Lucky Dagger: too exploitable?

[knightkrawler]

"Each time you take a monster's Body point with this dagger, roll 4d6 (or anything else, according to your taste). The result is the number of gold coins that seem to simply fall into your lap."

Does this mean explicitely that taking a heroe's body points will not produce gold?

I think so, since it says "a monster's Body point." I think if not, then it could be exploited more. When all the Heroes have completed the quest, they just take a few friendly stabs at eacb other on the way out, and collect some extra spending cash!

I chose the wording to avoid that, so yeah, no hero stabbing in my mind.

Also, "each time you take a monster's Body point" can be interpreted as rolling 4d6 after the first BP, after the second BP, etc; so, if you attack with more than one AD because of a spell or potion or anything, then you get to roll for each BP you take. It doesn't say "Each time you take ONE Body point from a monster."
I guess it could also be interpreted as "Each time" being each successful attack allowing you one roll, no matter how many BP you took.
But definitely not just multiplying rolls, but rather rolling for each BP individually.

I had the first interpretation in mind. Adds to the luck, plus further encourages the Wizard and Elf to actually use their freakin' spells proactively. Also, keep in mind that the Wizard may use the lucky dagger, giving him much less disadvantage through lack of attack dice than the other heroes would have. Chances are, they will give it to him, because most groupd share their money anyway. This means, that the wizard will probably attack more and cast less. WE DO NOT WANT THE WIZARD TO CAST LESS SPELLS.

In any case, "take a Monster's Body Point" implies you can only roll the same number of (base gold coin bonus dice) as the Monster's lost Body Points. The Monster can't lose more Body Points than it has. So, if you wanted to hit jackpot, you'd have to go toe-to-toe with a Chaos Warrior with 3 Body Points or greater to benefit from any interpreted gold coin dice multipliers. This could prevent any exploitation, as the danger of going up against a beefier monster is greater than buffing a Hero to go up against a goblin.

True dat, but let's say a hero chooses 5 times during a quest to attack 1BP-monsters and is successful 3 times taking 1 BP each time. He rolls 3 times 4d6 and averages 42 gold coins.
That's not overly much, but it's also not really little. The 4d6 could be buffed up to make the dagger more attractive, either linearly (is that a word?) to, like 6d6 or 8d6...
Or potentially enriching, but way more erratic in outcome. Something like 3d20?

[Teldurn]

That's a good point. I failed to account for the actual number of lost BP. I was only calculating the attack side of the equation. Good call, GimmeYerGold. /tips hat

[GimmeYerGold]

That's a good point. I failed to account for the actual number of lost BP. I was only calculating the attack side of the equation. Good call, GimmeYerGold. /tips hat

All Day I Dream About Gold Coins

[Sjeng]

I didn't read everything here, but maybe this is an idea?:

Lucky Dagger
AD: 1 die
Instead of attacking with the dagger, a hero may do a search for gold (rooms only, not in corridors). This does not count as a treasure search, and no card needs to be drawn. Roll 1 combat die: black shield: wandering monster. White shield: you find 5 gold (or 10?). Skull: nothing found.

[Goblin-King]

I don't think that is the way to go Sjeng, as this will again lead to the heroes waiting to exit because they want to keep rolling for gold.
I wouldn't want anything to turn into a long minigame at the end of the quest.
The gold gained from the knife NEED to be finite. Like based on monster kills or treasure cards (which themselves are finite)

This is what I fear with your version.

Look guys the stairs! Time to stab the walls for gold!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill it!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill that too!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill that too!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill that too!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We are starting to get low on health! Kill it and leave.

[TMU]

I don't think that is the way to go Sjeng, as this will again lead to the heroes waiting to exit because they want to keep rolling for gold.
I wouldn't want anything to turn into a long minigame at the end of the quest.
The gold gained from the knife NEED to be finite. Like based on monster kills or treasure cards (which themselves are finite)

This is what I fear with your version.

Look guys the stairs! Time to stab the walls for gold!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill it!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill that too!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill that too!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We can kill that too!
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, a wandering monster? We are starting to get low on health! Kill it and leave.

Agreed, tho that would happen in real life with this kind of a weapon

[Sjeng]

lol, yeah, that would totally happen in real life xD

But you have a point. Didn't think it through.

[Goblin-King]

If it CAN be abused it WILL be abused.

[torilen]

I guess it has been too long since I have played with an actual group,
and I suppose I might be a little to idealistic and naive because of that.

I would think, if you're playing with a group that you've played with for
a while (i.e. people you know as opposed to semi-strangers at a game store),
then the "if it can be abused" statement might not necessarily be true. The
players would understand that the design of the dagger is to add distinctiveness
to the character and to add a bit of fun to the game, and they would use it as
we would all hope they might, as it SHOULD be used.

Is that really asking too much from players?

[TMU]

Is that really asking too much from players?

Of course it is!! I would do so as well