Power Question

[wolff96]

This one concerns a player in my group and I'm looking for advice on how to handle it.

His character has Cassandra's Tears and is constantly getting visions of possible futures, most of which aren't going to happen or are wildly unlikely.  (His trouble is "Can't sort Reality out of all these Dreams", if that helps with the idea.)

They just passed a Major Milestone, leaving him with some Refresh that he wants to use.  He came to me about taking "Inhuman Speed", but not getting all of it's powers.  Essentially, his thought was that he gets the bonus to dodging and initiative because, unless an Aspect is compelled, he "saw it coming".  So he's not ACTUALLY inhumanly fast, but he does start dodging before anyone else even knows there's trouble afoot.

That makes the "Casual Movement" trapping inappropriate, though there could be an argument made either way for the "Too Fast to See" -- like the scene in the Matrix when Neo is leaving his cubicle and dodging agents, his character knows EXACTLY when a guard's back is turned, the wind is going to gust, etc.

I'm just trying to figure out a good way to cost this power.  I could just charge him the full -2, knowing that parts of it don't work for him.  This player is *not* a powergamer, so I'm not worried about him trying to abuse the ability.  I'm not sure the loss of powers is worth giving him any kind of rebate on the power, though (such as dropping it to -1 and calling it something else).

Thus why I'm here -- suggestions?  Comments?  Just charge him -2 and forget about it? 

[Mr. Death]

I have a player with similar future-seeing powers in one of my games, and I've done it one of two ways. Both cost -1, and the first was basically just half the Inhuman Speed power--a boost to dodge rolls, and a boost to Alertness when it came to surprises. The way I'm doing it now is I let the player take Abby's A Few Seconds Ahead power, which lets her dodge with the Lore skill.

[JDK002]

Somethin like a +1 to all athletics defense rolls and some sort of initiative bonus seems like a pretty fair +1 power, well assuming the imitative bonus is pretty minor.

[wolff96]

I was aware of Abby's power, but he's not really a Lore-focused character; more like cursed by all these visions of potential futures.

Going with JDK002's idea...

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Inhuman Reflexes [-1]
Improved Initiative: Your Alertness is at +2 for the purpose of determining initiative.

Athletic Ability: All your Athletics checks are made at +1, including dodging. When sprinting (see page 212), this bonus is increased to +2.

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Does that seem reasonable for negative one refresh?

[THE_ANGRY_GAMER]

I'd change that to just dodging, and remove the sprint function. Seeing the future won't make him jump higher, run faster, etc.

[InFerrumVeritas]

I'd change that to just dodging, and remove the sprint function. Seeing the future won't make him jump higher, run faster, etc.

"I can see where I'm going...so that means I can go just a little further?"  Yeah.  I'll second the just dodging suggestion.  +1 to all defense rolls, +2 to initiative is already twice as good as a stunt and a no brainer -1 power.  I'd probably let it apply to defense rolls with Fists, Weapons, or Athletics, but I could see why you wouldn't want to do that.

[Tedronai]

I was aware of Abby's power, but he's not really a Lore-focused character; more like cursed by all these visions of potential futures.

Going with JDK002's idea...

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Inhuman Reflexes [-1]
Improved Initiative: Your Alertness is at +2 for the purpose of determining initiative.

Athletic Ability: All your Athletics checks are made at +1, including dodging. When sprinting (see page 212), this bonus is increased to +2.

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Does that seem reasonable for negative one refresh?

I'd change that to just dodging, and remove the sprint function. Seeing the future won't make him jump higher, run faster, etc.

I recommend replacing the sprinting bonus with one to seeing through ambushes.

b]Inhuman Reflexes [-1][/b]
Improved Initiative: Your Alertness is at +2 for the purpose of determining initiative.
Pre-empt: Your Athletics checks are made at +1 when using it to dodge.
Foresight: Gain +2 to Alertness when rolling against surprise.


This ends up being about the equivalent of 2.5-3 weak-ish stunts, which isn't too bad for a -1 refresh power.

[InFerrumVeritas]

I recommend replacing the sprinting bonus with one to seeing through ambushes.

b]Inhuman Reflexes [-1][/b]
Improved Initiative: Your Alertness is at +2 for the purpose of determining initiative.
Pre-empt: Your Athletics checks are made at +1 when using it to dodge.
Foresight: Gain +2 to Alertness when rolling against surprise.


