Hey Folks,
In the following entries, I'll be addressing rules revisions. Each entry lists the problem and page number. If you have further questions, do not post them here. Instead, post them under the SIFRP Questions thread and I'll deal with them as I can.
EDIT: Please don't post comments here. All questions, even questions on errata, should live in the Questions thread.
FAQ
Q) Will there be a revised PDF and 2nd Printing?
A) Yes to both counts, though I don’t have an ETA.
Q) Will you release a free PDF with FAQ and errata to those who purchased a printed version?
A) I have no idea. I advise you direct this question to customer service.
Q) When can we expect a revised PDF.
A) Working on it, but I don’t yet have an ETA.
General
Q) Can you achieve more than 4 degrees of success?
A) Four degrees is the limit on degrees of success.
Maesters
Q) Can I be a Maester of the Citadel without having the Maester benefit?
A) Yes. Not having the Maester benefit means you don’t improve a house’s standing (having a maester grants a +3 bonus to Fortunes rolls) and you don’t get to add Cunning to Knowledge and Will tests.
Q) A starting Maester character can't also be a Master of Ravens! What's up with that?
A) It's true⎯no character can start with more than three benefits, and Maester has the prerequisite of "two Knowledge Focus benefits," so that eats up all three. If you find this troubling, here are some things to keep in mind.
* You can always choose not to select the Maester benefit.
* You can invest another Destiny Point into the Master of Ravens benefit once game begins.
Knights
Q) Can I be a knight without the Anointed benefit?
A) Yes.
Abilities and Specialties
Q) If Heraldry is no longer a Status specialty, is Breeding used to identify heraldry, or would that fall under Knowledge?
A) Heraldry is an Expanded Specialty described on page 198, combining Knowledge with Breeding.
Status
Q) Why does Table 3-2 list Status 6 for Lord of the house, heir, lady, offspring when the rules on page 103 suggest something different for Status allocation?
A) The table on page 43 is a quick and dirty method for assigning positions and the Examples are suitable types of folks associated with Status ranks. If your group builds a house from scratch, use the rules covered in Chapter 6.
It’s important to note rules for Status and PC houses are designed to help manage players’ resources when using the House rules. So Rickon, for example would probably have a Status of about 4 or 5.
Q) What’s a feasible status for a house of a minor branch?
A) I’d aim for 1 less than greater branch.
Q) What’s intended by courtier on table 3-2.
A) Any member of a powerful noble’s court. Examples might include members of the small council.
Q) The Status chart on page 65 doesn’t seem to line up with the Status levels listed on page 103.
A) According to page 65, Status 4 represents a landed knight while Status 5 represents a lord of a minor house.
Table 6-5 on page 103 allows you to get a Status 4 if you have Influence 21 to 40 or Status 5 if 41 to 50.
Looking back to page 96, 21 to 30 indicates a small minor house. 31 to 40 gets you a minor house, while 41 to 50 is a powerful minor house.
I do see that the numbers aren’t exact in this case, but the mechanics work as written. If you feel you need more concrete approximations, then I would advise moving “Landed Knight” from the fourth row on the table shown on page 65 to rank 3.
Destiny Points, Benefits, and Flaws
Q) Only one destiny point can be spent at a time. Can more than one be spent in a round, on different rolls?
A) Yes.
Q) Can I burn a spent destiny point?
A) No. Once spent, a destiny point is effectively gone until you achieve a story goal.
Q) After character creation, are you allowed to invest more Destiny Points in benefits? If so, is there any restriction on when this occurs or how many you can invest at a time?
A) You may invest further Destiny Points into Qualities upon reaching Story Goals. As a rule of thumb, you can invest one Destiny Point per story goal completion. Your Narrator may bend this rule if doing so fits with developments in the game.
Q) Can you take extra Drawbacks at character creation in order to get more Destiny Points, and if so, can you invest these extra Destiny Points into additional benefits?
A) You can take extra Drawbacks to gain additional Destiny Points, but you must wait to invest these Destiny Points until you achieve story goals. Obviously, the Narrator may relax these restrictions, as they serve as a baseline.
Q) Can you take Heritage Qualities after character creation?
A) Yes, but it should fit within the story. A revelation about a previously unknown heritage seems spot on for this sort of game. Naturally, to withdraw from a Heritage to acquire another one would be permissible only if the Narrator agrees.
Q) If I have the Armor Mastery benefit, does the increase to AR modify the action needed to stand?
A) No. The action needed to stand is based on the armor’s AR before applying Benefits or other modifiers. For example, if you have Armory Mastery and you’re wearing a breastplate, you can still stand by spending a Lesser Action even though your AR is 6.
