Morale

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Morale describes the confidence, enthusiasm and discipline of a person or group at a particular time, depending on recent events that occur in combat. Morale does not affect player characters, but it does affect both allies and enemies. The effects of battle on morale depends upon the amount of training the combatants have and their willingness to stand their ground. Morale is improved by circumstances such as leadership, belief and the consequences of failing to defend a position. Morale is measured as a number between 2 and 12, with "2" indicating fanaticism and "12' indicating certain cowardice. To succeed against morale, the number must be met or exceeded on 2d6. Otherwise, morale is considered to have failed and the combatant must either give ground or flee.

A morale check is made whenever an individual, usually a hireling or follower, has witnessed or experienced some troubling circumstance that encourages them to withdraw in haste. These are called Day-to-Day Checks.

a life-threatening situation, or when something the individual has witnessed something that encourages that individual to abandon the situation. The latter applies to hirelings and followers; the former will apply to circumstances arising from combat.

Standard Morale

Main Article: standard morale

When engaging in combat, most Non-levelled non-player characters (NPCs) are considered to have a standard morale equal to 9. This describes both hirelings and followers at the start of their association with the players, whether or not those individuals have received combat training, unless these are levelled persons, in which case their morale would be 8. Children younger than 14 have a standard morale of 10.

Among fighting clans, standard morale will be 7 due to their continued association with one another. Common leaders will have a morale of 6; sub-chiefs will have a morale of 3-5 and chieftains will have a morale of 2-5. Quality morales of this type occur because base morale can be adjusted by circumstances.

Day-to-Day Checks

Morale checks are