What effect does being deafened have on a character? Bard’s Metal Hurlant deals 1d10 damage and deafens target. What does deafened mean other than the obvious? Can it hamper the deafened character’s spellcasting, for instance?
What effect does being deafened have on a character?
What effect does being deafened have on a character?
as far as I know there are no rules for “conditions” (although there are rules for debilities, giving -1 to the stat modifier). I think you’re supposed to go for “the obvious”. If you think a particular kind of magic used by a particular kind of NPC would be stopped by deafness, go for it.
One of the cores of DW (and PbtA) is “user definition”
Go nuts.
Depends on the fiction,
Deafness can affect speech, and therefore spells with a verbal component, particularly if precision is an issue. Perhaps have a greater chance of mishap, increasing with higher (more complex) levels?
Summoned demons also use any opportunity to twist commands:
“Defend against enemies along the path? But you said bath!”
If it’s been established that the wizard casts spells by uttering precise arcane phrases, sure, make them defy danger before casting the spell. The danger is that the mess up the pronunciation and biff the spell. 7-9, maybe they take -2 forward to cast it (like they were interfered with), or maybe it takes them longer than usual to get the spell off and shit escalates in the meantime. if that’s how the wizard casts spells.
If you haven’t established what exactly the wizard does to cast their spells, now (when they’re deafened and it occurs to you) is a great time to ask.
Thanks, all, that’s very helpful! I actually play The Fighter (Level 4) but am thinking of taking Metal Hurlant and renaming it Battle Cry 😀
Just to clarify, the definition and effect of something like “deafened” can change from group to group, or even from campaign to campaign with the same group.
Hell, even if you establish that The Wizard casts using verbal components and cannot do it when deafened (or has trouble..), if that character dies and a new The Wizard pops up later, the new character may be completely different and unfazed by being deafened.
Basically, when something cool happens, figure it out and incorporate player feedback. make a note, so that it is consistent while applicable. But feel free to establish new facts when things change so that old notes are no longer relevant.
Note that it’s the GM job to give you (and the other PCs) opportunity to shy: your PC is a warrior, he already deals d10 of damage, if I were the GM I’d think about cool ways of using that “deafened” thing…
If Bag A is inserted into Bag B, the pocket dimension of Bag A needs to be flung through the planar cosmoses to a new point to be appropriately tied together.
Sometimes this doesn’t happen, the dimension is too well rooted, in which case Bag A now opens directly into the astral ether, which can be treated like the vacuum of space (sucking things in through the opening) or like a portal to the Chaos realms ala Warhammer 40k.
If the pocket dimension is not firmly tethered though it is flung at speeds well exceeding those of light to reach its new location. The length of this event is based on how far away the original dimension and the Bag B dimension are from each other, and can range from seconds all the way to the Dawn of New Time. It takes about six hundred manhours of research from someone(s) who understand HyperMath and ArcaneMath to accurately predict how long the dimension will be moving. For that whole duration time travels backwards in the bag, but not necessarily in accordance with the timeline leading up to the point of Bag A being inserted into Bag B. Events happen first, then Causes as a direct result.
If players are INSIDE the dimension, they must declare results and then take actions to function as causes. (Hint : Have things happen that can occur from multiple stimuli to ‘buffer’ yourself.) Every time something occurs which didn’t have a reason to (eventually) the whole dimension takes + 1 Tatter. If Tatter reaches 8 the dimension explodes. This is bad for nearby dimensions, as well as the people and things contained in the exploding one, and creates a kind of planar comet headed towards the dimension of Bag B.