I had a scenario recently where my PKs had to choose between Loyalty(lord) and Loyalty(king). I had them all roll opposed passions to see which way they felt more inclined to act. However, some of them had passions of 16+ in one or both of these and that got me thinking. If a knight has a 16+ passion vs a normal passion should it take precedence? eg should he have to roll and fail the 16+ passion first before acting against it (so NOT an opposed roll, more like a trait roll).

Normally with traits and passions below 16, you can choose whether to act on them.

However, you can easily argue that this shouldn't apply for passions. Having a passion at *any* level suggests a very strong feeling, easily the equivalent of a 16+ in a trait. So the simplest way is to treat all passions as governed by the rule of 16+ traits.

That's one way to go, and solves your problem. Howver, let's assume that's not the case, and you are treating passions of below 16 the same way as traits below 16.

This means, effectively, you can choose to not be governed by a roll for *that* passion. That means, you can choose not to roll it, but if you end up going against it, you suffer the loss of a point that you would normally get for rolling a passion and failing. And if you act with the passion, and it is a dramatic enough situation, you get an experience check, even though you didn't roll. The other effects - melancholy, inspiration, etc., don't apply.

So, in the case of, say, Loyalty (lord) 16, and loyalty (king) 15, one player might say, he is not rolling for loyalty King. He must still roll his Loyalty (Lord), and in this case it will be unoppossed. If he succeeds, he acts for the Lord; if he fails, he can choose whether to act for the king, or act for the lord, or do something else.

Or he can choose to roll both. If one wins, that's the one he acts for. If neither wins, he can choose which to act for.

In both cases, when he has failed a passion roll, remember he might well be disheartened (-5 to skills). I only apply this in situations where it is important, and where winning the roll would also grant inspiration. Sometimes passion conflicts are good for this, sometimes it's not as high an emotional situation. (Though, again, you could easily argue that *any* situation which involves a passion can lead to high emotions, and therefore inspiration and disheartening/melancholy/madness are always on the table.)

Your notable traits/passions define you. In a way, they take away freedom of choice for NPCs. They have to fail that trait for them to act against it. PCs, on the other hand, always have freedom of choice. BUT, those notable traits/passions are what makes your reputation.

The way I use them, is the players roll their notable trait/passion. If they fail it, they roll on the opposing. No matter what the rolls are, they do get to decide. Going against the rolls, causes in immediate reduction in the trait or passion.

Now, in this specific case, you have a situation in which you have two Loyalties. In my game, the character would first roll on his Loyalty (Lord). It is this loyalty that is important. I would then roll his Loyalty (King). If he succeeds on the first, he should do what his Lord wants. If he fails, then he can do what the King does if the roll is successful on the 2nd roll. If he fails both, he gets to decide.

Bob Schroeder

Thanks for clarifying that guys.

This point actually lead me to re-read the Passions section and, to my surprise, I realised I'd missed a small, but important rule - that of automatically increasing a passion by 1 point on a Critically Inspired result. Has this caused anyone problems? Obviously once a passion goes beyond 20 then it's likely to increase ever more often. This may not be a problem all the time, as the benefit is equal to the rather fanatical behavior, but in the instance of a holy knight with a high Love (God) it's an absolute killer. When such a knight is critically inspired he's overcome by a vision of God and unable to act! To begin with this is not going to happen that often (5% on a passion of 20) but once it starts to increase, it'll will spiral upwards faster and faster and you'll be left with a very chivalrous vegetable.

EDIT - Having just checked Sir Galahad, with a Love (God) of 39, I have to ask how does this guy function? His passion is so way over 16 that in any instance involving God he's compelled to roll, will critical every time and then swan off into a trance. Sir Atheist - "Help Sir Galahad, someone is attempting to kill the Archbishop, smash the grail, burn a bible", Sir Galahad - "blubber, blubber, drool..."

I dont have my book to hand, but I am pretty sure that Love God effect isn't meant to apply when the player is trying to use his passion for inspiration. You know the section in the rules where it says passions can be triggered when the GM wants? Like, when Lancelot sees blood in the snow and it reminds him of his love, and he makes a passion roll and falls into melancholia? It's for situations like that, or for situations were passions are being used in opposed rolls for conflicts.

Galahad is a fine example of how, when using the passion for inspiration, it simply cant make you incapacitated.

Regarding the automatic increase on a critical: I admit I have house ruled this to only one increase possible from criticals per year, and it counts as the experience roll. Most characters wont live long enough for it to be a major problem, but with free increases, you're right, once it reaches the 25, and especially 30+ levels, there's nothing stopping it racing to 39.

This is the text from KAP 5.1
"Love (Deity): This passion is required of all Christian clergy. The cynical nature of many clergymen proves that this passion does not have to be high to join the church, but it is a requirement nonetheless. Religiously oriented knights may also have this passion.
A critical success in this passion gives the character a modifier or a check to all appropriate religious traits, not to any one skill. The character is thereafter incapacitated by an ecstatic vision for a period of time determined by the Gamemaster (at least 1 hour), and cannot act at all during that time. The typical Love (deity) value is equal to that character’s starting Pious trait value."

Although it makes no distinction either way I'm fairly sure the intent was not to make extremely religious knights useless when fighting for a religious cause. I do like the exception with Love (God) that gives the chance for a vision. Depending when/how this passion can be used the vision acts as an extra downside to balance things out a little. eg is it meant to be near universal, "God will see me through this", "God give me the strength to kill this beast", and therefore very powerful? Or is its use more narrowly controlled, eg only when something religious is threatened?

Just re-reading the passion again though another question comes to mind, the text says "A critical success in this passion gives the character a modifier or a check to all appropriate religious traits, not to any one skill. " Does that mean you get +20 (the critically inspired bonus) to every religious trait. Is that right? Or should it just be a check?