Q) If I have the Armor Mastery benefit and wear bulk 1 armor, can I still use Water Dancer III?
A) Yes.
Q) Is there an upper limit to skllls purchased with Blood of Heroes?
A) No, but I wouldn’t let characters have abilities greater than 10.
Q) It seems weird that if I have Lascivious, I have to use seduction in every intrigue regardless of sexual orientation.
A) When you use seduce against a target not normally attracted to your gender, you are not using your personal allure but are promising other arrangements. For example, if you, a strapping knight tried to seduce a lord, you might offer to attend his pleasures by arranging for a night at a upscale brothel, set up a tryst with another character, and so on.
Q) If I have Lascivious, Threatening, and Furious drawbacks, what do I do in an intrigue?
A) Having all three drawbacks creates serious complications with a character. I would rule that the conflicted character would have to determine the starting technique randomly and then take a −1D penalty to the test for each drawback violated (in this case, -2D). This is a situation that can easily be avoided by not tacking all three drawbacks, yes?
Q) Can I use Long Blade Fighter I and Long Blade Fighter II on the same attack?
A) Yes and no. The second half of Long Blade Fighter I always applies. The first half of LBF I would not “stack” with LBFII because in order for LBF I to take effect, you must sacrifice all of your Bonus Dice. Therefore, you wouldn’t have any Bonus Dice left to sacrifice to activate LBF II.
Q) One of my players invested a Destiny Point in Cohort. Should I allow the cohort to gain experience like the other characters?
A) That’s up to you and depends on how the cohort contributes. As a rule of thumb, I’d suggest one-half the experience gained by the player.
Q) If a character has a Flawed Attribute does this affect their eligibility for Qualities? E.g. can a character with Marksmanship 4 plus Flaw (Marksmanship) select the "Accurate" quality?
A) “Flaw” does not reduce the attribute so the character in this case could select the accurate quality.
Q) Similarly, does the Expertise quality allow characters to access Qualities they might otherwise not be eligible for? E.g. can a character with Marksmanship 4 (Bows 3B) and Expertise (Bows) take the "Double Shot" quality?
A) Expertise does not raise an attribute; it provides an extra Test Die. So, in your example, the character could not select the Double Shot quality.
Q) Also similarly, do flaws reduce the maximum number of bonus dice a character can have in an attribute?
A) Limits on Bonus Dice are set by the governing ability and not the governing ability less penalty dice. So a character with Fighting 4 (Long Blades +4B) and Flaw (Fighting) would roll 3 Test Dice and 4 Bonus Dice.
Q) Triple Shot looks broken.
A) It’s on the upper end of powerful, agreed, but a character with a 7 Marksmanship is probably going to get butchered in hand to hand and intrigue. Future sourcebooks will provide additional benefits along the same lines as Triple Shot, I’m sure.
House and Lands
Q) It is possible to invest in the same Wealth Holdings more than once? Would they need to be on different domains.
A) Yes, you may invest in the same Wealth Holdings more than once. A second investment could be placed in another domain (often a good idea especially if you lose domains to war or calamity) or can go in the same domain. In the case of the latter, the holding simply improves. Investing twice in a Marketplace in the same domain means you have a bigger, more famous marketplace. The effects are cumulative. Note, in the case of Godswood, you would roll 4d6 − 12 for two, 6d6 − 18 for three, and so on.
Q) Table 3−2 doesn’t quite line up with the other rules described on page 65? What gives?
A) Table 3−2 gives you a quick and dirty method for generating Status. When creating a house from scratch, these numbers will likely be different.
Q) How do I pay for mercenary units?
A) You acquire mercenary units as you would any other unit. You pay the base power cost as determined by the unit’s training + 1. In addition, you must also deduct an amount of Wealth based on the unit’s training as well. For example, to acquire a trained mercenary unity, you must invest 4 Power (3 + 1) and reduce your Wealth by 3.
Q) Mercenaries above green seem too expensive?
A) Yes, well-trained mercenaries are very expensive as written. Their increased cost serves to drive houses to building their own units. Mercenaries are there for low-power houses or to act in the world so a house can distance itself from the unit’s actions. This said, I can see modifying power costs or wealth costs provided the house defeats the mercenary captain in an intrigue.
Q) If a house’s maximum Status is 3, do I need to invest Influence for characters to be second sons or daughters?
A) Yes and no. The minimum Status for an influence investment is 3. So if you invest in a second son or firstborn daughter, her Status would be 3 since this is the minimum. If you had Status 4 for the firstborn son, the second would be Status 3 as would all other children. If you choose not to invest, no other child in the household can exceed 2 Status.
