The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Dependencies and involuntary change refresh discounts

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Dan from Chicago:

Heyo,

FTR, this is entirely based on incomplete information, so please be kind :)

So, I've had a lycanthrope character in my head for a while now(but not it's rage spirit, thankfully :)), but looking at the powers download, it seems as though the character type may come at a significant disadvantage. The refresh for the mandatory powers: echoes of the beat, pack instincts, inhuman strength, speed and recovery, come to a refresh of -8. There is no mundane form in the powers download, but there is a 'regular joe' which I'm assuming covers the 5 out of 28 days power availability of the inhuman stats. That appears to come with a refresh discount of +1. Does the discount apply to each power? If so, the refresh cost of a lycanthrope, based on the aforementioned incomplete information, would be -5. If it only applies once then the lycanthrope would have a refresh of -7. A Changeling could pick all those powers for -8, and have them 'on' all the time, whereas a lycanthrope has them available less than 1/5 of the time.

Anyways, this is all Theorymachine, and I'm sure the book explains it well, but if somebody in the know wanted to fill in more details, I would be grateful.

Thanks,
Dan 

iago:
The rebate's one time only, but a lycanthrope does not have control over when he changes, so he'd get the +2 version, not the +1 version.

Deadmanwalking:
So -6 Refresh Cost, total. With -2 worth of powers on all the time, and another -6 worth only during the full moon? A bit pricy for a PC, but then you don't have to play one...

Also, if you skip the Inuman Speed, they're only -4, and IMO a bit more playable.

iago:

--- Quote from: Deadmanwalking on April 01, 2010, 07:26:50 PM ---So -6 Refresh Cost, total. With -2 worth of powers on all the time, and another -6 worth only during the full moon? A bit pricy for a PC, but then you don't have to play one...

Also, if you skip the Inuman Speed, they're only -4, and IMO a bit more playable.

--- End quote ---

Without taking the time out to go and reference all the pieces parts myself, it sounds like you're mostly on point. :)

Dan from Chicago:
Okay ... is the idea to make the Lycanthrope a more difficult character to play? I'm not grousing here, just trying to understand the rationale. As I understand it, Fate points are meant to be a proxy for the relative amount of free will a given character has, and the more power(refresh reducing mundane stunts or refresh reducing supernatural powers) a character starts with, the less free will he or she starts with. While not trying to reduce the game or character creation to a mathematical formula, the Lycanthrope seems to pay a pretty heavy price in free will, 60% of the starting stat, whereas somebody paying 80% gets a lot more flexibility in power availability: 100% available vs less than 20% available for 75% of the power.

As for other downsides, I get that a changeling, for example, has other costs to consider(silver allergy, supernatural contract enforcement, etc), but so does the Lycanthrope. After all, if his boss aggravates him at work, he might have to start paying fate points not to bash his skull in!

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