(details of how this happens don't really matter here I think).But that's the juiciest part. (wall of text incoming) :P
If I can ask my newbie questions here, that would be great! I hate to clutter the boards with my topics.
I was wondering, does every faerie type have a Sidhe? Like for summer ogres and a snow ogres (proven guilty). Is there a Sidhe Ogre of the Summer court and a Sidhe Ogre of the Winter Court? And if it does work like this, are the Sidhe's of the extraordinary ugly faeries also ugly? Or more humanised and pretty. Because I thought I read somewhere that all Sidhe are unearthly beautiful, but not all faeries (they are just extraordinarily... something).
What's the practical difference between the Skills Presence and Rapport?Thats about my take on it, but admittedly Ive never been in a game where the difference became a huge deal. It is, to my mind, very similar to the distinction between the Charisma and Manipulation attributes in the White Wolf system, which is basically the same passive/innate vs conscious/active means of interacting with others.
From what I understand, the difference is one between passively having charm or the ability to get attention and actively being charming and getting attention. It's a fine line... and I think that Fate Core was wise in doing away with the distinction. For the Dresden Game the writers may have felt a need for the two different Skills... but I'm having trouble seeing it with my own eyes.
What do you guys think?
I think it is like the difference between respecting someone and liking someone. Presence demands respect. You can go into a room, shout orders and people start doing what you say, maybe reluctantly, but they do it. Rapport is sort of the opposite, people like doing things for you, maybe even before you ask. And when you ask, you have that certain something in your voice that makes people want to do what you ask and more.
So I could see a military leader having high presence and low rapport. On the other hand a seductress could have high rapport, low presence.
And then there's Lara Raith, who has both skills as high as possible.
So I could see a military leader having high presence and low rapport. On the other hand a seductress could have high rapport, low presence.
@Taran
I like that. Thinking to Odyssey, I think that is a concept I wouldn't mind including in the future. How would you work that? As a roll? As a modifier? Would it be best to use Rapport modified by Presence as a secondary skill?
Does anyone have experience with someone having the ghost speaker power? My player has it, but beyond the obvious "a ghost comes to you and wants your help with x" and "rolll a contacts roll to see if the ghosts know anything" I don't know how to help him shine in my game.He can also do a fair amount of information gathering (I had a player trading favors done in the physical world for information ghosts knew or could find out), use them as trackers / spies (for a favor again), find sites where people were killed recently (ghost, if there is one, may be too traumatized to speak), or even use them for minor maneuvers in the physical world (this either needs to be something the spirit is willing to risk existence on, cost a lot, or require the ability to command spirits). Basically, anything a spirit can do he may be able to bribe them into doing for him...costs depending on how risky it is to the spirit, how much it aligns with the spirit's goals, and seldom having much to do with money.
Any ideas?
Does anyone have experience with someone having the ghost speaker power?
No quite, but ghosts have a prominent role in our campaign so my advice is to you is to bake in some dead people in your storyline(s). It can start as a simple "there's an angry ghost in the attic" scenario, but once they actually try to solve the case and wander deeper into the rabbit hole, some awful truths will be revealed (necromancers, vampires, etc. etc. what ever suits the story).
What's the difference between Worldwalker and Swift Transition? Conceptually, both seem to allow you to jump in or out of the Nevernever pretty much anywhere.
It seems like Swift Transition is for creatures who have a natural affinity to the Nevernever... as in, that's where they belong. So they can pop in and out as they like.
World Walker makes portals, which allows a person to bring other people with you. It also conveys other abilities that make it easy to find places to make these portals, and navigate the Nevernever.
That's what it looks like.
White Court Vampires do not have Swift Transition. Transitioning at thematically appropriate places is probably a High Concept Invoke for Effect.By the novels at least White Court Vampires are able to come back from the NN to the mortal world at those personally significant locations, and can navigate to and from them. But as you say, that is not the same thing as Swift Transition.
And while it seems as though it should be two-way, it doesn't actually say anything about going from the Nevernever to Earth.
On a parallel storyline some of my players encountered a boogey man harrassing some elderly lady. They rightly posited that it is a some sort of fetch that gained an entry through a mirror (yes very basic, but most of us are not familiar with the books ;)). They're (somewhat surprising) solution was to bolt two iron bars across the mirror, thinking it will keep the fetch (being a creature of the fair folk) at bay. Will this work, or does the fetch have some tricks in the sleeve perhaps?
I find the idea good. Simplistic, but to the point. If it works should really be up to the story:
Would it fit to have the fetch be barred by it and thus dealt with?
Or should the fetch be a "larger" antagonist and require a more direct approach?
Or should it be both - the bars blocked the fetch but it knows who did it and is now mightily annoyed at the interference?
If it fits the story, I'd definitely allow it to work. But I could just as easily say "tough luck, you just turned that single mirror into several different mirrors, it can still get through".
I'd say it works. The bars are iron, after all, they should shut down pretty much any and all faerie stuff.Provided a boogieman is Fae, anyway. Does Harry specify?
But there will be other mirrors in the area. A bathroom mirror next door, a rearview mirror outside...blocking one mirror isn't likely to keep the fetch away completely.I imagine, though, that if it runs into the iron bars, it may well injure itself or otherwise be diminished from the contact with iron.
Provided a boogieman is Fae, anyway. Does Harry specify?
...
I imagine, though, that if it runs into the iron bars, it may well injure itself or otherwise be diminished from the contact with iron.
