Author Topic: Modeling intellectus?  (Read 5436 times)

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12405
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2013, 09:10:54 PM »
I might treat "auto-success, treat as if +4 was rolled and it super succeeds" as a -1 upgrade.

Not sure what you mean by that.

Offline Hick Jr

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1330
  • Actually just a jar full of bees attached to a CPU
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #16 on: August 12, 2013, 09:17:26 PM »
Quote
Maybe I should just make All-Knowing into difficulty-ignoring auto-success.

That could be a -1 Refresh upgrade within the power.


Hi! My home is called an apiary! I collect honey, and defend the Queen!

Not-so-secretly a power hungry megalomaniac with a Modular Abilities addiction.

Offline Troy

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 145
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2013, 08:35:01 PM »




Out of curiosity: What's Intellectus?
Ragnarok:NYC
Come play a game in the Dresdenverse with us!
Find us on Skype! Contact LongLostTroy

Offline PirateJack

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1843
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2013, 09:22:21 PM »
Read Turn Coat and you'll find out.
Quote from: JoeC
"Why are you banging your head against the wall?
'cause it feels sooooo good when I stop..."

Offline UmbraLux

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1685
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #19 on: August 13, 2013, 09:55:16 PM »
Out of curiosity: What's Intellectus?
It's discussed on YS292 in the Places of Power section.  In brief, it's the ability to simply know everything about a place. 
--
“As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”  - Albert Einstein

"Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength."  - Eric Hoffer

Offline Hick Jr

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1330
  • Actually just a jar full of bees attached to a CPU
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #20 on: August 13, 2013, 11:24:45 PM »
I'm going to type out the whole thing. I'm not incredibly sure about the legality of this, so if this could get me hauled off i'd appreciate a heads-up.

From Turn Coat (it's sort of spoilery)

(click to show/hide)

Actual unlimited intellectus is something a player really shouldn't have. The power we're working on is for limited intellectus- Harry's, for example, does not extend past Demonreach. The character that I intend to use this on has intellectus regarding biology and anatomy. The limitation of it is that you need to ask the right questions to get good answers- sort of like the GIGO principle.
Hi! My home is called an apiary! I collect honey, and defend the Queen!

Not-so-secretly a power hungry megalomaniac with a Modular Abilities addiction.

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12405
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #21 on: August 14, 2013, 12:57:22 AM »
Anyone have any further thoughts on Intellectus mechanics?

I'm not really happy with either my take or Hick's.

Offline Hick Jr

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1330
  • Actually just a jar full of bees attached to a CPU
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #22 on: August 14, 2013, 01:06:12 AM »
The description of Intellectus on pg 292 of Your Story reccomends just reducing the difficulty to zero. Also, it's rooted in the Lore skill, but I like the idea of it just being the skill cap.

Some crossover with the Inexplicable Knowledge power might be warranted.
Hi! My home is called an apiary! I collect honey, and defend the Queen!

Not-so-secretly a power hungry megalomaniac with a Modular Abilities addiction.

Offline Quantus

  • Special Collections Division
  • Needs A Life
  • ****
  • Posts: 25216
  • He Who Lurks Around
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #23 on: August 14, 2013, 12:50:43 PM »
Well, it really all depends on what the PC's sphere of influence is going to be, I think.  We have two examples of confirmed Intellectus from the novels:  Harry on Demonreach, and Shagnasty causing fear and pain.  Shaggy's is essentially just knowing the best way to do it without knowing why, and so Inexplicable Knowledge seems to cover it fairly well, but that is the only one I think you can model purely on Knowledge.  Harry's style is a much bigger powerup, limited only by the geographic location.  He has used it for widespread knowledge, but not perfect knowledge (had difficulty telling different people apart and was able to get overloaded when enough people were all fighting on the island at the same time), but it also increased his movement to the point were he outdistanced Wampires, and gave him perfect aim with some fireball spells.  Now we're talking about a serious boost to combat effectiveness, so the balance of it can be somewhat fragile.

In the case of this Anatomy/biology Intellectus, you'd need to keep in mind that it is a very limited scope but mobile ability, which makes it nearly the opposite of Harry's style of intellectus.  I would say auto-successes on knowledge would work fine, but you'll want to establish boundaries very clearly.  The PC could tell instantly that somebody is poisoned for example, and be able to tell exactly what its doing to the body and how fast and stuff, but would he be able to tell you that there is a rare herb that only grows on the highest slopes of the Andes that will cure it?  Probably not, even if he could easily draw you out the complex molecule that would accomplish it and tell you exactly how it would interact with the infected cells.  In combat, Id say his attacks could do more damage by virtue of knowing precisely where to strike, and he could probably pull out some cool and unusual effects with acupressure type stuff, but just because he knows exactly were to strike to do the most damage doesnt make him any better at actually placing the bullet there if he still sucks with guns, for example.
<(o)> <(o)>
        / \
      (o o)
   \==-==/


“We’re all imaginary friends to one another."

"An entire life, an entire personality, can be permanently altered by just one sentence." -An Accidental Villain

Offline vultur

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 3942
    • View Profile
Re: Modeling intellectus?
« Reply #24 on: August 15, 2013, 02:53:36 AM »
If you can annihilate an entire army with a thought, it's pretty safe to say that you're attacking. And Harry doesn't need to turn Demonreach into solid gold to manuever/attack. He can just say "Ooh look. A nail on the ground. Goodbye, Fix."

When did Harry annihilate an army with a thought using intellectus (or anything else)?

He asked the island spirit to withdraw the water from the trees on the island, causing their branches to break and drop the spider critters... but it wasn't THAT impressive.

Also, I don't think that's exactly an application of intellectus, or of Harry's powers at all (beyond being able to talk to the spirit in the first place). I think that was actually the Demonreach spirit's action, Harry just asked him to do it.