Atgxtg

Looking nicer. You can probably ditch the Army stuff or update it. I think Greg said that only the king can raise the levy, and most of the family knights thing doesn't make sense as they would be supported elsewhere, and not part of the PKs army.You could replace it with the Manor's DV, footmen and other troops under the knight as per Entourage.

I don't suppose you could post a thread of "Coming Attractions" for us curious. Castles, Magicians and what else?

Yeah, I think that's what Aragon an Gandalf ended up as too, decoys. Saruon was expecting somebody to claim the ring and challenge him. Had the Elves been stronger they might have tried the decoy bit. As it was nobody could really withstand him if he were to put all his effort into getting at you, and not have to spread out his forces so much.

Well you can retcon them into more interesting characters, assuming you haven't done much with them yet. One of the thing's I've been doing with the wives is using them to find marriage prospects for the children. These can be random rolls on the marriage tables, and/or potential role-play opportunities, which then get sent to the PKS either by handout or email. Traits, passions, high skill scores, and magic all can turn a wife into something special, and lead to plot hooks that can make her more than a baby factory.

In my campaigns Sword 20 takes a only a few years. I've seen in done in two years with some luck and a lot of glory (knighting and wedding for 2000) in a little at TWO years! KAP5+ chargen lets them start at 15, skill checks, Training & Practice and Glory points can definitely get them to 20 within 4 years, and usually less. . Statistically a PK has about a 50% chance of making one improvement roll in the first three years, plus 3 points of training and practice, for 18-19. Add in a point from Glory (all knights get at least 1000 glory) and you got a 50% chance or so of being there. By year 4 it's a given. Now if the PK has any sort of luck with improvement rolls or Glory awards (wedding, battle or trait bonus), then they can do it faster. It's not a bad strategy, either. It doesn't really hurt the character, in most cases, as the skill is so useful/necessary. Uh, no, your math is off. Your assuming that they must succeed in every improvement roll, and forgetting about the multiple attempts. Thety don't. They just have to succeed five times (a 5% chance) out of 20 attempts. The chance of getting one success in 20 tries is 1-(0.95^20) or 64%, and the odds for successive attempts are approximately 60-64% of the previous chance. That means that they have a 64% chance of getting a 21, about a 40% chance of a 22, about a 24% of a 23, a 14% of a 24, and about a 8% chance of a 25. For two skills that would be 8% squared or a 4/625 chance. Not great but a lot better than 1 in 160k. It does mean that on average one in every 150 veterans would be at least that good. Some could be higher, either by geting lucky on the improvement rolls, or by being even older, or joining before they were 21, which was quite common. So considering the size of a Legion, I could see them being able to scrape together at least one Unit/Contubernium/Eschile 's worth of 25/25 guys, so I don't mind it. No, like I said your math is way off. With a 5% chance of increasing every year the odds are much much higher. Yes, and IMO that is probably about as high as ANY opponent should get before they must be a "Named" NPC. First off you math is off again. The chance of getting 33+ if SIZ and STR were rolled on 2d6+6 would be the same as rolling 21+ on 4d6, or 1.54% Secondly, STR and SIZ are not 2d6+6 in any version of Pendragon! In KAP1 there were 3d6, so getting a 33+ was 0.12% In KAP 3/4 using the random method, SIZ 2d6+6 and STR 3d6 , the odds of a 33+ would be the same as rolling 27+ on 5d6. or 0.45% In KAP 5 using K&L (the only random method in KAP5+), SIZ 3d6+4, STR 3d6+1, the odds are the same as rolling 28+ on 6d6 or 2.49% So even in the best case, K&L the odds of are much less than rolling up a Skill 23/23 guy. And, unlike skill the guys with low stats have no real chance of improving SIZ or STR to 6d6 level if they aren't close to begin with. A guy with a 10 Skill can still have a chance of getting to skill 25 in 20 years. It's a minuscule one, but it's a chance. But the guy with SIZ below 15 has virtually not chance of getting to 33+ needed for 3d6 without glory. That's half the male population and all the (non heroic) female population right there. Now Saxons change the odds considerably. For them the odds of 6d6 is like 5d6, or 9.05%, and then there are the 1/200 or so people with the with the wotanic religious bonus , so approximately 10% of the Saxons have 6d6 damage or better. Elsewhere in the book Heavy Javelins just do +3 Javelin Damage. So someone with Sword 5d6 would do Javelin 3d6, Heavy Javelin 3d6+3. So I think the 5d6+3 was a goof. I'd love to see a updated version that corrected stuff like that and maybe adjusted armor a little, for era. For most opponents a simple +2 points in later Periods would do it. Something like a table that went up to 30 or 40 with a +5, +10, etc. for Period. It would fix the problem you have with the all knight army too. Put the knights in 8-10 point armor at the bottom and then they couldn't be rolled during the Twilight Period. Yeah, while It might add color to the tables , but 5d6 damage unless a PK crticals is overkill. And there is nothing the players could have done differently to prevent it. About the only good thing is that they don't do critical damage.

