actions are Contested actions (unlike most attack actions). As such, their difficulty is based on the stat & skills of the target, rather than the default difficulty of 1 for most combat actions. So, an attempt to seduce someone would likely consist of several rolls of Charm vs Discipline, for example. Or depending on the situation (perhaps two men attempting to seduce the same woman), might be a mix of charm and deceit, or even some other checks between the two men, depending on the player/NPC actions. For example, if one man decides to threaten the other, or catch the other in a lie to make him look bad, etc.

Thank you for clearing that up for me. Two more questions:

1. The book says that at the end of the active player round he/she removes one token from each recharging action card. Does it include the cards that he's just played? For example, Grom the Dwarf uses Shield Slam, succeeds, he places the tokens on the card, his turn is about to end, he removes one from the card?

2. Are there any rules for disengaging? The rulebook says only that you must perform a manuever to do so, but some cards seems to indicate that it's not as simple an you may be attacked (for free?). Or it really is so simple and I'm reading too much into the cards?

3. What's the point of Rally Step? I understand it's role between combat encounters, but for example a small combat encounter is over, the party gets into a town, rests for a day or two and starts and investigation. In the combat the priest used healing spells and block cards - are they on recharge for the whole time until the next combat occurs? How does it work? He can't cast healing spells multiple times after that combat?

*1. The book says that at the end of the active player round he/she removes one token from each recharging action card. Does it include the cards that he's just played? For example, Grom the Dwarf uses Shield Slam, succeeds, he places the tokens on the card, his turn is about to end, he removes one from the card?

A: You remove them from EACH recharging card. Yes, you remove the first token from Shield Slam essentially right after it is played (that round).

* 2. Are there any rules for disengaging? The rulebook says only that you must perform a manuever to do so, but some cards seems to indicate that it's not as simple an you may be attacked (for free?). Or it really is so simple and I'm reading too much into the cards?

A: You need to spend a Maneuver to disengage, otherwise you can have the monster attack the PC. If the PC has already used their free maneuver, they will need to gain a Fatigue to get the extra maneuver.

* 3. What's the point of Rally Step? I understand it's role between combat encounters, but for example a small combat encounter is over, the party gets into a town, rests for a day or two and starts and investigation. In the combat the priest used healing spells and block cards - are they on recharge for the whole time until the next combat occurs? How does it work? He can't cast healing spells multiple times after that combat?

A: Rally steps were designed to break a combat in half so that the players get a chance to regroup if things getting hairy. They are not essential to running a WFRP game, but some careers or actions have abilities tied to the Rally Step.

A: The "Resting in Town thing" is deliberately vague and up to the GM to decide how long a character can recover. If the GM says so, you can't just sit around all day and use "assess the situation" or all of your healing spells over and over and over. ALL GMs should decide exactly how this is going to work in their games in general

Emirikol said:

Rally steps can happen inside a combat encounter or in story mode (they usually signify the end of an Act). But in principle you can have a Rally step whenever you want. Story-wise it may represent circumstances changing and the players catching their breath before deciding on a new course of action. I'm not sure I agree with " so that the players get a chance to regroup if things getting hairy", the mechanical benefit for the players to get a Rally step is quite limited, while the GM gets to reset the ACE budget for all the NPCs involved. A rally step may just as well mean that things are about to get even hairier .

As far as I know all cards used in an encounter loses all recharge tokens once the encounter ends. When you use actions/talents in story mode they don't lose their recharge tokens until the end of the Act (that's my interpretation in any case, I think that's quite undefined in the written rules). Healing has some additional rules (check the FAQ), basically only allowing active healing of each wound once.

i have got some questions also.

Talent cards focus: Serene: when using willpower checks to recover stressw you may recover one additional stress. What willpower check are we talking about here? I cant find any check that does that.

Skill specialization: when a check must be made on a specialized skill can only the ones with the specialazation do this? or only the one with the coresponding groupskill?

Also it says one of the benefids of completing a carreer u get specializations. Or those ALL specializations possible within the skills of your carreer? or only the spexializations where you have traind the groupskill?

Weapons: start weapon is mentiond as a light crossbow. What are the stats? I can only find crossbow on the ref. sheet. Als a bow is mentioned but i can see only a longbow and a shortbow.

Actions: on many action cards is mentiond support, social or teamwork, social or reaction, social. Can everyone get the action cards with teamwork, support and reaction? And who can use judgement?

page 60 rulebook: in the example in the rulebook there is an elve who pulls his bow with free manoeuvre. And the prepares it with another manoeuvre because it is said on the actioncard accurate shot. I cant find the text on it that says prepare before shoothing. Or do i missread something?

Are there more advanced actions beyond rank 2 coming? since you can level up higher then rank 2…..

this are some guestions i can come up with now perhaps someone can awnser some?

thanks

Rally is primarily intended for 'lengthy' cinematic combats. Following the flow of movies, combats often tend towards a series of "waves" of enemies, which get progressively more difficult for the heroes.

For example, a combat might involve wave 1 as a group of goblins attacking the PCs. Once the goblins are defeated or cowed, there is a rally step to catch their breath as the next wave is revealed… the Orc slavemaster and pet squig that were leading the goblins steps forward (wave 2). The PCs fight the orc+squig, and once they defeat/drive back the orc slavemaster, seeing imminent defeat, he blows a whistle that is around his neck. Everything stops as a roar erupts and the tread of heavy footsteps sounds (rally step). A Troll suddenly appears (wave 3!) from the darkness, heading hungrily towards the PCs.

Hello,

One more question that appeared during our game.

Halflings have a racial bonus of +2 Black Dice for those who want to spot them. But how does it work when the halfling is actually sneaking? We assume that most actions are from the hero-perspective, so the halfling player rolls his sneaking plus any challenge/black dice that come from the opposition.

For example the situation is that there is a guard actively looking for the halfing who wants to sneak past. Who should roll?

Skie said:

Different GMs deal with the question of who should roll in different ways.

My general rule of thumb is that the "active" participant is the one who makes the roll. So if for instance the guard was just standing at his post and the halfling was trying to sneak past, then I would have the halfling make the Stealth roll vs. the guards Observation. If the halfling is just trying to hide and the guard is actively looking for him, then I would have the guard make an Observation roll vs. the Halflings Stealth.

Other GMs follow the school of thought that since the player's are the center of the story that they should be the ones to make the roll in 90% of situations. That's not a bad philospohy to follow, but if you are going to do that you may want to house-rule the halflings ability to give them 2 Fortune when sneaking or something, since they'll always be making rolls against their opponents rather than the other way around.

Good explanation. I'm usually of the camp that has the players make all the rolls: the halfling rolls stealth when the guard is looking for him. After the success or failure, there's the "Looks like he went around the corner, so what do you want to do now?"

jh