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I understand that you can only invoke a trait once per action in The One Ring, but I can't find anything that says how often per game a single trait can be invoked.
How often can a trait be invoked in a game?
Is there a limit to that, or is it essentially "Invoke the trait as often as the Loremaster allows?"
Could you direct me to the page and book or document which would answer this question?

As an example: My Loremaster has stated that if I have the Keen-Eyed distinctive feature, that by the rules I can only use the distinctive feature once in a session, and that I get new uses of my distinctive feature in the next session.

Is that correct according to the rules?

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    – Someone_Evil
    Apr 10, 2019 at 14:55

1 Answer 1

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There are no limits in the rules

Traits can, and should, be used whenever a player (or the Loremaster) think that it should apply to that situation. Considering how small their benefits are, they are hardly unbalancing, but they are vital to each character's progression.

As described under Trait Etiquette (pg.92):

Players can invoke a Trait when they think it applies to the situation at hand (sometimes, the Loremaster himself may invoke one of a hero’s Traits). To do so, they briefly explain why they think the Trait should give their character an advantage. If nobody at the table objects, then the player resolves his chosen course of action. If anyone finds the argument for invoking the Trait questionable, the Loremaster adjudicates.

The advantages conferred by Traits aren’t powerful enough to unbalance the game, so players and Loremasters are advised to avoid discussing the validity of a Trait at length. A well-detailed or entertaining explanation adds to the enjoyment of the game, and should earn the player the benefit of the doubt. In all cases, the Loremaster’s word is final.

As much as the Loremaster's word is final on whether or not a Trait should apply on a situation, there are no limitations in the rules about how many times a Trait may be used, as long as nobody at the table is contrary that it should apply to the situation at hand. On the contrary, the Loremaster is encouraged to ask for a player to use one of his Traits so they can receive an adequate amount of Advancement Points (pg.212):

Loremasters should consider that the Advancement point costs for raising Common skills (see page 195) have been calculated considering that a companion should gain an average of 4 Advancement points for each session of play (more in the first session, as checks are easier to get when all boxes are empty).

If the players are constanlty gaining less points, then the Loremaster should encourage them to make a more profitable use of their Traits – for example by keeping a list of which ones are represented in the group and pointing them out during gameplay.

The Loremaster may be thinking about Flaws

Flaws does have a limitation of only use per scene (not session), as their consequences are worse for the players, as described under Invoking Flaws (pg.226)

Using rules similar to those governing the use of Traits, the Loremaster may invoke a character’s Flaw whenever it would have a negative effect on the situation at hand.

In other words, it must be reasonably plausible that the character would have fared better if he didn’t possess the negative feature depicted by the Flaw. T he Loremaster may invoke a flaw to apply a Feat Re-roll or a Failure Aggravation. Usually, the Loremaster cannot apply the effects of the same Flaw more than once during the same scene, and certainly not to the same action.

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