When do GMs have players roll for afflictions that have frequencies of 1/day? 24 hours to the minute of the contraction? Midnight or another defined time each day? After they rest for the day? Randomly during the next 24-period?
Also, how do you handle players who want to cast spells in preparation of making those saves?
Normally I'd just have them roll first thing in the morning after resting, and wouldn't allow them to cast Resistance (or other spells) beforehand. They don't have an atomic clock to know the timing that precisely, and I feel the save is an abstraction of the body resisting the affliction over the entire course of the a day. A spell at the last minute doesn't help much.
Anyway, I've got a situation where rolling first thing after resting might be real bad for the PCs, and I'm not sure my usual approach is appropriate. I've got 4 PCs that have a total of 6 afflictions between them. One of the afflictions (CoT Runecurse to be exact) may result in an overpowering devil arriving to kill one of the characters after several failures.
If I roll for the afflictions just after they rest, they won't have spells prepared and may not be in armor unless they choose to be fatigued the next day.
If I have all afflictions save at a specific time of the day, they can plan ahead and fully rest and study before making the saves. That seems to be stretching things a bit if the players know "affliction save time" is 10am, so they go to bed at 9pm to get 8 hours of sleep over 3 watches, and have exactly one hour to prep spells.
The option that is the most intriguing to me, but the most bookkeeping is to roll randomly to determine the time at which the next save for the affliction will occur during the next 24 hour period. They may get lucky and it will be several hours into the day. Or, it could be middle of the night with one guy on watch.
I don't want to arbitrarily screw over the players, but I also don't want to set a goofy precedent, or special case afflictions due to circumstances.
So, how do others handle affliction saves like this?
make it easy on them and have the save 24hrs to the hour
so it'll occur roughly the same time each day, you can either make it occur in situations easier or harder for them to deal with.
Or you can have the affliction exert itself the first time during the day the player exerts himself.
Personally i think afflictions are most intersting when they have the potential to happen in the middle of town , or during an improtant NPC conversation.
having them occur in the morning is boring and reduces it to nothing more than dice rolling beforethe day starts
I'd read it as "once per day, at any given time", and act accordingly. The characters want to cast spells to boost their ability to save? Remind them that their character has no idea when it's going to take effect specifically. If they want to cast a spell anyway, let them. You make a die roll to see if it'll happen while the spell's boost is still in effect and go on from there.
There's a reason you want afflictions cured as fast as possible.
There's a show called Trauma ER that follows emergency rooms handling trauma patients. Some patients are doing relative fine, seem stable, then suddenly the bottom seems to drop out and their vitals radically destabilize, often leading to death. That is a good analogy for failing a save of that sort.
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I tend to make them roll the save for afflictions in the morning as that immediately follows the longest period of time where they are unaware of their own body, and thus where they are most likely to suddenly notice the affects. This works because most afflictions have effects that can and do appear gradually (aging faster, ability damage/drain, etc).
That said, I don't allow non-permanent save bonuses to help with such a save.
If an affliction had some kind of instantaneous effect I would probably do the "roll for the hour" thing then hope for a dramatic moment in that hour to take advantage of.
Creative Director
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For me, the easiest way to handle it is that all of the 1/day effects apply whenever the PCs wake up. Technically, it should occur 24 hours later, but I don't run games where tracking time to that level of detail is fun; having the 1/day effects tick off when the party wakes up the next day has worked fine for me.
Does anyone allow PCs to use spells like Resistance on 1/day saves? My players wanted to do that, and I basically said no - the spell doesn't last long enough to allow for a bonus on a 1/day save.
That's a good rationale - since the save symbolizes the effects of the entire day a short term bonus wouldn't help, but one granted by a class (an assassin's +2 to save vs poison, etc) would, because it's part of the person and always present.
For me, the easiest way to handle it is that all of the 1/day effects apply whenever the PCs wake up. Technically, it should occur 24 hours later, but I don't run games where tracking time to that level of detail is fun; having the 1/day effects tick off when the party wakes up the next day has worked fine for me.
I'm in the same boat, but I may need to do something different with the Runecurse, since even a nerfed Nyxervex would wipe them out if they are unarmored and unprepared.
I like the idea of having the ability damage afflictions trigger when they wake up, and have the Runecurse be something special (which the player happened to get ominously around midnight...).
Thanks guys!
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Does anyone allow PCs to use spells like Resistance on 1/day saves? My players wanted to do that, and I basically said no - the spell doesn't last long enough to allow for a bonus on a 1/day save.That's a good rationale - since the save symbolizes the effects of the entire day a short term bonus wouldn't help, but one granted by a class (an assassin's +2 to save vs poison, etc) would, because it's part of the person and always present.
Agreed - if the bonus is something like the assassin's +2 or from a magic item that's always worn, I would absolutely include it. If a spell lasted for hours per day, I might let that work as well, but Resistance just seems too quick.
Agreed - if the bonus is something like the assassin's +2 or from a magic item that's always worn, I would absolutely include it. If a spell lasted for hours per day, I might let that work as well, but Resistance just seems too quick.
If they had two characters trading off shifts, repeatedly casting the spell around the clock, I'd allow it. It's just the fantasy equivalent of the intensive care ward.
If you are worried most about the demon arriving, give them some type of warning that gives them a fair shot at least. Perhaps they start having nightmares or an ominous feeling partway into the night? This may not account for spells but may give the PCs a change or more-than-normal chance to don armor.
Its not perfect, and its not RAW, but I think it is in the spirit of the game. I think it amplifies if there is a cleric or divine caster in the group with an opposed alignment.
We've recently had several characters (okay all of the party but one) under the effects of disease and I have had them make their saves at the beginning of the day. The only bonus they get is the cleric's Heal skill attempt to help them stave off the effects, since they don't have any saving throw bonus magic items just yet (they are only level 1). I don't allow Resistance to work since they don't know when exactly in the morning they are making their save.
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If you want to make it interesting, have it vary. Some afflictions *the non-devil summoning ones* happen in the morning. But the more crazy, extreme, or potentially devastating ones happen sometime around when they were received. Roll 1d6, on a 1-4, it happens that many hours later than the original cause. On a 5, it happens at the same time, and on a six, it happens earlier, and roll again to determine how many hours earlier. Something along those lines if you want to make it harder to predict.
If you are worried most about the demon arriving, give them some type of warning that gives them a fair shot at least. Perhaps they start having nightmares or an ominous feeling partway into the night? This may not account for spells but may give the PCs a change or more-than-normal chance to don armor.
Its not perfect, and its not RAW, but I think it is in the spirit of the game. I think it amplifies if there is a cleric or divine caster in the group with an opposed alignment.
It turns out that the character affected is actually the party's cleric. He needs to fail 3 times before the curse is triggered. He's aware of the curse and what it is, and will probably get even more worried when the rest of the group is making saves first thing and he's not...
Just before midnight, he'll start to have a real uneasy feeling come over him, perhaps even waking him up in a cold sweat. This uneasiness becomes a stronger and stronger feeling of impending doom. As the bells toll in the distance at the stroke of midnight, the feeling is bordering on a panic attack. Then I'll have him make a save. They'll have a few days of this occurring (depending on his success rate), so they should know that everyone should be awake and ready to go at midnight until this thing is resolved.
That adds some real nice flavor, and gives them every chance to plan and prepare for a very tough encounter (if it runs its course).