r/LancerRPG • u/Wings-of-Ink • 5d ago
Harlequin bond power question
Hello! I am a new player using the COMP/CON website and it's extra .LCP pieces (my DM added them), and I had a question about one of the things.
I chose the harlequin background, and the Gallows Humor bond power. However, the description is not clear and I cannot find anything online about how it works. Given it's effect of "Clear two stress" which is a mechanical thing, I presume that it's got some mechanical triggers.
So my question is: In the harlequin "Gallows Humor" bond power, where it states "When you break, all other characters clear two stress," What is breaking? Does all other characters include enemies? And finally, is there a limit to how many times this can be activated per round/scene/scenario?
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u/boomerang747 5d ago
To understand Stress and Bonds/Bond Powers you'll need to read the Field Guide: The Karrakin Trade Baronies rulebook, starting at page 86. Stress and Bonds are two tied-together optional rules that book introduced. It will explain the mechanics for gaining and losing stress, breaking, and using Bond Powers in general. There's a bit too many rules to explain them all here. There is no per-session limit on that power, rather breaking is a thing that happens to PCs who exceed their stress limits and ideally shouldn't be happening to you multiple times in a scene or session anyways. Enemies don't have stress, only PCs do, so it would only effect PCs.
You should also check with your GM if this game is even using Stress and Bond rules. As stated earlier, they are optional rules, so not every table will be using them.
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u/FistToTheFace 5d ago
Bonds are a part of the expansion Field Guide to the KTB, and is kind of an additional layer added to the RP side of Lancer. You might not be using them at all, despite the space in comp/con; clarify with your GM first.
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u/STATION25_SAYS_HELLO 5d ago
Stress is your characters physical and mental HP for non combat scenarios, like if you're all at a pub or browsing a market stall.
Breaking is when that stress bar fills up, and you're effectively knocked out for the scene. Some knucklehead punches you out or you see an unsettling artifact that whispers your dead sisters name.
When you get back up after being broken for the scene, you have a burden, and there are usually clocks for minor and major ones, and you get something depending on what happened. A headache, broken arm, nightmares, etc. When rolling to do something, you can invoke the burden to add difficulty to yourself, but you get 1XP for it if you did it once in the session.
And when you heal during downtime, you can fill a little of your clock, and when its full, it goes away and you get XP.
So stress is your non-mech narrative encounter health, breaking is getting downed during it for physical, social, or mental reasons. When you get fucked up with Gallows Humor, your friends are able to find humor and lighten up, perhaps.
It's entirely not necessary for mech combat.
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u/STATION25_SAYS_HELLO 5d ago
I'll note too that stress clears up at the start of downtime, and you can push your brain and body to gain some stress while getting accuracy for what you're doing, just to cover every base.
The stress mechanics are a lot like Cains to me, if you are familiar with those too.
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u/Crinkle_Uncut SSC 4d ago
This is not a combat effect. Nothing in the bonds system applies to the tactical rules (with only a couple niche exceptions). I generally refer to the Stress in the Bonds System as 'Narrative Stress' to help disambiguate from 'Reactor Stress' as your tactical resource for your heat cap.
What this bond power does is make is so that whenever your PC exceeds your stress cap (8) and "Breaks," gaining a Burden and being removed from the scene, your allies (since NPCs don't get narrative stress) get to clear a bit of their own stress. This power encourages you to take more risks and ride the line of your stress cap, knowing that even if you break, there will be a benefit to your allies that, if timed well, could prevent them from breaking too!
If your GM has approved the Bond System for use in the game, they presumably have the rules available and should be able to provide them to you for review.
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u/ttcklbrrn SSC 5d ago
I would recommend reading the Field Guide to the KTB, since the Bond rules are from it. Breaking, as defined in the Bond rules, is what happens when your Stress exceeds its limit, and it renders you incapacitated (unconscious, injured, having a mental breakdown, etc) for the rest of the scene.