A few seconds ahead - How strong is it?

[Mr. Death]

I've got a PC with it, and we haven't had a problem, really. Admittedly, I just plain didn't realize the social thing applied (I've treated it as only defense against physical attacks), and said character was built primarily as a social character otherwise.

Her being a burgeoning wizard as well, I've had ample opportunity to compel mental consequences to deprive her of the advantage, so it tends to work out.

[Sanctaphrax]

Mr. Death, thanks for that. You just reminded me of something I wanted to say earlier.

Although A Few Seconds Ahead is overpowered, that doesn't mean it's going to wreck your game. With the selection of Powers in the OP, it's clear that the PC here isn't all that optimized, and besides...balance doesn't always matter.

D&D 3.5 spellcasters are more overpowered than A Few Seconds Ahead. By a lot. Like really a lot.

But that doesn't mean they'll damage every game they're in. Plenty of people play and have fun with a Druid and a Monk in the same party. And sometimes they never even notice how overpowered the Druid is compared to the Monk.

So it's not the end of the world if one of your Powers is too good.

[toturi]

@toturi: It's not good to give people power now in exchange for less freedom to change their character later. Being overpowered now and underpowered later is worse than just being overpowered now...the balance issues don't cancel each other out.

And Powers generally shouldn't directly obsolete stunts. They should be more powerful, but not in a way that makes it stupid to take stunts.

First of all, I do not think it is overpowered. It is exactly as powerful as it should be as a Power and not a Stunt. I think that a Power is twice as powerful as the equivalent Stunt(s) and this is the yardstick I use. The inflexibility of a Power-ful character is simply a function of the game mechanics, this is the price you pay for the effectiveness of Powers compared to Stunts.
I think I would compare the pros and cons of the Stunt and the Power before deciding which to take.

[Tedronai]

A few Seconds Ahead is more than twice as powerful as a comparable stunt, since it moves two defense trappings without restriction for the cost of 1 refresh where a stunt would move 1 such trapping with some sort of meaningful restriction (in the case of Footwork, for instance, the skill the trapping is being moved to already possessed a lesser version of the trapping being moved) for the same cost.

[toturi]

A few Seconds Ahead is more than twice as powerful as a comparable stunt, since it moves two defense trappings without restriction for the cost of 1 refresh where a stunt would move 1 such trapping with some sort of meaningful restriction (in the case of Footwork, for instance, the skill the trapping is being moved to already possessed a lesser version of the trapping being moved) for the same cost.

I think the same can be said of most other Powers when compared to equivalent stunts.

[Sanctaphrax]

toturi, your interpretation of the rules is really weird. I have no idea where you even got the idea that Powers are balanced by an inability to change them later.

In fact, I'm not even sure where you got the idea that Power selections can't be changed.

Regardless, the problem with A Few Seconds Ahead is dead simple. It (or an ability like it for another skill) is close to a mandatory purchase for almost everyone. That's like the definition of broken.

[toturi]

toturi, your interpretation of the rules is really weird. I have no idea where you even got the idea that Powers are balanced by an inability to change them later.

In fact, I'm not even sure where you got the idea that Power selections can't be changed.

Regardless, the problem with A Few Seconds Ahead is dead simple. It (or an ability like it for another skill) is close to a mandatory purchase for almost everyone. That's like the definition of broken.

And I am similarly baffled by your inability to see that the inability to change Powers is a limit on the flexibility spent on that particular amount of Refresh. IIRC, it is stated that you can change 1 Stunt for another (I am not sure if it is every Minor Milestone or if it was every game), I do not recall however that the same can be said of Powers.

My definition of broken is different from yours.

Regardless, I do not think that an ability like A Few Seconds Ahead is anywhere close to a mandatory purchase for almost everyone, hence it is not broken, even by your definition. (If I really did think it was broken, I would be asking all non Pure Mortals in my game to strongly consider getting AFSA for their characters and modifying their character stories so that it fits.)

[Wordmaker]

The description of a Minor Milestone states you can:

• Switch the rank values of any two skills, or replace one Average skill with one that isn’t on your sheet.
• Change any single stunt for another stunt.
• Purchase stunts or powers, provided you have the refresh to do so.
• Rename one aspect.

Take from that what you will. I'd personally rule that powers can be changed, but only with a valid story explanation, such as a changeling making their Choice and becoming human, or how Harry first gains Hellfire and then later loses that and gains Soulfire.

Whether powers should be roughly twice as beneficial as stunts, I don't know. But I do agree that A Few Seconds Ahead seems to be about equal to two stunts that might each add a new trapping to Lore.

The difficulty with the power, primarily, is that it was a case of trying to figure out how best to represent something that was in the books, which were of course written without the need to fit powers to a ruleset, and wanting to give something more solid than "Abby can see a few seconds into the future." I'd figure that hardly qualifies as a power, myself. Abby might be prescient, but she was hardly what I'd consider fit enough to have a Good rating in physical defence, even with a 2-second head start.

