Basic Fear Rules
Simple enough. Consider a Halfling PC (Small) who encounters a single hostile Human (Medium). Due to the hostility and the size differences, the Human causes Fear(1) in the Halfling. At the beginning of the round, the Halfling begins a single Extended Cool Test, requiring 1SL to pass, testing at the beginning of each round. If the Halfling has not passed that test, then the Halfling:
- is at -1SL to tests affecting the Human
- must pass a Challenging Cool test to move closer to the Human,
- must make a Challenging Cool test if the Human moves closer to the Halfling or else gain a single Broken condition.
The Problem
Consider a Halfling PC encounters a group of five hostile Humans. Each one is a source of Fear(1)
I can think of four ways this might work:
- Multiple Fear sources are summed:
The Extended Cool test requires 5SL, and until that is passed all 5 Humans cause the same effects of Fear as described above - The way I think it maybe should work for balance and streamlined rolls:
The Extended Cool test requires 5SL, and for each SL you accrue one randomly chosen Human no longer causes Fear in the Halfling. - All Fear sources are countered by the same Extended Test:
The effects are identical to the single-human case: the Halfling still only needs to make one Extended Cool test needing 1SL, and until that is passed all 5 Humans cause the same effects of Fear as described above - Fear sources do not change each other:
The Halfling must make 5 Extended Cool tests, each requiring 1SL, and so must test 5 times at the start of each round. Each Human will cause the effects of Fear in the Halfling until the Halfling passes the Extended Cool test for that Human. The Halfling may overcome their Fear of one Human while still being afraid of another. This seems most likely to me, but also extremely clunky to actually play.
Which is it? Or is it something else I have not thought of?
