Pushing fate

If the result of the test is a failure, the player may opt to push fate. Pull an additional card and add its value to the original total. If the total result of the two cards plus the attribute is 14+, the test succeeds as normal. You can never achieve a great success if you push fate. If the total result is 13 or less, the test becomes a great failure.

When you push fate and achieve a great failure, you not only fail to achieve what you set out to do, you make things even worse.

Narratively, a great failure creates new obstacles to overcome or severely hampers the adventurers’ path forward. For example, if a thief achieves a great failure while picking a lock, the sound of the broken lockpick jammed in the door alerts a passing guard, who catches the thief red-handed. Or, if a templar suffers a great failure when attempting to intimidate the ogre, the ogre flies into a rage and sucker-punches the templar in a surprise attack.

Additionally, a great failure inflicts a mechanical penalty on the adventurer who failed. If the situation is a dangerous situation, the GM can inflict a Wound on the adventurer. If the situation isn’t life threatening to begin with, an effect—representing frustration, sorrow, madness, exertion, or some other emotional state—might be more appropriate. For example, the GM might say that until the adventurer’s next encampment they become Exhausted (suffering the Exhaust effect) because they have overexerted themselves.

Pushing fate with the Fool

The Fool has a value of 0.

• If you pull the Fool initially during a test of fate, you can push fate as normal. This could turn the test from a failure to a success or to a great failure.
• If you pull the Fool when pushing fate, your result automatically becomes a great failure.

When the Fool is drawn, remember to shuffle both the minor and major arcana decks.