[hal]

The avalanche has begun thanks to the shriek of surprise.

As GM, I've outlined that the sequence of events are such that:

A) All characters get a roll versus Observation to determine that the Avalanche has begun.

B) player characters and NPCs need to roll versus IQ or be mentally stunned (ie surprised) at the developing situation.

C) anyone not stunned, can attempt to run for their lives, or look for a way to survive the incoming avalanche in the hopes that there is a cluster of rocks they can shelter behind, or failing that, determine the best route to run to avoid the worst of the Avalanche itself.

D) anyone who runs for more than 5 seconds through the snow needs to roll a DX saving roll as they run through uneven terrain. As the players have only 25 seconds of time available, that will be a total of 5 saving rolls before the Avalanche hits under the best of circumstances, or more likely 4 saving rolls.

E) anyone caught in the avalanche, needs to make various saving rolls versus DX and/or HT to determine how deeply they will be buried, plus an IQ orientation roll to determine which way is up or down even. So plenty of saving rolls will be involved. The closer to the edge of the Avalanche the characters are, the better their saving rolls will be.

At which point of the list above, will the +2 blessing come into play, and/or be lost on a failure?

As GM? I'd have it that the blessing works at all times as a +2 bonus for all rolls made by the player or against the player directly (on behalf of an active foe), and only be disappated during phase E of the die rolling, as those rolls directly impact on taking damage, or surviving a given situation.

A crit failure during Phase A, and being negated by the Bless, means our poor player character (ie YOUR player character) will have no blessing to save their lives when the Avalanche finally hits. If that's how you'd like it, by all means, we'd use your interpretation Polaris ;)

During Phase B, it directly impacts on how quickly you can act to get to the edge of the Avalanche. But again, your character's life is not in direct danger of taking damage, dying, etc. The loss of your blessing to avoid being stunned is of course, very important, but again - no damage is being taken nor any possibility of damage being inflicted. A loss of the blessing here and now will result in no Blessing for phase E.

Phase C? An IQ saving roll to best assess your survival chances might be important, but again, not directly life threatening at that moment. Same with Phase D - running full out to avoid the worst of the Avalanche is a survival trait to be sure, but the Blessing's loss at this point likely will be catestrophic for the player character.

Only in Phase E, where a Crit failure could result in massive damage or even Death - should the blessing be expended in an effort to miraculously spare the blessed's life.