Spirit combat fumbles and criticals

[preacher65]

Hi, I might have missed it, but I couldn't find anything in the rules on the effects of fumbles and criticals in spirit combat. Are there any rules for this, or if not, how are you handling it in your games?

 

[gran_orco]

See Signs & Portents 89 & 90 for a good explanation of the sprit magic.

 

[preacher65]

I did, but I couldn't find mention of criticals and fumbles for spirit combat. I guess we'll house-rule it, but I just wondered if I'd missed something somewhere, or if not, what others are doing.

 

[Deleriad]

I did, but I couldn't find mention of criticals and fumbles for spirit combat. I guess we'll house-rule it, but I just wondered if I'd missed something somewhere, or if not, what others are doing.

We did talk about adding criticals, fumbles and combat manoeuvres to spirit combat in the S&P article but the article was already long and the system complex enough. Seemed like a better idea as a house rule or depending on the setting if you wanted to add flavour to combat.

For example, one way to do Binding would be to make it a Combat Manoeuvre. E.g. you attack, the foe fails their parry so you get a chance to bind it. You could also use CMs to allow you to flee, 'over extend' an opponent and so on.

If you expected to run a campaign with lots of spirit combat it would be a fun addition.

 

[preacher65]

We did talk about adding criticals, fumbles and combat manoeuvres to spirit combat in the S&P article but the article was already long and the system complex enough. Seemed like a better idea as a house rule or depending on the setting if you wanted to add flavour to combat.

For example, one way to do Binding would be to make it a Combat Manoeuvre. E.g. you attack, the foe fails their parry so you get a chance to bind it. You could also use CMs to allow you to flee, 'over extend' an opponent and so on.

If you expected to run a campaign with lots of spirit combat it would be a fun addition.

Yes, I can see that it would have made the articles overly long, and probably more complex than most people want. And I was still stuck in old-RQ/BRP thinking, in terms of criticals doing max damage, etc.

Spirit Combat Manoeuvres could be fun, but I'll see if the GM wants to go to that level of complexity. I imagine we'll wing it the next few times it comes up. It's just a bit frustrating to make a really good roll against your opponent's really bad one and not get any extra benefit.

Thanks for the input.

 

[sdavies2720]

We've been giving extra damage, but a more-imaginative CM list would be awesome. I especially like the idea of Binding being a CM. That means that you might be able to reduce the Spirit down to 0 power easily, but it might escape anyway (good roll on its part and poor one on yours), or you might be able to bind it before reducing it all the way.

Other possibilities:
Possession: Spirit gets a chance to possess the opponent
Escape: Non-corporeal opponent can escape
Overawe: Force opponent to stop combat and enter negotiation
Banish: Force opponent to leave the area
Mark: Mark opponent somehow (I've always thought that shaman should have visible signs of their spirit combats)
One Question: Opponent must answer one question honestly (although not necessarily unambiguously)