User avatar
Pangea
Topic Author
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon 27 May 2019, 23:11

Yule bonus Skill points

Tue 21 Dec 2021, 10:39

Hello all, fellow One Ring loremasters!
It being Yule-time in real life (Happy Holidays to all!)... my question has to do with the Yule Fellowship Phase bonus Skill points Player-heroes earn.
The amount of this bonus is equal to the character's WITS rating.
Personally, I dislike the idea of certain PCs gaining up to 5 more SP than others because of who they are and prefer a more socialist approach to Middle Earth's training.
Thus I intend to give the bonus SP out per session played (either 1 per session, or 1/2 per session, depending on how things go, to remain within the 2 to 7 extra SP).
Thus some of "my" PCs might up to 5 more SP than others, but thanks to what they have done!
My question is: does Wits have less value than Strength and Heart outside the bonus XP awarded from WIts?
Does removing this bonus linked to Wits make Wits a weaker Attribute?
I did not have that impression, but wondered what I might be missing.
Playing in France, and online
 
User avatar
Harlath
Posts: 518
Joined: Sun 19 Jul 2020, 10:40

Re: Yule bonus Skill points

Tue 21 Dec 2021, 16:25

It is important to tweak and house rules games to what you'll enjoy, so bravo!

However, I'd feel a bit short-changed if I was a high Wits player in your game, as I'd have lost a bonus from a stat. So I'd consider giving Wits some other bonus/use to make up for it. How large/small that other bonus/use is depends on your view of how meaningful a part of the use of Wits this is.

Taking a fairly extreme gap of Wits 7 v Wits 2 (albeit you can get up to Wits 8 with a High Elf that uses their Cultural Blessing on Wits), that's a 5 skill point gap per year, or 25 skill points. That's enough to buy a skill up from 0 to 3, so running the numbers it does indeed look like the high Wits character has lost something both mechanically meaningful and that reflects their character's theme.

Idea - "knowledge dice" to spend each adventuring phase or session based on Wits. Perhaps half wits, round down?

So
2-3 Wits = 1
4-5 Wits = 2
6-7 Wits = 3
8 Wits = 4
 
User avatar
Pangea
Topic Author
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon 27 May 2019, 23:11

Re: Yule bonus Skill points

Wed 22 Dec 2021, 20:07

However, I'd feel a bit short-changed
That is what I do not yet have a feel for: does Wits bring less to the table than Strength & Heart, thus the extra XP is part of its set up? (to balance all three stats)
Or is Wits just used to give extra XP to make it feel "logical" (smarter people learn faster than others)?
Playing in France, and online
 
User avatar
Harlath
Posts: 518
Joined: Sun 19 Jul 2020, 10:40

Re: Yule bonus Skill points

Thu 23 Dec 2021, 11:42

I've left off "Sets Skill TN" for each attribute as they all do this for a suite of skills. Albeit you might take a view that one of the suites is better than another.

Hopefully this list helps in making your judgement - as noted, I'd feel I'd lost out on something if I was playing a High Wits character in a game where they lost this bonus, so I think some small alternative bonus is an easy fix. Hopefully the calculation above on what the high Wits character is losing and the suggested replacement use for Wits is of some value.

Admittedly, this list doesn't try to weight the factors below: you might feel that Endurance Boosts/Hope score Bonus/Parry rating boost is worth several items from another of the lists. And naturally the worth of each Attribute differs for different characters. An archer might not have much use for the Parry bonus from Wits if they're hoping to spend a lot of time in Rearward stance. This is a good thing in my opinion, I like that attributes matter more in 2e than 1e. Helps differentiate characters more.

Strength
- Provides an Endurance Boost
- Determines your Combat TN
- Determines your Damage bonus
- Determines Endurance recovered during a Short Rest, or during a Long Rest if Wounded

Heart
- Provides a total Hope score bonus
- Sets your Valour TN
- Sets the rate at which you recover hope in the Fellowship Phase (except Yule, when everyone gets full Hope recovery).

Wits
- Provides a Parry Bonus
- Sets your Wisdom TN
- Provides additional Skill experience in Yule.
 
User avatar
Pangea
Topic Author
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon 27 May 2019, 23:11

Re: Yule bonus Skill points

Thu 23 Dec 2021, 12:50

Thanks a lot!
I'll probably just leave thinks as is for now then... though I do not like the difference in XP, and its long term impact.
Playing in France, and online
 
Dunheved
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed 11 Mar 2020, 02:07
Location: UK

Re: Yule bonus Skill points

Sat 29 Jan 2022, 11:20

Thanks for listing these bonuses. It makes it easy to compare the Attributes against each other. And Wits has been left behind a bit.

Strength & Heart both have influences that are taken during the Adventuring phase, where the Wits feature (bonus SP) is at only ONE of the Fellowship phases.
A new player who picks a high Wits PC is going to see that their Adventuring contribution is relatively reduced, and the payback is a long way off.

So if Pangea wants to address the original point, I would be looking to give an "Adventure Phase Extra" based on Wits to replace the SP disparity. It needs to be useful in play, yet not upset the balance too much.

Tricky.

How about making a few individual ROLLS Favoured during the Adventuring phase? e. g. Wits = 5, One non-favoured Common Skill ROLL is Favoured for one roll only. Wits = 6, two rolls are Favoured; Wits = 7, three such rolls are Favoured. (My narrative would be that the quick thinking PC sees some knack to apply on that one occasion.)

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest