Author Topic: Multiple catches  (Read 5720 times)

Offline Astrocreep

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Multiple catches
« on: July 06, 2010, 06:08:04 PM »
I am working on a changeling character for a friends upcoming Dresden game and have run into a small hitch and wanted some input. How would you handle someone having multiple catches to their toughness powers. In this case he has the normal fae cold iron catch but also due to the folklore surrounding the type of fae he is descended from he also has a weakness to gold. now since they would both have the same rarity more or less i could see lumping them together but knowing that he is also weak to the gold since its not as common a thing how would you handle it if you just lumped them together? or should it be handled in a different way and i am just missing something in the rules? thanks for the help in advance

Offline Rel Fexive

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2010, 06:15:02 PM »
Only the Catch with the biggest discount applies its discount.  You can have more, but you don't get any mechanical benefit from them i.e. a larger discount.
THE DOCTOR: I'll do a thing.
RIVER SONG: What thing?
THE DOCTOR: I don't know. It's a thing in progress. Respect the thing!

Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2010, 06:17:34 PM »
What he said, more or less. The Catch for such a character would be listed as:

The Catch is cold iron or gold [+3]

Because it's about as easy to come by as Cold Iron. Check out Red court vampires for another example.

Offline Astrocreep

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2010, 06:22:49 PM »
ok this is what i figured for the most part just wanted to be sure we are all kinda learning as we go so i figured i would turn to those who had a bit more experience with the game. thanks again

Offline Drachasor

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2010, 07:27:38 PM »
I could see a GM house-ruling to allow another +1 or even +2 if the combined catches really make a difference in your vulnerability (that said, Iron is about as common as it gets, the only thing that might be more common in modern day life is plastic, though wood is up there too).  With your guy I don't think there's any reason to do that though.

Offline Remy Sinclair

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2010, 07:38:21 PM »
If Astrocreep is who I think she is: my good ole friend from Wales.

She pointed out this to me last night as examples:
  • Elves (OW pg 42); Bucky The Murder Doll (OW pg 43); has The Catch [+1] is cold iron and the like.
  • Hammerhands (OW pg 44), the Reaper (OW pg 44); and Giant Scarecrow (OW pg 45) all have The Catch (Stacked) [+5].
  • Goblins (OW pg 45) & Elder Gruff (OW pg 46) is The Catch [+3] is cold iron and the like.

Offline DesertCoyote

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2010, 07:41:37 PM »
Just a side note here, it is possible to have multiple catches (YS 187), just they cannot be the same type of catch and must be divided across multiple toughness powers.

Example cited in YS:  A demon with physical immunity to fire, and supernatural toughness against anything not cold based.

[-8] Physical Immunity
Catch: Only against fire [+5]

[-4] Supernatural Toughness:
Catch: Cold [+3]

Total cost here: [-4]

I still don't see a way to combine iron and gold, but it is possible to have multiple catches.

Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2010, 07:51:31 PM »
Okay guys, here's how it works:

You get one catch for all Toughness powers except Physical Immunity, it can't reduce their total cost below -1, so if you have Inhuman Toughness only with a Catch of Cold Iron, Cold Iron's only worth +1 (and you could grab two more points of powers, effectively for free). Feel free re-read where this is laid out in detail on YS p. 185.

Physical Immunity gets an entirely separate Catch referred to as the Stacked Catch, which has it's own rules listed on YS p. 187 This is listed under Physical Immunity and is an explicit exception to only having one Catch, that applies only to Physical Immunity.

Offline Drachasor

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2010, 10:25:33 PM »
You get one catch for all Toughness powers except Physical Immunity, it can't reduce their total cost below -1, so if you have Inhuman Toughness only with a Catch of Cold Iron, Cold Iron's only worth +1 (and you could grab two more points of powers, effectively for free). Feel free re-read where this is laid out in detail on YS p. 185.

Cold Iron covers anything of iron or steel, and is worth +3 (+2 for availability, +1 for research, apparently). 

Short of Black Vampires, it makes me wonder what catches are +2 for research.

Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2010, 10:34:42 PM »
Yep! As long as you have 4 or more points of Toughness powers, anyway.

An beyond the Black Court, I think only things immediately obvious (like a creature made of fire being hurt by water), or known to everyone (like a werewolf-looking thing being hurt by silver, or a literal Frankenstein's monster by fire). It's really not very common.

Offline TheMouse

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2010, 10:50:44 PM »
Cold Iron covers anything of iron or steel, and is worth +3 (+2 for availability, +1 for research, apparently). 

I just checked, and you're right, but it seems really strange to me that faeries' vulnerability to iron is only +1 in the research category. It's pretty much common knowledge.

Offline Astrocreep

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2010, 11:12:29 PM »
Ok another quick question with the same character now if i am reading the book right a changeling takes on the court of his fae parent and gains all the appropriate weakness'. In this case the parent is a Winterfae. So wouldn't that mean that i would have cold iron for being fae, gold for the type of fae he is, and because he is descended from an unseelie would he also include summer magic in the catch?
« Last Edit: July 06, 2010, 11:22:30 PM by Astrocreep »

Offline Drachasor

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2010, 11:20:53 PM »
I just checked, and you're right, but it seems really strange to me that faeries' vulnerability to iron is only +1 in the research category. It's pretty much common knowledge.

I agree.  Seems like it should be +4 to me as well.

Offline crusher_bob

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #13 on: July 07, 2010, 01:42:01 AM »
My rationalization of why the fae catch requires research is that it's not immediately obvious that you are some sort of fae.  Is a centaur a fae?  How about that think that looks like a movie monster?  Or that pile of moving plants?  So the difficulty is not knowing to use iron on fae, but knowing the thing you ar facing is fae at all.

If a centaur with a sword jumps out of an alley at you, is your first thought going to be, hmm that's a fae, better use iron?  Where as if a walking corpse with big fangs that drinks blood jumps out at you, you really don't need any mental help to make the jump to 'vampire'.

Offline TheMouse

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Re: Multiple catches
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2010, 01:51:01 AM »
If for some reason I need to fight some random, weird monster, I'm going for a metal weapon. It's not because I know faeries are burned by it. It's because all of the things I'd use as a weapon are made of iron.

And if I did happen to think that the thing looked vaguely like a faerie, I'd be sure to use something iron just in case. I've read a lot of stories about faeries. The moment I see what I'd describe as a monster, I'm going to grab for any logical thing to slow it down enough to get away. To me, basically every monster that isn't specifically something else looks like a faerie.