The refusal rule
When a hero’s morale falls below 25, they may refuse to go when you pick them. The chance is 2% for every point below 25, rolled each time:
| Morale | Ordinary hero refuses | Dutiful hero refuses |
|---|---|---|
| 25 or more | never | never |
| 20 | 10% | never |
| 10 | 30% | never |
| 0 | 50% | never |
A Dutiful hero skips the roll entirely and always goes.
Why that matters
A refusal tends to come at the worst time: a bad run, morale slumping across the roster, and suddenly a party is one short on fixture day. Dutiful removes that risk for one hero, which makes them the dependable fixture when everything else is going wrong.
It is worth being clear about what the trait leaves alone. Low morale still has every other cost:
- Below 45 the hero is flagged unhappy, and rivals who come poaching look first at unhappy heroes with modest loyalty.
- Renewals get dearer. A hero below 45 asks 10% more at their next Oath; below 25, 20% more.
- Unpaid wages hit the most miserable heroes first.
So a Dutiful hero at 5 morale will turn up for every delve, and you may still lose them to a rival or pay through the nose to keep them. See hero state for everything that moves morale.
How a Dutiful hero leads
At a dungeon fork, a Dutiful leader chooses for the hall, like Loyal, Oathbound, Thrifty and Kin-Proud leaders. With the treasury low they always take a treasure side room and nothing else; otherwise they always take the “Lair” of a named foe. They never take the Sealed Door. That is a fixed rule rather than a lean, so it applies whether the party is fresh or hurt.
Jobs
Sellsword contracts list Dutiful among their liked traits, adding 5% to the hero’s suitability. A hired line needs people who stand where they are put.
Small hooks
Quest reports have their own Dutiful lines, and on pair duty the hero speaks with the “humble” voice shared with Humble, Loyal, Oathbound, Steady and Child of the Halls. The hero card links the trait to Discipline; that link is descriptive and does not raise the attribute.
Using a Dutiful hero
- Make them the safe pick for a contract you cannot afford to have refused.
- Keep them in mind during a slump. When morale is low across the roster, the Dutiful hero is the one name you can pencil in without a backup.
- Do not neglect their morale. Rebuild it with wins, fair renewals and good event choices like anyone else’s; the trait protects attendance and nothing else.
Conflicts and rarity
Dutiful can never appear with Insubordinate, its opposite.
- Rarity: common, positive · draw weight 100 of 6,365 · about 1 recruit in 25
- Founding draft: any card.
- In the wiki’s archive: first present in the 2.1.8 build (absent from 2.0.7).
Recruiting
A modest positive. It matters most for guilds that often run with low morale, such as newly promoted sides or guilds short of money, and very little for guilds that keep morale high.