[Mr. Death]

As far as I'm aware, there isn't anything in the rulebook that says once you pick a power you can't change it. As pointed out, there's canon examples of switching powers; there's also the idea of temporary powers.

As for A Few Seconds Ahead, I don't think it's nearly so imbalanced as you're making out, Sancta--it's only really a benefit for a character who already has high Lore, and it's not even a boost. A character with high Athletics is better off investing in a speed power or something that can boost the roll past the skill cap. It's really mainly a benefit to a character who hasn't invested in physical skills much.

Another suggestion for it, though, might be to instead make the power such that it allows Lore to modify a normal physical defense by +1.

[Llayne]

I'd have to agree with Sancta about it being more powerful than two stunts. The Guns dodge stunt discussed in YS has the limitation of "as long as you have a gun in hand" or some such. Footwork doesn't have that limitiation, but as he mentioned Fists already has half that benefit already.

So the ability to use Lore as your physical defense skill in ALL situations with no limits would be outside the bounds of a stunt IMO. Similiarly for a stunt that defends against all social social defense skill with  no limitations.

Tables vary though, so really it only matters what your GM and players can agree on as a group.

If it was my group I'd allow it with the limit of only when dealing with one person, since trying to maintain situational awareness on a dozen people's futures would be a bit much. The ability to see a couple seconds into the future and the ability of the human mind to fully absorb and process all that information are two different things.

Or, if the player wanted to take a "Prescient" aspect I'd allow the power without the above limitation, and then compel the hell out of it whenever a situation get's really hectic. Kind of like Telepath's we see on TV and comics, getting 'overloaded' by all the violent emtions around them and being completely useless.

There are multiple ways to skin this cat I suppose.

[GryMor]

Defense trappings are nice, but there are already so many skills with them that for most characters, this power amounts to a ~+2 to two trappings without breaking the skill cap. It's inline with other powers, and actually behind a pair of defensive stunts on a character optimized for defense (who can use those stunts to get to cap +1 or +2)

[Mr. Death]

If it was my group I'd allow it with the limit of only when dealing with one person, since trying to maintain situational awareness on a dozen people's futures would be a bit much. The ability to see a couple seconds into the future and the ability of the human mind to fully absorb and process all that information are two different things.

Well, it's not so much keeping awareness on a dozen people's futures so much as just keeping track of one--your own.

[Llayne]

Defense trappings are nice, but there are already so many skills with them that for most characters, this power amounts to a ~+2 to two trappings without breaking the skill cap.

That depends on the character really. The OP appears to both be a melee combatant and a caster so his skill pyramid is probably pretty cramped. I'd wager it's probably a fair bit better than +2 to two trappings for his character.

That being said, shouldn't a power be balanced on it's potential for imbalance rather than it's balance in a single instance? A +2 makes a mediocre person halfway decent, and a very superb person freaking awesome. This power could potentially take a mediocre person and make him superb in two different areas, with no limitations.

On a marginally related note, what is your take on a stunt that allows you to move the attack trapping from Fists to Athletics? On the surface it's the reverse of Footwork, but would also completely negate the need for the Fists skill.

[Bedurndurn]

On a marginally related note, what is your take on a stunt that allows you to move the attack trapping from Fists to Athletics? On the surface it's the reverse of Footwork, but would also completely negate the need for the Fists skill.

I think Fists deserves no better. If it wants to cost as much as every other skill in the game (which it does), then it needs to have more than two trappings, one of which is so limited that it is rarely useful. My group merged Fists with Weapons so there's at least enough stuff going on to warrant taking the skill instead of just moving the only useful trapping elsewhere.

[Sanctaphrax]

And I am similarly baffled by your inability to see that the inability to change Powers is a limit on the flexibility spent on that particular amount of Refresh.

I don't think "the inability to change Powers" actually exists.

And even if I did, balancing characters by making different characters overpowered in different sessions is a terrible idea.

As for A Few Seconds Ahead, I don't think it's nearly so imbalanced as you're making out, Sancta--it's only really a benefit for a character who already has high Lore, and it's not even a boost. A character with high Athletics is better off investing in a speed power or something that can boost the roll past the skill cap. It's really mainly a benefit to a character who hasn't invested in physical skills much.

It's not that impressive on any particular character.

But on essentially any character without solid defences, it's good enough that not buying it (or a similar Power for another Skill) would be foolish.

Suppose you want to make a powerful old wizard who isn't physically gifted or a skilled crafter. Then you have a choice between

a) bending your concept to let you take A Few Seconds Ahead
and
b) being weaker than you could be

which is a terrible choice.

You shouldn't make people choose between power and story. That's why balance is important.

(The same rough argument applies to physical defence stunts, incidentally.)