|
In A History of Ashes, the PCs come across Krojun and he expresses a desire to test their strength with the game of Sredna.
The game's rules make sense. Intimidate checks for 3 rounds first, with each winner getting Sredna points.
Then, during the game, the player's Tug and Dig In. Winning a Tug gains the player more Sredna points.
So far, it seems like Sredna points are a good thing. Until the last bit.
"At the end of each round, total up each player's sredna points. This is the DC each player must make on a Fortitude save to continue the match."
My initial read on this is that if I have earned 5 sredna points, the DC is 5 on the Fortitude save. However, that means that the more I earn, the harder it is for me to save. One would think that to win this, the best thing a player should do is try to fail on each check, or send in a guy with good Fort, but a bad Intimidate and Strength.
A second opinion could be that you total up both player's sredna points and that would determine the DC, so each participant would have the same DC. This doesn't make sense either, as then there seems little point again to win any of the rounds. The DC would be the same either way.
My last guess, and what I hope is correct, is that your total Sredna points determine the Fort DC for the other guy. So if I've earned 7 points and my opponent has earned 4, then I only need to pass a DC 4 fort save wheras he needs to pass a DC 7. This makes much more sense, and gives a better reason to earn the points.
So, I think it's the third option, but wanted to see if anyone else had heard about this as well.
|
|
Also, speaking of Krojun, does his strength factor in the +4 Belt? His Rage strength is displayed as a 22 with non-rage being a 16, so if it is including the belt, that would make his base strength a 12. It seems odd that this hero of the Shoanti would have such a low base strength at level 12 (his only other good stats being 15 Dex and 16 Con). Unless this guy really is getting by entirely on his Belt and Rage.
|
A second opinion could be that you total up both player's sredna points and that would determine the DC, so each participant would have the same DC. This doesn't make sense either, as then there seems little point again to win any of the rounds. The DC would be the same either way.
I interpreted it as your second opinion. I think it's more like a balance between making it hard for you opponent by adding more to the DC and not making it so hard that you can't make the check yourself. Although, I do like your third guess...
I'm assuming the Sredna points carry over each round, thus making it harder and harder, until eventually it's practically impossible?
|
|
The second one just seems odd because then what is the point of keeping track who wins intimidates or a round? If you're totaling both players up, then it would be 3 for the intimidate, +1 per round. I am thinking more and more that it was meant to be the third way, so that keeping track of separate points makes sense along with wanting to have a higher point value.
My thought on it getting harder and harder is the fact that the narrow leather is biting into your skull in a particularly painful spot ... but I agree, your Sredna points would be your opponents target number and vice versa.
|
My thought on it getting harder and harder is the fact that the narrow leather is biting into your skull in a particularly painful spot ... but I agree, your Sredna points would be your opponents target number and vice versa.
That's how I ran it. My player decided after Krojun raged to dig in, and the saves got up to DC 10 and 14 until Krojun rolled a natural 1 ... :)
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I just ran the Sredna match today in my game. For future reference and for anyone else who plans to run this, I think it would be a good idea to have a cumulative +1 sredna point to each character every round. So after round 4, each player gains another +1 point, after round 5 +2 points, etc, regardless if they win or lose. The reason for this is because I found in my game, Krojun and the party fighter basically just sat there and dug in.... and so nothing really happened. And in the initial stages of the game, the sredna point values for each side are so low, and with both of them having fairly high Fort saves that it was essentially auto success, it became just a game of who would roll a 1 first. In any case, I think upping the ante by continually increasing the sredna points makes things more interesting and promotes the characters to actually tug rather than continually dig in.
Although, I suppose both characters could still just sit there and dig in. I think perhaps there should be some kind of minor penalty to digging in, like a penalty to your Fort save or something. In any case, not sure if this was an issue for anyone else...
If both parties dig in, no one is really pulling, so there really isn't anything to increase the discomfort.
The monk in my group managed to beat Krojun after 12 rounds.
|
|
If both parties dig in, no one is really pulling, so there really isn't anything to increase the discomfort.
The monk in my group managed to beat Krojun after 12 rounds.
Well, maybe it's like both characters are pulling with some basal level of force that builds up. But when you do the Tug, it's like a significant pull. I dunno, just a thought...
agreed with Hsuperman, we did a lot of dice rolling in my game before the fighter eventually beat Krojun.
I also ditched the usual nat 1 = auto fail rule for the Sredna fort saves, there are few things so anti-climatic as an early fall to the 1 in 20 roulette...
Yah, it would seem anti-climatic with the 1. But in our case, it seemed like the only way to get anywhere when both are just digging in.
Sredna's really tnereffid.