Hi all,

There is a schmancy item on the Cymric luck table in BoK&L, the "Marvelous Underjerkin".

On a successful Love Family roll, it will reduce damage from a Major Wound to be 1 less than is needed for a Major Wound (crit = only half the damage is taken).

Is there an upper limit to the damage it will reduce, i.e. as it does not mention for instance, Mortal Wounds?

What if a knight, with SIZ & CON both 15, was stomped on by a Huge Giant for 100 points of damage (with 25d6 not unfeasible), would the jerkin reduce this to 14 points? Seems a bit over powered for a minor magical item from character gen.

Has anyone had this in their game before?

I would be inclined to add an addendum to the Major Wound bit... "Success will reduce the damage from a Major Wound to be one point less than is needed for a Major Wound, and a Mortal Wound would be reduced to one point less than is needed for a Mortal Wound.

The critical success part of the Love Family roll would kick in after the reduction, so our knight above taking a Major would then take 14 halved to 7, or a Mortal would be 29 halved to 15 (roundup in Pendragon?).

Or, more harshly, it only affects Major Wounds, if you cop a Mortal Wound it doesn't help you. This is strictly how I interpret how it reads, as only Major Wounds are noted.

Thoughts?

The luck items leave plenty of room for GM interpration. You could play it the way you describe or leave it exactly as is. I'm not sure I'd restrict it further TBH. The item is destroyed on a D20 roll of 01-15 so while it may save your life, it's only likely to do so once or twice.

I have not had in my game. Did not use this table, but the one from the core book.
But if I would interpret it I would say that the maximum wound the person could get is Major wound -1. In your example that would indeed mean the giant does only 14 points of damage.
Since there is a good chance this is a one shot item (1-15 on d20 that is ruined) I find it less over powered. You need to be lucky if you can use it more than 2 times.

I see mortal wounds as large major wounds. So would apply the bonus as well. You could of course claim that this is not a major wound as such and say the jerkin does not work.

Id take this strictly to mean damage is 1 less than major wound, but on a crit its half. Your house rule for it is good though. Of course this means a Crit is sometimes worse than a success so I see why this needs a house rule. So I think the crit should be halved first then if its a major wound reduce, but if its a mortal wound, well you take a mortal wound.

On a successful Love Family roll, it will reduce damage from a Major Wound to be 1 less than is needed for a Major Wound (crit = only half the damage is taken).


I would say this:
On a successful Love Family roll, it will reduce damage from a Major Wound to be 1 less than is needed for a Major Wound. A Critical Success = only half the damage is taken, or a reduction of damage to 1 less than a Major Wound, whichever is better for the player.

Cheers all for feedback.

I am still unsure about what to do if the damage exceeds total hit points, i.e. a mortal wound, which has different results than suffering a major wound - notably 3 stat loss rolls.

How would one explain away the 90 points of damage from the giant above? Well, your torso is intact, but you have no arms, legs or head, it's only a flesh wound!

I'll nut that out with the player.

Thanks chaps.

How would one explain away the 90 points of damage from the giant above?




Magic? He isn't likely to survive the followup anyway. I'd give him that chance for the love:family roll, then see if the thing actually survived. The dice tell a great story if you let them.

Explaining the 90 points? Lets see:
- the hit looks horrible, but somehow the jerkin has deflected the blow away from any vital parts. (Like in the LotR films: That blow would have skewered a wild boar. Frodo surviving the blow from the Troll)
- The jerkin always felt a bit heavy on the shoulders. But the thick material absorbed the much of the blow. As you look after this hit the strange material is floating through the air.
- With this shirt you always knew you could move faster than another man. the blow would have killed any other man, but you managed to move just a second earlier and thus you just jumped away. the blow still hit you but the impact of the blow was send into the ground you no longer occupied.

How would one explain away the 90 points of damage from the giant above?

It's magic

Major wounds and Mortal wounds are two different things.

given that a character who has such a jerkin will in no short order have a love family of 20+ between annuanl advances and glory bonus points, you will probably need the distinctoin to keep them honest.

Personally, I think it is a tad overpowered as items go, but then I am a core rules only kind of guy. I happen to think a +1 lance (till it breaks, so you probably only get to use it twice,) is pretty cool, and that a +d6 Healing potion is a treasure beyond all price.

Major wounds and Mortal wounds are two different things.

yes, good point


given that a character who has such a jerkin will in no short order have a love family of 20+ between annuanl advances and glory bonus points, you will probably need the distinctoin to keep them honest.

well, my current character has that underjerkin
and has not raised his Love Family at all, for I think boosting Spear Expertise is far more important
besides which he has yet to take a Major Wound
even though he's needed Chirirgery to survive three times now (in 10 game years!)


Personally, I think it is a tad overpowered as items go, but then I am a core rules only kind of guy. I happen to think a +1 lance (till it breaks, so you probably only get to use it twice,) is pretty cool, and that a +d6 Healing potion is a treasure beyond all price.

My opinion as well
which is why I discourage replacing them, capturing them from enemies, or trying to attain "game balance"

I would rule that on a Critical Success it will reduce damage taken from a Major Wound to 1 point less than is required to cause a Major Wound or half damage which ever is better for the player, a Mortal Wound will be reduced to 1point less damage than is required to cause a Mortal Wound or half damage which ever is better for the player. Thus our example knight with CON 15, SIZ 15, HP 30 with a Critical Success on Love Family would take only(!) 29 HP from that 100 HP giant stomp attack. This would leave him suffering the effects of a Major Wound, and quite possibly with Hit Points at or below zero. If he had suffered 7 or more HP of unhealed damage at the time the giant stomped on him he would be beyond the reach of first aid and barring magical intervention dead!

Requiring a critical success on Love Family, and having only 6 HP of unhealed damage when he gets stomped to survive, plus losing the future benefit on a roll of 1-15 doesn't seem over powered to me.