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DerynifanK

March 17, 2024, 03:48:44 PM
Happy St Patrick's Day. Enjoy the one day of the year when the whole world is Irish.

Rules Errata

Started by Bynw, May 19, 2018, 11:12:26 AM

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Bynw

You know Laurna, I like that. Might create a new Trait for 2nd Sight for those seventh sons of a seventh son and others too of course.
President pro tempore of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Fan Club
IRC Administrator of #Deryni_Destinations
Discord Administrator of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Discord
Administrator https://www.rhemuthcastle.com

DesertRose

That is a great explanation, Laurna.  It makes me think of Morgan's discussion with Dhugal wherein Alaric uses fire as a metaphor for power in general and Deryni abilities specifically.  :D
"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls.  (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

Laurna

#32
To extend this theory into the animal world, I think there are creatures in dark places that can create and extinguish light like handfire, Light they can even move away from their bodies. I will bet there are colonies of animals that can use Rapport among st themselves to warn of danger. Not verbal calls like in our world but mental calls. I think there might even be small creatures like reptiles or such that send out energy pulses to stun their prey. Let us be thankful the dinosaur sized lizard that can do that has become extinct. I love the idea of creatures that favor certain types of stone that they have become attuned to. When danger comes they portal between their favored stones, making them impossible to find or to catch.
If we stay in the world of the eleven kingdoms long enough and start to do scientific studies we might just discover these things.
But alas at the moment we are not explorers.
May your horses have wings and fly!

revanne

That is fascinating and a very helpful way of looking at it.

"Our players live in a medieval world where science has not yet progressed enough to study how magic works and to find a way to do it if you were not born to it. But that may come in time."

The limiting factor for the Deryni world to do this exploration might be the challenge it posed to Deryni. KK has provided a strong ethical framework but we see so many times how that is subverted by those who wish to see their power unchallenged. 

I can see a parallel in our world. In many ways there was no reason why the ancient world could not have developed technology, the mathematical framework, even allowing for the absence of zero was there. What was lacking was motivation. The prevalence of slavery, and the ready supply of slaves in the Roman Empire together with the disregard for their well-being meant that there was plenty of man-power available to provide a comfortable and leisured lifestyle for the wealthy and powerful.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46 v1)

Bynw

So what have we seen the Border Second Sight character due in KK's writings?
President pro tempore of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Fan Club
IRC Administrator of #Deryni_Destinations
Discord Administrator of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Discord
Administrator https://www.rhemuthcastle.com

DesertRose

Quote from: Bynw on May 24, 2018, 03:10:17 PM
So what have we seen the Border Second Sight character due in KK's writings?

Ciard seems to have been the main example, and he could dowse, feel the approach of people he knew well, and seemed to be at least slightly prescient.
"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls.  (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

revanne

Bethane could also be an example. Unless I am misremembering she isn't Deryni, although she was married to one. So there is some skill at least in spell craft. I have never been sure whether the Jessamin (spelling?) crystal which killed Bronwen and Kevin was misset by accident or by malice. There is some suggestion that long years of loneliness and brooding on the past have sent her slighty mad.

KK drops quite a few hints that it is "Second Sight" that has bred a greater tolerance for Deryni in the borders so I think that it must have at least some Deryni traits, most likely in the area of knowing more than is the normal human range.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46 v1)

DesertRose

Quote from: revanne on May 24, 2018, 03:32:28 PM
Bethane could also be an example. Unless I am misremembering she isn't Deryni, although she was married to one. So there is some skill at least in spell craft. I have never been sure whether the Jessamin (spelling?) crystal which killed Bronwen and Kevin was misset by accident or by malice. There is some suggestion that long years of loneliness and brooding on the past have sent her slighty mad.

KK drops quite a few hints that it is "Second Sight" that has bred a greater tolerance for Deryni in the borders so I think that it must have at least some Deryni traits, most likely in the area of knowing more than is the normal human range.

