Goodman Games

I am interested to know how other judges handle characters with low luck.

The best example is a halfling or thief who has burnt their luck down considerably (knowing it will regenerate), but it also applies to PC's who have gradually burnt it down over time - to a negative modifier (or they might have started with one).

Do you find the innate mechanical effects of low luck (exaggerated fumbles, horrible notice rolls, crappy crit rolls) are enough to penalise this sort of thing? Or do you use a little something extra to put more of a sharper edge on the consequences of burning luck?

Every hour or so of game time, or whenever the judge decides, have everyone roll a Luck check. To those who fail, mishaps occur. If there is a mishap that can occur to a random character, they are the pool from which to select. If not, some minor mishap occurs, from the breaking of a boot heel to the loss of some piece of equipment, to a hole in one's backpack.

When characters are REALLY unlucky, the random events can be far more severe. A stone falls from a building overhead. A chamber pot is emptied on the character. The character falls down the stairs into the troll's den. The character catches some disease.

Good question.
I like the idea of a luck check by the hour, with the possibility of a minor or major mishap having the chance of visiting the unlucky. Personally, I see to it that the character with the lowest luck is the first to be bitten, skewered, sliced, or otherwise targeted for harm among PCs during an encounter where no other factors of higher priority suggest a victim.

I tend to give the player a luck point when they roll a nat 20. For good roll playing, and if they make me laugh ( hard to do ).

Charles