Does the temporary tier drop for an NPC crew going to war with the crew also affect the XP earnings, and rep gains, AND effect determination of the PC crew? Tier factors in somehow, but should I use the temporary tier or the actual tier? Seems a bit much to do the former, especially when they have the War Dogs ability – as it has costs to the table if their rivals’ tier drops and their own does not
Does the temporary tier drop for an NPC crew going to war with the crew also affect the XP earnings, and rep gains,…
Does the temporary tier drop for an NPC crew going to war with the crew also affect the XP earnings, and rep gains,…
The section on Reducing Hold (page 45) is pretty clear about this. “When a faction is at war, it temporarily loses 1 hold.” And “If their hold is weak and it drops, the faction loses 1 Tier and stays weak.”
For gaining XP or Rep, assessing Effect levels or whatever, I think you have to apply whatever the faction’s current Tier level is. Otherwise, the rules under Reducing Hold are impotent and unnecessary.
I apply the rules on loosing hold (and tier) also to NPC factions and, consequently, I also consider the actual enemies’ tier when adjudging XP.
Moreover NPC factions can make another faction vulnerable and make a vulnerable faction to loose hold as a downtime activity.
In the same way, the PCs can target a faction hold as a score, and reduce it if the score is successful in the end.
Ok, more succinctly: should temporary hold/tier change also affect the XP earnings, and rep gains, AND effect determination? Edited OP
In my opinion, hold changes should not affect them (even if they still affect the fiction: what do hold changes represent for that faction?), instead tier does affect them.
Consider that hold and tier are always a temporary matter, in Blades in the Dark. 😉
true true – maybe I should just embrace it. I ruled same as you are saying, and just thought it fairly clearly says “war can frequently make you crumble along a rise to power” to my players – “at least until you have War Dogs” lol..
it also cost them a few XP, and made things sort of one-and-done for the weak-hold Wraiths – even in an all-out war – but I suppose ‘thems the breaks’
We picked War Dogs as the first crew advance, since we were at war from the first session and it was heavy.
my table did it just as they raised their tier and became “weak”