Fate - Aspects in combat

Rincewind1 · December 14, 2013, 05:20:11 PM

A simple question, as I'm unsure about the rules here (well, 99% sure) - can someone trigger someone else's Aspects in combat? For example, if a player gains consequence Broken Leg, can I trigger it as a GM from NPC's pool by attacking said leg, and gaining +2 to my roll rather than treat it as a compel?

Plague of Hats · December 14, 2013, 08:24:00 PM

Yes, you can. (Assuming Fate Core.)

Quote from: p. 69If the aspect you invoke is on someone else's character sheet, including situation aspects attached to them, you give them the fate point you spent. They don't actually get to use it until after the end of the scene, though.

Rincewind1 · December 15, 2013, 01:32:33 PM

Thanks.

Soylent Green · December 15, 2013, 01:56:51 PM

So what we are saying is the GM has a choice to either Invoke or Compel a PC's Aspect.

Mechanically they work most the same way with the difference that:

If the GM Invokes, the player can't refuse (it not a Compel) but the Fate Point come out of the GM limited Fate Point Pool.

If the GM Compels the player can refuse the Compel and the Fate Point comes out of the GM unlimited Fate Point Pool.

That looks messy to me, but in fairness I've not really read through Core yet as I'm currently committed to a couple of other games.

Noclue · December 16, 2013, 11:43:11 AM

Quote from: Soylent Green;716233So what we are saying is the GM has a choice to either Invoke or Compel a PC's Aspect.

Mechanically they work most the same way with the difference that:

If the GM Invokes, the player can't refuse (it not a Compel) but the Fate Point come out of the GM limited Fate Point Pool.

If the GM Compels the player can refuse the Compel and the Fate Point comes out of the GM unlimited Fate Point Pool.

That looks messy to me, but in fairness I've not really read through Core yet as I'm currently committed to a couple of other games.

They don't work the same way mechanically, however. Compels don't provide any bonus to the GM's roll, but complicate the PC's life in some agreed upon way. Invokes provide +2 or a reroll, but without further complication.

So, not so messy because if the NPC is getting a bonus, they pay.

Soylent Green · December 16, 2013, 03:32:44 PM

I see, yeah that makes sense. Cheers!

crkrueger · December 16, 2013, 03:54:29 PM

So if my character has a Broken Leg, he is only worse at actually doing anything when the GM has FATE points to spend and spends them, which can end up with me getting more points?

Christ.

Emperor Norton · December 16, 2013, 04:00:22 PM

Not really. There are no "mechanical" differences, but the whole idea of "aspects are always true" (one of the tenants of Fate Core) means that what you can say you are doing is affected by your aspects regardless of whether points are spent or not.

So if you say "I'm going to climb that sheer cliff!" and you have a broken leg, I can as a GM say "And how do you plan to even do that with a broken leg"

(Or you can even adjust the difficulty based on an aspect a character has if you wish. Aspects are always TRUE.)

robiswrong · December 16, 2013, 04:09:09 PM

Quote from: Rincewind1;716114A simple question, as I'm unsure about the rules here (well, 99% sure) - can someone trigger someone else's Aspects in combat? For example, if a player gains consequence Broken Leg, can I trigger it as a GM from NPC's pool by attacking said leg, and gaining +2 to my roll rather than treat it as a compel?

Others have already answered, but to add a bit of a meta-point:

*Any* aspect is on the table for invoking or compelling by *anybody* at *any* time, so long as it makes sense. There's no "ownership" of aspects in that regard.

As a side note, I'd probably invoke a Broken Leg more by having the person with the leg stumble in such a way that they failed to dodge/parry/whatever, but that's me.