Q) If the firstborn son of a lord dies, and a player plays the second in line, now next in line to inherit, does the new heir have to invest influence to become the new heir?
A) No. The initial investment for the heir holds as does each investment for other heirs in line. You lose the Influence invested for the last heir in line. For example, say player 1 invested 20 Influence to become the heir. Player 2 invests 10 to become next in line. Player 3 invests 5 to become third in line. Player 1’s character dies. Player 2 automatically shifts up to 1’s slot and Player 3 shifts up into 2’s slot. The last slot and the 5 Influence invested are lost.
Q) Table 6-4 doesn’t see fair since it’s not built with the bell curve in mind.
A) If you find Table 6−4 unsatisfactory, you might consider replacing it with the following spread.
3 Doom
4 Defeat
5 Catastrophe
6 Madness
7 Invasion/Revolt
8 Scandal
9 Treachery
10 Decline
11 Infrastructure
12 Ascent
13 Favor
14 Victory
15 Villain
16 Glory
17 Conquest
18 Windfall
Q) If Banner Houses do not roll House Fortunes, what effect do Law, Population, and Wealth assets have?
A) Aside from being descriptive, they can also serve if one player decides to play a character from that Banner House, in which case I would rule the House would actually have House Fortunes rolls. Also, having these values in place gives the players a ready backup house should theirs be destroyed.
Q) Are Banner Houses able to purchase their own Banner Houses?
A) By the rules as written, yes, but it’s best to disallow this. Only the player-created house should have Banner Houses.
Q) If a house’s influence increases so it Maximum Status increases, do the characters of the house (both PCs and NCs) automatically increase their Status? If not, don’t these characters have an inappropriately low Status for their positions?
A) Maximum Status indicates the maximum Status possible within the house. There is no minimum. A powerful house’s lord may engage in shameful acts, may suffer terrible defeat and thus see his Status reduced. A character must invest experience to improve Status as they would any other ability. Narrator Characters may improve or diminish as the Narrator decides.
Do note that the Narrator may grant Bonus Dice on a case by case basis and a character whose Status is low for a house may gain Bonus Dice in certain situations.
Q) How do you know what Status your steward has? Also, wouldn’t the Lord always test Status?
A) In many cases, the Lord also acts as steward for the Status test and can take a direct hand in events. The steward could then assist the Lord on the test as normal. However, the Lord may travel to other lands, leaving the day-to-day affairs to the Steward. If this position is held by a Player Character, then it’s the PC’s Status test. Otherwise, it may be rolled by an NC. The Narrator determines the Status of any NC, but as a rule of thumb, the NC’s Status would be one less than the current Lord.
Q) When I invest Influence (or any other house ability), are my points lost?
A) No. They are simply invested. The points are only lost if something destroys your investment.
Q) Can a house with the Artisan holding equip all units with Castle-forged weapons and armor?
A) Even with the Artisan holding, you must still spend Power to upgrade equipment. So no, the Artisan upgrade does not provide free equipment upgrades
Q) What exactly happens when you choose “Wage Wars” as your House Action?
A) You are committed to the invasion of another domain or to protecting your own domain from invasion. Essentially, warfare consumes your house action. As Roland Stone points out, the Narrator adjudicates what qualifies as a “police action” and full-blown war. If you’re fighting bandits in a military operation, then you’re not Waging War. If House Lannister invades your lands, you’re Waging War.
Q) Why would I ever invest in Knowledge or Healing for a unit?
A) Certainly, some abilities are more useful than others on the battlefield. The Narrator might allow a unit to make a Healing test to repair an injured unit. The Narrator may give tactical Bonus Dice to units with ranks in Knowledge in situations that apply or require Knowledge tests to bring down a wall or something similar.
Q) Where do I find the costs for building fortifications?
A) See page 102. Each fortification lists the price as an investment.
Q) It seems sinister and dexter are misplaced on the diagram on page 111.
A) Indeed, they are, as the directions are based on the bearer’s perspective. Given the scope of the revision here, this is something that will have to be addressed in a revised version.
Equipment
Q) How much do castle-forged weapons cost?
A) If your house starts with an Artisan (p. 108), you may choose as one of your benefits to have all weapons in your house count as castle-forged. In that case, there is no extra cost. Otherwise, your character will have to acquire a castle-forged weapon during play⎯perhaps as a reward for loyal service, a tourney prize, or through a win on the field of battle. Characters may attempt to buy such weapons outright from their owners; Narrators should assume that the starting price for a castle-forged weapon is twice the price for an ordinary weapon of the same type.
Q) Shouldn't Firemilk and Myrish Fire help a healer who is tending to an injured person as much as they'd help an unattended injured person?
