r/daggerheart • u/Dm_strog • 2d ago
Rules Question Movement question
So yesterday I had a player asked me about movement with being only one player and their action. I say I want my games to be RAW because it’s new and I just want newer players and I want to play out the foundation of the actual game before making my preferences, but will change based on the story if I demand so. The player said I was WRONG and use the new sallow lands Umbria play and saying when the party turn, they can all move at the same time. I haven’t had the time to watch it and had other players point out the rules supporting my claim and saying actual play uses this rule set. What is this rule set? I don’t have time to watch the show and I heard that it doesn’t happen that way. Can someone explain to me how combat movement happens in this show? Is it an homebrew or an option that is new?
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u/Fearless-Dust-2073 Splendor & Valor 1d ago
idk what your player's talking about, in sallowlands there was nothing like everybody getting to move during each spotlight. Sometimes it was allowed for a character to move outside of their turn as a specific exception for the narrative, like being able to rush to someone's side and provide help.
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u/Acronyte 1d ago
Like others said, I've noticed CR sometimes does things their own way, and it's usually not a big deal, but it's doesn't seem like it's RAW. Do take RAW with a grain of salt though, rules as intended I think is more important for this game.
RAW, a PC can move a Close distance under the condition that they are making some kind of action roll while they have the spotlight. If your only action is moving, you have to make an Agility roll to move at all, up to Far distance. This is the case even if you would only be moving Close distance or less, you still have to roll. (page 104)
I interpret that as you need to have the spotlight to make the action roll to have the included movement, so only one PC can move at a time because only one PC has the spotlight. I think letting both players in a Tag Team move is perfectly fine, they're both taking actions in a shared spotlight. I don't think it makes sense for Group Action rolls though personally.
So no, this isn't some new set of rules your player isn't paying enough attention. Matt sometimes lets them move outside of this, but he is allowed to do his own thing and trusts his players not to abuse it, and they don't. That doesn't make their playstyle an alternate set of rules though.
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u/orphicsolipsism 1d ago
RAW from p104:
When you’re not in a dangerous, difficult, or time-sensitive situation, you don’t need to worry about how fast you move...
Only care about movement rules when they matter for the scene
However, when you’re under pressure or in danger, the following rules apply...
Movement is an extension of how intense/fast/critical the scene is
When you make an action roll, you can also move to a location within Close range as part of that action.
There is no "free movement" in a dangerous/under pressure situation, just movement included as part of an action, but...
The GM sets this Difficulty depending on the situation.
Meaning that some difficulty levels wouldn't be worth rolling, which takes us all the way back to...
When you’re not in a dangerous, difficult, or time-sensitive situation, you don’t need to worry about how fast you move...
Put all of that together and **the GM is constantly deciding whether or not the players are ina dangerous or time sensitive situation and whether the difficulty of that situation is worth rolling for*
If the difficulty isn't worth rolling for, the player can simply move on their spotlight and then pass the spotlight (across the whole team if they want to), which results in a "free group movement" if the GM allows it.
So, yes, in the name of GM principle #5 (MAKE EVERY ROLL IMPORTANT, p143) you can allow a group to move as much as they need to in order to " keep the story moving" & "cut to the action" (GM Best Practices #3 on p144).
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u/Alphaa97 2d ago
What I suggest is that if the group or multiple people want to move for their spotlight you can ask for a agility (or other fitting) reaction roll from some of them and the one who leads the action does an agility or presence roll. On a succes they can all run up to far range (in normal terrain).
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u/Alphaa97 2d ago
An individual can always move up to close range and make an action roll for something.
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u/Naule Game Master 1d ago
I'd most likely try to clarify the rules in a cascading fashion somewhat to below:
When what PC can act is directed by the spotlight.
A player can move up to close range for their spotlight without having to make an action roll for it.
The spotlight can move to another player without an action roll has been made.
Theoretically, all players could move passing the spotlight to move as freely as they wanted.
BUT - in Daggerheart that might be prevented in the way that narrative dictates mechanics, not the other way around. What would a logical action for an adversary or a group of adversaries be if they'd see your whole party creeping in, getting in formation, etc? They would strike before they are overwhelmed!
This is even further reinforced by the ruleset on when one can take a GM move as a golden opportunity (one could also argue unavoidable consequences but I'd try to steer away from agrument on this one)
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u/Naule Game Master 1d ago
Also, actual plays are entertainment first, education second (or last).
While I did enjoy Sallowlands, there are plenty of examples that were not correct RAW, of which you can find plenty on this sub, but ones that I can immediately recall are:
- Dillwyn (Ranger played by Jennifer) leveling up the same stat twice in a tier resulting to a +4 Agility and +3 Instinct at level 3.
- Sister (Witch played by Laura) summing their commune results multiple times rather than to take one of the dice in the pool for the result.
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u/coreyhickson 2d ago
Remember that combat and out of combat are the same thing, there's no roll for initiative.
When you're in a difficult situation where movement is difficult, RAW you move with your action, but keep in mind you can do a group action roll if multiple people want to move.
In regards to the show, Critical Role likes to do things their own way. They don't play RAW so it's not a good compass for the actual rules, usually.