For the most part wives have been NPCs and background characters. Occassionally they have been NPCs and signficant characters. Very rarely player characters. For the most part they just don't have that much to do, or at least what my players find interesting. Most of my players would rather go on a quest to win glory improve skills and traits, and maybe bring home some treasure, and someone making a Fashion roll to find a new pair of shoes just doesn't cut it. For the most part you're probably going into more detail than you will have a use for. Book of the Entourage puts them in the same league as squires, by tracking a few important skills and glossing over the other details. Unless a wife has the gentlewoman or religious bonus, annual glory will probably be so low as to not really matter. In play the difference between 2247 glory and 2793 isn't important. If you want to make more interesting wives, then I suggest you make them more interesting before the PKs marry them. Find something about them that could lead to adventures and story situations and work on that stuff first. Then she can be prominent enough to merit the attention. In my campaign I have three such NPCs at the moment. One was a widow who while not the prettiest woman at court, was one of the shrewdest. A PK worked to win her hand (mostly by defending her manor when it got raided) and she occasionally has given ther player good advice for things to do to improve his social status, find good matches for his sons and so forth. Another is a pagan witch who the PKs have interacted with on a few adventures (next year she is bringing them into the Adventure of the White Horse), who can make healing oitments, and regularly goes off to the feast of Gofannon in order to maintain her youth. The third is a Berroc Saxon tomboy who rather wear a coat of mail than a dress who fought alongside the PKs during a siege. I have a forth such character who one of the PKs did marry, but she was too meek to be more than just "a good wife" once married. Most of the PK wives though are just background dressing. Don't waste time on them if they are just going to be boring.

Not in 427. They could become warriors, but I'm not allowing female knights until a more enlightened age. Either in the time of Aurelius or (more likely) Arthur. But one of my players wants to have a Druid for a son (there aren't any) and a daughter for a witch, so when the Book of the Magician comes out I should have at least one female player character around.

Like Morien said, not necessarily. If someone walked into a church and told the Priest that he anted to convert the Priest isn't going to kick them out for not being Temperate enough. Chances are, especially back then, that they would convert the PK and then try to guide him a little towards the proper behavior (plus work on the children). It depends on where the campaign is set as Morien noted , and also on how much of a part the GM wants religion to have in the campaign. If the PK is in a area where multiple religions co-exist then probably not much happens. Maybe some friends and relative disapprove of it, but then some others might welcome it. In my campaign, currently set waaaaay back in 427, there is a bit of a conflict going on between the Roman Christians and the British Christians over the teaching on Pelagius. One of the PKs (a British Christian from Salisbury) managed to get his son married to a wealthy Roman family from Venta Icenorium (Norwich). The brides father is a staunch supporter of the Roman faction and insisted that the PKs son convert to Roman Christianity, and even legally change his name from Cian to Caius before he would allow the marriage. The player agonized about it for a week or so before deciding that the 90 libra dowry and a father-in-law with the largest salt mine in Britain was worth it. It will also strengthen his ties to the Archbishops of Salisbury and London, who the PKs have performed tasks for. There will be some fallout as far as some of the British Christians go, but the whole conflict does seem to die down over the years.