A) Yes. The benefit extends to Healing tests made in place of the Endurance test made to recover.
Intrigues
Q) How much information does the “read target” action grant during an intrigue? Does it reveal deceptions such as substituting a deception test to simulate a charm?
A) By the rules, it reveals disposition and technique. One can probably deduce when an opponent is hostile and using charm that there’s some false pretense here. You might reveal additional information (such as substitutions) if the character received one or two degrees.
Combat
Q) How much of an action does an animal get while it's under control?
A) The animal gets a Greater Action.
Q) Does the Armor Penalty bonus detract from the passive Agility test?
A) Yup. The text on p. 151 says "all Agility tests," and a passive Agility test is still an
Agility test.
Q) There doesn’t seem to be a defense penalty for using a large shield? Is this intentional?
A) Bulk 1 offsets the Defense +4 benefit. Bulk reduces your sprint speed and can reduce your base movement.
Q) I’m confused about mounts, how to use them out of combat, and how to use them in combat.
A) Whenever you would mount a horse and ride it, the steed must be willing to bear you. As a general rule, a potential steed with a Disposition greater than Dislike will tolerate a rider. Asserting your control over the steed requires a Lesser Action, Automatic (0) Animal Handling test. One test is sufficient unless circumstances change: bad weather, combat, injuries, and so on.
If the steed’s Disposition is Dislike or worse, however, you must engage in a Conflict Test described on page 55. This test is made while you are riding the beast, and allies may assist as normal provide they are close enough to handle the animal. Each test is a Lesser Action and each success grants you a number of rounds of automatic control, meaning you do not need to test Animal Handling until the specified period expires.
Combat adds another wrinkle. If you are already riding a steed when combat begins, you must spend a Lesser Action to maintain control (otherwise the steed’s disposition goes to Dislike and you must spend Lesser Actions to establish control). If you are already riding a war-trained steed when combat begins, you need not spend the Lesser Action to maintain control.
If you are not mounted and you wish to become so in the midst of combat, you may spend a Lesser Action to assume control over a war-trained steed or a Greater Action to assume control over a non-war trained steed.
Once in control in combat, you can spend actions to command your steed as follows.
Move: The steed moves (lesser, war-trained; greater when not war-trained)
Sprint: The steed sprints (greater)
Steed Attack: the steed attacks (less, war-trained; greater when not war-trained)
Q) How do lances interact with movement and with the Charge action?
A) The lance’s base characteristics apply before modifications from the Charge action (page 160). When charging, you apply the −1D and +2 damage from the charge.
If you aren’t charging with a lance, your Narrator may grant circumstantial bonuses to your opponent’s defense.
Q) How does Advanced Reach work?
A) The advanced reach rules are included to capture the differences in weapon length and a warrior’s reach. Using these rules, while adding a dash of realism, adds equal complexity. Consider using miniatures if you plan to use this system.
Under this system, all weapons have a reach between 0 and 6, each reflecting the optimal distance (in yards) from which you should make an attack.
Reach 0: A weapon with reach 0 can only be used to make attacks against adjacent enemies. If you’re using miniatures on a gridded map, you can attack enemies in adjacent squares or hexes, or without a gridded map, enemies with base to base contact.
Reach 1: A weapon with reach 1 allows you to make attacks against enemies from 1 to 3 feet away. If you’re using miniatures on a gridded map, you can attack enemies up to 1 square or hex away, or without a gridded map, enemies up to one inch away.
Reach 2+: Weapons with greater reach give the advantage of distance from your foe, but also make you vulnerable to attacks when enemies move inside your reach. A reach 2 would allow you to attack enemies 4 to 6 feet away from you. With miniatures, there can be two squares or hexes between you and your target or without a grid there can be up to two inches between opponents.
Lunging Attacks
You can always make an attack against an enemy up to 1 yard beyond your reach by lunging. In exchange for taking a -1D on your test, you increase your reach by 1.
Inside Attacks
Similarly, you can make attacks against enemies inside your reach. By taking a -1D on your test, you reduce your reach by 1.
Q) When using Free Attacks and Advanced Reach, how do you avoid a foe to get into reach? For example, a thug armed with a knife attacks a guard armed with a spear. Once the thug attacks, the guard has to move two or three yards backwards to attack, thus giving the guard a free attack.
A) Your best option is to use a Lesser Action to Maneuver the opponent (see 168) away from you. Alternatively, you might test Acrobatics against the opponent’s passive Fighting to negate the Free Attack when moving away. Or, you could just drop your spear and draw a Reach 0 weapon.
Q) Maces suck
A) A mace is designed to be a step up from a club. A club loses damage to gain the off-hand +1 quality. The morningstar offsets the shattering 1 quality with the vicious quality.
