Luck

From LiMaWiki

Luck measures just how kind fate is to your character, determining whether circumstances always seem to conspire to defeat him, or whether things more often than not happen to go his way. Luck also reflects a character’s ability to choose a favorable alternative from among several apparently random choices, or can allow a character to accomplish difficult objectives or avoid deadly mishaps when his abilities or training might not be up to the task.

[edit] How Lucky?

As an ability, Luck works just like any other ability score, and has a typical range of 3–18. As with any other ability, a character’s Luck score gives him a Luck modifier as shown on Table 1–1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells in the PHB.

[edit] Using Luck

The Luck ability offers GMs a tool for objectively determining how fate affects a character’s life, particularly when factors that the GM can’t control (or simply hasn’t planned for) come into play. As well, Luck can provide an effective way for players to minimize some of the more destructive whims of fate (see the following section—Luck Points).

[edit] Luck Checks

A Luck check determines how some coincidence or chance event works either for or against a character, and uses the character’s Luck modifier added to the result of a d20 roll like any other ability check. Unlike a normal ability check, though, on a roll of 20, roll once more and add the second roll to the first—but don’t roll again if the second roll is also a 20. In many cases, the GM will make the check secretly so a player isn’t automatically aware that fate is in play. Generally, only the GM can call for a Luck check, and though players can ask for a check if they feel circumstances warrant, the GM has final say. The DC for a Luck check depends on how likely a favorable outcome would be for the given circumstances if simply left to fate.

[edit] Table 1-1: Example Luck Scores

DC –5: Any outcome normally guaranteed to occur— getting wet in the rain, being burned by fire, suffocating after being buried.

DC 0: Outcomes which are virtually guaranteed—being robbed after bragging about your wealth in a thieves guild, finding a forge in a blacksmith’s shop, attracting the attention of the local constabulary by uttering threats in public.

DC 5: Outcomes that are highly likely—finding a room at a local inn on a typical day, meeting a traveler on a busy road, exposure to parasites in a filthy sewer, finding a particular mundane item for sale in a small town, finding criminals in a seedy tavern. For DCs of 5 or below, making a Luck check usually isn’t worth the effort unless you want to play a failure for laughs.

DC 10: An outcome just as likely to occur as not— disparaging a local lord in a busy place and having word reach his ears, finding a particular masterwork item for sale in a small town, stumbling onto a crime in progress in a bad neighborhood.

DC 12: A normally even outcome weighted slightly by circumstance—disparaging the same local lord as above but not knowing that a member of the lord’s militia is listening, being able to commit a crime in a bad neighborhood without attracting attention.

DC 15: An outcome roughly half as likely to occur as not— choosing the right path when confronted by three possible escape routes with no idea which two lead to danger, trying to find a particular NPC by hanging around her favorite haunts.

DC 18: An outcome that’s fairly improbable—a spell of rain in the desert, trying to find an NPC by hanging around places you only think she might frequent.

DC 20: An outcome that’s downright improbable—a snowstorm in the desert, checking into an inn and just happening to get the room next to the NPC you’re seeking.

DC 22: An outcome that defies prediction—a ship arriving by happenstance to rescue a character stranded on a desert island that’s located off the main trade routes.

DC 25: An outcome that might be unremarkable by itself but which occurs at exactly the right moment—a character who leaps out a window and lands in the back of a passing hay wain.

DC 30: An unlikely and completely fortuitous outcome— looking down to discover a pouch full of gold or secret documents in the street.

DC 35: A fortuitous outcome that arises as the result of a whole chain of unlikely events—a character who discovers that some trinket he’s always carried is actually the key to the door of a secret crypt at the climax of an adventure.

DC 40: An outcome so improbable that it defies belief—a character with a fully laid-out lower-class history discovers that he’s actually the last scion of a noble family.

[edit] Luck in the Game

It’s important to note that for many of the actions a character might take, the degree of luck involved in any possible outcome will always be affected by other factors. Take, for example, the character who looks down to find a bag of gold at his feet. It’s clearly sheer luck that sees the bag dropped where he could find it, but the relative ease of his finding it might well change depending on his having some prior indication that a bag of gold had gone missing in the area, or if he was making a Search check for some other object at the time.

As well, over and above providing a formal mechanism for working random chance into your game, Luck checks can be used in some specific ways.

[edit] Picking an Unlucky Character

When there’s a more or less equal chance for any one member of a party to be affected by some action, circumstance, or twist of fate, rather than the GM simply rolling randomly, each character can make a Luck check to determine which one is affected. In this way, ranged weapons which go astray, nonintelligent monsters who need to pick a single target, or traps and effects which normally hit creatures at random will all target the unluckiest characters.

[edit] Random Annoyances

Anyone can have a bad day now and then, and if an extra level of sometimes-humorous realism fits your game, the GM can use Luck checks to throw small mishaps at characters. For example, characters exploring a steamy tropical jungle might encounter the occasional falling coconut (or other suitably large and potentially funny produce). Every hour or so, a DC 15 Luck check might be required to avoid getting hit, with a failed check dealing some small amount of nonlethal damage (or perhaps just injuring a character’s pride). Likewise, Luck checks could be used to avoid slipping in mud puddles, tripping on stairs, and other minor mishaps (though for any actions with serious consequences, saving throws or skill checks are probably more appropriate).

[edit] Collateral Effects

When a character suffers a major or dramatic mishap (falling into a pit, failing a Climb or Jump check by a wide margin, and so on), you can use a Luck check (DC 15 to 20, depending on the violence of the mishap) to determine if any items the character wears or carries become damaged or lost.

Example: If a boat carrying a character capsizes, a DC 15 Luck check will determine if that character inadvertently drops any items into the water, loses her grip on a weapon or shield, or has some piece of clothing torn off in the current (1d4 items lost on a failed check, with small items carried in pouches or pockets most likely to be affected).

Likewise, possessions could be broken or lost when a character is subjected to massive damage (see Chapter Eight: Combat of the PHB). For items dropped or lost, the GM can choose or consult Table 1–2: Items Dropped or Lost as appropriate.

[edit] Table 1-2: Items Dropped or Lost

[edit] Option 1: Luck as a Substitution

Note from Phil: This is the option I have chosen - I will not be posting the others.

One great way to use Luck in your games is to allow players to substitute their Luck modifier for another ability score. In this option, you could substitute your Luck modifier for Dexterity when making a Balance check, or Luck for Wisdom when making a Will save. While any check, even attack rolls and initiative for that matter, can substitute your Luck modifier, you are limited to the amount of times you can use your Luck score in this way. Each character may substitute his Luck score a number of times per day equal to one-quarter his character level (minimum of once per day), so an 8th-level character can substitute Luck for any other ability twice per day.

Example: Rob has a 12 Dexterity and an 18 Luck. His party fights a band of orcs, being careful to conceal the sounds of battle behind a well-placed silence spell. However, one of the orcs makes a break for it to alert the rest of the tribe. Rob has one opportunity to drop the orc. He makes a ranged attack with his masterwork longbow, but, he’s not a very good shot, so he substitutes his Luck modifier for his Dexterity modifier when making the attack, giving him a far better chance of dropping the orc than he ordinarily would.

[edit] Generating a Luck Score

...In a campaign that uses a point-buy system, it’s usually best to increase the number of points by just enough to allow the purchase of one additional ability score of 10. A player will then need to decide whether to spend the extra points elsewhere and have an unlucky character, or to increase a character’s luck at the expense of other abilities...