Yup. Although it's worth noting those rumors on the table, even those with famous Chaste scores stumble at times. I've got a PK in my current group who failed a test that way. Yup, that can happen. Worst case scenario is that it's just time for a new family. Way back in KAP1 I had a Player who was very unlucky with the dice. He'd roll low stats and then roll bad during play, and so died a lot. He went through a lot of Knights and it usually was just bad luck. He never really managed to establish any of his characters, and it must have been frustrating. One of the reasons why I started this campaign early in the timeline (410) was to give the PKs time to really get their families established, and have various cousins and such floating around by the time of Uther so wiping out a line "can't" happen. Of course I've got big wars, and Vortigern's reign to get through, so it might not work out that way. We're 18 years in and some PKs still only have one son (one PK even married a commoner wife just to get a son ASAP), but they all seem to have several daughters so in a generation or so I should be able to pull in a relative from somewhere.

Yeah but mail stops that sort of hit. Contrary to what most gamers think people in good metal armor usually don't get cut or stabbed through the armor, but instead are either get cut or pieced at the gaps where the armor doesn't protect or suffer from the blunt trauma through the armor. As far as the big strong orc, well mail can stop the impace of a lance from a horse charge so it's not such a stunning feat. I know Bilbo claims that it is so when he gives it to Frodo but that line is contradicted elsewhere, such as when Frodo is in Mordor and can't bear the weight of it anymore. I think it is just relatively light for a coat of mail, and not actually the same weight as cloth. Again no big deal. I've worn mail and it doesn't make much sound. It when metal hits metal that you get that, and even then mail isn't too bad-especially just a shirt worn under clothing. Sure we could.It would be of limited use in modern warfare, and very labor intensive (which was the real downfall of mail).

It's much less of an issue now that in KAP1 where you didn't get your healing rate. And it's a good one. The hard bit is finding a good one when you really need one. But hiring one and for the retinue is well worth the libra. Fifteen skill comes soon enough, and then players almost cheer when it goes up. It can be a pain, but a GM can just as easily have another son or other relative show up. Some of those "Dad has a son" rumors from the Family Events could be true.

Must have bet a bit of cobwb stuck to it. 😳 Yeah, thats what I was thinking, although much of it could just be the Istari. But I was erring on the side of magic. I wouldn't say so. The main reason why they didn't expect him to be alive is becuase they didn't know he was wearing it. THat a well made mail shirt can stop a spear tip from penetrating isn't magical- that's what armor is for. Fordo didn't exactly shrug off the hit either. Still, it's good stuff, and in game terms probably soaked most of an impale. Even if it is magical, it is certainly noted for being extremely rare, and no one is looking to upgrade it to a +3 mail shirt. Oops, score a point. Yes,, ad I think we are pretty much on the same side of the argument, too. He did give a little bling. He fixed Aragon's sword (major goodie), and those elvish boats might have been magical, and he helped to save Frodo from the Black Breath and put up with all those bickering house guests. But still, on paper that ONE item. Now a case could be made that the fellowship wanted to keep a low profile so as not to draw unwanted attention while sneaking about, and didn't take much, but I think that is equally as telling. A high level group of D&D characters without much magic stick outs more than one that has more magic objects than they can carry. I think that if Bormir, Legolas,and Gimli were walking about with "plus" weapons Tolkien would have noted it. Instead what we get is a world where a good sword is considered somewhat magical because it is a good sword. Much more like Earth before the industrial age.

