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Messages - ryanroyce

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16
DFRPG / Re: Holy Stuff
« on: August 02, 2010, 12:05:46 AM »
Quote from: Deadmanwalking on July 31, 2010, 08:33:42 AM
See, I'd make you bless something actually used as a weapon to get the Catch usage...but I allow anyone with True Faith powers (and only such people) to bless stuff pretty easily and readily (like, as an action in combat, if they want).

 So, in your game, my mortal swordsman would need to have someone else with True Faith 'bless' his weapon first?  His own faith would be immaterial?  Or could he do it himself, so long as he wasn't in combat or otherwise doing it on-the-fly?  It's also an Aspect, if that matters.

Quote
Now, if you want to be able to attack with Conviction (as opposed to a combat skill) that's definitely a power of it's own (though one I'd likely allow), or a Fate Point use on Guide My Hand.

 Agreed, though I think it would more accurately be a new Stunt for Conviction, since it is explicitly adding a new Trapping to that skill.  Opposed by Discipline, you think?

17
DFRPG / Re: A Compelling Question About Aspects
« on: July 31, 2010, 09:24:00 PM »
Quote from: CMEast on July 31, 2010, 05:11:14 PM
That's exactly the point Stormraven, in the first example Hanna wasn't in trouble, in the second Hanna might be in trouble. The examples as written probably don't deserve fate points but if they were changed so that the compel resulted in serious problems for Hanna then they'd be worth Fate points.

Still, everyone is entitled to run their game how they choose :)

 The thing is, a compel should only buy a character a certain amount of trouble.  Too much trouble and they're no longer worth the bother.

 That said, this all boils down to one fundamental question: "How often do you want your players to invoke their Aspects?"  The correct balance between stingy and generous will depend entirely on how you (and the rest of the table, for that matter) answer that question.

18
DFRPG / Holy Stuff
« on: July 31, 2010, 01:33:05 AM »
How, exactly, does one attack with "holy stuff" other than holy water?  Does my character present his holy symbol and attack with his Conviction?  If so, then what skill opposes it?  If not, then how else can someone "weaponize" holy stuff?  Do I have to hit the vampire over the head with a giant crucifix or attach some industrial strength rosaries to a stick and wield it like a flail?  WTF, mate?  ???

Last night, I was play-testing a Champion of God that my friend will be using at an upcoming convention and I attempted to 'attack' a RCV with his crucifix backed up by Conviction (as the skill that 'measures' one's faith), but the GM called shenanigans.  He was right, as far as we could tell, but it still left us scratching our heads as to how "holy stuff" can be used as a weapon.   The fact that holy stuff isn't in the index doesn't help matters.

For another example, a different character I'm playing has a sword that is as much a symbol of his faith as Harry's silver pentacle is his symbol.  If my guy used the sword against something with the Catch (holy stuff), would it bypass that Catch?  Does he need to roll Conviction to put a maneuver on the sword first? We'd greatly appreciate some input from the Devs if they have the time.

19
DFRPG / Re: magical bug out bag
« on: July 31, 2010, 12:13:35 AM »
Quote from: Bruce Coulson on July 30, 2010, 03:57:51 PM
An Aspect would be the easiest way to go, to avoid record-keeping.  And worse, to avoid situations where the player forgot to include something, but the character would have remembered.

Iron fillings, instead of a knife.  Easier to explain, and they have other uses as well.

a small bag of salt (zip-locked).

matches/lighter/some non-magical way to start a fire.

a book of contact numbers/addresses.  Your memory tends to go fuzzy under stress...

holy and normal water (mark them! :))

chalk, crayons, pencils (#2), a pocket knife to sharpen pencils.

My mortal monster hunter uses both an Aspect (Pocket Full of Kryptonite) to cover corner-case stuff and a "standard load-out" list of things always in there (pretty much the same list as Harry's bag in Turn Coat) so that I don't have to spend a FP every time he pulls something out of his gym bag.

20
DFRPG / Re: A Compelling Question About Aspects
« on: July 30, 2010, 11:57:20 PM »
I think the compel-worthy part of the first example is that the character was veiled and otherwise not in any personal danger (as far as I can tell).

