Luck Points in Psi-punk

 

Luck Points (LP) are meta-game Gifts that may be used to buy “luck” during a game; they let the play- ers fudge a game result. These are “meta-game” Gifts because they operate at the player-GM level, not character-character level.

Players start each session with 3 Luck Points. If a character has the Lucky Gift, this number increases by 2, while the Unlucky Fault decreases the number by 2. These Luck Points reset after each session and do not carry over, so characters must either use them or lose them.

Luck Points can be used in many ways, depending on what level on the realistic-legendary scale the game is played. Here are some suggested ways to use them – the GM can create her own uses, of course. A GM may allow as few or many of these options as she wishes. However, the GM is the final determiner of how Luck Points can be used and players should ask before assuming they can do something with Luck Points.

1. Spending a Luck Point may accomplish an unopposed action automatically and with panache – good for impressing members of the appropriate sex and possibly avoiding injury in the case of dangerous actions. The GM may veto this use of Luck Points for actions with a Difficulty Level beyond Great,
2. A player may spend one Luck Point to reroll one die when attempting a skill check. Most often, this will be used to try to reroll a negative result into a more positive one, but it may also be used against an NPC to force a positive result to be rerolled.
   1. Characters with a high associated attribute may reroll additional dice when using Luck Points in this way. For example, if a character using a Handgun skill has a Dexterity attribute of Good (+1) he may roll 1 additional die each time he spends LP in this way. If his Dexterity later improves to Superb (+3), he may reroll up to 3 additional dice (for a total of 4dF) when rerolling any skill associated with Dexterity.
3. A player may spend one Luck Point to declare that wounds aren’t as bad as they first looked. This reduces the intensity of each wound by one level (a Hurt result becomes a Scratch, for example, or a Very Hurt result becomes a Hurt result instead). Generous GMs may allow characters to spend multiple LP on a single wound to further reduce its severity.
   1. For appropriately legendary games, a GM-set number of Luck Points can be spent to ensure a favorable coincidence. (This is always subject to GM approval.) For example, if the PCs are in a maximum security prison, perhaps one of the guards turns out to be the cousin of one of the PCs – and lets them escape! Or the captain of the fishing boat rescuing the PCs turns out to be someone who owes a favor to one of them, and is willing to go out of his way to help the characters. This option should cost a lot of Luck Points, except in games where bizarre coincidences are the norm.
4. Activate an Astonishing result. Generally speaking, a character may only attain a check result of Extraordinary or lower, no matter how high he rolls or how great his ability is with a given skill or attribute. However, by spending a Luck Point, players who roll a result greater than Extraordinary may activate an Astonishing result. Individual skill or power descriptions may have details for Astonishing results. If not, assume that an Astonishing result is simply a better Extraordinary result and adjust the outcome accordingly.