Uh String was from the troll hord in The Hobbit, while the Numenorian Blades were from the Barrow (different troves) While I could make a case about there possibly being something to do with the nature of wraiths and evil magic, much like how silver is effective against vampires (yes I wrote vampires, the werewolf vulnerability\came later), and such I'm willing to accept Merry and Pippin's blades as magical. Now I'd point out that those blades are viewed as something special in the books, as your quote also does with the "no other blade" bit (as opposed to +1 or better to hit). But you're not stating otherwise so no need. Hmmm, I wonder how many magical items were carried by the fellowship in LotR. Aragon's Sword (kinda broken but magical) Gandalf had Glamdring, The Ring of Fire and his wizard's staff. I wouldn't be surprised if he cloak and robes were magical, so let's count them. Frodo had String and the One Ring. His Mithral shirt is never stated as magical, although functionally it was very good mail. Merry and Pippin had thier Numnorian daggers A Palentir pops up. Frodo get the vial of Galadriel at Lothlorian, Sam gets the Mallorn tree and the box of fertilizer (magical or just more advanced gardening tech?)and everybody gets Elven Cloaks (TM), Boots (TM), and Rope (TM), not to mention more than enough waybread (questionable if it was magical) to choke a Gollum. Now I suppose someone could (and will)_ Make claims about Boromir's horn, Gimlis axe, Legolas' bow or even Bill the pony, but I don't see evidence of it in the books. So we got what, a dozen items, before they get all the "Evlish bling" at Lothlorian. And this is for a group out to save the world. What is that in D&D terms 4th level?

Pretty much the same experience. One of the new PKs in my group got the natural healer characteristic and the other, experienced players, immediately convinced the PK to max that skill out ASAP. First Aid 20+ is such a blessing, especially as the PKs get "nickeled and dimed" a lot. About the one major factor you didn't mention is Major Wounds and Chrirurgery Needed. Quite a lot of PK have died in my games because they took a major wound and didn't do so well recovering, either due to lack of a Chirurgeon, or simply by bad die rolling. Its not as pronounced as in the old days, since PKS still get thier healing rate, but a failed or (worse still) a fumbled chirurgery roll can kill, as those with Chirurgery needed checked off are low on hit points.