OTOH, I cut my teeth on 7th Sea and quickly learned that being stingy with Drama Dice/Bennies/Style Dice/Fate Points/etc results in players hoarding points instead of using them, which takes some of the fun out of such games, at least for me.

21
DFRPG / Re: Catch Calculation & Catch Ideas
« on: July 28, 2010, 12:44:17 AM »
IMO, if there are legal restrictions against obtaining a substance, then that substance does not count as "reasonably attainable by anyone".

22
DFRPG / Re: Catches for non-Toughness powers
« on: July 27, 2010, 09:47:47 PM »
Quote from: luminos on July 27, 2010, 12:30:24 PM
what does it mean to have a catch on a non-toughness power, from a game system standpoint?  What does it mean that the catch for his strength powers are reeds?

In this particular case, it would mean that he couldn't break reed bindings (and possibly hemp rope) because they would actively weaken him, sapping all his strength (mechanically speaking, his Might would be reduced to Terrible (-2)).  I wasn't quite satisfied with this method, though.

OTOH, I hadn't considered just making it a part of his High Concept, which seems like it would be a better solution.

23
DFRPG / Catches for non-Toughness powers
« on: July 27, 2010, 12:16:57 PM »
I'm gearing up to run a new game and one of my players wants to play the scion of a dragon, several generations removed.  So, knowing he also wanted to be an Irishman, I did a little research and decided to attach his family to this guy.  In that legend, the Saint initially bound the dragon with three rods of reeds.  To reflect that, I wanted to give his descendents a Catch on their Inhuman Strength related to reeds (and perhaps other plant-based bindings, like hemp).  I figured a +1 discount was appropriate.

 Has anyone else ever done something similar?

24
DFRPG / Re: How to Circumvent the Laws...Correctly.
« on: July 25, 2010, 10:58:42 PM »
Quote from: Jaxom Faux on July 25, 2010, 09:49:26 PM
1. the council doesn't care about intentions, if you were using magic and it results in someones death, you broke the law. period.

2. holding a guy to kill him? lawbreaker, your magic is abetting your murder.

3.
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i think the wardens would argue using magic to summon up the creature to make the deal in the first place (consorting with demons/blah/blah) would be more than enough to get you on their "kill him" list.

1. The Council doesn't care about intentions, but IMHO the "Universe" that decides whether or not you've earned Lawbreaker DOES.

2. Wardens' wrath?  Almost certainly.  Lawbreaker?  Not so certain.  These two things are often in agreement, but not nearly as often as the Wardens would like to think.

3.
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25
DFRPG / Re: How to Circumvent the Laws...Correctly.
« on: July 24, 2010, 02:54:39 PM »
Quote from: Fedifensor on July 24, 2010, 01:30:11 PM
Contract Hit - You summon a creature from the Nevernever (or, more accurately, provide a gateway for said creature).  You bargain with the creature to have it kill someone, and offer to pay it with some sort of magical service.  However, the actual contract is not imposed by magic, and the killing is not done via the caster's magic.  You caused the death, but you didn't cause it via magic - it's a mundane bargain that just happens to have used magic to get the other party present for bargaining, and pays for the killing by providing a magical service at a future date.

Things get a bit dicey if the deal is enforced by a magical contract, as that ties magic into the actual killing.  But a mundane deal should be fine (even if the deal gives an opening for the creature should it be broken, the same way faeries have power over you when you break a deal with them).

 Considering that Binder from Turn Coat routinely gets away with having his bound Grey Men kill people without earning Lawbreaker or even the Wardens' Sword, I'd say that this is needlessly complicated.

26
DFRPG / Re: Recovery Powers and Taking Consequences for Rituals
« on: July 24, 2010, 02:31:15 AM »
 Eh, it's effortlessly easy for the GM and the other players to make the mage regret this "clever" strategy.  All they have to do is strictly enforce the "skipping a scene" option, by which I mean that the rest of players actually play the game while the mage is relegated to the sidelines and watching them have fun.  One session of that and most players will quickly realize the errors of their ways.  Those who don't might need more creative persuasion.  :D

 IOW, the trick can be easily abused, yes, but it is also easily controlled without resorting to the nerf bat or the ban hammer.