@SanctaWell, Mab could see the nail, is the thing. I'm not sure if the fae can 'feel' iron they haven't touched yet. If they could, Lea may not have been tricked by the aluminum nails. And the Gruffs run headlong into the Carpenters' steel door (though perhaps given he was running, he might not have had time to stop anyway).
You're right on the Fae and iron score. When Harry meets Mab for the first time in Summer Knight is a good example of the Fae's strong aversion to it. It is an awful death for them after all.
@Sancta
You're right on the Fae and iron score. When Harry meets Mab for the first time in Summer Knight is a good example of the Fae's strong aversion to it. It is an awful death for them after all.
But there will be other mirrors in the area. A bathroom mirror next door, a rearview mirror outside...blocking one mirror isn't likely to keep the fetch away completely.
But of course there is always this.. As I would like to reward my players for their fair solution, I need to decide how the other mirrors will affect the situtation. Maybe it just buys them a bit more time to try to find out what is going on?
Exhibit A:If the aspect is established, it does exactly what it says, the NPC now has sand in his windpipe. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it brings a bonus or penalty to each and every roll involving the NPC. When you create the aspect, you get a free invoke, called a tag. You can spend this tag like it is a fate point that you can only use on this aspect.
Our focused practitioner (geomancer) attacks an major NPC who is giving orders to his goonies. Instead of inflicting stress he just wants to stop him to give out orders. Our geomancer has a bag of sand that he magically blows against the NPC. So he does a Maneuver to inflict an aspect like "Sand in the windpipe". How does this actually stop the NPC then.. should the player compel that Aspect (and giving the NPC a fate point) or what? Or is the NPC unable to command until he removes the manouver. And what's the difficulty in removing the aspect in this case, against the original channeling roll or something else?
Another option is to do a block with the sand, I guess, but maintaining the block takes his following action(s)?
Exhibit B:Well, what did he do, when he threw him against the wall? There are 3 actions you can do: attack, block, maneuver. A grapple is a type of block. If he keeps the grapple up, that's his action, and a block does not do any damage. However, when you do a grapple, you can chose to do 1 shift of damage (or more, if you have strength powers) as a supplemental action. That means that the strength of the grapple is reduced by 1 shift, but the character that is held in the grapple gets 1 shift of stress, which he can't defend against.
Our living dead reporter (yes) grapples a NPC goonie and uses his might to throw the goonie against the wall. Then he proceeds to ask "so how much damage does the NPC take from the throw..? ". "Err.. none", I answer with a straight face. As This was followed by disappointed looks, so I relented and gave the NPC an aspect "Spread eagled on the floor". This was probably not within the rules, but within the paradigm I think.
So now we have an NPC with "Spread eagled on the floor" aspect. How does this effect him? Is he on the floor until he removes the aspect? Or is it only taggable bonus for our PCs? Or both? And what's the difficulty in removing the aspect in this case, against the original grapple/throw or a standard "Get on your feet -roll"?
Some random questions and situations I've been struggeling with that I hope someone can help me with. Don't worry about answering them all, if you can even answer a single one I'm a happy girl.
1. Are all Sidhe immortal?
2. Can Sidhe harm mortals without cause or connection, or are they not allowed like the Faerie Queens are not. And what about regular faeries like ogres and trolls.
3. Any ideas for non faerie-monsters that aren't vampires or ghouls?
4. When a manoever has been placed and the person who has been affected chooses to spend his action to remove it. Does he have to beat the difficulty of when it was placed, or does the person who placed it get to "defend" to keep the manoever in place.
5. How do you deal with the party splitting up, and one person entering a physical conflict away from the others. Physical conflict usually lasts pretty long, and the others will get bored waiting for it.
6. I've discovered that as a GM I'm struggeling with finding good compels during a session. I maybe compel each character once per session, and usually for something that isn't that cool to the story. Does anyone have tips for me to compel characters more often?
7. What kind of situations/scenarios are good to let a knowledge focused character shine? One who doesn't have social/battle skills (he's a true believer). Getting information is usually resolved in a single roll while conflicts get much more screen time.
8. I have followed the rules in YS about scaling the opposition. But even when the opposition is much stronger than my player's characters, they fly through conflicts without so much as a consequence on them. I don't get it, what am I doing wrong?
That's it, sorry for so many questions! I hope you guys understand!
Some random questions and situations I've been struggeling with that I hope someone can help me with. Don't worry about answering them all, if you can even answer a single one I'm a happy girl.
1. Are all Sidhe immortal?
2. Can Sidhe harm mortals without cause or connection, or are they not allowed like the Faerie Queens are not. And what about regular faeries like ogres and trolls.
3. Any ideas for non faerie-monsters that aren't vampires or ghouls?
4. When a manoever has been placed and the person who has been affected chooses to spend his action to remove it. Does he have to beat the difficulty of when it was placed, or does the person who placed it get to "defend" to keep the manoever in place.
5. How do you deal with the party splitting up, and one person entering a physical conflict away from the others. Physical conflict usually lasts pretty long, and the others will get bored waiting for it.
6. I've discovered that as a GM I'm struggeling with finding good compels during a session. I maybe compel each character once per session, and usually for something that isn't that cool to the story. Does anyone have tips for me to compel characters more often?
7. What kind of situations/scenarios are good to let a knowledge focused character shine? One who doesn't have social/battle skills (he's a true believer). Getting information is usually resolved in a single roll while conflicts get much more screen time.
8. I have followed the rules in YS about scaling the opposition. But even when the opposition is much stronger than my player's characters, they fly through conflicts without so much as a consequence on them. I don't get it, what am I doing wrong?