Oh sure the can run the gamut like the rest pof the troops, especially at this point in history, where most units are legions in name only. Stitll a well trained legion should be able to hold thier own against knights, and the veteranii could hit some of those lofty numbers. Maybe not all 25s, but 20+ skills aren't impossible. Neither or those are all that rare. Considering that most Legionares served for 13-205 years at this point. Most would get to 15 skill pretty quickly, and 20 probably wouldn't be all that unreasonable. Then it just boil down to when they roll a 20, or maybe got 1000 glory. , So a real roman unit of veteranii could hit that 21-22 ish point. I think commoners should get glory for thier actions, if they are glorious ones, after all that's how you get those stories of commoners getting knighted for slaying dragons and such. "Lets see you got 900 glory for killing the dragon so I'll knight you, except, wait, you're a common so you didn't get any glory so I don't care that you slew a dragon so off with you knave!" I could certainly see professional solders with lots of experience having some nice glory totals, or even gladiators if a GM goes back that far. Yeah the problem here is that while certain individuals could have such a skill, finding enough to field a whole unit on the battlefield seems highly unlikely. King Arthur probably can't do it, and he has Lancelot, Trastam and Gawaine. Maybe we could benefit from a unit commander with skills a few points higher than his unit? I agree. It starts a runaway passion problem. Knight with 20 passion rolls a critical, which increases his passion, which in turn increases his chance to crtical again, increasing the passion yet again, etc.etc.etc. Someone with a high passion in one of those multiple battle years could. see his passion surge. IMO it should at least be limited to 1 point per year if over 16, like everything else. Not quite as bad as most of the others. They are one elite unit that will mostly such against Knights.I'd probably be happier if they were 22 ish or so. Part of the problem here is that while skills over 20 are supposed to be rare, it is fairly easy for PKs to get their Sword, etc. up to 20 in the current rules in only a few years and then the mounted bonus (+5/-5) does the rest, making just about any footmen a non-threat in the early periods. The Last True Century's biggest advantages are their phenomenal damage stats (5d6 shortsword, another place where Greg changed his mind) and their ability to double team (which turns everybody who rolls more than 3d6 damage into a legitimate threat in KAP). IMO what I think we need is a sort of special opponent table similar to how you used to run into the occasional superior knight at the joust in KAP 3/4. Maybe put in in with the surprise results and roll on the table when it comes up. . Depends. Catapharatci were not exactly the same throughout the ancient world. Quality, training, gear and status varied. I can see the lower value for the Equites, they generally didn't fight or train as much as knights, with most moving off into politics after their military service was up. But they should probably get to 15 skill or so before they leave the military. I'm with you there. That should probably be limited to poor knights at that point. Historically Plate was actually cheaper during the latter Middle Ages. Depends. If you go with the lamellar arm guards, leg guards, shoulder coverings, reinforced lather belt and the face mask, I can see it. It's really the same as the Cataphacti armor but with lamellar instead of scale. But the typical bare limbed stuff we usually see should probably be a bit lower. The reason for the 12 point version seems to be that Greg used a -2 reducion for partial suits. There is even a point where the Lorica Segmentata seems to be noted as Partial Plate (12). I agree.Most of the opponents are reasonable. I think that most of the unreasonable ones were mostly a case of trying to add color to the tables, and maybe going a little overboard, like the occasional guys with 20+ points of magical protection. But the unreasonable unitl do seem to congregate too, making their effect worse, as the PKs will have to deal with them an unlikely amount of the time. But I do think BoB/BoA do have some weaknesses: 1) I do not accept that an entire army will turn and route if just one eschille of the enemy gets to their camp. The British didn't do it at Agincourt (they just killed thier prisoners), and I;'d expect most armies to have enough people back at the camp on in reserve to deal with one unit of knights. 2) Too many units that just sprint away. With hour long battle turn I find it hard to believe that a group of knights spent the hour chasing down a bunch of footmen who do nothing other than run away all the time. Maybe those units should get a Valor rooll to see if they stand thier ground once in awhile? If all these guys do is run away, how are they still at the battle on turn 6 or 8? 2) Too many ways for archer units to gang up on the PKs. I've seen battles where five or six units are all shooting at the PKS, because they didn't get picked. For what I've read archers generally held their fire until they were in close as they could penetrate metal armor at range (dropping a die at medium and long is not unreasonable). Range should probably be limited to a couple of zones, especially for Javelins, instead of having units for all over the battle field all trying to pick off the same small group of knights. It looks like a coordinated artillery barrage. 3) Lots of guys do too much damage. Where in the core book there are still hold over that do 3d6, in BoA 5d6 and 6d6 are pretty common. I find it far less likely that somebody could form a whole unit guys with 6d6 damage than with 22-25 skill. Not unless they were Saxons. I don't know if it was because they fort to apply weapon modifiers or what but stuff like PIcts doing 5d6+3 with Heavy Javelins is just wrong. Especially when they only do 5d6 with their melee weapons. I tend to think this is mostly due to typos, oversights, and errors, as opposed to intention. 4) The unreasonable units are really unreasonable. We've got a lot of units wandering around with ultra high scores and magical protections, and many have not real justification for it in game terms. In a game where magic ia big deal, somebody waltzing around with 4 or 20! points of magical protection are really too special to just be a random mook on the battlefield. Maybe there should be a special opponents table?This is especially a problem when the PKs get wiped out by someone who has superhuman stats. They expect it from dragons and heroes. Just look at the Men of Death (Picts) from BoA p.22 Heavy Javelin (22) 5d6+3, Greatspear, Spear (22) 5d6 with 8 point cuirbouilli (your favorite) 4 point magical tattoos (so the equivalent of reinforced mail), CON/Major Wound 19. There the best unit on the table! While I can accept the Javelin( 22) or the Greatspear (22) or the Spear (22)skill, or the 4 point magical tattoos that Pict PKs can never find , or the CON, or maybe 5d6+3 Javelin, but all of it together? And I really hope that 5d6+3 damage from the Javelins was a goof.

