Pathfinder Fate Accelerated baseline mooks are
essentially the same as mooks as described in the Fate Accelerated rulebook. The
main difference is that they can be upgraded, and instead of having a list of things
that get a bonus or penalty, Pathfinder Fate Accelerated assigns a bonus or a penalty
to a specific skill-like ability or concept, which allows a more finely grained
allocation.
A baseline Mook gets two Aspects, uses a simple
hit box track starting at zero (0) hit boxes, has one (1) skill-like ability that
they are good at (+2) or two (2) skill-like abilities they are fair at (+1 each),
and are either bad at one (1) thing (-2) or poor at two (2) things (-1 each).
Mooks act on their own, but unless they have
a skill-like ability, Aspect, or Stunt that suggests otherwise, they have initiative
0.
Pathfinder Fate Accelerated allows mooks to be
upgraded, which increases the threat a given mook poses. As a convenience, the total
upgrade value of a mook can be used as a comparative threat value. For instance,
a mook with upgrades that total to +3 can be referred to as a +3 threat.
As a baseline mook has no upgrades, a baseline
mook is effectively a +0 threat.
Mooks can be improved upon from the default baseline
to make a more difficult encounter.
The Mook Upgrades chart details available upgrades,
and measures the impact of the upgrades for purposes of measuring how much of a
threat the mook is, which also sets the difficulty for purposes of summoning such
a mook.
Stunts
A mook can have one or more Stunts or similar
Refresh reducing abilities. As mooks do not have Refresh, this is treated like any
other mook upgrade. Simple Stunts that just grant a bonus to do something specific
are already covered by the "Good At" feature of mooks; thus this option is better
used for more complicated abilities that do something other than just grant bonuses.
Spellcasting Mook
A mook can be a spellcaster, but must have a
relevant skill-like ability at +3 or better. For instance, a goblin "fire shaman"
might be "Good At: Fire Magic (+3)".
Hit Boxes
By default, the baseline mook has zero (0) hit
boxes; however it can be upgraded to have more.
Unlike a Fate Accelerated mook who can only have
up to two (2) stress boxes, there isn't an arbitrary cap
on how many hit boxes a mook might have.
Unlike stress boxes hit boxes explicitly are
for absorbing stress that represents damage, each box always has a value of "1",
and additional damage inflicted rolls over to additional hit boxes.
Thus if a mook with five (5) hit boxes were struck
by an attack that inflicted three (3) stress, three (3) hit boxes would be marked
off.
When a mook takes more stress from damage than
they have hit boxes, the mook is defeated. This might mean death, it might mean
the mook runs away or otherwise exits the scene.
In Fate Accelerated some causes of stress are
not characterized as damage; for instance social stress might take the form of loss
of influence or standing in an argument. It is left to GM's discretion on a case
by case basis to determine if a given mook loses hit boxes to a source of stress
or not, and to interpret the narrative effect or lack thereof.
For instance, a crazed goblin mook might be unaffected
by a hero's clever repartee or the emotional angst of a tragic turn of events but
might treat an attack on their morale by an angry canine animal companion as damage,
because goblins are terrified by dogs in the setting of Golarion and therefore might
break and run when faced with such a threat. As always in Fate games, what makes
sense to the evolving story is the correct line of play.
Hit Boxes And Mobs
Hit boxes are very easy to use, particularly
when used for "mobs", i.e. groups of nameless minions that are meant to be defeated
en masse.
When used in this way, it is typical for the
number of members in the mob to be factored over the number of hit boxes for purposes
of determining how many individuals are part of the mob.
For instance if a mob had ten (10) hit boxes
and ten (10) members, each hit box would be assumed to be equivalent to one (1)
member and thus losing three (3) hit boxes would be assumed to be equivalent to
losing three (3) members from the mob.
On the other hand if a mob had ten (10) hit boxes
and five (5) members, every two (2) hit boxes would be assumed to be equivalent
to one (1) member and thus losing three (3) hit boxes would be assumed to be equivalent
to losing one (1) member of the mob and injuring one (1) additional member of the
mob.
However there is no requirement to track a close
correlation between hit boxes and members in a mob if a given GM finds no value
in the proposition; it is merely a convention.
Versus Zone attacks
Mathematically, it often makes sense to treat the members
of a mob as individuals for purposes of absorbing damage from Zone attacks that do not split
their shifts between targets.
Stress Boxes
A mook can have stress boxes instead of hit boxes
if desired, but as the upgrade chart indicates this is considered to be a more significant
upgrade as it makes a mook more durable than an equivalent number of hit boxes.
Each additional stress box increases the difficulty to summon the mook by +1. The
stress boxes follow the normal progression of [1][2][3],
must be taken in order, and are capped at [3].
Consequences
In Pathfinder Fate Accelerated a mook that has
a full stress track ( [1][2][3] ) can have one
or more consequences. Having consequences obviously makes a mook more durable, and
should be reserved for more creditable threats such as mooks who are intended to
have an impact upon a scene or present a more significant encounter.
Generally (though not always) mooks that have
one or more consequences are treated as individuals and are more likely to be named.