This ends up being about the equivalent of 2.5-3 weak-ish stunts, which isn't too bad for a -1 refresh power.

Ooh, good call.  The ambush bonus makes sense.  I wouldn't call a +1 to all defense rolls a weak stunt though. 

[UmbraLux]

Thus why I'm here -- suggestions?  Comments?  Just charge him -2 and forget about it? 

I'd swap casual movement out for something else but keep the -2 cost.  Could be Tedronai's Foresight - seeing ambushes; a Situational Advantage - your foresight helps use an opponent's movement to your advantage (a +1 bonus to opposed maneuvers); a Guiding Fate - you can spend a fate point to read the possible futures in front of you (this allows you to use Alertness in place of any skill for a single roll); or something entirely different.

[Sanctaphrax]

I'd swap casual movement out for something else but keep the -2 cost.  Could be Tedronai's Foresight - seeing ambushes; a Situational Advantage - your foresight helps use an opponent's movement to your advantage (a +1 bonus to opposed maneuvers); a Guiding Fate - you can spend a fate point to read the possible futures in front of you (this allows you to use Alertness in place of any skill for a single roll); or something entirely different.

This.

Not a fan of chopping up Powers, the package deal thing is important balance-wise.

PS: We've got one or two custom Powers that might be appropriate. Interested?

[Locnil]

Or maybe just let him get full Inhuman Speed, and compel him every time moving fast would have been nice. That's how I'd handle it, at least, I find making new powers to be a chore especially if I'm probably never going to use it.

[wolff96]

Not a fan of chopping up Powers, the package deal thing is important balance-wise.

PS: We've got one or two custom Powers that might be appropriate. Interested?

Sure, I'd be interested.  Are they on the wiki in your .sig?  Can't access that from work.  (Oddly enough, this site is fine.  *Shrug*)

The custom power was mainly my idea to avoid charging him full price for something that makes a lot of sense for his character.  After all, his only question was "Can I take Inhuman Speed and just ignore the movement bonuses?"  I have great players. 

[THE_ANGRY_GAMER]

Sure, I'd be interested.  Are they on the wiki in your .sig?  Can't access that from work.  (Oddly enough, this site is fine.  *Shrug*)

The custom power was mainly my idea to avoid charging him full price for something that makes a lot of sense for his character.  After all, his only question was "Can I take Inhuman Speed and just ignore the movement bonuses?"  I have great players. 

If Sanct is mentioning them, they're either in his Custom Powers Master List or the Custom Powers List in the Resource collection.

[Sanctaphrax]

Sure, I'd be interested.  Are they on the wiki in your .sig?  Can't access that from work.  (Oddly enough, this site is fine.  *Shrug*)

I'll make this easy for you:

PROPHECY [-1]
Description: You can see the future, or at least determine its shape somehow.
Skills Affected: Lore.
Effects:
Divination. Add a Divination trapping to your Lore skill. Use that trapping for Assessments, Declarations, and knowledge rolls related to what will happen in the future.
Visions. The GM can cause you to have an infallibly-accurate vision of the future whenever he or she feels inclined.
I Saw That Coming. You may use your Lore skill for the Avoiding Surprise trapping of the Alertness skill.

PRECOGNITION [-2]
Description: You can predict the actions of your opponents in combat, making it very difficult to get the drop on you.
Skills Affected: Alertness, sometimes Lore.
Effects:
Always Prepared. Add two to your Alertness skill (or, if you have the Prophecy Power, your Lore skill) when using its Combat Initiative and Avoiding Surprise trappings.
Precognition. Whenever you are attacked, you may attempt to Assess the person attacking you with your Alertness skill. The person attacking you may defend with the skill that they're attacking you with. If you succeed, the GM should reveal either one of the target's Aspects or an Aspect that applies to their attack.
Application Of Prophecy. If you possess the Prophecy Power, you may use your Lore skill for the Precognition trapping of this Power and the Combat Initiative trapping of the Alertness skill.

The custom power was mainly my idea to avoid charging him full price for something that makes a lot of sense for his character.  After all, his only question was "Can I take Inhuman Speed and just ignore the movement bonuses?"  I have great players. 

Locnil's suggestion might be the way to go, then.

I'd rather make a new Power, but that's because I like making new Powers.

PS: The wiki is in a shameful state. Haven't updated in ages...the threads linked in the post above are a much better bet if you need to find a Power.