Concerning Crimson Mist

[David St-Michel]

Hi. Me again.

Ok, this time I'm a bit stumped at the rule concerning Crimson Mist. It says in the rulebook that the barbarian needs to suceed at his Will save against Terror in order to begin his Crimson Mist. The barbarian gets the attribute adjustements, bonus hit points, etc.

But woudn't it make more sense if the barbarian had to fail his Will save in order to enter the frenzy of Crimson Mist? In most Conan stories in which Conan himself goes berserk, it seems to be a natural, instinctive reaction to fear. Rage destroying the source of the fear. Rage overcoming fear. To me, that's a suggestion that if Conan were not a barbarian, he would flee from the source of his fear.

I saw and understood Crimson Mist as a "back-up" system in case the barbarian would lose his nerve. Instead of running away screaming (like any other character without Fighting-Madness or Crimson Mist), he goes berserk and tries to destroy the source of the Terror.

Am I reading it wrong, or misunderstanding the purpose of Crimson Mist?

 

[tneva82]

Am I reading it wrong, or misunderstanding the purpose of Crimson Mist?

You read it right and that's not half-bad idea actually. Probably this way though because it feels odd when player is yelling(atleast in his mind) "FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!" when he has to roll a terror test

 

[Spongly]

"Fluff-wise" that might be how you describe it happening, but mechanics wise that makes it much more powerful than is intended - it means the barbarian either succeeds, in which case he's fine and fights on normally, or fails in which case he also fights on in a savage rage - he essentially can't be frightened by anything.

 

[tneva82]

"Fluff-wise" that might be how you describe it happening, but mechanics wise that makes it much more powerful than is intended - it means the barbarian either succeeds, in which case he's fine and fights on normally, or fails in which case he also fights on in a savage rage - he essentially can't be frightened by anything.

Unless he faces multiple checks per day(there was one per day limit for that right?).

 

[Krushnak]

In my game i changed Crimson Mist so that the barbarian automatically goes into the rage upon failing a will save vs fear or terror but if he succeeds then he has the choice to rage or stand and fight normally or just run. The only exception to this was the southern islanders when encountering a supernatural terror causer then it was used as it is in the book.

 

[flatscan]

Nah, I like it RAW. It makes sense that if you succeed your test you get the benefits of the rage. The thing you saw is still terrible to behold, but that's exactly what fuels the barbarian's rage to destroy it. If you fail the test you run in terror (or spend a Fate Point). Making it so you go into a murderous rage when failing the test means a barbarian won't be running away very often. Which undermines the Terror system IMHO.

 

[David St-Michel]

Huh.

I never thought of it that way.

it's true that if Crimson Mist were to function on a failed Will save, plus the fact that any character who is a barbarian will try and get Fighting-Madness... It would make for a rather unbalanced "I do not feel fear" character at 2nd level.

Thanks.

 

[cbrunish]

There also seemed to be instances that the Southern Islander character would run in fear but Conan would stand and fight. The Souther Islander character has the extra -1 save to terror due to their superstious nature.

 

[Teriudin]

Our group actually did it that way for a short while (Failed check invokes crimson mist)

First, it really made the power worse a lot of times. There were a lot of fights against big nasties that I made my will save (Barb with code of honor tend to make terror checks) and don't get to use Crimson Mist.

Second, it just doesn't make sense. To me, it is a "Fight or Flight" response from a class that doesn't hold back their baser instincts. I make the save, fight. I fail the save, flight.

When we re-read the rules a few months into the character, it turned out a lot better for me. Sure, I lost a few fate points in the process to auto-pass sometimes, but being able to use a core ability in the big fight made it worth it.

Whenever comparing something in the game to a book, I tend to picture the situation with a LOT of fate points being used

 

[Jotenbjorn]

I think I'm going to change it to Crimson Mist on FAIL in my next campaign. It makes more sense. Of course remember than any character can voluntarily fail any save, so there's no need for a player hoping to fail the check. Secondly, even if a barbarian goes into crimson mist there's nothing that says he has to stay and fight in a suicidal situation. He can still run. Of course, he's now lost his crimson mist ability for a day.