Invocation rules - did I get them right?

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Geoff
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Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Geoff » Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:44 pm

Sunday afternoon solo playthrough - How does invocation work? Did I make any mistakes? Did I miss a reaction?

If anyone can spare the time and has the inclination to do so, I'd really appreciate a review of my first attempt at performing the invocation rules. Any feedback will be taken on board and received with thanks.

This weekend finds Kernuor and Brugg further afield from Carn Dhu, relaxing on a sunny hilltop doing things that boys do before the Sunday roast; dissecting deer and eating trees. Carrowek wants his Augery before a new week begins so Annik is again sent to return them to the Black Fortress, accompanied by her usual retinue of Veteran Ax-Drunes.

Anniks' Unit enters the table from the right. Kernuor and Brugg are on the left.

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For the purposes of this playthrough Brugg is under Kernuors' Command (though begins maybe a little too far away - Kernuor has told him anyone stepping into the circle of Menhirs other than a Seer Drune will be instantly reduced to ash).


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HOUR ONE.
Initiative: Kernuor = 64, Annik = 23.

1) Anniks' Unit runs 10" towards the enemy. Passes the initiative.

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2) Brugg runs 12"towards Annik's Unit.

3) Kernuor (K) walks 2" to get clear line of sight of Anniks' Unit and invokes The Blades of Kernunnos, a Sight invocation.
Price is 6 and he augments that by +2 = 8
Annik's Unit (AU) is 17" away and has no E, A or C reactions.
K's Temper = 84 vs AU Skill of 58 **Though Anniks Skill is greater, the Majority Skill of the Unit is used**
So the Invoke test is a 3 but due to him walking beforehand this is increased to 4.

Kernuor rolls 8 Invoke Dice and gets 9,9,9,8,7,7,6,1 Looks good! He gets 3 fated rolls and gets 9,9,8, so a further 2 fated rolls nets him 8 and 4.

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His Invoke Score is 13 as 13 invoke dice were successful.

Annik's Unit must now AVOID as best they can!
Annik is a Different Mark so gets to roll separately.
Power = 54 (invocation power 46 + total price 8)
Power 54 vs Drunes Combined Constitution of 23 = 7+ to avoid.
Power 54 vs Anniks Combined Constitution of 60 = 5+ to avoid.

Five rolls are made succesfully, meaning there are 8 wound dice!
Wound dice results - 9,9,8,7,6,5,2,0 + 8, 1, + 9x wound+ 1D10; 9,9,8,5,4,4,3,2,1 **unsure whether these wound+ are also fated rolls so do not roll additional dice**
Anyway, thats 101 INVOKE DAMAGE, plus 4 vicious wounds that equal Corruption Damage!

Kernour becomes EXULTED and gains 10 (!) Blood Tokens.
6 Ax-Drunes are instantly sliced and diced, with a seventh taking serious damage.

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INVOKE RESULTS
Score to Str = 13 vs 5
Anniks' Unit becomes Shocked and Heavily Damaged.
They are Broken.
They Flee 7" (pace 5 + 1D10 roll of 2) backwards, away from Kernour. One exits the field.

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Kernuor now pays the price of the invocation, a mere 8 health lost. (oops, looks like I lost him an extra health here due to tiny tiny profile sheet and bad math!)

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Kernuor laughs as he sees he can cast it again if he wishes - he certainly does!

The procedure is repeated as above but this time only 8 damage is taken by the fleeing units, whom must flee again! Though already weary due to first Flee reaction, it is a Compulsory Reaction, and they run 14" off the field.

Kernuor gives 'em the bird and, grumbling to himself, returns to removing the heart from a Fallow Deer. Brugg looks confused, sighs, and goes back to squashing daisies.
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Rob Lane
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Rob Lane » Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:18 pm

It all looks great, except that Annik's unit would only perform a Panic reaction; DrNo spotted there was a problem with the definition of Heavily Damaged a while back, and I affirmed it should be a quarter.

See here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=797&p=7140&hilit=shoot+result#p7140

I've not yet amended the rules nor added an errata, which I should have done! So you did it right with the rules you were using - but it should be a quarter strength before being Heavily Damaged...

By the way, that damage was from those 9's... you may not be so lucky in future. Darklands is a game of dice though, so who knows?

