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devonapple:
Re: Superior Hold
Yes, multiple actions is a point of contention, but I interpret this as an NPC power, a challenge to be overcome. This type of power is an element of a Chain Golem I invented for AD&D 2e and then D&D 3.x: a hunter golem that took captives alive. This also appears to be something which a Doctor Octopus type of character might take.
The less problematic way to do this by straight RAW would be to give the hunter golem an Aspect "My Body is a Cage" and then Invoke that after an opponent has been Taken Out normally. The victim will be held (by narrative power, not by any skill) until the other PCs manage to Take Out the hunter golem or it returns home with its prize.
However, another option for this is to make it an in-scene challenge to be overcome, in which case I feel it potentially valid to give the hunter golem an extra effective action in order to make a challenge for PCs. The captured PC is going to fight the grapple; the other PCs will probably try to Take Out the hunter golem: the players still have agency.
So, if a power has to be good for PCs as well as NPCs to be considered valid, then yes, this one is problematic, but then, allowing a golem as a PC is a pretty singular GM decision.
Sanctaphrax:
Oh, I definitely think that this power should be suitable for PCs.
I don't think it's inherently game-breaking, so there's definitely a refresh cost out there that will make it reasonable. Same goes for other powers giving multiple actions.
The idea here was to give grapplers a way to be useful against crowds. This power is really only useful against opponents who have no real chance of escaping your grasp, especially because the supplemental action penalties really add up when you grapple more than one person.
So you'll mostly use it against people that you totally outclass. If you weren't a grappler, you could just one-shot them. But you are a grappler, so you have to buy an extra power and make some extra effort in order to not spend 5-6 actions on each opponent.
Once you had them grappled, it was over for them. This power just lets you do something else why you finish them.
I'm not sure about its cost, though. Maybe -3 would be more appropriate. Or maybe I ought to make maintaining the Superior Hold a supplemental action.
Can I take the lack of criticism for Mindless and Hollow as an indication that they are good as-is?
PS: Hollow, if appropriately upgraded, can be used to make vehicles and buildings as characters. It isn't the pointless little gimmick power that it might look like.
devonapple:
--- Quote from: Sanctaphrax on November 07, 2011, 08:22:38 PM ---PS: Hollow, if appropriately upgraded, can be used to make vehicles and buildings as characters. It isn't the pointless little gimmick power that it might look like.
--- End quote ---
Clllllllever!
Edit: okay, actual feedback:
I'm conflicted about wanting to require Hollow as a prerequisite for the Swallow Whole option... in fact, I'm thinking the whole pricing for that series of powers may need to be reoriented. It feels like we're getting for free the ability to vanish something one's own size, and it feels backwards to me.
Perhaps if we price Superior Hold it as a -2 power which allows you to do that only to targets smaller than you, and then made it an additional -1 to allow it to affect targets your own size...?
Sanctaphrax:
Aw, thanks.
Anyway, Hollow and Swallow Whole are not even intended to be connected. Heck, Swallow Whole could easily be fluffed as holding the target with one of your many gigantic hands.
Hollow lets you hide things inside yourself, and gives the mechanical effects of doing so. Swallow Whole lets you grapple smaller targets without an action every turn, and lets you flavour it as swallowing if you so choose.
So I don't think either should require the other.
But I do like the idea of making Swallow Whole the baseline which is upgraded to Superior Hold.
Still undecided on whether it should cost 2-3 refresh or 1-2 refresh.
PS: These three powers will be showing up on the Character Request Game and Generic NPC threads a fair bit over the next couple of days, so feel free to look if you want to get an idea of how they might be used.
ways and means:
Another mod of all things equal before god but based on two powers from two completely different universes.
Mystics Eyes of Death Perception/ Shatterpoint [any view weakness power] [-4] You can see creatures deaths these manifest as crimsons lines on your enemies bodies, attacking these lines allows you to bypass any toughness or recovery powers. To use this power you must first spend a turn searching for the lines of death (alertness vs endurance roll to create the aspect 'lined') you can then tag this aspect to bypass all toughness powers or mundane Armour of the opponent for a scene.
They were the exact same power so I renamed them (ones from star wars the other is from an graphic novel).
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