In your games, you are welcome to grant the mace an extra quality, but be aware that doing so may make the weapon too good. Rather than grant the weapon a quality, the Narrator might give a bonus to tests made to Smash Weapons (page 167).
Q)Here is a situation:
The Kingsguard is ordered by King Joffrey to guard the broken gate to the Red Keep with their lives. No one is allowed to enter at any circumstances. The gate to the Red Keep is 8 yards wide, so the 7 Kingsguards have to leave 1 yard open. Now, Sansa Stark wearing a purple dress and armed with a poisonous flower wants to enter and attack the King. She moves into a distance of 4 yards of the line of the heavily-armoured Kingsguards. The Kingsguards all raise their greatswords and take the 'Counterattack' action (p. 167). Then, Sansa Stark yells 'For Prince Charming' (Free action) and 'sprints' (p. 160) right through the open yard in the gateway, leaving the bulky knights without a chance to catch her.
Okay, let's look at the details:
P. 167: Counterattack did not work because it says that the '... you must make a standard attack against any opponent that engages you ...' and on p. 158 'engaged' is defined as being adjacent to your opponent, and according to the 'Advanced Reach' rules (p. 169) a greatsword cannot attack at 0 yards. Also, a greatsword has the two-handed quality (p. 152) indicating that two-hands are used unless stated otherwise - therefore, the two Kingsguards standing next to open yard could not suddenly use their hands to attack.
P. 169: There is no 'Free Attacks' because Sansa did not start her movement within reach of the Kingsguards weapons.
In sum, I guess there must be a rule or an action that allow guards to actually 'Guard' gateways, doors, drawbridges, fortifications etc.
- Should movement be automatically stopped, when you enter the reach of an opponents weapon?
- How are you allowed to move when you are within reach of an opponent?
- And how will this fit into the rules of 'Advanced Reach', where you should be allowed to attempt to keep an opponent at a distance, but the opponent should also be allowed to atttempt to move adjacent to you?
A) The Narrator is free to bend or adjust the rules to meet the situation in game play. For example, Sansa has to move past the guards, so I’d rule the guards she passes could drop their greatswords and use a Fist attack to grab Sansa. I’d also apply a penalty since they were focused on protecting the Red Keep and not keeping Sansa pinned down.
If the guards grab Sansa, then her movement stops.
As for moving around using the Advanced Reach rules, these questions are covered above.
Q) Could you explain how Maimed works?
A) The last sentence reads: “Permanently reduce one ability of your opponent’s choice by one rank.” You and the Narrator work out the details on how this manifests in the character. For example, reducing a character’s Animal Handling ability may be a psychological injury gained from witnessing an enemy mutilating a cherished beast. Maimed Deception could be branding Liar on your forehead. Be creative.
Q) Could you explain Non-Conflict Damage?
A) Damage that originates outside combat scenarios, such as falling from a cliff, being tortured, and so on, can result in injuries. Minor cuts and scrapes heal normally and don’t need to be tracked unless the damage would result in an injury or wound.
In the example covered in the first paragraph of the Non-Conflict Damage sidebar, the situation could arise as a consequence of defeat or might happen outside of combat. In the case of the former, it is correct to say that losing one’s hand is the result of a Maimed outcome (possibly gained from a burned Destiny Point). Alternatively, the maiming might come after the combat concludes, being inflicted on the character after yielding, being captured, or being knocked unconscious.
Regardless, once your hand is lopped off, it doesn’t grow back, even if at some point you use a Destiny Point to remove the penalty associated with the loss. You simply overcome the difficult and learn new ways to compensate.
Q) Surprise buys you a +1D to your combat tests. Does surprise also allow you to go first?
A) By the rules, no. Surprise gives you an advantage on your attacks and nothing else. Depending on the quality of the surprise, the Narrator may allow the attackers to go first, may apply Bonus Dice, or may simply allow the combat to unfold.
Q) Does the Weapon Mastery benefit improve the off-hand quality?
A) No. The Weapon Mastery benefit applies a bonus to a weapon’s damage. It does not apply to its properties.
Q) When does the extra damage from Powerful apply? Before or after multiplying by degrees?
A) The property reads “For every bonus die invested in Strength, you can increase a Powerful weapon’s damage by 1.” So, this extra damage applies before multiplying by degrees.
Q) How long do the benefits from “Assist” last? Do they last even if the character taking the assist action dies?
A) Once a character invests the action to assist, the benefits from the assist action apply even if that character is killed before their benefits are realized. For example, a squire assists an evil knight on a Fighting test, granting +1 to the knight’s Fighting test result. Before the evil knight has a turn to act, the squire is brutally killed by an archer. The knight still adds +1 to his Fighting test result.
