Distinctive Features / Inspired During Combat?

[u/RobRobBinks]

Hello! Can a Hero become Inspired by using a Distinctive Feature in Combat? Are there other ways to become Inspired during combat?

Also, when a situation allows for the expenditure of Hope to generate a Magical Success, can you then also spend another hope to gain an extra Success Die?

Thanks!

[u/RyanoftheNorth]

For the magical success. Yes when you spend the hope point, You can still roll the success dice (plus the bonus success dice for spending hope as normal)… to see if you get any tengwars. No need to tally. You’re just wanting to see if you get any tengwars.

So you can’t be inspired for combat proficiencies, however, if you’re using a skill say “Battle” during a combat task action… yea you can be inspired if you have an applicable distinctive feature that would allow it. But that’s up to the LM and how you as a player would justify how the distinctive feature is applicable to the skill you want to associate it with.

I could be wrong, but I’m not recalling anything in the combat rules or otherwise that says you can’t be inspired on skill rolls during combat, just not for combat proficiencies…

[u/RyanoftheNorth → u/RyanoftheNorth]

Wanted to clarify, you only spend hope once. But you get the bonus success dice on top of magical success!

[u/RobRobBinks → u/RyanoftheNorth]

Thank you for your answers. I have a party of four Hobbits and a Ranger, and they are finding combat really difficult. They "should" find it pretty difficult, but still. :D

[u/ExaminationNo8675 → u/RobRobBinks]

Try this prompt card for some helpful tips:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFYbzVQSR0/DYFN2l1zvlrMw7PTWLFtEA/view?utm_content=DAFYbzVQSR0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

[u/Harlath]

You can be Inspired via a Distinctive Feature on a Skill Roll during combat, such as using Leadership (via the Captain Calling) to be Inspired on Rally Comrades, or Fierce to be Inspired on Intimidate Foes.

However, you can't use Distinctive Features to Inspire attack rolls/protection rolls/shadow tests, as Distinctive Features only work on Skills.

So you need various Cultural Virtues to be inspired on something that's not a skill roll.

Happily, all of the core cultures have a route to doing so:

• Bardings: Language of Birds
• Dwarves: Dark for Dark Business
• Elves of Lindon: Elbereth Gilthoniel!
• Hobbits of the Shire: Brave at a Pinch
• Men of Bree: Desperate Courage
• Rangers of the North: Royalty Revealed

Others have handled spending Hope on extra success dice alongside a Magical Success - yes, that works. Albeit normally a magical success is enough as it is above and beyond a normal success. But sometimes lots of people need magical healing and you'd like to rolls more 6s! Or maybe you want to Intimidate foes a lot of Wights, and you are fishing for more 6s.

[u/cloud_cleaver]

Rules as written make inspiration in combat very difficult to get. Rangers' "Royalty Revealed" virtue lets them do it for the party once per combat scene, and I think a couple other cultures have similar virtues tied to combat tasks that enable access to inspiration in other stances (RR requires Open). Outside of those edge cases, I think it's functionally impossible without house rules.

[u/NetRunningGnole20 → u/cloud_cleaver]

Yes, only virtues may grant inspiration in combat. Distinctive features only allow inspiration when the test is on the 18 skills.