Cheers
Rob
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DrNO172000
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby DrNO172000 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:11 pm

Hey Geoff I noticed one thing here that you did slightly incorrect.

Fated rolls, not all fated rolls lead to rolling another die.

For the Inoke roll you merely add another invoked die to the pool.

pg 262/6.40.5.5.3 Irresistible Invokes and Fated Invokes

"An invoke roll of a 9 - as long as a 9 is not the invoke value - signifies an irresistible invoke. That particular Invoke proved impossible to avoid! For each invoke roll of a 9, another invoked die is added to the total, signifying a fated invoke."

Remember in the invoked die is simply a die that is equal to or higher then the invoke value as per the definition under 6.40.5.5.1, so 9s essentially add more successes to the pool of successes.

For Avoids, a 9 allows one missed avoid that was not a 0 to be a success. See pg266/6.40.6.3.3 Swift Avoidances and Fated Avoidances

"For each roll of a 9, one wound die that is not a 0 is also discarded and called an avoided die, signifying a fated avoidance..."

For wounds (they are indeed fated to answer your questions), they do actually explode in the traditional way of rolling more dice, see pg266/6.4.7.2.1 Vicious wound

"Wound rolls of a 9 signify a vicious wound. That wound is particularly brutal and becomes a fated wound immediately, thus enabling the Invoker to roll another wound die with another wound roll, called a fated wound roll. Fated wound rolls are also fate rolls"

So wound rolls can keep exploding because you roll another die and that die is also a fated roll. It should be noted that the wound+ die rolls are also fated and can also explode.

Also, keep in mind that this is how the fate rolls work for attack and shoot actions, i.e. the first, second, and third pool of rolls work exactly the same as the first (invoke), second (avoid), and third (wound) pool of rolls do for the Invoke action when it comes to fated rolls.

Nice job on the invoked dice allocation (I've seen a lot of players in my area get confused with that one) and everything else looked spot on as Rob said. I'm guessing Annik avoided her 1 die since you didn't wound the poor girl.
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Rob Lane
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Rob Lane » Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:14 pm

Good spot DrNo, didn't even see he'd rolled the three invoke dice.

Cheers
Rob
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DrNO172000
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby DrNO172000 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:15 pm

Oh also Blades of the Horned God (I assume that's the one you meant) causes corruption damage, so each wound roll of a 9 would also attach a corruption token to the unit, quite a devasting attack indeed!
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Geoff
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Geoff » Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:07 pm

Cheers for the feedback,

So in this case: "Kernuor rolls 8 Invoke Dice and gets 9,9,9,8,7,7,6,1 Looks good! He gets 3 fated rolls and gets 9,9,8, so a further 2 fated rolls nets him 8 and 4.".....

I should have just SET ASIDE 3 dice (the nines), which are unavoidable, and then ADD three more dice to the 'success pool', setting them to the successful invoke value as a reminder they have also hit?

Blades of the Horned God granted me 4 Corruption Tokens that I applied to the struck unit.
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DrNO172000
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby DrNO172000 » Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:14 am

Geoff wrote:Cheers for the feedback,

So in this case: "Kernuor rolls 8 Invoke Dice and gets 9,9,9,8,7,7,6,1 Looks good! He gets 3 fated rolls and gets 9,9,8, so a further 2 fated rolls nets him 8 and 4.".....

I should have just SET ASIDE 3 dice (the nines), which are unavoidable, and then ADD three more dice to the 'success pool', setting them to the successful invoke value as a reminder they have also hit?

Blades of the Horned God granted me 4 Corruption Tokens that I applied to the struck unit.


Yes that's right.
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Geoff
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Geoff » Wed Jun 13, 2018 8:31 am

So it's only Wound Dice that get to 'explode', right? Results of 9 on the other two steps are effectively counted as two successes (by either adding an extra success die or removing an additional die). Cheers!
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Rob Lane
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Rob Lane » Wed Jun 13, 2018 8:47 am

Geoff wrote:So it's only Wound Dice that get to 'explode', right? Results of 9 on the other two steps are effectively counted as two successes (by either adding an extra success die or removing an additional die). Cheers!


Semantics really, but yes - you get to roll a wound die, whereas you simply add a strike die / remove a parry die.

Cheers
Rob
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Geoff
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Re: Invocation rules - did I get them right?

Postby Geoff » Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:14 am

Thanks for the confirmation Rob.

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