Heroica RPG Rules & FAQ

[CMP]

Since healing prevents free hits, that means items should too, right?

No, they never have.

Scrolls DID, but they were nerfed so they did not.

[Endgame]

Is it because it was never attempted, or because it was already shot down? I'm guessing its the same principle as healing, but I suppose Scrolls conflict with it as well.

[CMP]

Is it because it was never attempted, or because it was already shot down? I'm guessing its the same principle as healing, but I suppose Scrolls conflict with it as well.

Sandy's always said that items don't count as targeting enemies as far as I remember.

[JimBee]

I would completely honestly have less enemies immune to doomed than to instant kill if this was the case. What's really annoying about assassins is that they can just wipe out an enemy force in the first round and almost completely turn the tables on any battle without even trying. The three round delay would make them a lot more manageable.

I'm totally fine with the way things are now. You're one of the QMs who actually balances fairly against Assassins, at least in my experience. For the current battle in 98, only the Imitation Gnomes were OHKO-able, and I'm fine with that. I haven't killed all of them yet, and this battle is still far from won and on the challenging side.

Keep in mind that Hybros is overpowered, too. The COTRA is a powerful item, coupled with my other artifacts and weapons makes him hard to balance for. But he is fragile, and with 0 defense is easy to take down. I've purposely cut back on Nostrum use to make him easier to balance for.

[Palathadric]

Marketplace Mystery had no combat. I didn't think it was a very good quest though, so...

That's just because you weren't on it...and are jealous.

Something else I wanted to ask is that in our quest I failed to cast a Spell of Arc Sleep on our enemies and I had six (the amount of enemies) ether removed from my ether count. Should it be six ether though, or one. I wasn't really sure how it would be before I did it, but I thought it might just be one.

[Sandy]

Something else I wanted to ask is that in our quest I failed to cast a Spell of Arc Sleep on our enemies and I had six (the amount of enemies) ether removed from my ether count. Should it be six ether though, or one. I wasn't really sure how it would be before I did it, but I thought it might just be one.

Arc Scrolls have an ether cost tied to the amount of enemies, so why would failing only cost 1 ether?

[UsernameMDM]

Hastened enemies & Free Hits:

If a Hastened enemy is NOT TARGETED, does it get 2 Free Hits or 3? Also, do those Free Hits stack on the same PC or are the distributed down the Battle Order?

[Waterbrick Down]

Hastened enemies & Free Hits:

If a Hastened enemy is NOT TARGETED, does it get 2 Free Hits or 3? Also, do those Free Hits stack on the same PC or are the distributed down the Battle Order?

2 Free Hits that go down the order like usual.

[Zepher]

You fought hastened enemies earlier this quest. And I'm sure I've used them against you in the past.

[UsernameMDM]

You fought hastened enemies earlier this quest. And I'm sure I've used them against you in the past.

I know! I just don't ever remember Hastened enemies automatically getting a Free Hit no matter how many times they are targeted. I should remember from fighting those Aepys in the Fields of Glory.

[Sandy]

I know! I just don't ever remember Hastened enemies automatically getting a Free Hit no matter how many times they are targeted.

There's a FAQ in the first post of this topic. You can find answer to this and many other questions from there.

[UsernameMDM]

There's a FAQ in the first post of this topic. You can find answer to this and many other questions from there.

I know, but I was confused about the wording. It says targeted (which reads targeted ONCE to me), but not targeted twice. Thanks everyone for being patient with my slowness, especially CMP.

[Brickdoctor]

Honestly, I didn't even consider at that time that "hey, even if someone throws a Smoke Bomb, not everyone has to flee". On the other hand it's true that allowing it would make the item just a "Flee" with a gold cost.

What do you guys think, should it be elaborated on the FAQ that a Smoke Bomb can be used only to partially flee? I already allowed it in my current quest, anyway.

I think it should be partial-flee. There's no reason that someone has to run away just because a cloud of smoke temporarily surrounds the party. Smoke Bombs are cheap enough already that this won't be nerfing Rogues too much (by making their ability less unique). But at the same time, I wouldn't mind if there was some clause along the lines of, "If you choose not to flee when a Smoke Bomb is thrown, you lose your turn (because you can't see the enemy), and all enemies get Free Hits on the remaining heroes (because presumably they're outside the cloud of smoke that's supposed to be obscuring the area where the heroes were, and they can attack the general area, and you can't see their attack coming)." That should deter the use of Smoke Bombs to cheaply get the weaker heroes or the NPCs you're supposed to protect out of that boss battle.

[Endgame]

That seems needlessly complicated. I still think it should remain full-party flee; there is no other class that can have their ability for the cost of 10 gold.

[Flipz]

Cleric-Potions? Even for higher-level Clerics, there's Grand Potions available fairly cheaply; it's the Scroll-use and other secondary abilities that make player Clerics useful.

[Palathadric]

I'm all for keeping it a partial flee. There just seems to be far too many in-character reasons for a hero who is not comfortable with fighting a certain enemy to just throw a Smoke Bomb and force everyone to flee. It would only make sense for him/her to do that as I see it.

[Scubacarrot]

I think it should not be partially flee. 5 gold for a job trait is a bit low.

[StickFig]

Arc Scrolls have an ether cost tied to the amount of enemies, so why would failing only cost 1 ether?

I actually feel like that makes sense... if the scroll didn't work, that means it probably didn't arc to all the enemies, so why should it cost that much? If you fizzle, not all of your fuel is consumed.

I'm all for keeping it a partial flee. There just seems to be far too many in-character reasons for a hero who is not comfortable with fighting a certain enemy to just throw a Smoke Bomb and force everyone to flee. It would only make sense for him/her to do that as I see it.

Agreed.

[Endgame]

That is why you talk go your fellow heroes. In fact, making it a partial flee makes it far more devaluing to the job class trait than say, potions for clerics, because it gives multiple people that ability.

Besides, besides very specific circumstances, I never think the rules should be defined by realism in a game tha is clearly not realistic.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Endgame

[Kintobor]

If we're going to have smoke bombs as a partial flee, then why do we have the Feather of Flight? Feather of Flight is basically useless then since one can go grab a smoke bomb, toss it, and say he's the only one leaving. I just don't feel that making it a partial flee makes sense in terms of the game, since we have an item that already allows one person to flee.

[Waterbrick Down]

I'm with the majority here in that it cheapens the rogue's ability as well as the hefty implications of a total party retreat. Sometimes hard decisions need to be made in a quest.

[Endgame]

That, and should a hero "go rogue" and decide to make the party flee, I'm assuming the QM can accurately see the party doesn't want that and can exercise a little bit of veto power by stopping their action.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Endgame

[Sandy]

I think it should not be partially flee. 5 gold for a job trait is a bit low.

What if Smoke Bombs cost more? And Feathers of Flight would be introduced in the Marketplace as costing 5 gold?

[Endgame]

What if Smoke Bombs cost more? And Feathers of Flight would be introduced in the Marketplace as costing 5 gold?

But that is still 5 gold for a job trait.

[CMP]

Maybe Rogues should just get a different job trait. I don't think Flee gets used nearly as much as the others, anyway.