Yes, as most of the modules were RM compatible. But they also introduced a lot of fantasy things like blak lean and eog that didn't exist in Tolkien's work. And, arguably they are not. Elves generally don't seem to understand what people mean by magic, and thier items are crafrted so well that they are natually disposted towards being better at their prescribed function. But what you don't see in LotR are magic swords and lots of +X swords and such all over the place. Well if you don't you are in the minority. It's one of the major reasons why AD&D changed and got replaced with 3E. Characters require niche protection and the older, simpler characters of early D&D got that by their class. But when you have four or five fighters in the group, there isn't anything special about being a fighter anymore, so characters get defined by their magic. Now both MERP/RM and BRP are skill based and so there is a lot more ways to diversify and customize a character outside of what magical goodies they are carrying. In function, perhaps, but not as far as intention and soruce. Strombringer came later, and Moorcock would probably have a fit to be compared to Tolkien. Oh, where? He is actually rather vague about just what "magical" means, and that the term seems to denote a lack of understanding in the listener. What men and hobbits might call magical an elf would consider to be well made. Lok at the dwarven toys and fireworks in the LOtR. THey are called magical in some places but the former could be wind up soldiers, and the latter perfectly natual fireworks. And that's the point. He didn't have such exposure, not did the rest of the hobbits of the Shire, or Bree, or the men at Bree and so forth. That;'s very different from D&D where everybody walking around has magical items. Clarke's third law seems to apply here. The elves had them, but don't seem to do powerful magics as much any more, and their power is fading. The Numenorians had them too, but were wiped out, and the Dunedain still have some of them, but they are far from commonplace among them. Aragon walks around with the broken sword of his father, and doesn't have a bunch of +5 backup weapons. Again going back to old D&D, things like wrights, (ring)wraiths and balrogs (Type VI demons?) aren't nearly as nasty if PKs have the D&D arsenal of magic items at thier disposal. First off they are not "clearly magic" and that they are poi9nted out to so specifically shows that they are not common items, but rather relics of a former age. They might not even be magical but just high quality. Yes the Simialrion is a whol other order, but notice how Middle Earth has been powered dopwn since then. The biggest baddest item left sems to the the One Ring, and there is only one. Yes the elves had lesser rings, but nothing like the typical D&D setting. Gandalf even warns that any such ring could be dangerous to normal folk.

Probably a mix of LotR and D&D. I've had some long term D&D players get culture shock when playing in Middle Earth and discovering that some things are different. High Elves are the ones with the deep knowledge, not the grey elves. The Noldo are the greatest smiths in the world, not the drarves, and so on. The funny bit is some players have started to say how "that's wrong" only to have it pointed out to them that Tolkien did it first and that D&D is where things got changed, not the other way around. But the LotR/D&D hybrid is often the assumed template for a FRPG world. There are actually many more ways to do fantasy though. I'd try to decibe what itis in context of the world and not try as a D&D analogue. Not out of a dislike for D&D but because saying that "it's like magic missile" or some such can actually mess the player up later on when a RQ spell doesn't work quite like a similar D&D spell. Since is a golden exmple. I've seen D&D players try to use it in RQ2 like a D&D silence spell, and it just doesn't work that way. I wouldn't do it. At least not without explaining to the player that it won't work the way he expects it to. I'd strongly suggest that the player get more familiar with the game and the magic system before tying to go full wizard. Most D&D players are going to expect wizards to be able to fireball a room and such, and that sort of stuff isn't the sort of thing that a player character will be able to pull off for quite some time, and will take a ton of magic points to do. I think you either need to explain to the players that this isn't D&D and things don't work the same way, or you'll have very disappointed players when things don't work out according to thier expectations. It will be a lot like putting you in a world where 2+2=3. It won't make sense and you won't know why.

Certainly. I'm not against Hero Point by any means. I'm just concerned about removing their use for advancement and handing out some free to be used. I'm not saying changing the rules will do so, only that a GM should be careful about making things too easy for his layer.

