Quick Question: How would you stat the Catch for Toughness on, say, a wererhino?

[sinker]

Not necessarily, as some of the older, low energy firearms wouldn't work, and some of the smaller caliber rounds would be likely to create the equivalent of a little nick.

I would think of it like this: The Catch: Things that are made to bypass tough hide (I.E. armor piercing or high caliber), situations that are intended to bypass tough hide (I.E. "I shoot him in the eye"), and things that deal greater damage to larger targets (I.E. fragmentation grenades).

Or maybe only one or two of those, but I hope you get the idea. It's stuff that is intended to work better Vs big tough targets.

[Ghsdkgb]

Complex catch, but thematically appropriate.

[UmbraLux]

For a normal animal I'd go with a catch of energy / magic.  Though I'd probably reverse it and say the toughness only affects mechanically caused harm.  (i.e. Causing a chunk of something physical to penetrate hide and flesh.)

For a therianthrope, I'd go with whatever fits the shapechanger's back story.  Silver is the common theme for those tied to phases of the mood.  Gold might work better for something diurnal.  Something of or from the earth (rock, wood, etc) may be best for a shamanistic theme. 

How does your therianthrope get his powers?  Is it linked to any time cycle?  Anything at all?  What is associated with the creature's history?

[Ghsdkgb]

I honestly hadn't actually thought of a character when I made this topic; it was just something that came up when I was statting hexenbears for a recent session (I ended up just not giving them a Toughness power; they were only black bears; not grizzly or polar :-P).

But tying it into the history and methodology of the powers seems like the way to go.

[Arcane]

Another Catch I just thought of for a Were-rhino or other supernatural beast:  The horns, claws, hooves, etc of another one of my kind (or weapons fashioned from such things).  Might be worth at least a +1, unless your kind is very rare.

[InFerrumVeritas]

I know it's silly, but I'd stat it up as no catch.  The catch is that they don't have the toughness when not in their were-form.  Take the power at full cost without a catch rebate and have a +0 unknown catch. 

The whole point of a catch is to give a workaround or weakness.  The weakness of an Alpha-style shapeshifter is that they're squishier when human.

I know RAW says Toughness powers must apply to a catch, but then you've got Werewolves without one all over the place.  Alpha style werewolves don't have a catch like Silver, so why would other were-creatures? 

In my games, as long as you don't have access to a toughness power all the time (either against a certain type of weapon, or when shapeshifted, or only during a full moon, only carrying a certain item, or whatever) that's good enough for a catch. 

When we had a werebear fighting in our party, I did throw them up against Circe.  She made a declaration that her magic was focused on shapeshifting, so it bypassed the toughness powers of shapeshifters.  The player got a fate point and was scared for the first time in the entire game.  It was fun.

[devonapple]

When we had a werebear fighting in our party, I did throw them up against Circe.  She made a declaration that her magic was focused on shapeshifting, so it bypassed the toughness powers of shapeshifters.  The player got a fate point and was scared for the first time in the entire game.  It was fun.

That may be how I end up handling +0, non-obvious Catches. I wouldn't quite justify it as "the catch is that they don't have the toughness when not in their were-form", but I would certainly justify it by allowing an opponent to research or make a Declaration to get the means to bypass it.

[Sanctaphrax]

I disavowed the weapon value Catch a long time ago. I now advocate a "big weapons" Catch, which is very similar but not the same.

If the arguments I presented earlier did not sway you, consider this: a creature the size of a city simply cannot be harmed by a normal-sized pistol (unless something weird is going on). Something larger is required. Such a monster would have Physical Immunity with a scale-based Catch.

I think that most people consider this acceptable. So why is essentially the same thing so offensive on an elephant?

[UmbraLux]

I disavowed the weapon value Catch a long time ago. I now advocate a "big weapons" Catch, which is very similar but not the same.

Can you define "big weapons"?  If you use something related to how much damage it does, it seems exactly the same as a weapon value catch - just less defined. 

[Sanctaphrax]

It's very very similar to a weapon value Catch. It just excludes a few weird things like Warden Swords and certain evocations. And when it comes to weapon: 4 or so, there's some ambiguity about what counts.

[Aubri]

The Catch really doesn't have anything to do with the specifics of the animal form. It's more like what is "known" to counteract shapeshifters/werebeasts in the wererhino's culture.
For example, a European werewolf's catch is probably silver, because everyone knows silver hurts werewolves. A shifter from an African culture is probably not vulnerable to silver, but maybe it's a wet weapon, or salt, or some plant of supposedly mystical virtue.

[Aubri]

I know RAW says Toughness powers must apply to a catch, but then you've got Werewolves without one all over the place.  Alpha style werewolves don't have a catch like Silver, so why would other were-creatures?

Er... where? None of the Alphas have Toughness abilities, so naturally there's no Catch. The only one I see like that is the generic lycanthrope, which is probably an oversight. Consider it some kind of rare, zero-value catch because they only get it during the full moon.

[Tedronai]

Compensation for only having the power during the full moon is provided by the 'rare or involuntary change' clause of Human Form.
In the absence of a listed Catch, and with no listed Catch value, it is best to assume '[+0]: unknown'

[Sanctaphrax]

There's an in-character note on page 185 that explains why lycanthropes have no Catch.