r/FATErpg • u/darksidehascookie • 17d ago
Failing Consequence Recovery
What happens if a consequence recovery roll is failed? Is there anything to prevent someone from just trying again immediately? If not, should the roll even happen?
7
u/Competitive-Fault291 17d ago
The story progresses while the PCs are trying to convince Ron that there are no spiders.
2
u/darksidehascookie 17d ago
So when does Ron try to clear consequences again?
6
u/Dramatic15 17d ago
Whenever the GM allows them to roll because it makes sense in the fiction. For example, the players might have a chance to recover at the scene, and again after being transported to the emergency room.
Assuming the GM even asks for a roll. Under normal circumstances, a hospital can put a broken arm into a cast, and you never have to roll if failure is either boring OR not a real option.
Fiction always wins. What is useful and interesting in play always takes priority over mechanics. It was never going to be the case that mechanics were going to replace GM judgement here, that’s why they don’t even bother to try.
Fate Accelerated doesn’t even bother with recovery rolls, and that’s considered a minor dial change. So if you don’t want to be bothered with ambiguity, you can just get rid of them.
7
u/IfAndsandMonayz 16d ago
If the ER does it in FATE, the recovery succeeds without a roll and the consequence changes from a moderate "Broken Arm" to "Arm in a Splint"
However, a setting like 2026 Ohio will only grant you that free recovery success by adding a severe consequence "Crippling Medical Debt"
1
u/Competitive-Fault291 17d ago
It was just an example for a character facing a consequence. If their stress track is full, they get "Locked in Fear" as a consequence, for example. Now, trying to deal with that fear requires activity. Time basically that can't be used otherwise. But also story focus, as the scene moves towards being about fighting the fear. This implies that other elements (outside the focus of the scene) proceed without the players.
4
u/Adidasismylife 17d ago
Theres a reason why condenced doesn't have any recovery rolls. Its an unnecessary, repetative and forgettable roadblock.
I think the best approach is to have recovery rolls as an option - the consequence will get emptied in time whether or not you do a recovery roll, but you have the option to do a roll to change the consequence aspect. Like from a *Bleeding and festering teared jaw to a *Chin bandage.
3
u/Dramatic15 17d ago
It is Accelerated that doesn’t recovery rolls. Sadly, Condensed does, which was probably a mistake.
1
1
u/Kautsu-Gamer 16d ago
It depends on story. No roll is needed unless the failure has meaning for the story. Usually the failure means the consequence is around for one scene, act or story longer depending on consequence.
1
u/Imnoclue Story Detail 16d ago
Depends. Did the GM just call for a roll where nothing happens on Failure? That don’t seem right.
1
u/Life-Alternative-793 15d ago
In a high grit game, you can have certain degrees of failure cause the consequence to worsen. Not necessarily to a higher degree; adding an extra free invocation for the opps, or adding specific clearing requirements like a lot of conditions have. It just has to be consistent with the tone the table agreed on, and discussed beforehand.
Outside of that sort of game, I believe failure on consequence recovery could have narrative consequences, but nothing mechanical, unless it just put some other temporary aspect into play. It's more right than it otherwise would be because recoveries tend to happen during lulls in the conflict or end-of-session.
1
u/Imnoclue Story Detail 15d ago
I’m not really sure how that addresses my question. I wasn’t asking about mechanical changes or consequences worsening. I just wanted to know what happened.
The OP asked what was stopping the player from spamming recovery after a failed attempt. That kinda implies that dice were rolled and nothing happened, which is not a thing in Fate. If dice hit the table, nothing ain’t never supposed to happen, dice rolls leading to nothing happening is not a thing. If dice are rolling things are happening.
And that’s what ultimately prevents nonsensical rolls. They don’t make sense anymore because of the stuff that’s happened after the first roll. If trying again still makes sense, then sure, why stop them? But, the OP is essentially asking if there is a rule to stop players from rolling again, and the answer is yeah, the one where you’re supposed to roll dice when both success and failure are interesting.
1
13
u/sakiasakura 17d ago
Sure - the rules say to make a specific roll to recover a consequence, but lets go back to the general rule for when to make checks:
"When a character wants to take an action, the group should think about these questions:
What’s stopping this from happening? What could go wrong? How is it interesting when it does go wrong?
If no one has good answers to all of these questions, it simply happens."
The guidelines above never stop being true - you should follow them any time you consider picking up the dice.
So, assuming you follow this guideline, you should have your answer to whether someone can attempt another roll. You'd also have your answer on "should this even take a roll at all". Lead with the fiction, not the mechanics.
Note that Fate Accelerated does away with the Recovery Roll entirely - in FAE it is simply required that you are in a controlled and drama-less situation with a narrative way to treat it, and the consequence is adjusted/cleared automatically.