Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

[SSgt Baloo]

I've always been partial to lucky characters. Luck dice, on the other hand, don't strike me as an easy way to do luck effects. Is 10d6 of luck as effective as a 10d6 energy blast?

 

How do you handle characters with a load of luck dice?

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

One could say that Luck at that level means that the Universe likes the character so much that the most incredible of coincidences work out in her favor. One media example would be Mihoshi from the Tenchi-Muyo! anime series; a galactic cop who is somewhat scatterbrained but extremely lucky, to the point that she can do impossible things like wander into other universes and not even realize it.

 

Notice that scatterbrained is not the same thing as stupid; Mihoshi can be rather clever on those rare occasions when she focuses.

 

Another anime example: Yoriko, the gossip-hound dispatcher/officer from You're Under Arrest. Although she was on a much smaller point scale than Mihoshi and thus did not end up dealing with cosmic improbabilities, the universe did display some fondness for her. She has been known to take a multiple choice exam, choose the answers at random, and get a perfect score. She once managed to get a perfect score at the target range despite having her eyes closed when she shot. she once apprehended a pair of bank robbers by losing a paintball match. And, of course, anyone who can remain the loyal friend of two women into whose secrets she constantly dives even though they know about that behavior definitely has some force looking out for her....

[Vondy]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

An alternative mechanic: Have the player roll their luck dice and divide the total by 6 (rounding off). This produces the number of luck points they can spend in scene/session/adventure (as the GM deems appropriate).

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

At the beginning of a session, I have the Luck-bearing player throw his Luck dice, and add up the total (the 'Stun'). He gets that many Luck points that he can use, that session, to modify his (and only his) 3d6 rolls for task resolution on a 1:1 basis.

[yamamura]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

IIRC, check the book there is a couple of alternate idea on using luck.

[TaxiMan]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

I like Luck characters too, but prefer to have their powers spelled out more. There are some good threads covering that. Have some Luck-based Powers, add in 3d6+ Luck for flavor, and viola! - a nice, balanced, in-the-player's-control Luck character.

[Dust Raven]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

With that many dice of Luck, no matter how you use them, you're going to have a lucky character. Luck doesn't do everything though. You can always buy specific effects as other Powers with the SFX of being lucky. One character I wrote up a long time ago has 6d6 Luck, 4 overall skill levels, an Invisible FF and a VPP (defined as finding just the right thing within arms reach), all with the SFX of being lucky.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

I don't like 'original flavour' Hero luck (the power/talent/whatever). The reason was that it always required a GM to think of a cunning way out for you, so long as you came up 6s.

 

Some of the alternative luck systems in 5th edition are pretty good though as they put the emphasis back on the player' imagination, and gaming skills.

 

Best of all is building powers with 'luck' sfx, armour, NND attacks, whatever, even a VPP, if you like. Then you have a nice solid mechanical base and all the responsibility for running the character on the player.

 

Cool.

 

As to whether luck is better or worse than an equivalent number of points in anergy blast - well, luck isn't really an attack power, so it is hard to compare.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

We were puzzling through this most recently, to the point where the PLAYER said "You know what? This isn't worth the effort. I'll just build the powers with a luck SFX."

 

I don't think we ever did acheive a consensus on what we wanted to do, but I would split the difference; roll Luck dice, count up Normal Damage BODY. Those are your luck points for the session, and may be applied to your rolls, and only your rolls, at any time.

 

However, I would also consider extending it - if you really want to Dodge that attack, you can abort to Dodge and add Luck to your DCV on a 1:1 basis, the same way you would modify an attack roll (on a 1:1 basis). Some outside of the box thinking helps here.

[Fedifensor]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

She has been known to take a multiple choice exam' date=' choose the answers at random, and get a perfect score.[/quote']

Sounds like Luck-based Precognition, to me.

[Sketchpad]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

I've used a few luck-based characters in the past ...

For luck powers, such as some of the feats that Longshot can do, I use power effects like Deflection, DCV Levels and Indirect attacks. For actual luck, like luck dice, I've begun experimenting with porting over M&M's Hero Point rules, allowing each player 1 Hero Point and each extra HP coming from the Luck Talent (5p/1 HP) or earning them through good roleplaying, fiat or when complications arise that may be tied to Disads (basically good RPing at that point). So far, it's kinda neat ...

[Sealemon]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

One of the characters in my campaign uses 4d6 of Luck Option "A" (Roll for BODY, that's how many luck points you have),with one caveat: The Luck roll is NOT guarenteed to be better than the original roll. This way, his odds of making a decent re-roll that he just skunked the first time is good, while denying him the ability to try crazy stuff, "Just because I know the reroll has a better chance of making it".

 

He also has a Change Environment attack, no range with personal immunity that lowers DCV and OCV, while forcing a DEX roll at -3.

 

Defensively, he has some Combat Luck and a couple of 5 pt. Defensive levels that are Luck Based (Per Combat Luck). He's currently saving up for a Luck-based Find Weakness ability...

[McCoy]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

I want to try a "luck chits" system. Character rolls thier luck dice once at the begining of the adventure, count the pips, he gets that may poker chips. Each chip can be used to alter any die roll by one, up or down. His activations always suceed, opponents miss by that much, damage dice include an unusual number of sixes. Until he runs out of chips.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

Oh! Oh! I just remembered a character I did for someone else's "high-powered" campaign (we got to run 350-point characters instead of the usual 250).

 

Lance O'Bannon, the Singing Cowboy (that's how he introduced himself), was inspired by Craig Shaw Gardiner's Cineverse Cycle Books and the movie: Rustler's Rhapsody (plus every B-western ever made).

 

Lance could hear and interpret the background music (Danger Sense, World-wide). He was incredibly lucky. In addition to the 10 luck dice he had, he had several powers with luck or "cinematic cowboy" SFX. "Actually, that bullet/arrow/death ray passed between my shirt and my skin" (30 PD/ED damage resistance). His guns were bought as a multipower with ultra slots. They didn't use charges, but were bought to 0 end. The GM agreed that he'd only run out of bullets when it would add dramatic tension. They could be used as an autofire attack (to simulate rapid fire with both pistols), Telekinesis (to shoot guns out of people's hands, throw a switch from across the room, and other trick shots), a physical enegy blast, and a NND to simulate a grazing head shot (defense was wearing a helmet). He had great heapin' gobs of PREsence, because his biggest power was the ability to talk the bad guys into turning themselves in.

 

He was a real tin-plated (cow)boyscout. He was a true blue team player, and the only member of the superteam who wasn't a Grim, mysterious figure. He really believed in Mercy and Justice, and was as likely to intervene on behalf of a villain he thought was being railroaded as he was to oppose the bad guys in the first place.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

The way I run luck is that for every 5 points in Luck, the player gets to roll 3d6 at the beginning of the game. He writes down that number. At any point during the game, he can replace one of his rolls with the luck roll he made earlier.

 

IOW, if a player rolls an 8 for his luck roll, he can use that number in lieu of the 17 he just rolled to hit.

 

It tends to work pretty well in play.

[pinecone]

Re: Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!

 

I seem to remember someone useing a chit system with the chits having differant levels of effect based on rarety/color. I really admired it.

 

So put 3 red 6 blue and 12 white in a bag, draw I chip per die.....done. ( or any other ratio, change as experience shows a need)

 

maybe White, suceed with an action. Blue describe exactly how an event/action resolves. Red, take over a scene and "GM hand wave" for that scene....?