Morale Check

Morale Checks are used to determine the effects of Tide of Battle and Morale on NPCs and monsters. A Morale Check should be made by an individual creature whenever it suffers Morale Damage and its Morale score (after damage) is -1 or less. Some powers and effects may also require a creature to may a Morale Check. At the GM's discretion, Morale Checks may be made in other situations as appropriate.

To make a Morale Check, the creature should make a Bravery check vs DC 20. The roll has a +5 bonus per point of Tide of Battle in the creature's favor, and a -5 penalty per point in favor of the opposing side. If the check is a success the creature continues as normal. If a creature fails the check, it becomes Demoralized, which has either a random effect or a predetermined effect of the GM's choosing. The Demoralized condition persists until there the creature is no longer subject to a threat (i.e. all opponents are gone) or its current Morale is restored to 0 or higher.

Morale Check = Bravery Check +/- Tide of Battle x5 (vs DC 20)

When a group of monsters is loosing against tough opponents that have a commanding lead on Tide of Battle, the GM may decide to force a Morale Check to determine the group's behavior. The GM designates a creature as the Group Leader and then makes a single Morale Check with the result applying to the entire group (i.e. if the Group Leader becomes demoralized, all creatures are demoralized in the same way).

Examples

The PCs are fighting a group of Orc Grunts, lead by an Orc Gutter. One of the Orc Grunts suffers a few Morale Damage and must make a Morale Check. The Orc's current Morale is -2 and Tide of Battle is +1 in the PC's favor. He rolls a Bravery Check with a -5 penalty from Tide of Battle vs DC 20. He fails the check and becomes Demoralized, which causes him to Panic and flee the battle.

Later, Tide of Battle shifts to +2 in the PC's favor and things don't look good for the Orcs. The Gm decides that the Orcs should make a Morale Check as a group, using the Orc Gutter as the group leader. He makes a Morale Check by rolling a Bravery Check with a -10 penalty. He gets very lucky, succeeding the check and allowing the Orcs to rally and continue fighting.

Mindless creatures are unaffected by Morale and do not need to make Morale Checks. The Gamemaster always has the authority to ignore a Morale Check result (or decide not to make one) when a particular scenario is crucial to the story.

PCs are only required to make Morale Checks if a power or ability requires them to or if their Morale drops below 0. The PCs never need to make group Morale Checks.