Cleaning Up The Stunt List

[Sanctaphrax]

There's only one purple Guns stunt. It's called Master Of The Lasso. And it really shouldn't be a Guns stunt. I'm kicking it over to Weapons. I'll rewrite it further when I get to that skill.

[Tedronai]

I am unconvinced that the ability to make spray attacks is worth a whole stunt, particularly in Fists, with its low weapon rating.

[Sanctaphrax]

Well, nobody says you have to take it.

But Storm Of Punches compares very favourably to Blaze Away and Wall Of Death (which are both canonical), so I'm not inclined to buff it.

I suspect that your issue may have more to do with your problems with Fists as a skill than with this stunt.

[Tedronai]

Well, nobody says you have to take it.

But Storm Of Punches compares very favourably to Blaze Away and Wall Of Death (which are both canonical), so I'm not inclined to buff it.

I suspect that your issue may have more to do with your problems with Fists as a skill than with this stunt.

How balanced would you consider a stunt that gave Athletics' dodge trapping to, say, Scholarship to be?  Or Resources?
Would you rate that stunt's power on par with Footwork?
Or would you analyze the power of the stunt within the context of the skill it applies to?

Both Weapons and Guns attacks almost always have a weapons rating (only even effectively not having a weapons rating when the target's armour meets or exceeds the actual weapons rating, or when dealing with 'special attacks' like tazers).
Fists attacks default to having a weapon rating of 0.

Spray attacks rely even more heavily on weapon rating to inflict stress than do normal attacks.

Spray attacks made with Fists, then, are, by default, less powerful than those made with Weapons or Guns, even more so than is true for non-spray attacks.

As such, a stunt granting spray attacks is less valuable for fists than it would be for weapons or guns.

[computerking]

Fists attacks default to having a weapon rating of 0.

Unless modified by Claws, a Strength power, or Natural Weaponry...

[Tedronai]

Unless modified by Claws, a Strength power, or Natural Weaponry...

The presence of those two powers (because Natural Weaponry is designed so as to include Claws) is not default.
Strength powers equally modify Weapons attacks.
The presence of Claws bumps Fists attacks up to something resembling a standard Weapons attack (rather than a weak or strong one.
If we are to assume that the Fists user has spent additional refresh enhancing his attack capabilities we should also, in order to retain a fair comparison, make the same assumption of the Weapons user, likely represented by True Aim or a similarly strong stunt/power.

[Sanctaphrax]

I realize that spray attacks are kinda weak. I'm not really a fan of them.

And Fists generally has lower weapon ratings than Weapons or Guns. (0-1 and occasionally 2 instead of 1-3 and occasionally 4.)

But Storm Of Punches has significant advantages over its sister stunts. Wall Of Death is limited to a single melee weapon and Blaze Away does nothing more than a submachine gun does.

I feel that those advantages more than make up for the lack of synergy with the skill.

[Sanctaphrax]

Apart from Imposing Attitude (which only needs a minor adjustment), every single stunt here is a casualty of the new "only +1 to social attacks" policy. So I'm not going to give reasons for individual changes.

Scare 'em Straight: You are a an authority figure. Part of your job is to put the fear of the law in potential miscreants. Add 2 to your Intimidation skill when using it against someone under your authority (ie: students for a teacher, magical practitioners for a Warden).

Scare 'em Straight: You are a an authority figure. Part of your job is to put the fear of the law in potential miscreants. Add one to your Intimidation skill when using it against someone under your authority (ie: students for a teacher, magical practitioners for a Warden).

Bad Cop: Cruelty is more effective when given a basis for comparison. When working together with someone who has the Good Cop stunt, add two to your Intimidation skill.

Bad Cop: Cruelty is more effective when given a basis for comparison. When making maneuvers to assist someone who has the Good Cop stunt, add two to your Intimidation skill.

And Your Little Dog Too: People who shrug off the most brutal threats against themselves will often fold when their loved ones are threatened. When threatening someone by threatening other people, add two to your Intimidation skill.

And Your Little Dog Too: People who shrug off the most brutal threats against themselves will often fold when their loved ones are threatened. When you make an Intimidation attack in which you threaten to harm someone other than the target of the attack, you inflict two additional stress.

