We’ve been plugging away on bestiaries behind the scenes,
but major developments in Real Life (TM) (e.g. 3 months building work on Slev's house) has put us behind schedule.
In the meantime, I’ve been asked about how “block” works. There’s
two sides to this, where you get block from, and how to use it.
Using Block
When you use a Block, you reduce all damage from one hit to
zero. Just one. Not all of them for one turn, like with a Fate Point. Just the
one.
This is useful if there is only one enemy who can attack
you, or if every other enemy has already failed to hurt you, since they allow
you to preserve your precious Fate Points for other eventualities.
Gaining Block
Block can come from several sources. Here’s the rub, each
source can only give you Block once.
Some items grant Block, such as a Lucky Charm. Once that
Block has been used, it’s gone for the rest of the Expedition, even if you hand
the item to someone else.
Some abilities grant you Block in certain circumstances. Once
you’ve used that ability, that’s it. If you gain “Block with Chainmail”, you
have one Block point available while you’re wearing Chainmail. Once you’ve used
that Block, it’s gone for the rest of the Expedition.
The Tricky Part
Where this gets complicated is where these two rules come
together.
Let’s say you have “Block with Chainmail”, and have found a
suit of magical chainmail that grants you Block itself. This gives you two
Blocks. And if you don’t remove said Chainmail for the entire Expedition, there
is no further complication beyond that.
However, if we get to the point where you change and swap
armour and other such, things can be complicated. In the above example, the
Chainmail is supplying two points of Block. If I use one point of Block from
it, and then pass it to another Hero, you chose retroactively how you spent it.
You basically have to decide then if you gained the point you used from “Block
with Chainmail” or from “this Chainmail has Block”. If the latter, the other person
cannot use that ability this expedition.
This may seem like it is open to abuse, but in practice, the
player will spend time agonising over the order of spending Block points only
when these edge cases occur.