That's it, sorry for so many questions! I hope you guys understand!
What's the least amount of time it takes to cast a ritual using Thaumaturgy?Probably a scene...which isn't very exact.
I'm going to go with "As long as it takes". Which is about the best and the worst answer I could give, I assume.
Let me elaborate. The time it takes to cast a spell is not always an important factor. If you've got the afternoon off, it doesn't really matter if the spell takes 2 seconds, minutes or hours, you'll have easily finished it in the time you have.
For casting a spell when you are under pressure, there are already rules for that. Just gather the shifts you need over the course of a few exchanges, and as long as you aren't interrupted or fudge up the roll, your spell works as planned.
For the SK spell you talk about in your link, the casting process doesn't even have to be part of the equation. The GM compels the "mind fog" scene aspect on Murphy and Harry. Murphy's player doesn't want to go to lala land, so she decides to buy the compel off. The GM asks her how that happens, and she says "Well, can't our wizard here do something?", and they decide that is a good idea. Harry's player doesn't have that many fate points to spare, so he accepts the compel. He'll still be able to fight against the mind fog invading him, but at times, that's going to take his full concentration, so he'll be way less effective in the ensuing conflict. Hell, he might even do something stupid like throwing marbles on the floor in order to stop an ogre.
The things that take time for any thaumaturgy spell is the preparation. Getting the right ingredients can be a session on its own, if you want it to be. Preparing the circle, making arcane calculations, ritual cleansing, meditating and what have you all (can) take time. But it always depends on what kind of spell you have, too. For Harry, it makes sense to have a quick tracking spell, that's his bread and butter, so he can do a spell like that with a rough chalk circle and a piece of string. Other wizards might need a lot more to do that, but they can make a tree grow with just an effort of will, for example.
Here's a question we've been bandying around in my circle...Potions take time and resources each time you want to make them, while an enchanted item has to be recharged.
What's the advantage of carrying an enchanted item(s) over a potion(s)? In other words, why wouldn't you just have some Potion Slots that you can fill each session with whatever you'd like?
Potions take time and resources each time you want to make them, while an enchanted item has to be recharged.
It's the difference between buying more ammo for a gun and having to build a new gun from scratch every time you wanted to shoot someone.
The way it's presented in the book, it doesn't seem like you have to do much of that sort of thing unless you are telling that part of the story. The way I read it, we begin a session and I state I have potions X, Y, Z on me. Also, I can spent a Fate Point and have potion X on me without having stated it beforehand, or do the same thing with a successful declaration on a Lore roll. Is that not how it works?
Yes, and no. You're glossing over the hard bits.
The whole point of keeping slots open for potions is essentially to have variable enchanted items that you can use to make the right tool for the circumstances. If you start out with X,Y, and Z potions then you effectively give that advantage up. So, no real advantage or disadvantage to doing that I suppose, short of being able to change them from one story to the next.
As for declarations? Well, you've glossed over the key word there: successfully. The declaration needs to succeed - which means that it has to make sense. You can't just coincidentally have a climbing potion when you're surprised with a mountian trek in the middle of an adventure.
Essentially, potion slots give you an advantage when you have time to think ahead. If they're played any other way, you're effectively munchkining as far as I'm concerned.
Open potion slots allow the CHARACTER to think ahead. This is represented by a successful Lore declaration (either roll or fate point) at the time of use If you actually have time to whip something up, you don't need the declaration at all. This is the 'deceleration as flashback' and achronal narrative aspect of Fate being used to maximal dramatic effect.It still has to make sense, though--the 'new potions every session' thing assumes time passing between sessions for the potions to be made.
Also, it helps if you can see the future and have aspects like 'Crazy Prepared'
A question came up in my group regarding the potions.. how long does it take to concoct one? The RAW is bit vague on the subject (on purpose I think), and my take is that it doesn't usually matter, but there can be occasions when timing is be crucial. Any good rule of thumb for these?
I think it takes a couple hours of simmering, according to the novels. Storm Front goes into detail on what making them entails.
I know that that Rote Spells in the book are to be taken with a grain of salt. I do, however, have a question about something they introduce to the game.The nature of any attack or action, I feel, dictates how the target can defend against it.
Magic dictates how the target of the spell Defends against the attack or maneuver. Is that a feature or a bug?
I know that that Rote Spells in the book are to be taken with a grain of salt. I do, however, have a question about something they introduce to the game.Neither, it's false. Or at least a major assumption made from flimsy evidence.
Magic dictates how the target of the spell Defends against the attack or maneuver. Is that a feature or a bug?
The skill descriptions define how they're used...so it depends on context. Someone shoots at you - you probably dodge with Athletics. But what if you're driving a car? Athletics no longer makes sense. Action instigates the reaction, it will almost always have the primary say in what gets used simply because it is proactive. But, sometimes, you can add a twist to the narrative and change things...Well, it makes a little sense in that Athletics covers most of your reaction time and hand-eye coordination. But if your driving skill isnt up to the task you would just end up over-correcting and probably crashing or something. In that circumstance Id probably make you use whichever was the weaker of the two, viewing it as the skill Bottle-neck, so to speak.
Well, it makes a little sense in that Athletics covers most of your reaction time and hand-eye coordination. But if your driving skill isnt up to the task you would just end up over-correcting and probably crashing or something. In that circumstance Id probably make you use whichever was the weaker of the two, viewing it as the skill Bottle-neck, so to speak.
Agreed.