Q) Now that tourney lances have the fragile quality, it seems they always break when used in a tournament. The jousting rules already account for shattered lances, so what gives?
A) We added the fragile quality to tourney lances for use in normal combat encounters. In a joust, as you pointed out, there is a risk of breakage. This risk supersedes the normal risk for using tourney lances.
Q) Do the limits on attacks apply when you spend a destiny point? What about fatigue?
A) Destiny Points are designed to give players a bit of narrative control so clearly, a character who spends a destiny point gets to bend or even break the rules. Spending a destiny point should allow you to make an additional attack on your turn even if you already attacked.
As for fatigue, I would rule yes here too. However, the action gained from acquiring the fatigue can only be taken during the character’s turn.
Q) It says in the book that, in combat, you may only use one of your actions per turn to "attack". It has also been stated here that assisting another character's attack also counts as an attack.
However, can you, on the same turn, Attack and:
- command your horse to attack?
- pull rider from mount?
- disarm?
- distract?
- knockdown?
- maneuver?
- trample?
A) Several actions you list require greater actions and thus can’t be combined. So you can’t normally combine Pulling a Rider from a Mount, Disarm, or Trample with attacks (however see above for fatigue and/or destiny points). When mounted on a steed trained for war, the steed is assumed to be attacking (hence the increased damage on a Fighting test described on page 159). Do note that you have to spend the lesser action to control a war-trained steed anyway. As for the rest, you can Distract, Knockdown, and Maneuver in addition to making attacks.
Q) When jousting, should both contestants receive the Fighting from Horseback Bonus Die?
A) Typically no, since the +1B applies only on attacks against non-mounted opponents.
Q) Table 9−4 doesn’t have a result for four degrees of success. If a rider received 4 degrees, would a Very Hard (18) test be appropriate.
A) Sure
Q) Since Reckless Attack states the benefits last until the start of your next turn, if I spend a destiny point to gain another lesser action to attack, does the +1D carry forward to this attack?
A) Yes, if you spend a Destiny Point to make another standard attack, the attack would benefit from the +1D.
Q) A successful test to Break an object reduces the Difficulty by 5 per degree. In light of the change to 5-point increments described on page 29, should this be 3 per degree?
A) No. The text is correct. If breaking an object is important to the adventure, 5/degree allows quick breakage without slowing the game down.
Q) What is the relationship between Shattering Weapons and Smash and Smashing Weapons
A) The weapon quality reduces a target’s ability to protect itself, but weapons with this quality use the normal rules for Smash and Smashing Weapons. As an optional rule, the Narrator might grant a character with a shattering weapon extra bonus dice or even extra test dice depending on the materials.
Q) What are the difficulty numbers mentioned for smashing weapons?
A) Use the guidelines under Smash (p. 166). If you are uncomfortable adjudicating these numbers on the fly, I recommend the following for weapons:
Valyrian Steel Heroic (21)
Castle-Forge Steel Very Hard (18)
Iron Formidable (12)
Bronze Challenging (9)
Bone, wood, etc Routine (6)
Q) When mounted, does your armor’s bulk reduce your mount’s movement?
A) No, but barding’s bulk affects your mount’s movement.
Q) How does the training penalty for shields work?
A) It applies only when you make an attack using the shield. It does not affect your other attacks.
Warfare
Q) How do I handle understrength units in warfare without reducing their Health? For example, a cadre of 10 men would have 1 or 2 Health.
A) One way to handle this is to adjust the scale. Instead of units being groups of 100 men, reduce their size to 50 or even 10. Doing so, you would also need to change the battlefield’s scale (1/2 for 1/2 size units or 1/10 for 1/10 units). The units would have full Health since the various units are now equal size.
However, if you’re working with groups of 10, you may want to just run the encounter using the normal combat rules. See “Attack Portions of Units,” page 179.
Q) What happens when a commander of sub-commander are engaged?
A) Resolve the conflict normally. Attacking commanders or subcommanders does not interfere with a commander’s ability to issue orders unless the attack eliminates the commander. Should the attack come during Step Eight: Second Player Actions, say between player characters against NC commanders, the Narrator would resolve the conflict using the normal combat rules. The defending commander would be able to take actions in this case, but would not be able to initiate combat.
Q) How many times can a character perform the “Attack Unit” action during Step Six and Step Seven?
A) Assuming the character is adjacent to the unit, a character can attack five times. This said, the same character will spend an action or two to close on the unit. Then the character will get to use Attack Unit a couple of times at the most during the first instance of step six. This should give an effective unit the means to deliver a dangerous counterattack to the bold character.
