I was reading through the forum and discovered that in an earlier question, it was confirmed that since skills don't carry into a druid's totem form, a totem'd druid should RP as if they do not have the skill. Linking the thread below.
https://underworldlarp.com/community/rules/totem-a-few-questions/
However, the majority of druids I know do not have armour for their totem, despite it technically being an option. Totem as it exists in its default form has body, but no natural armour (though it does have a normal threshold). Stats below, from page 45 of the core rulebook.
1 Normal threshold, +1 every 3 levels.
2 damage via Claw, +1 every 3 levels.
20 Body, +5 every 3 levels.
1 "25 Slay" every 5 levels.
And self-mutilate is written as follows, from page 65 of the core rulebook. The part that worries me is in bold.
This skill represents the character’s ability to overcome the instinct of self-preservation. A character may not willingly accept or cause themselves 1 Body or more worth of damage without this skill, and must actively fight any attempt to harm them, even if it is in their best interest. This skill must also be purchased for a character to actively kill themselves or to consent to their own demise.
So my question/concern is as follows. An often forgotten part of self-mute is that you cannot consent to any damage that would harm you, which includes infliction or ego spells and body damage weapons if you are wearing armour, and literally everything if you are not.
So, if a totem isn't wearing the custom made armour, they should not be able to willingly take damage from normal weapons swung higher than their threshold, silver weapons, magic weapons, or literally any battle magic spell because all of those would go directly to body, no matter how chunky that body may be. Is this the rules as intended? Because that seems like it would make them basically not viable for combat at all unless it is expected they are all using the optional, custom-made armour that requires an assistant to put on and takes up a single line of their multi-paragraph write up.
I feel like something has gone wrong here and wanted to bring it up so it could be addressed, whether that's by automatically granting self-mute as part of the totem stats or changing how self-mute is written to make it more of a purchased personality trait than a specific skill.
He/Him. Transmasc in progress, please disregard mine bræsts.
Ralinwood: Ketilmundr Halfgrin - Einher, Mystic and Vitki, Chaos Enthusiast
Jericho: Tierney Oisin - Wild Elf, Apothecary and Druid, Friend to the Fae
Retired: Carrion - Human, Priest of the Nightkeeper, Ambassador for the Dark
Danny Heintz Topic starter
31/01/2020 3:43 am
To save time, I checked if the Rite of Vision animist form has a similar problem. It has the advantage of having some natural armour and a silver threshold, but also does not allow skills to carry over, and thus would also lack self-mute despite being intended for combat. Description included below from page 55 of the frag book.
The Animist has a silver threshold, 25 Body points, two claws which swing for 5 Normal each, and 25 hide Armour Points. This armour functions like normal armour except that it cannot be refitted or repaired. To repair their natural hide, the Shaman must heal it as though it were Body points.The Shaman may speak in this form. The Shaman may touch cast one memorized spell through their claws for each Braid member that participated in the Rite of Vision. No other skills or abilities may be used and no items of any kind may be carried by the Animist.
You can go into battle without armour if you don't have self-mutilate. Fighting somebody does not count as consenting to allow them to harm you, unless you are allowing them to hit you rather than trying to block or dodge it. You are literally fighting them. "A character may not willingly accept or cause themselves 1 Body or more worth of damage without this skill, and must actively fight any attempt to harm them, even if it is in their best interest."