The defaults are there because they are common but don't fear changing the default when it makes sense. Locking ourselves into a single method of reacting gets old.
You always count based on the sum of skill+dice+modifiers (like invocations), so I suppose that would be "before" in your description. The only thing a Power bonus does is give you higher effective Conviction, it sets the amount of power you can use without taking extra stress higher.
I don't feel grapples deviate much from regular rules.
Blocks end when it makes sense for them to end(except for spellcasting). The same goes with grapples. It also makes sense to have a rule-set to prevent people from sprinting or moving zones. They're pretty basic compared to grapple rules I've seen in other systems.
How would you do it? Just make it a maneuver: "grappled"?
They do, every exchange. So I don't really see how a grapple is that much different. The only difference is that the advantages and disadvantages of a grapple are maintained (such as not being able to sprint or move zones and the grappler being able to add aspects or do damage every exchange) each round unless the victim can break the block in a way that justifies breaking the grapple.You could use the rules as is to make that possible I believe. Instead of trying to break the grapple, the you could instead set up your own maneuver to initiate a grapple AGAINST the person holding you. Thus kind of causing both characters to be in a grapple with each other. This could cause an interesting tug of war of the characters dragging each other around, doing damage, or trying to break the others grapple before their own gets broken. It would also mean neither could just release the grapple without being stuck in the others grapple.
The person putting up the block still has to re-roll every exchange just like a regular block.
I haven't read Fate Core...so I can't really compare.
My biggest complaint about grapple rules is they are too simlistic. I like the idea of both people in the grapple being able to hurt the other. The way the rules are are a bit one sided.
Is there a reason why the rules for doing a Grapple are different from all the other rules involving Maneuvers and Blocks? Would it disrupt things to make it work like everything else?
I would like to run a Grapple like this:
Colossus and Wolverine are in the thick of a training scenario in the Danger Room. The exercise sounded simple enough: capture the Wolverine and bring him back to base. After spending more than twelve hourse engaged in guerilla hand-to-hand combat with the clawed canuck, Colossus finally sees Logan starting to sweat, starting to tire. Indefatiguable, Colossus has no problem spending all night engaged in grueling rigorous combat and chases. Seeing his opportunity to strike, Colossus's player makes his move and rolls Physique to manuever against Wolverine. The roll is Fantastic (+6) and the Aspect Trapped In a Bear Hug[/i] is applied to Wolverine! Now if Wolverine wants to take any action beyond what is reasonable whilst Trapped In a Bear Hug he must score greater than Fantastic (+6) on his roll. Otherwise, he remains trapped and Colossus can carry him back to the base and reign victorious in this training scenario.
Inflicting Stress/Attacking While Grappled
Colossus gets a hold of Wolverine, placing the Trapped In a Bear Hug[/i] Aspect on him. The Russian decides he wants to choke Wolverine out or something. So, he rolls Physique to attack Wolverine and he can Invoke the Trapped In a Bear Hug[/i] for +2 on his roll. Wolverine can defend using Physique or Fight, or anything else the player might suggest that seems appropriate. This would represent the struggle and difficulty of trying to choke Wolverine out.
Moving Across Zones While Grappled[/u]
By the book, you roll Physique -1 and freely move one zone.
Our way, I think that the victim of the Grapple opposes the movement, right? So, you roll Physique to drag the person wherever you want and the victim tries to stop you by resisting (Physique or Fight?) or distraction (Deceit or Intimidation?) or by any other means that makes sense, right? If the attacker succeeds, you move one zone. If the defends succeeds you don't get to move at all. Hence, why choking someone out is an option.
Maneuvering[/u]
This one seems pretty straight forward.
By the book: roll Physique -1, if successful your Maneuver is applied.
Someone initiates a grapple by tagging an aspect.
Now both characters are subject to "grappling" which can be tagged/invoked by anyone in the combat.
Does this take an action? If not, when can you do it?
Who gets the free tags?
Apart from those issues, I think this idea could work. Probably not better than what we have in canon, but probably not worse either.
#taking an action initiating the grapple
Just like how it works currently: you just tag the aspect then perform the grapple/block.
The difference with this method is you can do more than just block (since that's done automatically), you can do a maneuver or attack etc...
Although, now I'm seeing how this method can be abused. If you have a high Might+Supernatural STR, you could tag an aspect and set up an Epic block on a wizard without even having to roll dice. Granted, this block doesn't impede/block the wizards ability to blast you...so maybe that's the balancing factor...dunno.
#Free tags:
Anyone NOT in the grapple, I'd think? I'd be happy to do away with this, but I just figured there's lot of things that people outside the grapple could do to people who are stuck in a grapple. I just figured it'd be easiest to model the "disadvantage" of being locked in a grapple is by using an aspect.
The only way I could explain them sharing the same frequency pool would be an attempt at balance on the writers part.
So my players are in a night club run by a RCV and they are interviewing a couple of infectees. Of course the wizard wants to use the third eye when looking at them. What does he see (I have my own ideas of course but always nice to crowsource)?
On a parallel storyline they are involved with a demon that's been released from a long captivity. My twist is that the longer they wait to act, the stronger it gets. Their options are banishing or new imprisonment the entitiy but I'm still struggling to come up with the numbers of how difficult this would be. Our power level is waist deep, mind. Also am I correct in my thinking that banishing would be easier than bounding/imprisonment (to an object/place)..?
this I'd go with something like hideous bat-like creature latched on to the person's neck, feeding upon him, draining the colour from his spirit so that the blood flowing from the wound is all the more vibrant in contrast.