I think one of the reasons why I rated Knights & ladies so highly is because the random method was the original chargen method and isn't included in KAP5 So if a GM pr Player wants a character from outside of Salisbury K&L is sort of a necessity. I don't mind the longer battle of BoB/BOA. I like the big important battles to be important events that take up a good part of the game session, nut that is a matter of taste. I can see .why some others don't want to spend all night running one battle. I have the same reaction to Book of the Manor, I don't want to spend the session playing Stewards. I do agree with Morien about some of the stats. While I can certainly see some commoners with skills 20+ (most legions should be able to hold their own against knights, and archers should be good when the warbow comes out), Book of Armires does tend to go a bit overboard, while the core armies in the book tend to be a little too weak. I'd say that a good part of the difficulty here lies in the feast or famine nature of non-knight opponents in KAP. Then tend to be incompetent or in the 20+ crowd. What I think would help would be to do like they did in RQ3 Vikings, and come up with Poor, Average, Veteran, Elite stats for most footmen, similar to what KAP does with knights (Not the same numbers, but along the same idea). The latest Book of the Entourage actually starts to do something like that with stats for Green (10), Average (12), Veteran (16) troops and the progression could be continued of for a few more steps (say Elite 20?, Legendary 22?). Then most units could be outfitted by their culture and position, and graded by their skill. I also think that as the average armor values for knights have gone up a couple points over the years, and damage has likewise gone up, the average archer, foot solider and Pict should be brought into the 4d6 damage band. SIZ 8 Picts made sense when SIZ was rolled on 3d6, but now that leads to 80 pound weaklings. SIZ 11 is closer to what you get now, And the extra 40 pounds would put them into the 4d6 range. .

If you like that, then you might like the idea of Takeda Shingen hearing about it and hiring a double. So the PC's future Daimyo essentially inspires Kagemusha.

Just don't tell your players where you got the idea. I already have one lynch mob after me!

If you really want to scare them, have them find a dead body of an ashigaru that looks like their daimyo (not beyond the realm on possibly in munitions grade, mass produced armor, especially if covered in blood and gore). While the PCs are agonizing over his death, and hopefully before they commit seppuku or do a suicidal revenge-counter attack, the lord could show up and ask if the deceased was a relative of theirs, and then lead the PCs off to the find the killer to avenge their "kinsman". BTW, Why would the lord ask the PCs for permission? He's the lord so why doesn't he just go? Then some ashigaru who recognizes the lord rushes to tell the PCs. That drops the PCs in it without the foreshadowing, upping the panic quotient.

Yes it can, but there isn't much a GM should probably do about it. Without the fear that they can fail the climax becomes an anti-climax. To maintain the tension the players need that belief that they can potentially fail. A GM can fudge things, but that can be dangerous if not handled well. If the players figure out that the GM is going to fudge things in their favor then again the players will lose interesting the campaign. I've gamed in several such campaigns (unfortunately) and the players tend to turn on each other as the other PCs are the only remaining challenge left. So a GM who eliminates failure for the big things had better do so in a way that he won't get caught by his players. Hero Points are nice in that they give the players a legitimate way to adjust things in their behalf for those big situations, but they only work effectively when the number are limited so that the players have to decide when to use them. So much of running a game is about getting the players to buy into the apparent threat and danger of a situation.

(Accidental Duplicate Post)

Not overpowering. But what to Hero Points do? They modify results to prevent failure. SO therefore failure isn't fun. While that certainly has some truth to it, not failing isn't fun either. it is luck or intelligent play? I've seen situation where players take insane risks because they had a pool of points to fall back on, and ended up buring through thier points faster than the ones who ducked behind cover and didn't have to use as many (or mny) points to save thier skins. Game balance is a myth. All RPGs an inherently unbalanced in favor of the PCs, and "balancing" PCs against each other doesn't work because a great deal of what makes one PC better than the other is the actual abilities of the respective players. My caution here is that if the players get too much of what they want too frequently, they won't have fun either.