I think this happened to Doctor Doom once.

One of my favorite comics ever.  Gotta love Squirrel Girl.  The best panel is one where her squirrels are swarming all over his armor and he's managed to grab one and fling it away...  the look on the temporarily airborne squirrel's face is hilarious.   

Of course, when you have a Silver Age level character in the modern age...  is it any wonder she always wins?  It's like building a Submerged character for a Feet in the Water game. 

Not a fan of chopping up Powers, the package deal thing is important balance-wise.

PS: We've got one or two custom Powers that might be appropriate. Interested?

Sure, I'd be interested.  Are they on the wiki in your .sig?  Can't access that from work.  (Oddly enough, this site is fine.  *Shrug*)

The custom power was mainly my idea to avoid charging him full price for something that makes a lot of sense for his character.  After all, his only question was "Can I take Inhuman Speed and just ignore the movement bonuses?"  I have great players. 

This one concerns a player in my group and I'm looking for advice on how to handle it.

His character has Cassandra's Tears and is constantly getting visions of possible futures, most of which aren't going to happen or are wildly unlikely.  (His trouble is "Can't sort Reality out of all these Dreams", if that helps with the idea.)

They just passed a Major Milestone, leaving him with some Refresh that he wants to use.  He came to me about taking "Inhuman Speed", but not getting all of it's powers.  Essentially, his thought was that he gets the bonus to dodging and initiative because, unless an Aspect is compelled, he "saw it coming".  So he's not ACTUALLY inhumanly fast, but he does start dodging before anyone else even knows there's trouble afoot.

That makes the "Casual Movement" trapping inappropriate, though there could be an argument made either way for the "Too Fast to See" -- like the scene in the Matrix when Neo is leaving his cubicle and dodging agents, his character knows EXACTLY when a guard's back is turned, the wind is going to gust, etc.

I'm just trying to figure out a good way to cost this power.  I could just charge him the full -2, knowing that parts of it don't work for him.  This player is *not* a powergamer, so I'm not worried about him trying to abuse the ability.  I'm not sure the loss of powers is worth giving him any kind of rebate on the power, though (such as dropping it to -1 and calling it something else).

Thus why I'm here -- suggestions?  Comments?  Just charge him -2 and forget about it? 

First, blocking an arrow with a shield seems no harder than blocking a sword with a sword. Why require a stunt?

Effectively, you're moving a trapping (avoiding ranged attacks) from Athletics to Weapons.  Granted, you need a shield equipped to do it...  So it falls into a kind of grey area.  I could see it either way, but decided to go with the weaker interpretation.  Especially since, as you note below, shields are really good in this system, regardless of implementation..

Second, making shields add to defence instead of armour makes them better. And they're already really good.

You're right, it is slightly better -- you've got a slightly better chance to make attacks completely miss, rather than be a weak hit.  I guess I prefer having them make you slightly less likely to get hit rather than just shaving a point or two of damage off of a successful hit.  It also avoids the awkward language around "well, in this one case, the armor stacks".   

Third, there's no reason ever to use a greataxe in your plan. -1 Weapons skill ensures that the greataxe will never do more damage than a longsword.

That's a really good point -- I hadn't looked at it that way.  Maybe using a big weapon leaves you slightly more open (-1 defense)?  I just don't like the idea of zero downside to the biggest weapons you can find.  There's a reason every single person on a real battlefield didn't run around with the biggest weapon they could swing...

Also wards have a minor problem/ feature that in game they can deflect lower level attacks indefinitely and better wards could easily sideline armies.

I seem to recall a passage in one of the books (Dead Beat, IIRC) where the Merlin temporarily stalled an entire army -- one that included a horde of the Red Court, a few demons, and possibly some Outsiders -- with a single, impromptu Ward.  Leading to the immortal line of: "I guess you don't get to be Merlin of the White Council by collecting bottle caps."  So I'd say that part is pretty faithful to the books. 

I agree that the missile thing is weird.

One of my favorite inside jokes is from "Star Wars: Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight".  Your character is exactly as good as the player at aiming and shooting...  until you get your hands on a Stormtrooper Rifle.  Great rate of fire, HORRIBLY inaccurate weapon.

