Sorry for spamming you all with questions - I hope I haven’t just missed something in the core rules here but after putting together the character sheets for tomorrow’s session (our groups first OL session!) I’ve stumbled upon something that has me scratching my head.
I’m gonna use the Slowed Bane as an example - so there are two ways to invoke this bane. You either do a bane attack where you simply need to exceed the targets defences OR you do a damaging attack with the relevant attribute and if you exceed the targets defences by more than 10 then you can invoke the bane in addition to dealing damage. It’s my understanding that doing a bane attack doesn’t necessarily deal damage, so if bob the ice mage invokes slowed as a bane attack, he encrusts his foes lower legs in a thin layer of ice - not harming them, but slowing them.
Now, I had assumed this was a sort of balancing mechanic. Bob the ice mage can either guarantee a slow (assuming he succeeds a bane attack) or guarantee some damage (assuming he succeeds a normal attack roll) but he can’t guarantee both, that requires an exceptional success of 10+.
Now. If any of this so far is incorrect then please correct me and you can probably ignore the rest of this because this is where my confusion comes in.
Ivy the ranger also has the Slowed bane. But she does it by shooting an arrow into her targets legs. If she was to do a normal attack, exceed by 10 points and invoke the bane then that’s not a problem. But if she was to do a bane attack, exceed by 1 point then the slow should still apply, but it doesn’t make sense for her arrow to deal no damage (where as it does make sense for the ice to deal no damage) so does she do the standard 3 damage in addition to succeeding on the bane attack? Thereby guaranteeing both damage and the slow?
As far as I understand it, it would do no damage. In such a situation I would say the shot targeted the opponents legs causing them to stumble and trip as they attempt to maintain balance (slowed).
I have had situations like this come up in the game I run and it often involves me having to come up with creative solutions to apply the effect without necessarily connecting it to a successful “attack”.
Example: An arrow is shot to inflict the blind bane. Well it’s hard to say getting shot in the eye to be blinded isn’t going to do some HP damage. Or that they should eventually be able to resist being blinded. (They have an arrow in their eye). So what if instead the arrow knocks over a bucket which falls on their head. Hey no damage, blind, and easy to justify an eventual resist roll.
All depends on how you describe it, but no, banes do NOT deal damage upon 'Hit"
You could flavor it as the arrow hitting and slowing them down. You could also describe it as the arrow slicing across their calf, causing htem to slow, but no damage. You could describe it as the arrow landing right between their toes and causing them to be cautious, thereby moving slower.
Little correction in addition to the inside that the other people have provided:
You also deal minimum damage and apply banes on meeting the opponent’s defense.
Another good thing to remember is that hp in this game isn’t necessarily vitality, but more your will to fight on. This being the case, An arrow in the calf dealing no damage, but instead causing a bane can make sense, because it doesn’t make them want to fight less, just makes it harder to run.
As several other people have noted, it’s not too hard to come up with an explanation for how shooting someone with an arrow could slow them down without actually hurting them. One thing I like to do sometimes is ask my players how something works. It saves me from having to constantly be coming up with these things, and they can sometimes have some pretty awesome ideas. Plus, it helps engage them even more with the game.
Thanks for the clarification everyone just wanted to make sure I was understanding the rules right.
The arrow to the leg seemed like a loophole in the idea that bane attacks don’t deal damage but I think I’ll just explain it as a glancing blow rather than a solid shot.
just wanted to make sure I was understanding the rules right.