thread: 2006-04-13 : T equals Zero
On 2006-04-13, Vincent wrote:
Ben asked me in email how single-chapter specializations work.
A single-chapter specialization is most likely to be a concrete thing, not a skill. Like in our game we've had a warlord's ancestral sword (specializes Influencing Others, adds Guts), bracelets of improbable strength (specializes Defending Myself, adds Guts), and an army (specializes warlording, adds Art). Then, just, whoever's character has control of the thing gets the dice for it.
Like, in our most recent session Julia's character had the army, just as a feature of how the initial setup went, but not written on her character sheet. She got to use the army for warlording purposes, until Emily's character swiped it from her (by getting a hateful priestess to disguise her voice). Then Emily's character got to use it for warlording purposes (although she didn't happen to). Julia's character won it back before the end of the chapter.
So it changed hands a couple of times, and whoever had it, got to use it. At no point could Meg have said "I use the army to roll Art in with my warlording," because at no point did her character have the army.
Now - that's true of specializations written on somebody's character sheet, too. If Julia had written the army on her character sheet, Emily's character could still have seized it like she did. The only difference is, next chapter, Julia's character would have it again. If it's written on your character sheet you bring it with you into the next chapter; if it's not, you don't.
That probably all makes fine sense to everyone, when the specialization's a thing. What about when it's a skill? Like "mastery of the necromantic arts - specializes Influencing Ghosts, adds Art"?
The answer is, of course, that it works exactly the same. Whoever's character has it, gets to use it; whoever has it written on their character sheet gets to have it again next chapter. Whoever doesn't, doesn't!
