More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

A few simple questions. Would be great to hear the thoughts of Powers that Be, or anyone who wants to take a shot at these –

1. Say you run into a creature with Terror, necessitating a Fright Check – and the creature also happens to match one of your phobias. (It’s not just any ol’ scary snake; it’s a magically enhanced Terror Snake.)

What happens now? It seems easy enough to roll a Fright Check for the Terror, and a separate Fright Check for the phobia, and let the results combine however seems fun. But am I missing something in the rules that officially combines these two Fright Checks into one penalized check or something?

2. Monsters’ Terror ability invokes a straight Fright Check: you meet the monster, you immediately roll vs Will (or 13, whichever is lower), and, if you fail, you suffer stun for at least as many seconds as your margin of failure, and then roll 3d + margin of failure on the Fright Check table for more fun effects.

The Terror spell, meanwhile, runs like this: You meet the wizard, and he casts Terror, which you resist with your Will. This isn’t the actual Fright Check, so your Will isn’t capped at 13, but the Rule of 16 does come into play: the caster’s Terror spell is capped at 16 or your Will, whichever is higher.

Margin of success or failure doesn’t matter in this Contest of Terror vs Will; there's just win or lose. If you win, the spell has no effect; if you lose, you go immediately to a Fright Check as described for monsters’ Terror, but at a -3. (This means you’re more likely to fail, and will suffer up to 3 more initial turns of stunning, and up to 3 points’ worse results on the Fright Check table, than you would have suffered from monster Terror).

So, it would seem that the Terror spell is less harsh than monster Terror on one hand, as there’s that initial chance to completely resist the spell – but if it’s not resisted, the spell hits harder than monster Terror does.

Do I seem to have these two variants of Terror squared away properly?

3. It’s pretty clear from listed weights (and common sense) that a throwing dart is not the same thing as a blowpipe dart. (All the same, in keeping with DFRPG’s overall impressive clarity, this should probably be made explicit somewhere…)

Out of curiosity: Just what is the throwing dart? Whether the classic D&D wizards’ weapon, or the DFRPG equivalent, is this also a real-world thing? If so, who used it, and what does it look like? (It’s half the weight of a javelin; should I picture a half-length javelin?)

4. Not really a question, but a wee oddity (?) for your amusement: On Exploits p57, you can use Tactics skill to shout suggestions and boost an ally’s attack and defense rolls. This seems awfully cinematic, but also fun. I like.

The wee oddity is that these same tactical insights don’t seem to help your own combat rolls in any way. Or to highlight the oddity a bit more: The knight with amazing Tactics-18 doesn’t get any bonuses on rolls from his own battlefield brilliance – but if the thief with his middling Tactics-12 advises the knight from the sidelines, the knight boosts his attack and defense rolls. (Overall, anyway; there’s some hit and miss, depending on the thief’s rolls.)

No complaint here; "Yeah, it’s a little weird, but it’s fun" works for me. But if there’s more to the situation than I’m seeing, lay it on me!

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

3: I think the throwing dart is a Roman Plumbata or similar. Basically weighted short javelin, not small darts

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

The original, combat version, of a lawn dart.

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

Figure a lawn dart used as a weapon.

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

My reading of the section on p. 57 is that it is mostly about being an observer from a distance. In your example, the knight would be able to give himself much better advice than the thief, but he's in the thick of it so he can't notice the tactical elements that the thief can see by taking a Do Nothing maneuver and watching the melee from a bit of distance. I have zero real life combat experience or knowledge, but it fits my cinematic picture to have someone yell out, "He's favoring his right leg!" and having it give a bit of a bonus. Of course, if this were to happen often enough, it might behoove the knight to offer to tutor the thief (or pay for classes) and have him invest in a higher skill level over time.

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

Yeah, the "second pair of eyes" effect. Again, it's all a wee odd, but we can let that slide in the name of fun. I do understand the bigger-picture intent: letting players outside of a fight do something useful...

Re darts: Thanks to those who answered. I think plumbata sounds about right. (And... lawn darts? Well, those are made to be thrown in that goofy underhand way, so I take it that's not too serious a suggestion... but, hey, if it's amusing at the DFRPG table, that works too. "Imma show those Orcs that there's a reason these babies were banned in the US and Canada...")

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

1. Phobias and the effects of the Terror advantage aren't combined. Roll a self-control roll for the Phobia and a Will roll (capped at 13) for the Terror. If you fail either, add the margin to 3d and go crazy. This is one of those cases where more dice-rolling adds to the fun. Well, I think so. :)

2. Just as in GURPS, if you don't resist the Terror spell, you have a difficult Fright Check to attempt. This Fright Check isn't meant to be affected by the resistance roll vs. magic, and the Terror spell and Terror advantage don't work quite the same way.

3. The dart looks like a plumbata. Think of an arrow with a lead weight behind the head so that it comes down point-first on the enemy. Yes, a "war lawn dart." It was a real thing.

4. Tactics only helps real-time combat rolls when the person using it takes a whole turn for a Do Nothing maneuver while the person benefiting from it takes their usual maneuver. In effect, it's the result of having two brains working on the problem of not losing a fight. If you can somehow rig things so that you have two brains, go ahead and use Tactics to help yourself.

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

Hm. +1 attack and defense, and only requires 50 points of compartmentalized mind. Doesn't seem worth it..

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

Rolling for the effects of mind-blowing terror? Yep, that's the fun stuff. : )

2. The difference between the Terror spell and Terror advantage seems pretty clear by following the text, but thanks for the confirmation. Always a help to hear that I'm reading something correctly...

3. Okay, we'll go with the lawn darts image. By the rules, it's actually not a bad weapon: not so accurate, but it has the best range of any thrown weapon outside a boomerang. Orcs and lawns, beware...

4. You're right, the Do Nothing requirement is a big factor.

This is a situation that would meld nicely with house rules making the effects of GURPS' Evaluate dependent upon a roll (vs Tactics in this case), with the out-of-melee advisor transferring his Evaluate to the fighter who's too busy to perform his own Evaluate...

...but, that's well outside of DFRPG territory. Never mind.

Re: More simple DFRPG questions: Terror, darts, and Tactics
 

And it needs a skill roll...

OTOH, if you bought that for other reasons, and for whatever reason have nothing better to use it for on a given turn, you may as well take advantage.