Scary Reputation: It’s at lot easier to scare someone if they’re already scared of your reputation. Add two to your Intimidation skill against anyone who knows who or what you are.

Scary Reputation: It’s at lot easier to scare someone if they’re already scared of your reputation. Use your Intimidation skill plus one to make Declarations about the terrible things people think you've done.

Scary As F**k: You are just plain terrifying. There’s no other way to put it. All attacks that you make with the Intimidate skill inflict 2 extra stress.

This one is boring and deserves oblivion.

Imposing Attitude: For some reason, people seem reluctant to disagree with you. Maybe it’s your cologne. You may use your Intimidation skill for social defence.

Imposing Attitude: For some reason, people seem reluctant to disagree with you. Maybe it’s your cologne. You may use your Intimidation skill for the social defence trapping of Rapport.

Threats Of Violence: Fear and pain: they’re like best buddies. You always try to keep them together. Add two to your Intimidation skill when targeting someone who you have physically harmed recently.

Threats Of Violence: Fear and pain: they’re like best buddies. You always try to keep them together. Your Intimidation attacks inflict two additional stress to people that you have physically harmed recently.

Mesmerizing Gaze: Something about your eyes is frightening to people. Perhaps it's something similar to the effect behind a wizard's soulgaze. Add two to your Intimidation skill when able to force prolonged eye contact with your target.

Mesmerizing Gaze: Something about your eyes is frightening to people. Perhaps it's something similar to the effect behind a wizard's soulgaze. Add two to your Intimidation skill when using it to place aspects on other characters as long as you can make eye contact with your target.

I Could Have You Killed: Having a bunch of minions makes you scarier. Scientific fact. Add two to your Intimidation skill when you have subordinates present.

I Could Have You Killed: Having a bunch of minions makes you scarier. Scientific fact. You may treat your minions as weapon 2 for Intimidation attacks.

Stirrer: You are very good at stirring up conflict amongst other people. Add to two to your intimidate skill when attempting to get one person angry with another.

Stirrer: You are very good at stirring up conflict amongst other people. Add to one to your Intimidation skill when attempting to get one person angry with another.

As always, comments and complaints are appreciated.

[polkaneverdies]

I think the good cop and bad cop stunts should be an exception to the standard +1 rules. My reasoning being not only is there a prerequisite stunt, but it is on a different characters sheet.  That is a pretty major limiting factor.

 Externalized power is a big enough issue to grant the iop rebate.

[Tedronai]

The 'place aspects' wording of Mesmerizing Gaze is as troublesome here as it is anywhere else.
ie. it includes pretty much everything other than blocks

Various of these stunts seem to add not only +1 to attack trappings (under suitable restrictions) but to all other trappings that fit the same criteria.

[Silverblaze]

I think the good cop and bad cop stunts should be an exception to the standard +1 rules. My reasoning being not only is there a prerequisite stunt, but it is on a different characters sheet.  That is a pretty major limiting factor.

 Externalized power is a big enough issue to grant the iop rebate.

I actually played a police officer who had a partner.  We still didn't take the stunt since to make it function both of us had to spend a point of refresh.  It also didn't do enough to merit the refresh point.  Where as one cop can just put a menuever on the target to help his partner...for FREE.

[polkaneverdies]

A fair point, but not as helpful against a real hard case since many of those maneuvers would be resisted.

[Sanctaphrax]

About Mesmerizing Gaze: Good catch. It's only supposed to apply to maneuvers. Will fix.

About various stunts: Yeah, I know. A blanket +1 pushes the envelope a little...still not sure if it's too much. But since I was in the process of reducing the stunts' power greatly I figured I might as well err on the side of too strong.

About Bad Cop: Unlike a maneuver, this does not take an action. The old version was like a free maneuver every single time you acted. Still, new version might be a bit weak. Any suggestions for beefing it up?

[Sanctaphrax]

Idea for souped-up Bad Cop: in addition to the +2 to maneuvers that help the Good Cop, inflict +2 stress when tagging or invoking an aspect created by the Good Cop.

Thoughts?

[Tedronai]

Limit it to (probably one of) either social or mental stress tracks and it might be reasonable.