Scarlet Heroes thoughts
Scarlet Heroes thoughts
Combat in Scarlet Heroes is pretty abstract because of the Fray Die. This gives you some room to interpret just what exactly is going on when you mow through eight kobolds in one round. I realized that animal companions or familiars are a perfectly good explanation for Fray Die damage. In cases where the PC doesn’t get their Fray Die (when an enemy has more HD than the player has levels unless the PC is a wizard) then the companion is just batted aside or ineffective and the hero has to take it on alone. No muss, no fuss. The Fighter or Thief becomes a Ranger and the Cleric becomes a Druid by tweaking a special effect.
I love the fray die! I love everything about the frame work in SH for solo play
ReplyDeleteThe Fray Die is really innovative. I think we had a chat at some point about how it was great for wuxia. I hadn't considered it for animal companions but it sounds like a great fit for that too.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure other uses will come out of it but I can't think of any right now.
The down side to assigning fray dice to animal companions is explaining what happens if the character doesn't have the animals, but still gets the fray dice.
ReplyDeleteI could see assigning MORE fray dice, or modifying them up a size, or something else to account for the boost. However, if you say they are the reason for the fray dice damage, then if they are gone the damage should be too, penalizing their character companion.
Fray dice without the animal companion = character is pissed off their animal companion is gone so they fight harder until they get them back works.
ReplyDeleteAt least for a while. I think you can find ways to align the fictional positioning in a way that the mechanic isn't changed.
Joshua Ramsey read my mind.
ReplyDeleteOf course, your mileage may vary and people like different styles. I'm intrigued by the idea of integrating animal companions into the fray dice as a combat thing, but less enthused about making them descriptive garnish. Of course, I don't have a dog in this fight (see what I did there?!) as I'm just thinking about it and it's not happening at my game table. So... just thinking aloud. Carry on!
ReplyDeleteTaking the Fray die away if the character doesn't have his animal companion could be a realistic impairment. Maybe the reason that character is so epic is because of his animal companion - when you take it away he is much more of a regular guy. It could really drive an adventure: limp through the enemy compound (at half strength) to rescue your animal companion.
ReplyDelete