These are the kind of moments I live for as a GM, though it's important to note that most Wizards interpret the Sight differently. Carlos hears Spanish guitar rhythms when he activates his Sight, for instance.Thats pretty awesome! I might add something to the imagery to note the fact that should he give into the beast it will completely destroy his Soul (as contrasted by, say, the Thomas Soulgaze that was very similar otherwise but didnt have that risk). Perhaps add some sort of cliffs edge imagery to the setting, or maybe have the beast pulling his whole being in, so that every time it draws in blood, the spirit's hands and feat shrivel as his limbs retract inward a bit, as if he is an empty flesh-bag being drained. You may also want to shift the mumbling to the Creature, depending on the level of control/resistance this particular Infected has going.
Red Court Infected are humans that have a parasite attached to them, feeding on their soul and pushing them to kill and drink the blood of another being. If we use Harry's Sight as a basis for this I'd go with something like hideous bat-like creature latched on to the person's neck, feeding upon him, draining the colour from his spirit so that the blood flowing from the wound is all the more vibrant in contrast. Its taloned wings stretch around the person's face, clutching at his temples and driving the talons into his head. The man, though silent, appears to be murmuring to himself constantly. A moment's focus lets the Wizard hear the mumbles; "Kill them. Kill them all. Blood. Drink. Kill. Blood. Drink. Kill. Feast. Kill. Blood."
In the set up to this part of the scene I'd have made a point of noting the way he looks at certain people, maybe have the Wizard mistake the looks for lust instead of what they truly are. Red Court Infected usually don't stay like that for long if they don't have strong wills, too, so mentioning something along those lines would work as well. Perhaps an allusion to another addiction or having a battered spirit would give a bit of context for why the person became a half-vampire as well.
Hello everyone. I hope it's the correct thread to post this in. I'm new to the forum and to the game, and I have some questions:Welcome. :)
1) Can supplemental actions follow the main action? Example: can I roll my Fists at -1 to attack, then move to an adjacent zone without rolling?Sure. Though you should announce the supplemental action in advance. For adding a supplemental action after the roll, there's overflow (YS214).
2) Can counterspells and... let's call them spell-prolonging spells be rote spells? Rote counterspells probably don't make much sense, but I'm curious anyway.Sure. Anything you can do with evocation can be a rote spell.
3) Can sponsored Thaumaturgy spells (with Evocation's methods and speed) be rote spells?Sure.
4) Do you consider acceptable making a stunt that gives a skill trapping a +3 while restricting its use? Example: would you allow a stunt that reads "you get a +3 to Craftsmanship when building weapons (or possibly even just melee weapons)"?Sure, if the limitation is narrow enough, you can increase the benefit. If it is or is not usually depends on the table and the campaign. Your example is something I don't really see played out, so I'm not really sure how it would apply in a game. People usually have the weapons they need, and if it is supposed to be a special one, it's usually enough to wrap a whole story around.
1) Can supplemental actions follow the main action? Example: can I roll my Fists at -1 to attack, then move to an adjacent zone without rolling?
2) Can counterspells and... let's call them spell-prolonging spells be rote spells? Rote counterspells probably don't make much sense, but I'm curious anyway.
3) Can sponsored Thaumaturgy spells (with Evocation's methods and speed) be rote spells?
4) Do you consider acceptable making a stunt that gives a skill trapping a +3 while restricting its use? Example: would you allow a stunt that reads "you get a +3 to Craftsmanship when building weapons (or possibly even just melee weapons)"?
1) Can supplemental actions follow the main action? Example: can I roll my Fists at -1 to attack, then move to an adjacent zone without rolling?So long as the penalty is included in the full action, I know of nothing preventing it from being followed by a supplemental action.
2) Can counterspells and... let's call them spell-prolonging spells be rote spells? Rote counterspells probably don't make much sense, but I'm curious anyway.My own personal opinions:
3) Can sponsored Thaumaturgy spells (with Evocation's methods and speed) be rote spells?This depends heavily on your group's definition of "evocation's methods". Such issues have previously been the topic of heated debate on these boards, from which a consensus was not achieved.
4) Do you consider acceptable making a stunt that gives a skill trapping a +3 while restricting its use? Example: would you allow a stunt that reads "you get a +3 to Craftsmanship when building weapons (or possibly even just melee weapons)"?More restricted stunts yield greater bonuses.
I'm not sure what you mean here, but I don't see a reason why they can't.
Counterspells work by basically guessing the amount of power in an ongoing spell and then putting that much power or greater into your spell to stop it. If you have a rote counterspell with 4 power you could then use it successfully against any multiple round spell with 4 or less power behind it. You just wouldn't be able to scale the power if it's greater or lesser than 4. Counterspells aren't really that useful though because blocks do basically the same thing without the requirement of having to guess how much power is in a spell.
By spell-prolonging spells do you mean ones that have had power put into duration? If yes then that's perfectly fine for a rote as long as you always cast it with the exact same amount of power in the main effect and the duration.
I would not, however, allow a rote that lets you prolong any spell.
Sure, if the limitation is narrow enough, you can increase the benefit. If it is or is not usually depends on the table and the campaign. Your example is something I don't really see played out, so I'm not really sure how it would apply in a game. People usually have the weapons they need, and if it is supposed to be a special one, it's usually enough to wrap a whole story around.
Nope, it's pretty explicit in the stunt creation rules that you get +1 to a trapping, +2 to a specific use of a trapping and +3 only if it's otherwise very weak or you spend a fate point to activate it.
