Author Topic: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?  (Read 1380 times)

Offline EdgeOfDreams

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 332
    • View Profile
Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« on: August 26, 2011, 05:55:17 PM »
I'm currently running an artificer-style character, Phil Genero, who specializes in crafting magic items.  He's got Thaumaturgy, some refinement, and high scores in Lore, Discipline, and Craftsmanship.  He runs a magic shop called "The Art and Craft" where he sells spell and potion ingredients and small enchanted items he's crafted.  Relevant aspects here include Journeyman Artificer, Gizmos, Gadgets, and a Touch of Magic, and Everyone wants my help... EVERYONE.

My party just gained another point of refresh, and I've been think it's time to pick up a stunt.  I'm fairly happy with my combat performance, so I'm looking for something social.  It occurred to me that Phil's gaining a reputation among the community for his work, both as an adventurer and as a craftsman.  I think a stunt that allows the substitution of Craftsmanship for some other social skill(s) would be pretty cool, to represent his reputation and/or the ability to negotiate by offering to build something or craft a spell in exchange for whatever help he needs.

I'd appreciate some suggestions on exactly what this stunt could do and how it would be worded.  Thanks!

Offline mstorer3772

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 140
  • Nerdier than thou... oh wait. I'm HERE.
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2011, 06:08:27 PM »
"He Does Good Work" Use craftsmanship instead of presence for  "Reputation" within the local supernatural community (his customers and their friends).
Get off my lawn.

DV 1.2 YR 8 FM <1 BK++ RP++ JB TH+ WG++ CL--- SW BC++ MC+ SH [Murphy++ Molly- Gerd++ Lea+ Lash++]

Offline wyvern

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1418
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2011, 06:17:37 PM »
Actually, given that you've got an appropriate aspect to invoke for social benefits - I'd suggest (at least considering) not picking up a stunt.  That'll give you one extra fate point every session, can still be used for social benefits when needed, but just has a bit more flexibility to it.  (Of course, this assumes that you play like I do and regard a game ended with more than zero fate points in hand as a failure... which, er, may not be the case.)

Offline EdgeOfDreams

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 332
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2011, 06:42:58 PM »
Actually, given that you've got an appropriate aspect to invoke for social benefits - I'd suggest (at least considering) not picking up a stunt.  That'll give you one extra fate point every session, can still be used for social benefits when needed, but just has a bit more flexibility to it.  (Of course, this assumes that you play like I do and regard a game ended with more than zero fate points in hand as a failure... which, er, may not be the case.)

I understand that perspective.  To be really gaming the system properly, one should only take stunts which will benefit you at least twice between refreshes, on average, for them to have value equivalent to or better than starting with an extra fate point.

My personal playstyle is such that I often end the session with exactly 1 fate point, as I tend to keep that in reserve for "Oh god we're all gonna die" scenarios.  There's also the factor that this character is already pushing up against the limits of what the GM considers allowable for power gaming, so at this point I'm really not too worried about super optimizing this stunt choice or the stunt vs. no stunt choice.

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12404
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2011, 07:40:31 PM »
I find it hard to believe that not spending a point of refresh would constitute unacceptable optimization.

I suppose that social Declarations with Craftsmanship could be what you're after.

Offline EdgeOfDreams

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 332
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2011, 07:42:48 PM »
I find it hard to believe that not spending a point of refresh would constitute unacceptable optimization.

No, it wouldn't.  However, I *want* to spend my point of refresh, and I'm determined to NOT spend it on Refinement because I'd actually be too optimized for my own enjoyment of the game, in addition to making my GM's life harder.

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12404
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2011, 07:59:37 PM »
Ah, okay, that makes sense.

Offline wyvern

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1418
    • View Profile
Re: Stunt for Craftsmanship in social situations?
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2011, 08:13:38 PM »
Hm.  It's not quite what you asked for, but it's the notion that popped into my head:

Feng Shui - Practical Applications: You may place aspects on a scene via careful arrangement of furniture, decorations, etc. - for example, "natural accordance", "balanced mood", "energy-dissipating currents", and the like.  This uses your craftsmanship skill, starting at a difficulty of mediocre for one aspect in "a few minutes" of setup, and adjusted by both the time chart & +2 difficulty for each aspect placed after the first.  (These difficulty increases are cumulative; the second aspect is two points harder; the third is four points harder, etc.)

Your craftsmanship result also sets the difficulty for lore checks to notice the effect, and checks (of any sort) to remove the aspect - though, at the GM's discretion, sufficiently destructive methods may remove the aspects regardless of your result.  (If someone brings in enough explosives to demolish the room, it doesn't matter if their demolitions roll fails to beat your craftsmanship.)

Using this ability to prepare for ritual magic is significantly more difficult, however, starting at a difficulty of mediocre for "an afternoon" of work, and increasing the difficulty by +4 for each aspect after the first.