That's a good point.  I think KK deliberately left a question about the setting of the jerraman hanging as to whether Bethane just messed up or meant it to be fatal.

And it might well be that those who have the Second Sight are in something of a gray area between human and Deryni.
"If having a soul means being able to feel love, loyalty, and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans."

James Herriot (James Alfred "Alfie" Wight), when a human client asked him if animals have souls.  (I don't remember in which book the story originally appeared.)

Laurna

Waren De Gray  could be a second sighter  that just happened to be lucky enough and rare enough to have gained healing. He is not Deryni at all but he could have boarder blood. it might be a rare boarder gift that is seen but the healer usily is just a clan physisian who appears to be skilled or  really good. maybe the healing is not as high a quality as a Deryni Healer.
May your horses have wings and fly!

DerynifanK

As I recall thougu, Warin de Gray healed a man with severe crush injuries and multiple broken bones which seems equal to Deryni healing. Don' T think it was ever resolved where his healing ability came from. Still a mystery  I think,
"Thanks be to God there are still, as there always have been and always will be, more good men than evil in this world, and their cause will prevail." Brother Cadfael's Penance

Laurna

SKILL TEST?

The question has come up on what/how to accomplish an accurate skill test. I know that I did it wrong. I will not change my posting, but I would like to know how to do it right.
The characters have discovered the portal cordinates(that is a seperate test for this)
This is how Bynw explained the next step:
QuoteNow, anyone can check for a Trapped Portal before making a jump. It's a Standard Test (2d6) vs the skill of the person who set the trap. In a tie, defender (the person who set it always wins.) If the person who set the trap wins the roll, then the person checking for the trapped Portal cannot tell if it is or not trapped. But they wont know how it is trapped. I would give a Spell Master Advantage at checking for a trapped Portal.
On this particular Test. The person checking to see if it is Trapped or not, must get 2 or more successes.  (2 successes means that two dice in one roll must be a 5 and or 6)

1)So a character checking to see if the portal is trapped has to do a skill test against the person who set the trap.
I was thinking that the skill test was like an initiative test. Who ever scored highest wins. Apparently this is wrong.

First, I think that the person setting the trap should roll for his skill level at the time that he set the trap and then every one else after that just has to beat that number. But as Bywn has tried to explain it to me this still is not correct. Just a bit confused here.

2) Once a character has detected a trap. Bywn said:
QuoteAs you can already tell I made the trap non-lethal. A Ritual Magic Trait or Spell Master Trait roll would be required to break the enchantment of the Trap without destroying the Portal. This would also take two Successes.
My NPC's did not get this far so I did not even try for this test. Still confused.

Therefore, I had the NPC (poor Sextus) jump to a trapped portal that he did not know was trapped.

QuoteYes the Portal is trapped, to what degree is the question really. Feyd is skilled but his not a Master. I'm going to go with it causing unconsciousness in anyone not properly attuned to it. They would get a Save Test (2d6 to avoid being unconscious but they would be highly disoriented.)

Sextus did a Save test and the poor man failed miserably. Snake eyes. (I have seen dozens of snake eyes in this game and only once seen double 6's, I have to question that, but that is for a different conversation about cursed Torenthi dice.)

So let us go back to the beginning. What should I have done?

May your horses have wings and fly!

Bynw

Quote from: Laurna on May 27, 2018, 12:35:48 PM
SKILL TEST?

The question has come up on what/how to accomplish an accurate skill test. I know that I did it wrong. I will not change my posting, but I would like to know how to do it right.
The characters have discovered the portal cordinates(that is a seperate test for this)
This is how Bynw explained the next step:
QuoteNow, anyone can check for a Trapped Portal before making a jump. It's a Standard Test (2d6) vs the skill of the person who set the trap. In a tie, defender (the person who set it always wins.) If the person who set the trap wins the roll, then the person checking for the trapped Portal cannot tell if it is or not trapped. But they wont know how it is trapped. I would give a Spell Master Advantage at checking for a trapped Portal.
On this particular Test. The person checking to see if it is Trapped or not, must get 2 or more successes.  (2 successes means that two dice in one roll must be a 5 and or 6)

1)So a character checking to see if the portal is trapped has to do a skill test against the person who set the trap.
I was thinking that the skill test was like an initiative test. Who ever scored highest wins. Apparently this is wrong.