Give a +2 to a specific application of a nonattack trapping (note that a maneuver, page 207, is not an attack, as it doesn’t inflict stress). This may be reduced to +1 for a broader application, or increased to +3 or even +4 for very, very narrowly defined situations.
What about any spell of the same element, or maybe any specific kind of spell (for example blocks)? This goes for Tedronai as well.Nope. Even spells of the same element can be vastly different in terms of what they do. The same goes for blocks. Fate is very abstract, so putting something like that under one catch all rote doesn't fit very well.
Yeah, the example was from a character in a post-apocaliptic world where you can't really go out and buy (most) stuff (also, it was actually molotovs/nail bombs instead of melee weapons, so kind of one-use only).Still. I would be pretty bored after a while, if I had to constantly roll to have some weapons. If molotovs and nail bombs are a characters standard weapons, I would simply let him have them. There might be times when I compel him on that, saying he's out, and we make a quick sidequest to get him resupplied, but I wouldn't have him roll craftsmanship over and over to get them.
What about any spell of the same element, or maybe any specific kind of spell (for example blocks)? This goes for Tedronai as well.
Sorry for the double post, but I have a couple other questions:After three days, I think it's no longer a double post. ;)
- Can you spend a fate point at any point in the process of making an action and resolving it, or do you have to declare it after your own roll at the latest? Example 1: I attack and my target defends successfully. Can I then decide to spend a fate point to make that defense a failure? Example 2 (regarding rolls with various degrees of success, and kind of tied to the next question): I use Scholarship for the Answers trapping, and the GM tells me what my character knows on a particular subject depending on my roll and the difficulty set. Can I then spend a fate point if I decide it's too little and I want a better result to remember something else?All your examples are ok. You basically roll the dice to get a preliminary result, and then the bidding war begins. Everyone can pile on as many invokes on aspects as they can pay for and make sense. Only after nobody wants to contribute anything more to the roll, it gets resolved. So in your first example, you can spend a Fate point for a +2 and still get the hit in. But your opponent decides that he really doesn't want to be hit, so he spends a Fate point himself. One of your allies has created an aspect before your attack, and now that he sees you need it, he offers the free tag to you, so you can take the guy out. And so on, until nobody wants to or can do anything anymore.
- How much is the GM transparent regarding difficulties and the NPCs rolls? My only experiences with Tabletop RPGs are related to D&D, so I'm used to DMs rolling behind screens and only in some cases telling the players what difficulty they need to meet or beat. In the DFRPG, there are mentions of trying to guess the difficulty (best to err on the side of caution, there) or of making assessment actions to discover them... Is that it?It really depends on your group. I myself prefer to play with the numbers on the table. Mainly because it lets the players know where to aim, and if spending a Fate point might be worth it or not. Giving them the skill levels etc. of the opposition will also give them a better idea of what they are dealing with, and they can form a better plan.
- Can you spend a fate point at any point in the process of making an action and resolving it, or do you have to declare it after your own roll at the latest? Example 1: I attack and my target defends successfully. Can I then decide to spend a fate point to make that defense a failure? Example 2 (regarding rolls with various degrees of success, and kind of tied to the next question): I use Scholarship for the Answers trapping, and the GM tells me what my character knows on a particular subject depending on my roll and the difficulty set. Can I then spend a fate point if I decide it's too little and I want a better result to remember something else?
- How much is the GM transparent regarding difficulties and the NPCs rolls? My only experiences with Tabletop RPGs are related to D&D, so I'm used to DMs rolling behind screens and only in some cases telling the players what difficulty they need to meet or beat. In the DFRPG, there are mentions of trying to guess the difficulty (best to err on the side of caution, there) or of making assessment actions to discover them... Is that it?
So I have learned quite a bit about Invoking Aspects, Invoking for Effect & Compels this week, partly by reading a thread where Fred explained that Tags can be used to Invoke for Effect.
My question is this, can you Invoke for Effect after you perform an action but before your turn ends?
For example:
Mack the Monster Hunter uses his Shotgun and Weapons roll to place the aspect "Shaken Badly" on a BadGuy. Can the player then immediately Tag "Shaken Badly" to Invoke for Effect and suggest that the BadGuy is now out of the fight, cowering on the floor?
Or, does Mack have to wait until his next turn to do so or to pass the Tag to another PC who can then Invoke for Effect to suggest removing BadGuy from the fight in the same way?
Thanks all! Slowly getting this system down.
~ GiS
I have a couple of questions about Ambush and Surprise. Page 142 of Your Story reads: "If the victim’s roll fails, he can only defend at anThey roll, but their skill, including all benefits from powers and stunts, is considered 0 for this roll.
effective skill level of Mediocre." Does that mean he doesn't even roll his Mediocre defense? Also, what about eventual boosts from powers or stunts? And finally, can you make Surprise the Catch of a Recovery/Toughness power?
They roll, but their skill, including all benefits from powers and stunts, is considered 0 for this roll.
Since virtually anything can be a catch, surprise could probably count as well. Though it would be a fairly limited range where it would make sense. I could see something like a force field that has to be activated with a catch of being surprised. The force field is, in the systems mechanic, not done with evocation, but with the toughness power, and since it is pretty tasking to constantly keep it up, the character can only do so for a limited time, usually once he's in a fight. Being caught off guard would get around that. Though it wouldn't fit a recovery power.
