If you want such an action to have an advantage, make it a maneuver and either tag for the +2, or for effect to penalize the defense roll.

Perfect. And so much simpler

No it isn't.

The novels are not the game. There are plenty of things in them that simply don't translate well.

See, I don't like that. The game was created with the intent of translating the books to an RPG system as well as they could. While it's true they couldn't do it 100%, we should still seek to utilize the rules in such a way that any player could do anything from any scene if they want (given the right situation), because that was the main appeal of this game from the beginning.

Sometimes, sure, it simply won't be possible. But when it is, it should be, you know?

Hmm, would a prereq of needing an appropriate aspect to tag/invoke similar to a grapple be a better way of doing it as opposed to slapping a ton of restrictions on it.

I think requiring the aspect to tag is enough, and fits the ruleset most fully. However, as the Baron said, whatever works for your table.

Well, narratively speaking, the best example we have is the duel in White Night. Two human wizards versus two white court vampires. If this were a fight in the game, the vampires would both get to go first, because of Inhuman Speed, and they'd both get their strikes in before the wizards can do anything. However, Harry tells us that not even the vampires can move faster than thought, which is why he has his shield up in time.

To have that play out mechanically, you'd HAVE to allow the wizard to cast it reflexively, but in Harry's case, it's most definitely a rote with a focus item, so it's completely logical to require that from your playerahead of time.

We play through IRC, and upload the logs to a small forum we run every week. I (as GM) then take the time to write up a small epilogue to the story, usually (but not always) from the POV of my own NPC I run with the players. It usually deals with the stuff they don't want to have to deal with every week: hiding the bodies, some plot exposition, fallout from the villains, etc. I make sure nothing pivotal happens at this point; any plot changes are up to the players during play. When I include their characters, I make sure to stay true to their motivations and personalities, so they don't feel like I'm puppeting THEIR actions.

I often encourage the players to do these sorts of things, too. Their character just had something major happen and they need some alone time to deal with it. Write up your own epilogue! Who says there has to be just one? Also, in preparation for sessions (or sometimes in prep for epilogues), I'll run some one-on-one mini-sessions with them during any free time we come up with.

That's about it from my end; just thought I'd throw in what I've got. Your group sounds a lot like ours.

Thanks for the quick responses, guys!

Only one of them. You can have like three mild consequences at once, but you can only remove one per scene with Inhuman Recovery.