Homebrew Stunts

[DFJunkie]

Personally I wouldn't allow any skill other than Athletics to be used as an all-purpose physical defense as that is an incredibly useful trapping, and by far the most useful one that Athletics has.

I would recommend something like this:

Elusive Fencer: Years of intense training and more than a few close calls have gifted you with nearly superhuman reflexes.  Your Weapons skill always compliments your Athletics skill when defending against physical attacks.

[Papa Gruff]

Yeah @Sanctaphrax, I've seen that one. It just doesn't fit into my understanding of the rules. Transferring a trapping - especially such a potent one - should make it necessary to tie it into the target skill some more.

I guess my mental image of "Parry Everything" is a little to over the top for me. And it doesn't include magical attacks as it explicitly speaks of "deflecting bullets". But thats just nitpicking.

[Papa Gruff]

Personally I wouldn't allow any skill other than Athletics to be used as an all-purpose physical defense as that is an incredibly useful trapping, and by far the most useful one that Athletics has.

I would recommend something like this:

Elusive Fencer: Years of intense training and more than a few close calls have gifted you with nearly superhuman reflexes.  Your Weapons skill always compliments your Athletics skill when defending against physical attacks.

I would agree, if the rulebook wouldn't explicitly show the transfer of dodging into a fighting skill as an example for transferring trappings.

[Sanctaphrax]

Interesting point. But I honestly don't think that the mental image changes much when you restrict it to a certain weapon, so I don't see the point of changing that if your problem is with the image.

My reasoning for Parry Everything was this: there is a Fists stunt that lets you defend against ranged attacks with Fists. Weapons defence is better than Fists defence, and weapons stunts are supposed to be slightly stronger than Fists stunts. So a Weapons stunt that lets you defend against ranged attacks with Weapons is reasonable.

[DFJunkie]

Technically any trapping is fair game to move to any other skill, as long as you can justify it.  However just because it is technically allowable doesn't mean it's balanced or sensible.  These are all home brews, so it isn't like there's going to be an authoritative answer.  If you want to allow vanilla mortals to parry bullets and blasts of fire that's fine, but I would find that both overpowered and out of genre (barring some sort of supernatural Kensai type character, which would be out of the realm of Stunts altogether).  My example is what I would allow in my game, your mileage may vary.

[Papa Gruff]

Interesting point. But I honestly don't think that the mental image changes much when you restrict it to a certain weapon, so I don't see the point of changing that if your problem is with the image.

My reasoning for Parry Everything was this: there is a Fists stunt that lets you defend against ranged attacks with Fists. Weapons defence is better than Fists defence, and weapons stunts are supposed to be slightly stronger than Fists stunts. So a Weapons stunt that lets you defend against ranged attacks with Weapons is reasonable.

Pretty good reasoning in my opinion.

I give in on the restriction on one kind of weapon but not on the general idea that you can only dodge those attacks while wielding a weapon of some sorts.

Both writeups are similar really. It's probably a question on the character concept/idea and flavor.

[ways and means]

Flawless Parry - When using your a Sword to defend with your weapons skill add 1 to your roll

Perfect Parry - When using a full defence action with a sword add 2 to your weapons defence roll on top of the +2 from full defence.

[Papa Gruff]

Technically any trapping is fair game to move to any other skill, as long as you can justify it.  However just because it is technically allowable doesn't mean it's balanced or sensible. These are all home brews, so it isn't like there's going to be an authoritative answer.  If you want to allow vanilla mortals to parry bullets and blasts of fire that's fine, but I would find that both overpowered and out of genre (barring some sort of supernatural Kensai type character, which would be out of the realm of Stunts altogether).  My example is what I would allow in my game, your mileage may vary.

Sure ... thats anyones prerogative.

You are probably even right on "Shot on the run" also being a homebrew. Yet it is in the book. As an example for stunts transferring trappings. I'm not even disagreeing about this being one of the more extreme stunts where balancing is concerned.

Sometimes it seems to me that the hole idea of transferring trappings is highly problematic and can lead to some fairly heavy shit. But it's one thing stunts are there for. And the price of one refresh isn't a bargain.

[DFJunkie]

And the price of one refresh isn't a bargain.

Heh, yeah.  I do occasionally have to take a breath and remind myself "calm down and allow it, it's still shittier than a power."

[Sanctaphrax]

Parrying a bullet is no more overpowered than dodging it. That's just fluff. If you don't like the image, change it.

Parry Everything is weaker than Footwork. Footwork is canon, and (as far as I know) nobody thinks it's broken.

@ways and means/Tame Knight/bitterpill: Flawless Parry seems a touch weak, but Perfect Parry looks good. Mind if I add it to the Master List? Also, are you planning to get your old account back or are you sticking with this one?

[ways and means]

I am sticking with the new account now and I don't mind if you put the stunt in the masterlist. I was thinking of making Flawless Parry give a +2 but thought that might be a bit strong.

[Papa Gruff]

Parrying a bullet is no more overpowered than dodging it. That's just fluff. If you don't like the image, change it.

I believe that's pretty much what I just said, isn't it? ;o)

[Tedronai]

'Shot on the run' may be in the book, but it's also not fully fleshed out and seems to recommend that it be limited in some way (with two printed options being 'only with a gun on hand' or 'only against ranged attacks').

'Footwork' is reasonably balanced unrestricted because Fists is otherwise the worst attack skill out there.

[ways and means]

Mind of Steel: Roll discipline at +2 for defending against Supernatural Mental Attacks

[ways and means]

Dragoon (weapons) - When tagging a Jumped Aspect whilst wielding a Spear or Lance gain +2 to your roll on top of your tag benefit (for a total +4).