I think that if you allow one of the PCs to buy the Physical Immunity power, you kind of have to make sneak attacks come up a lot, although I'd consider having the player take another catch (maybe lasers or sound blasts in Kitty's case) beside surprise.
I think that if you allow one of the PCs to buy the Physical Immunity power, you kind of have to make sneak attacks come up a lot.I'd be careful with immunity for player characters in general. They will either roflstomp everything, or you have to give every mook the catch, which will get ridiculous. To me, invulnerability is a plot device, as it makes it necessary for the players to figure out the catch. That puts it squarely in NPC only territory.
My interpretation is that powers do add to the mediocre. I'd think something with inhuman (and beyond) reflexes/speed would have a one-up on pure mortal speed, even when completely caught off guard.
Kitty Pryde is an odd one, because while she can become completely immune,
Her catch is actually electricity. She can affect and be affected by electronics. Magneto took her out in an early appearance when she tried to raid his lair and fry his computers. I *think* that was after she tried using roller skates on a very unfortunate super hero costume. Early Kitty Pryde was kind of a goof.Ah, ok. Didn't know the electricity thing.
I would buy her power as a variant of Mistform. Mistform gives you flight, physical immunity and an extra catch based on your special effect (in her case electricity instead of high winds). Pretty much covers all she does, lets you do maneuvers (like popping up and scaring people, or disrupting electronics) but not attacks. Pay an extra refresh to shift in/out as a supplemental action, 4 points, call it done.Sounds good.
I would buy her power as a variant of Mistform. Mistform gives you flight, physical immunity and an extra catch based on your special effect (in her case electricity instead of high winds). Pretty much covers all she does, lets you do maneuvers (like popping up and scaring people, or disrupting electronics) but not attacks. Pay an extra refresh to shift in/out as a supplemental action, 4 points, call it done.
Back on the subject of Physical Immunity, if someone has a Magical Immunity and is targeted by something like an entropy curse with cars of bees out of nowhere, what's the sequence of events there? Does the targeting get pulled off by the magical immunity and the bees never show up? Or do the bees just count as magic and not affect them? Would Thaumaturgy just be able to get around it somehow?
Her catch is actually electricity. She can affect and be affected by electronics. Magneto took her out in an early appearance when she tried to raid his lair and fry his computers. I *think* that was after she tried using roller skates on a very unfortunate super hero costume. Early Kitty Pryde was kind of a goof.
Depends. You could go either way. For a PC, I would say they need to run from the bees. For an NPC, I would argue that any magic not cast at insane levels of power slides off without issue.In general I dislike too many rules that work differently for PC's vs NPC's, especially when it's not a "PC's get this because they are supposed to be extra awesome" sort of rule purely for increased fun. In this instance Id want to make it a blanket ruling one way or the other: either all effects are considered magic regardless of source if they are being manipulated by Magic, or else Magic that manipulates a physical object counts as a physical attack. So an entropy curse that targets you with a turkey that just happened to fall from a 747 would be in all ways a physical attack (other than the targeting), as would an earth Magic spell that tosses a really real rock at you. However a Spell that tosses energy (like Fire) or that materializes something whole with ectoplasm (like a zombie or spectar) would be magic. If the bees existed before then the PC would have to run, if they materialized inside the car from scratch then they would not because they are not "real". So the Mantra Question Id ask is " Can the frog Poop in your hand?" 8)(click to show/hide)
Her character (and the X-Men comics in general) is so inconsistent that this is true in one issue and disproven in the next. We've seen her phase through raw electricity multiple times during the years.True enough, Marvel is bad about that in general (Im looking at you Wolverine Healing Factor), but I think we could impose some basic balance and still fit her power set, ignoring any random Secondary Mutations for time travel or Movie Plot. Ghost style intangibility covers most of it pretty well, as others have outlined. In the Comics her catch was typically strong electricity, but the explanationw as just that it bridged the gap to where-ever she was phased to, so if it was a computer she woudl short it out by phasing through it, but a large jolt would still reacha nd hurt her. In magical terms you could concievably expand that to any energy (making phasing through fire out of the question). Id say that she can only "touch" another person by either un-phasing herself completely or else drawing them into the phase with her making them intangible as well. She can phase multiple people and/or large objects with added difficulty, I think phasing the Blackbird+passengers is more or less the upper limit. She can move freely in three-dimensions only when the material is solid enough to support her weight (ie solid rock Yes, water or air or a card castle No). The only other bit would be unphasing inside somebody as an attack, and that's one Im not sure about. Ive never seen it get as...messy as it should, but then Ive mostly seen it in animated versions with young audiences. You could say she doesnt phase back all teh way but instead just solidifies enough to through the body pressures out of what and cause unconsciousness, you could make it a full lethal attack, or something in between and dependandt on actual medical knowledge, or at the other end you could make it blanket impossible. Given that affecting the inside of a person is supposed to be explonentially more difficult with any magic in the DV, Id say Impossible but let them Stunt it if they had a thaumaturgucal link that would reasonably let them bypass those sort of basic Mortal protections.
As for attacking while phased, she does that too, since she can phase single parts of her body (for example, she can stand mostly inside a wall but use her hands to yank someone in there with her). She can extend her phasing to anything she touches (so making others immune to physical attacks and phasing others into solids is right up her alley).
In short, she's not just broken. She's borken.
Mechanically, this seems to break down to a simple custom power:
-Can use Discipline to defend against non Catch-covering attacks (ranged or melee). Perhaps build a specific weakness into the power, electricity/lasers and possibly intense sound waves.