I like to think that Stormtrooper weapons are made by the lowest bidder, just like most current military hardware. 

Regardless, I use the minion rules from Spirit of the Century, which were already mentioned by DFJunkie.  They work great for Stormtroopers (though I typically use STs at Fair, with Imperial Troops at Average, and Royal Guardsmen and other elite forces at Good).

I thought I'd just go ahead and publish the rest of my hack, since it's not terribly long.
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Alter [2 or 3 refresh] – This is the ranged Incite Emotion ability.  It can be used for distractions (Jedi Mind Trick or Random Noise).  Additionally, it can be used to distract or disorient a bit (as a mental attack) or to make the Jedi uninteresting (as a Manuver).  It can also be used for darker abilities (crushing someone’s mind over time). Though that’s obviously a dark side power…

Since this one seemed a little weak, I also put Jedi Healing Trances here.  The Jedi (or another willing character) can be put into a trance.  This always justifies starting healing.  For an additional refresh, the trance uses the Out of Combat ability of Inhuman Recovery, making all consequences come back one step faster.  Regardless, using a Jedi Healing Trance *always* requires missing at least one scene.

External Control [2 refresh] – This is the external abilities power of the Force.  It covers virtually any telekinetic control, from moving small objects to lifting X-Wings out of swamps.  It functions as Channeling (Spirit).  Any kind of opposed or direct force duel falls here – Discipline vs. Discipline. It hasn’t come up yet, but it’s the power I would use to model Yoda’s absorption of Palpatine’s Force Lightning.  Lightsaber Throwing is a special trapping, allowing a lightsaber to be thrown and pulled back with a Weapons or Lore check. 

Internal Control [Variable, Minimum 2] – This is for the enhancement tricks Jedi get up to in the movies.  It works as per Modular Abilities on YS177, though it always costs a Fate point to activate and lasts for one Scene, so I lowered the +2 initial cost of Modular powers to a +1.  I allow Strength, Toughness, and Speed powers, but not Recovery.  I allow Minor Abilities with justification.  I do not allow any abilities above Supernatural.  These abilities never have a catch refund (Ysalamiri are not well enough known).

Lightsaber [2 refresh]

• Item of Power (NOTE: Lightsabers CAN be destroyed, unlike normal Items of Power)
• Always a Weapon 3
• Plasma Blade – Bypasses any armor the target might be wearing.  When held against a surface, it ignores any Hardness of the substance.
• Relic of a Lost Age – Gives a +2 to Social Interaction checks to anyone that respects/remembers the Jedi. The same as Penalty versus those who hate/fear the Jedi.
• Loud and Bright: When the Blade is ignited, it gives a -2 to any stealth-related check.

If the wielder has the “Force Sensitive” Power, it has the following additional properties:

• Give a +1 to Skill (Weapons/Lore) to Wield the Lightsaber in combat
• Combat Anticipation: A lightsaber can be used with either Weapon or Lore skill.
• Dazzling Defense: A Force User can use a Lightsaber to defend against Ranged Weapons.  If the Force User succeeds by a minimum of 1 shift on defense, the attack is deflected against an opponent of their choice (at the same attack value as the original roll, not the defense).

I allow something odd when it comes to the Dark Side…  The Dark Side is fast, easy, seductive.  So not only can you get bonuses to rolls by accepting Compels, you can actually “Give in to your Hatred” and actually get temporary refresh for powers. (This wouldn’t work for just any group, I know, but my players are good about not abusing the rules just because they can.)

So a Jedi could dip into the Dark Side and temporarily get the ability to do Force Lightning.  Or make himself strong enough to overcome a foe.  Or one without external control could Force Choke a foe.  Or could activate their External Control abilities without needing a Fate point.

Such uses not only provide a compel but ALSO push the character towards the Darkside (using the Lawbreaker rules).  It changes one of the characters Aspects in sync with the level of Lawbreaker..  So a character is Touched, Tainted, or Seduced by the Darkside.