Even if a character of sufficient skill manages to wipe a unit, I don’t think it stretches things too much. The Mountain that rides proved disastrous for those who faced him in combat, and in my estimation he’s the most min-maxed character from the books.
Feel free to experiment with the number of actions during the player actions. You might try limiting it to 3 rounds worth or even just 1.
Q) What is a “unit’s shield rating” under the Defend order?
A) As the Errata points out, this sentence is in error. It should read: If the unit is armed with shields (see page 173), it adds +1D to its Agility tests.
Q) Some siege items are given Athletics for the purposes of damaging objects. How does this work?
A) Where Athletics scores are given, they refer to tests made to “break” or smash through walls. The Narrator sets a Difficulty and the player controlling the siege engine makes an Athletics test to damage the fortification as described on page 166.
Q) If a Player Character is attached to a unit in combat, is damage sustained by the character cumulative? Take a character attached to unit that is disorganized and then routed: Does the character take 7 damage (2 for disorganized + 5 for routed) or does the character take 9 (1 for damage + 2 for disorganized + 1 for damage + and for routed).
A) Damage is cumulative. The character would take 9 damage.
Q) Do siege weapons have the same −1D for every 100 yards penalty?
A) Yes.
Q) On pg. 185, it says a unit can do a split attack. "Bonus dice derived from specialties or other sources may be similarly divided..." I haven't seen anywhere that units can have specialties. Should that part be cut?
A) No. While units described in this book do not have specialties, we might expand the rules to allow them later.
Q) Do the Mounted Attacks benefits apply to units?
A) No. Those benefits apply only at the combat scale.
Q) However, how should I handle individuals versus 20-25 men. One option I've used is to let use the Attack Portions of Units on p 179 and have the unit lose a health point for every 2 men defeated. But I also want to use the Individual vs. Unit stuff. Should I leave the bonuses the Unit gets (+2D Fighting & +20 Defense) or should I adjust them. I'm reluctant to change the +2D Fighting. Being surrounded by 20-25 men is just as deadly as being amongst 100, I think. The defense may need to be adjusted (but not much if any). I was thinking of +15 defense for an understrength unit. What do you think? Should these numbers be adjusted any if an individual is taking on a unit of 20-25 men? And if so, what would you put them at?
A) I would keep the +2D Fighting (for the reason you stated), but give the understrength unit a +10 defense.
Q) Table 10-6 on p. 183 states that you should subtract -1 each time the unit was disorganized. Wouldn’t this make it impossible to roll a 6 on routed and destroyed, as a unit will always be disorganized before routed/destroyed? If a unit is disorganized, and then reorganized back to damaged, should you still subtract the penalty, or is it only when the unit is disorganized at the end of the battle?
A) The penalty only applies for units disorganized at the end of the sequence. A unit that was routed would use the routed column. So if a unit was disorganized during the battle, but is improved to damaged before the end of the battle, you determine survivors as if the unit was damaged and without the penalty.
The Narrator
Q) What’s the difference between a Complication and a Penalty?
A) When determining a base Difficulty, you can use guidelines as presented in the Abilities chapter. For situations outside those described, think about the factors that weigh down on the task. If the task is important to a scene, you may modify the difficult as described in the example on page 200 or if it’s a minor test (say in normal combat), you might just apply bonuses or penalties as described under modifiers.
As a rule of thumb, use complications to set the base difficulty and modifiers to adjust a base difficulty that’s already defined.
Q) Isn’t 600 gold dragons a bit much for an average story reward?
A) As pointed out on the message boards, as Narrator you should feel free to grant rewards based on the needs for your games and as appropriate for the scene. If you’re not using the house model as the framework for how the PCs are linked and instead go with a more traditional fantasy roleplaying game structure then yes, 600 gold dragons is a bit much and you should swap in silver stags.
Q) Is falling damage cumulative? Say you fall 30 yards, would you take 30 damage, 15 injuries, and 15 wounds or would you just take 15 wounds?
A) The damage is not cumulative. In this example, you would just take 15 wounds.
