The Heavy gets one of these… which should it be?

The Heavy gets one of these… which should it be?

The Heavy gets one of these… which should it be?

BLOOD FURY

When you spill blood—yours or another’s—and give in to your boundless rage, you get +1 Armor and deal +1d4 damage as long as you keep fighting. While you rage, it requires an act of will to do anything other than lash out violently.

OR

BATTLE JOY

When you leap headlong into battle, you get +1 Armor and deal +1d4 damage as long as you keep fighting.

When the action stops, roll +CON: on a 10+, that was a rush, heal 1d4 HP; on a 7-9, you’re out of breath, but give you a minute and you’ll be fine; on a 6-, mark a debility but don’t mark XP.

17 thoughts on “The Heavy gets one of these… which should it be?”

  6. Picked Battle Joy because it feels more tangible and evocative than a straight buff.

    I have questions though: Is this the only failure in the game where you do not mark XP? Are there other moves where stopping requires a roll?Are there similar ‘overindulge’ moves that could benefit from the same structure?

  7. It seems like Battle Joy might trigger almost every time they go into battle, unless “headlong” is more constraining than it seems at first glance. Boundless Rage has “and you give in to your boundless rage” which adds a nice fictional/emotional trigger that the player can control.

  8. Christo Meid aye, perhaps the trigger could be a little narrower (When you instigate a battle? When you dive in to a battle alone or outnumbered?) or the consequences a little harsher. If I had a decent CON I would always use Battle Joy in this form.

  9. Luke Jordan yup, that’s part of why I’m looking at revising it. That, plus trying to reconcile Blood Fury with Frosty was difficult.

    Leckie S Battle Rage wouldn’t be the only move that withholds XP on a miss, but they aren’t common. In all cases, the miss result is prescribed as either being “nothing bad happens” or “this one predictable bad thing happens.” They’ve got their place, but they should definitely be used sparingly.

    As for the trigger, yeah, Christo Meid, it’s pretty broad right. Maybe overly so. Possible alternatives:

    When you leap headlong into melee and embrace your battle joy… (which makes it an active decision by the player)

    or

    When you leap headlong into battle with no thought to consequence or danger… (which put us into questioning the character’s mental state and thought process as the battle begins)

    I don’t really want it to be too specific (fighting outnumbered, you instigating it) because it should be pretty tough to deal with easy to trigger. And the miss consequence (a debility) is pretty harsh, as I’m rolling out my “only 3 debilities, each penalizes 2 stats” change.

    docs.google.com – Revised Debilities, Make Camp, Recover

  12. Jeremy Strandberg I like both of those new constraints. The first seems more in line with the spirit of the move (embrace the battle joy) and could actually have been RPed by the player in their description, whereas the 2nd is cool, but will cause the fiction to pause for the introspection.

  14. Jeremy Strandberg The trigger is 100% more flavorful and badass. Immediately you feel like you’re playing Logen Ninefingers.

    The other trigger just feels dishwater by comparison.

    But I really like the roll+CON after effect of the 2nd move. I’d strengthen the language on the soft hit result to more like, “you’re exhausted, but you’ll recover with a few minutes’ respite to catch your breath and bandage your wounds,” to lean more into it being an opportunity for an MC move.

  16. How about a compromise?

    BATTLE-JOY

    When you spill blood—yours or another’s—and embrace the thrill of battle, you get +1 Armor and deal +1d4 damage as long as you keep fighting.

    When the action stops, roll +CON: on a 10+, that was a rush, heal 1d4 HP; on a 7-9, you’re exhausted and out of it, but you’ll be fine with a few minutes’ rest; on a 6-, mark a debility but don’t mark XP.

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