27
DFRPG / Re: Crafted Items and the First Law
« on: July 20, 2010, 01:18:17 AM »
Quote from: CMEast on July 20, 2010, 12:41:08 AM
Non-mortal magic isn't subject to the laws, but a warden may still lop the casters head off if they aren't protected by the accords.

 I was considering this the other day, and I think that Lawbreaker is just as applicable to vampires... provided that they are breaking the Laws in regards to other vampires.  After all, a mortal gets a pass on the Laws if he or she breaks them in regards to an animal, a vampire, or some other monster, so why wouldn't a vampire get a pass for the vice versa?

 So, if Arianna used her sorcery to kill a mortal, it wouldn't be any different than if Harry used his magic to kill a deer.  However, if Arianna used her magic against Thomas or Mavra (or at least another Red), a fellow vampire, it would earn her Lawbreaker (First).  Fortunately for her, there are no Wardens of the Red Court, so no one would come to cut off her head in any case.  All my opinion, of course.

28
DFRPG / Re: Crafted Items and the First Law
« on: July 20, 2010, 12:16:30 AM »
In general, I don't think using enchanted items or potions can earn you the Lawbreaker power. 

Based on my reading of the novels, a wizard cannot cast any spell that they don't truly believe to be Right.  If they cast a spell that breaks a Law, they MUST believe that breaking the Law is the Right thing to do... and that mentality is what earns Lawbreaker.  Harry believed he was Right to kill Justin with magic, and Molly believed she was Right to invade and alter the minds of her friends.  Casting a spell to kill a vampire that misses and ends up accidentally killing an innocent bystander will not earn you Lawbreaker, IMO.  Similarly, just attempting to enthrall someone with magic, regardless of whether you succeed or not, would earn you Lawbreaker, since you truly Believed that enthralling another mortal was Right.

This does not mean that the White Council won't have you executed as a warlock anyway, provided that they become aware of it.

Along the same lines, use of an enchanted item does not require the wielder to believe it is Right, especially if that item is usable by others.  IMO, that's how love potions get around the fourth law (margins comments aside).  Harry could blast a mortal with his rings and probably get away without increasing his Lawbreaker, but he simply chooses not to.

NOTE: I do not assert that my POV is backed up by the rulebook (it isn't), but I do feel like I am being consistent with the source material nonetheless.  Not everyone will agree with my POV, of course, but that is to be expected.

29
DFRPG / Re: City Themes: Denver
« on: July 16, 2010, 06:05:48 PM »
Quote from: Fedifensor on July 16, 2010, 03:59:29 AM
No worries.  Everyone sees things differently.  One of things that swayed me was seeing a foot of snow drop on my driveway in the middle of winter...and two days later it had melted away due to the 70-degree weather.  There's a lot more Summer-esque incursions during the middle of winter than the other way around.

 See, that's one of the things that makes your assertion so amusing to me, as a citizen of Atlanta.  Snow that actually lasts two whole days is practically a blizzard down here, nevermind the fleetingly rare occassion of getting one whole foot of snow to fall in the first place.  Such an event would be the sign of a relatively successful show of Winter's strength, not the other way around.  Normally, the worst we Atlantans can expect from Winter is the black ice which forms on our roads.

 FWIW, the lone Winter agent in our Atlanta game practically hides in the Georgia Aquarium, surrounded by eight million gallons of running water, in order to mask her presence from the many agents of Summer.

30
DFRPG / Re: How bad (+ refresh) is this Silver Catch (like suffering from venomous claws)
« on: July 14, 2010, 03:13:24 AM »
Quote from: Drachasor on July 13, 2010, 09:39:29 AM
Granted about Murphy, but in actuality silver bullets are hard to make.  The same techniques one would use to make homemade normal bullets won't work with a soft metal like silver.  Jim didn't do his research there, but it isn't a very common thing to look into, I admit.

 Is silver that much softer than lead?  I mean, you wouldn't need to make the ENTIRE bullet out of silver, just replace the lead core of a normal copper-cased bullet with silver.  I know that silver melts at a much higher temperature than lead and would need steel or iron molds instead of aluminum, but that's a matter of gear as opposed to skill.

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