-Can use Discipline instead of Athletics or Burglary to overcome zone borders, including traversing so-called "impossible boundaries" or ones that would require picking a lock, etc
-Discipline modifies Stealth when hiding part of herself in an object's mass, or perhaps always complements it.
Call it Intangibility, seems worth -2 refresh to me.
That seems a bit complex. I'd just attach the Human Form [+1] to Spirit Form [-3] and be done with it.
Back on the subject of Physical Immunity, if someone has a Magical Immunity and is targeted by something like an entropy curse with cars of bees out of nowhere, what's the sequence of events there? Does the targeting get pulled off by the magical immunity and the bees never show up? Or do the bees just count as magic and not affect them? Would Thaumaturgy just be able to get around it somehow?
As for attacking while phased, she does that too, since she can phase single parts of her body (for example, she can stand mostly inside a wall but use her hands to yank someone in there with her). She can extend her phasing to anything she touches (so making others immune to physical attacks and phasing others into solids is right up her alley).
In short, she's not just broken. She's borken.
Sounds mostly reasonable. But it seems kind of odd that someone with Intangibility can't go through an indoor wall, since neither Athletics or Burglary allows that.
-Can use Discipline instead of Athletics or Burglary to overcome zone borders, including traversing so-called "impossible boundaries" or ones that would require picking a lock, etc
Time travel, now that's unfair.Truer words have never been spoken ;D
None of that sounds all that impressive to me. Take Teleportation, a Stealth stunt or two, Immunity, and Incite Effect and you're basically done. Phasing things into people is just an attack, phasing allies through attacks is just a block (though you could also represent it with the Tank custom Power if you wanted it to be infallible), making the attacks of your allies phase is just a maneuver.
Out of curiosity - though I doubt it - does Toughness Surcharge count the Catch as part of the refresh of Toughness powers?
Anyway, I really think this is broken... how would you go about defeating Kitty and her group in a physical conflict if you don't have access to her catch?
Also, one more question: can you guys explain to me the reasoning and balancing behind the non-canonical power levels found here (http://dfrpg-resources.wikispaces.com/Characters)?
I was making NPCs, and some of the people I wanted to write up were too strong for Submerged. So I made up some levels.
There wasn't really much reasoning or balancing to be done.
Though you'll notice that Refresh increases pretty quickly compared to skills. That's intentional. High-end supernatural beings often have downright silly amounts of Refresh, but they usually don't have blatantly superhuman skills.
Yeah, blatantly superhuman skills have a lot to do with the skill cap. That's why I made sure to increase the skill cap slowly.
The number of points is honestly not as important as the cap, but I found that the totals I chose were pretty suitable for the characters I was writing up when I made those levels.
Of course, many of those characters were negative Refresh anyway. But where it counted, with the Wizards and such, I found that the numbers worked pretty well.
The fact that Refresh increases faster than skill points during the last jump is weird, I admit. But 65 is already a huge number of skill points. It's enough to make pyramid-building a real hassle.
If the disparity bugs you, I recommend raising the base skill. In a way, starting skills at Average is like adding 25 skill points.
To drive home the price of the Sight, I make notes of particularly jarring/gruesome/fascinating/beutiful things (basically the high intensity stuff) they see and very occasionally compel their High Concept for a distraction when something might remind them. ;)
To drive home the price of the Sight, I make notes of particularly jarring/gruesome/fascinating/beutiful things (basically the high intensity stuff) they see and very occasionally compel their High Concept for a distraction when something might remind them. ;)
A couple of questions about weapon ratings:
1) Does the weapon rating only count for attacks that cause stress or also for maneuvers? If it's the latter, how is the bonus applied?
2) On spray attacks, weapon ratings are applied fully in case of mundane weapons and are instead divided (similarly to the targeting roll) in case of magical attacks. Do enchanted items count as the former, the latter, or does it depend on the type of effect?
Against what do you roll when making a First Impression? Is it the target's Empathy? A set difficulty? Something else?
Later in the game, Biff is talking to
someone in a bar who’s been spying on him,
and he knows from a previous assessment that
the guy has a Bad Temper aspect. He decides
to invoke the guy’s aspect with his Intimidation
roll to get the guy to lose his cool and slip up.
Because that invocation creates a disadvantage
for the spy, the GM gives that character a fate
point at the end of the scene, to save for a future
meeting.
Make sense?
browsing the site i've found several crafting foci that appear rather large and heavy, such as a lich coffin with +1/+1 or a anvil with the same bonuses, is it the assumption that these foci are used at the time of crafting as opposed to helping one utilize the crafted items?
I've seen people mention that you can use your crafted items by paying one mental stress, however I haven't been able to find the rules concerning this, neither in any house rules nor YW/OW, could someone please point me in the right direction?
Can anyone clarify the Cat and Mouse trapping under Deceit to me? Does it simply work like the Riposte example-stunt under Weapons (as in you defend with it and, if successful, you use the overflow shifts as an attack)?
I think they're using the word 'riposte' as description/adjective - not as a comparison to the stunt.
They are basically saying that you can use deceit as an attack skill for social conflict. (like using weapons for a physical conflict)
The draw-back to using deceit instead of a skill like rapport is, if you fail to win, you will get caught in the lie. Which can turn out worse for you if you simply failed to persuade them with the truth.
Deceit works better as a defensive skill (false face forward)because you can apply aspects on your opponent as your defense - if you're willing to lie.
Honestly, I don't know. False face forward seems to work more like riposte than Cat and Mouse.
I always just let it be attacks/maneuvers