First, I think that the person setting the trap should roll for his skill level at the time that he set the trap and then every one else after that just has to beat that number. But as Bywn has tried to explain it to me this still is not correct. Just a bit confused here.

2) Once a character has detected a trap. Bywn said:
QuoteAs you can already tell I made the trap non-lethal. A Ritual Magic Trait or Spell Master Trait roll would be required to break the enchantment of the Trap without destroying the Portal. This would also take two Successes.
My NPC's did not get this far so I did not even try for this test. Still confused.

Therefore, I had the NPC (poor Sextus) jump to a trapped portal that he did not know was trapped.

QuoteYes the Portal is trapped, to what degree is the question really. Feyd is skilled but his not a Master. I'm going to go with it causing unconsciousness in anyone not properly attuned to it. They would get a Save Test (2d6 to avoid being unconscious but they would be highly disoriented.)

Sextus did a Save test and the poor man failed miserably. Snake eyes. (I have seen dozens of snake eyes in this game and only once seen double 6's, I have to question that, but that is for a different conversation about cursed Torenthi dice.)

So let us go back to the beginning. What should I have done?


For your skills/Traits, including combat with hand to hand or weapons, all of these Tests are done either at Disadvantage (1d6), Normal/Standard (2d6), or Advantage (3d6). Each die is taken separately from the others. In other words they are not added together. Success is generally a 5 or 6 on any single die. Although this number number can be as low as 3 in some cases or in others it needs to be a 6. In some cases you will need to acquire more than 1 success in order to succeed.

Initiative Test, which is done at the beginning of Combat, is the only Test (currently) that the dice are added together.

For the Trapped Portal. I did roll the dice for Feyd ahead of time. He got 1 success on 2d6, which was a 6. If I am remembering correctly, the other die was a 1. Thus was the ruling to determine if it was trapped by another Deryni reaching out  to it would have to get 2 successes. And anyone with Spell Mastery would be able to Test with Advantage.

If the Deryni is successful in detecting the Trap, then again they could make another Magic Test to see if they can disable that trap. Since the Trap was set with 1 success, it would take 2 to disarm it.

I was attempting to keep it simple, with minimal die rolls involved. But we could, going forward if all agree, to make that minor change of adding the dice to see how powerful it is and then using the same to detect it and break it. It would still be 2 rolls, one would still have to know there is a trap to disarm it.
President pro tempore of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Fan Club
IRC Administrator of #Deryni_Destinations
Discord Administrator of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Discord
Administrator https://www.rhemuthcastle.com

revanne

Columcil immediately decides never to use a trapped portal.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46 v1)

Bynw

Quote from: revanne on May 27, 2018, 01:20:44 PM
Columcil immediately decides never to use a trapped portal.

The bad news is, you don't always know if a portal is trapped BEFORE you attempt your jump to it. We have Camber and Eviane going to the Michaliene Portal. It was basically in a closet with the door bolted that no Deryni could open the bolts with magic from inside the Portal. And it was air tight too. Other traps have been talked about such as you can jump into the location, but then cannot jump out of it. And most horrifying was the portal described that you jump to it but never appear anywhere.
President pro tempore of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Fan Club
IRC Administrator of #Deryni_Destinations
Discord Administrator of The Worlds of Katherine Kurtz Discord
Administrator https://www.rhemuthcastle.com

revanne

Horses or feet on roads are good.
I wonder how the portals that don't go anywhere work as  if I understand it correctly you have to know the "signature " of the portal you are going to before you jump.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46 v1)