ErikSonOfEliah
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Magical success on Healing rolls?

Sun 23 Jan 2022, 17:44

I'm curious how y'all would rule someone using a magical success when making a healing roll to heal a wound on a player. Would you just give it a little narrative flair, or would you count it like the wound will heal a day faster, or would it heal immediately?

I feel like I'm pretty comfortable describing magical successes, but I have a little trouble when it involves a lot of mechanics, like Healing, or even using it in a Council or making a Travel roll for a Journey.
 
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Michele
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Re: Magical success on Healing rolls?

Mon 24 Jan 2022, 11:49

Since any magical success should have an overtly supernatural effect, the most obvious result a magical success could have on a Healing roll is for the wound to be healed instantly, regardless of the number of days it would, so that it looks like nothing less than a miraculous healing.

Alternatively (or additionally), the magical success could allow rolling where it would not otherwise be allowed: for example, if the Player-heroes do not have any basic equipment (such as bandages and ointments) that would allow them to perform a Healing roll, a magical success would consist of a sort of "laying on of hands" by which the wounded companion is healed without the aid of any herb or bandage.

In general, a magical success requires the player and the Loremaster to think: what outcome would be undoubtedly supernatural on a given roll? A magical success is not an extraordinary success in ordinary (or difficult, but still possible) tasks: it is the accomplishment of a task that would not otherwise be possible.
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.
 
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Harlath
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Re: Magical success on Healing rolls?

Mon 24 Jan 2022, 12:44

Great question! I've asked a similar one in the Errata/FAQ as a rule of thumb will be useful here.

There are some good thoughts from Jacob (Editor, contributing author on Rivendell supplement) on treating the Magical success as at least an extra 6: viewtopic.php?f=129&t=8550&hilit=jacob#p64140

"Yeah, it is very important that the narrative impact be appreciated and rewarding. This isn't just the Elf rolls Awareness and the LM answers 'the distant folk are Riders of Rohan' but that the 'the distant folk are Riders of Rohan, 105 in total, with three horses that are riderless, being guided by others. Their spears are very bright but their shields are battered, as if they have recently been in battle. Their leader is very tall. Almost all of them are blond-haired and, though it's hard to tell from here, grim-faced.' That gives a lot more detail, and, more importantly, provides some excellent hints about how a Council might proceed and what questions to ask.

If you have to put a numerical value to it, consider it worth at least one more Tengwar."

But it's also worth thinking about Francesco's reply here: https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2022/01/10 ... -one-ring/ - sometimes magical might scare people in a council.

"Magical successes in councils are tricky, as magic isn’t normally welcome in a formal gathering. Men generally disapprove of it, and that would work contrary to a ‘spot rule’ of adding a 6 to the result. I think it’s better handled based on the circumstances, or as a subtle tool, that as you say does not add successes, but ‘unlocks’ more possibilities"

- For my own part, I like having "extra 6" as a basic rule of thumb to make sure these feel special and don't get missed, but also have them "unlock" possibilities as both Francesco + Jacob touch on. Some special things might only be doable with magic etc.
- In your example, I'd lower the healing time by at least a day, potentially healing it outright. [I note Michele has just posted this!]
- You could also have some wounds/maladies that can only be healed by a Magical Result. If the PCs don't have access, getting to the appropriate loremaster character/finding the right item could be a fun and genre appropriate adventure. Aragorn was a skilled healer, but Frodo's Morgul knife wound needed Elrond's Magical result. :)
- When climbing a cliff as part of a Skill Endeavour by the group, the Elf's magical success allows them to scale the cliff rapidly (multiple successes at the very least, perhaps completing their part of the endeavour on its own). With the elf at the top, I might cut the Resistance by 1 for the others: the Elf helps them up by hand and by rope (if they've got some!). One of the examples in the Star in the Mist touches on this.
 
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Pangea
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Re: Magical success on Healing rolls?

Tue 25 Jan 2022, 08:27

I think you have great answers from Michele and Harlath (at least they help me!).
Personally, for magical successes, I will base my ruling heavily on the roll-- be it a healing roll or any other.
The mechanic is that Hope is spent before the roll-- and then the roll is an automatic success (similar to magically 'buying" a Gandalf). And you "only" roll Skill dice to check for 6s.
And that this is seen as: "allow a Player-hero to exceed the possibilities of mere mortals."
So, if someone had 0 points in Healing, and called for a magical success, with thus no dice rolled-- I would not make the wound heal instantly, since, for me, the miraculous healing would be that this person who has no idea how to heal at all, managed to do so. I'd have it heal normally, but that all be amazed that this happens at all-- narrating that this inept healer suddenly just did exactly what was needed etc. (and not at all by chance-- but as if they somehow did know what to do, as if something came over them ; since it is a Magical Success, not having rolled a Gandalf which would, to me, be a stroke of good luck).
Of course, if many dice are rolled and a high TN would have been reached, and/or 6s are rolled-- I would adapt accordingly, and multiply the outcome of 6s etc..
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