Falls and Jumps

One aim: catch something before the impact or attempt to absorb the bump as well as possible when hitting the ground. The case when a Fall is brought back under control is specific. Anyway, damages may be inflicted if the reaction is late. It's up to the Game Master to evaluate and precisely describe the situation. The Skill Balance / Acrobatics not only serves in case of Falls and problematic Jumps but also to determine the precision of any jump (check the description of the Skill for more details about that). Here's how it goes in terms of play.

In case of Fall or Jump, a Roll of a d20 versus Mastery Level in « Balance / Acrobatics + Dexterity » is seen for in the first place in almost if not all situations. A Malus of 3 is automatically applied in case of a Fall. Additional Mali are applicable for Jumps in difficult conditions or in case of total surprise.

Then, it is all a question of height versus the degree of Success or Failure on the d20 Roll to evaluate the taken damages, the Game Master taking also into account the type of ground at reception (sand, thorny shrubs, water, cement…).

The following table gives indications for common situations. Note that in some strange circumstances - it can happen when fighting particularly vindictive Pirate Ghosts – even improbable Falls and Jumps seem to become possible. Only a question of chance?

Height of Jump / Fall 0-2 meters 2-5 meters 5-10 meters 10-20 meters
Success Levels Taken Damage
Critical Success Absolutely nothing! Absolutely nothing! « Just Fine! » « Ouch, as if… »
Normal Success Absolutely nothing! « Just Fine! » « Ouch, as if… » « See the Stars?! »
Normal
Failure 		« Just Fine! » « Ouch, as if… » « See the Stars?! » « … »
[blamm !]
Critical
Failure 		« Ouch, as if… » « See the Stars?! » « … »
[blamm !] 		Double « … » [blamm !]

Drowning

On a Roll versus (Shark Feeding + Dexterity [or Constitution or another according to the situation…]) resulting in a Failure, the author of the unfortunate Roll highly risks drowning.

First thing to do – First of all, don't panic! – is to mark the result of the previous Roll (Critical or Normal Failure). Then one rolls the d20 versus (Shark Feeding + Got a Nerve!) to avoid immediate panicking. According to the result of those two Rolls, the following table give an indication on how the situation evolves (replace […] by Dexterity (ou another) : in the course of the potential successive Rolls, it refers always to the Roll versus (Shark Feeding + Aplomb) preceding the current one) :

Roll of (Shark Feeding + Got a Nerve!) Critical Success Normal Success Normal
Failure 		Critical
Failure
Roll of (Shark Feeding + […]) Taken Damage
Critical or
Normal Success 		no
drowning 		no
drowning 		no
drowning 		no
drowning
Normal
Failure 		no
drowning 		« Just
Fine! » 		« Ouch,
as if… » 		« See the Stars?! »
Critical
Failure 		« Just
Fine! » 		« Ouch,
as if… » 		« See the Stars?! » « … »
[blamm !]

If the result is « no drowning », it means that the swimmer could put the situation under control so far. He must nevertheless Roll again at least once versus (Shark Feeding + Dexterity [or other…]), to finish the current action (the number of Rolls is function of what the Game Master had previously devised for the said action). It is of course possible that the Game Master imposes a Malus after a drowning; and it is also clearly possible to really drown on a new Failure at one of the next Rolls…

If the result is a Damage Level (from « Just Fine! » to « … » [blamm !]), that Damage is taken, without any protection effect whatsoever. Upon that, our drowned – but nevertheless friend – has to Roll the next d20 versus (Shark Feeding + Got a Nerve!) with a Malus of 3 before interpreting the next evolution of the situation from the previous table.

And so on it goes, an additional Malus of 3 (cumulated) being applied at each new necessary Roll versus (Shark Feeding + Got a Nerve!). Attention ! Drowning can happen very fast! We hope for our Piate friends that the lifeguards on the desert islands of the Curry-Bean or elsewhere will react swiftly! Or it will rapidly turn « Tortuga Bay Watch »… If another person attempts to save a victim of drowning, she will have to succeed on a Roll in an Action in Opposition with the next formula: « Shark Feeding + Got a Nerve! + 10 – Consitution of the victim – Strength of the victim ». We're not so far of having two victims of drowning at once… The formula given here is explained by the fact that one must control somebody who is panic-stricken, which is far from being an easy task!

At any rate, dear friend Game Master, you know what you have to do if what happened should not have… Dolphins and Mermaids are not meant for nothing… Oh, actually, up to you!

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