CROM Mechanics Teaser #9 – Fate Cards Part 3

This week we look at a few more Fate Cards. Be sure to read Part 1 if you want to see how Fate Cards are used in the game.

cromfall

This week’s cards are all about making a bad situation worse – for your enemy. We’ll look at the Legion of Set’s card first:

Gods of Yag (Legion of Set)

godsofyag

This card temporarily drops a unit’s Destiny limit by two, which doesn’t seem that bad, but it can actually turn the tide of battle. Warrior and Monster units can only spend 2 Destiny on any roll, so this card effectively cuts them off. Leaders like Conan and Thoth-Amon may normally use up to four, so they’d be knocked down to a regular unit’s spending.

It’s only for one roll, and the foe still has those Destiny tokens to spend later…but when the moment is crucial and you really, really want to bolster your odds of a successful morale check – or critical defense roll or an advantageous attack – the Gods of Yag’s intercession is painful.

No Escape (Circle of Iron)

noescape

This Circle of Iron Fate Card offers a fatal surprise. Once units are in melee, they have only two options: push forward and attack, or run. Running costs the unit’s entire turn, so a situation usually has to be dire before this becomes the better option.

No Escape is played when a foe uses a run to disengage from melee and allows the unit in contact to make a last free melee attack before they go. The result is usually devastating.

As you can see, both of these cards are more situational than some of the others. Unless you have the right setup, they’re just not going to be effective or even usable (in the case of No Escape). But if everything is starting to go your way, these cards can make that advantage much more significant.