The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Backlash

<< < (2/3) > >>

Ghostfreak:
Well what do you expect for a game that has been running for 5 years... sounds like they have reached the peak of what their characters can do.  Our gm has been doing his game for 3 years and our total refresh is finally now 19, 44 skill points, still capped at superb.

Sanctaphrax:
Might be worth letting the other characters re-arrange their powers a bit.

Spellcasters aren't always the best, even at high Refresh levels, but they have a bit of an optimisation advantage. If you just buy Refinements, allocate them intelligently, and keep your casting skills as high as possible, you're building more or less optimally. Other character types are a lot more likely to accidentally weaken themselves. And they can sometimes have a hard time justifying buying the most optimal stuff.

WCVs actually get the worst of it, if you ask me. Their Template inherently pulls them in multiple directions and that's generally a recipe for weakness. Not surprised that that PC is having trouble spending their Refresh effectively.

So it's possible that your non-spellcasters could get a fair bit stronger just by re-allocating their Refresh. Might take some narrative trickery to make it justifiable, though.

I've run a game with Refresh in the high teens for a long time, and all sorts of characters have proved effective in it. But I think the fact that the characters were created at such a high power level from the start (or in one case, jumped straight from a much lower level to this one) helped a lot with that.

Mr. Death:

--- Quote from: KlausGerken on October 21, 2018, 04:41:13 PM ---So the player of the wizard read the rules... :)

Example:

A spell with 10-shifts of power is being cast.
Her conviction is 5, she gets +1 bonus on power. So she crosses out the 4shift stress box
She rolls a +1 on a discipine of 5, get +2 bonus from focus items. Thats just 8, so she takes the 2 shifts as backlash, crossing the 2shift stress box (but not on the mental stress track.... she is a powergamer after all!)

The way I read the rules, she would have to absorb 6 points of stress in one go.

Who is right?

--- End quote ---
First, if her base Conviction for that element is 6, then pulling up 10 power would go past her stress track (the boxes being, in this case, 6,7,8,9).

But that said, yes, it's two separate stress hits, not one added up.

Wizards and spellcasters are always a question of resources -- yes, they can throw out huge attacks, but they have, at most, four shots in them before they start doing serious damage to themselves, whereas Johnny McSwordsalot can keep swinging forever.

There's lots of ways to balance casters in a party with non casters, but after 5 years? It might be time to finish the campaign and start fresh, especially if your other players effectively have no more advancement options. Better to start anew than to stagnate.

KlausGerken:

--- Quote from: Mr. Death on October 22, 2018, 07:51:52 PM ---First, if her base Conviction for that element is 6, then pulling up 10 power would go past her stress track (the boxes being, in this case, 6,7,8,9).
--- End quote ---

You are right, of course.


--- Quote from: Mr. Death on October 22, 2018, 07:51:52 PM ---But that said, yes, it's two separate stress hits, not one added up.

Wizards and spellcasters are always a question of resources -- yes, they can throw out huge attacks, but they have, at most, four shots in them before they start doing serious damage to themselves, whereas Johnny McSwordsalot can keep swinging forever.

 There's lots of ways to balance casters in a party with non casters, but after 5 years? It might be time to finish the campaign and start fresh, especially if your other players effectively have no more advancement options. Better to start anew than to stagnate.

--- End quote ---

4 Shots? Thats no longer true, since Paranet Papers there is Mental Toughness to be had, for a longer mental stress track. Which also means that you can put more shifts into your spells - and with your interpretation of the rules, backlash isn't that much of a problem - so Wizards don't even need fate points to control MASSIVE amounts of power.

Mr. Death:

--- Quote from: KlausGerken on October 23, 2018, 12:28:42 PM ---4 Shots? Thats no longer true, since Paranet Papers there is Mental Toughness to be had, for a longer mental stress track. Which also means that you can put more shifts into your spells - and with your interpretation of the rules, backlash isn't that much of a problem - so Wizards don't even need fate points to control MASSIVE amounts of power.

--- End quote ---
Those powers cost a solid chunk of refresh (remember the Catch for them offers no discount) and are only available to high level wizards. We're talking Senior Council level here, so something that's not going to be in the average game.

The reserves might take longer to eat up, but they're still getting eaten up, two shifts per spell, and riskier the higher you push. In your example, for instance, your player was very lucky to roll a +2. Imagine the same result from a -2 -- then you're looking at a 6-shift hit just from the backlash.

The other thing to remember is that if you take backlash, that doesn't add to the targeting roll, so even if your wizard takes a buttload of stress to make sure his Weapon:10 attack goes off, the other guy might be able to dodge it with a 5 or a 6, at which point your wizard has taken that bunch of stress to no real benefit.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page