Hindrances
Mooks can have additional "Bad At" penalties
at the GM's discretion, and typically used to help balance a mook out. It also lowers the
threat level and thus the summoning difficulty of a mook.
Mooks can also have various restrictions that
are not defined as a penalty. Many such things can be reflected in a mooks aspects,
but a GM looking for a little more mechanical grit can further describe the mook
and assess how much the restriction lowers the mook's threat at their discretion.
As an example, if a mook happens to be immobile
it would generally be implicit to their nature, as reflected by one or more Aspects.
For instance, a lock written up as a mook is
attached to something and inanimate; there probably isn't any need to further define
a restriction on the lock's mobility, and the lack of mobility doesn't really impact
the challenge the lock's write-up represents, which is getting to whatever is behind
the lock.
Negative Aspects
As an alternative, one or more Aspects that are primarily negative,
which is to say mostly penalize or disadvantage a mook, may reasonably be considered to be
hindrances rather than upgrades. If doing this, care should be taken to make sure the negative intentions
of such Aspects are clearly suggested or communicated.
Situational To A Summon
Hindrances particular to a given circumstance
might also be added to an existing write-up by the player of a spellcaster in an
attempt to lower the summoning difficulty of the mook to improve their character's odds of success.
This is fine, as long as the hindrances are legitimately applied and not just an attempt at min-maxing.
But in other cases immobility may not be so intrinsic
to a mook's concept, and more importantly does reduce the challenge represented by the mook;
in such a case it may make sense to explicitly note the restriction.
Morale is another area where a specific restriction
might apply and is often worth calling out explicitly. If there are circumstances
under which a mook will always run away or withdraw from a conflict or otherwise
concede without putting up much resistance, they are not really as big of a challenge
as their write-up suggests and adding a restriction that recognizes this often makes
sense.
Reducing Bad At Penalties
Mooks can reduce the default "Bad At" penalty
the baseline begins with as an upgrade.
Each -1 removed also raises the threat level and thus the summoning difficulty of a mook by +1.
Mob-dependent Upgrades
A mook write-up might be presented with a note
describing additional upgrades that
are turned on only when the mook is treated as a mob of a certain size.
For instance, Excited Goblins are pretty weak
when encountered individually, but the write-up says to
"Treat up to ten (10) Excited Goblins as a mob; add +1 hit box and +1 to attack
for every two Excited Goblins remaining". Thus if a mob of Excited Goblins
had six (6) members, compared to the baseline write-up the mob would gain +3 hit
boxes and +3 when attacking. Losing a hit box would reduce the mob to four (4) members
and the mob would gain a +2 bonus when attacking instead of a +3 bonus.
Scatterbrained, Out Of Control
Good At: Undisciplined Attack (+2)
Bad At: Making Sense (-2)
Treat up to ten (10) Excited Goblins as a mob; add +1 hit box and +1 to attack for every two Excited Goblins remaining
Really Big Rat
Good At: Very Sharp Teeth (+2), Eating Just About Anything (+2)
Bad At: No Thumbs (-2)
Hits: [1][1]
Up to three (3) may form a mob. Add two (2) hit boxes per rat. +1 to attack and defend for each additional rat remaining.
Summoning Difficulty: +15
Swift And Cunning Hunter, Always Alert, Flaming Fury, Outsider
Good At: Burning Things (+3), Noticing Things (+1), Tooth And Claw (+2)
Bad At: Resisting Cold (-4)
Stress [1][2][3]
Mild (2)
Do not treat as a mob. Hellhounds fight together as a pack, but using individual tactics to herd, flank, and outmaneuver prey.
Darkvision: Because I have Darkvision I can see perfectly in total darkness.
Relentless Tracker: Because I am so good at tracking my prey, I get +2 when I create advantage or overcome challenges related to tracking things down in wilderness settings.
Diabolic Durability: Because my infernal nature makes me much more durable than normal, I reduce by two (2) all stress inflicted on me by physical attacks. However this does not work against magic, cold iron, or weapons blessed by a benign deity.
Diabolic Immunity (-3): Because of my infernal nature, I am immune to electricity, fire, disease, and poison. However, positive energy inflicts two (2) extra shifts of stress against me.
Breath Of Infernal Flame (-2): Because of my infernal nature twice per conflict I may breathe a cone of fire, gaining +2
to attack one or more targets in my zone and one adjacent zone. If I split my shifts
between multiple targets each target suffers a -2 penalty to defend against this
attack.
Freezing Doom Trap
Arcane (Evocation)
Detection: Requires special senses to detect as a Great (+4) challenge
Easier Detection: Difficulty to detect is reduced by (-1) while being Arcane
Arcane (Evocation)
Disarm: Difficulty to disarm is Fantastic (+6)
Easier Disarm: Difficulty to disarm is reduced by (-1) while being Arcane
Arcane (Evocation), Cold, Zone
Effect: +8 to attack all in the zone with a burst of intensely freezing cold; any consequences inflicted have something to do with being frozen in place or encrusted with ice.