Update Summary (8/18):
FAQ Updated
Page 169 Free Attacks
Page 175 Table 10-1
Page 183 Table 10-6
Update Summary (7/27):
FAQ Updated
Page 32 Godsworn (Revision)
Page 34 Hedge Knight (Revision)
Page 35 Maester (Revision)
Page 37 Retainer (Revision
Page 38 Scout (Revision)
Page 39 Squire (Revision)
Page 58 Empathy (Replacement)
Page 210 Assassin (Revision)
Update Summary (7/20):
FAQ Updated
Page 55 Sprint (Deletion)
Page 160 Dodge (Addition)
Page 167 Example (Revision)
Page 181 Organize (Revision)
Page 182 Routed (Revision)
Update Summary (7/13):
FAQ Updated
Page 169 Table 9−3 (Revision)
Update Summary (7/5):
FAQ Updated
Page 61 Treat Injury (Revision)
Page 211 Hedge Knight (Revision)
Update Summary (6/22):
FAQ Updated
Page 199 Table 11-7 (Revision)
Page 210 Assassin (Revision)
Page 211 Guard (Revision)
Update Summary (6/15):
FAQ Updated
Page 169 Table 9−7 (revision)
Update Summary (6/8)
FAQ Updated
Page 97 Power (Deletion)
Page 152 Table 9-3 (Deletion/Addition)
Update Summary (6/1)
FAQ Updated
Page 160 Assist (Revision)
Page 169 Table 9-7 (Ommission/Replacement)
Page 177 Concealed Unit (Replacement)
Page 199 Boar (Addition)
Update Summary (5/25)
FAQ Updated
Page 106 Type (Revision)
Page 107 Table 6-8 (Replacement)
Page 108 Special (Deletion)
Page 108 Warship (Addition)
Page 173 Equipment Upgrades (Revision)
Page 210 Bandit (revision)
Update Summary (5/11)
FAQ Updated
Page 151 Table 9-2 (Revision)
Page 152 Table 9-3 (Correction)
Page 153 Table 9-3 (Revision)
Update Summary (5/4):
FAQ Updated
Page 199 Chance of Success
[/color]
Update Summary (4/20):
FAQ Updated[/color]
Update Summary (4/13):
FAQ Updated
Page 77 Brawler II (Revision)
Page 155 Unwieldy (Revision)
Update Summary (4/6):
FAQ Updated
Page 68 Courage (Replacement)
Page 78 Cadre (Clarification)
Page 90 Flaw (Addition)
Page 125 Table 7-4 (Omission)
Page 154 Fast (Deletion)
Page 168 Knockdown (Revision)
Page 169 Table 9-7 (Revision)
Page 202 Travel (Omission)
Update Summary (3/28):
Page 53 Table 4−1, (Correction)
Page 56 Animal Handling (Replacement)
Page 68 Coordinate (Replacement)
Page 77 Brawler III (Revision)
Page 79 Expertise (Clarification)
Page 81 Heirloom (Revision)
Page 88 Drawbacks (Addition)
Page 104 Banner Houses (Revision)
Page 107 Table 6−8: Unit Types (Replacement)
Page 108 Fleet (Revision)
Example (Correction)
Artisan (Deletion)
Fleet (Correction)
Page 143 Intimidate (Revision)
Page 153 Entangling (Clarification)
Page 160 Assist (Revision)
Page 164 Dishonor (Replacement)
Page 168 Changed Test Die to Bonus Die for attacks against prone targets.
Page 173 Equipping Units (Addition)
Page 173 Equipment Upgrades (Addition)
Page 176 Table 10−3 (Addition)
Page 176 Cover (Revision)
Page 180 Defend Maneuver (Revision)[/color]
Update Summary (3/26):
Page 29 Difficulty (Correction)
Page 31 Anointed Knight (Correction)
Page 32 Godsworn (Correction)
Page 33 Heir (Correction)
Page 34 Hedge Knight (Correction)
Page 35 Maester (Correction)
Page 36 Noble (Correction)
Page 39 Squire (Correction)
Page 52 Rank 8 or Higher (Replacement)
Page 53 Table 4−1 (Addition/Deletion/ Replacement)
Page 55 Animal Handling (Addition)
Page 56 Athletics (Addition)
Page 58 Athletics, Other Uses (Revision)
Page 63 Language (Deletion)
Page 64 Status (Replacement)
Page 64 Stealth (Replacement)
Page 65 Tournaments (Replacement)
Page 71 +xD, Table 5−1 (Clarification)
Page 74 Acrobatic Defense (Addition)
Page 78 Cadre (Clarification)
Page 82 Maester (Clarification)
Page 90 Flaw (Addition)
Page 102 Defense Holdings (Revision)
Page 104 Land Holdings example (Revision)
Page 133 Strangler (Correction)
Page 151 Effects of Bulk Example (Replacement)
Page 151 Armor Penalty (Clarification)
Page 151 Bulk (Replacement)
Page 160 Spring (Addition)
Page 164 Resolving the Joust (Revision)
Page 164 Example (Replacement)
Page 168 Knockdown (Clarification)
Page 172 10−1, 10−2 (Addition)
Page 185 Sap (Replacement)
Page 191 Coin (Revision)




