Brainstorm Thread: Fateweavers and Fateweaving Powers

[KOFFEYKID]

The Pretty Post
(For Everything Already Set in Stone and Organized)

Fateweavers
Fateweavers are creatures who stand in opposition of the Powers That Be, they are the proverbial wrench thrown into the great machine that is Destiny. These creatures are born with the inherent ability to subtly alter the threads of the future into a shape more pleasing to their eyes. With a single sentence they can doom a man to a tragic end, or they can guide him along the path of success.

Musts: Cassandra's Tears, Proclaim Fate, Hidden Fate, Work In Progress
Options: Work in Progress
Important Skills: Conviction, Discipline
Minimum Refresh: Undetermined As Yet

Powers
Work In Progress

[KOFFEYKID]

Workshop Post
For All The Ideas Not Set In Stone

Powers:

Proclaim Fate [-???]
v0.1
Description: Reaching out to the humming threads of fate, you twist and turn them towards your own ends, whatever they may be, for good or ill.
Options:
Musts:
Skills Affected: Conviction, Discipline
Note:
Effects:
Weave Fate. Once per scene you may twists the strands of fate bending your targets destiny to your will. You and your target enter an immediate private conflict (similar to a soulgaze). This mental struggle lasts until one party sustains a consequence. Each combatant rolls Conviction to attack the other, and defends with Discipline. If you succeed in dealing a consequence your are able to Weave the target's Fate, using the aspect attached to the mental consequence to lay out their future. You may expend one fate point to extend the conflict by one exchange in order to further press your weaving, giving you more time to inflict mental stress, and thus stronger consequences. As long as the mental consequence you've inflicted persists it acts as a lodestone for the destiny you've laid upon your target, invoking up to once per scene (for free) in order to force that destiny upon them. The target is generally unaware of what has just happened, though if you are successful they may feel a vague sense of uneasiness.

Proclaim Fate [-???]
v0.2
Description: Reaching out to the humming threads of fate, you twist and turn them towards your own ends, whatever they may be, for good or ill.
Options:
Musts:
Skills Affected: Conviction, Discipline
Note:
Effects:
Weave Fate. Once per scene you may twists the strands of fate bending your targets destiny to your will. You and your target enter an immediate private conflict (similar to a soulgaze). Each combatant rolls Conviction to attack the other, and defends with Discipline. Once one of the combatants sustains a consequence the contest is over, unless you spend a fate point to extend it by one exchange. At the end of the contest the mental stress track of your target is reset to the condition it was in before the contest started, and all of their consequences are healed except the one which is most severe. Your mental stress strack (and consequences) are not reset. If you were successful in inflicting a mental consequence on your target the aspect generated by that consequence will automatically invoke once per scene (for free) in any situation that could conceivably guide your target along the fate you've chosen. Further invocations of that aspect in the same scene, however, require you to expend more fate points. The target is generally unaware of what has just happened, though if you are successful they may feel a vague sense of uneasiness.

Possible Upgrades
Strong Weaving [-1] If you increase the refresh cost of this ability by 1 you gain a +2 stress bonus on a successful hit (as though it were Weapon: 2), increasing the chances of inflicted a mental consequence (and thus a more lasting Fate Weaving).
Potent Weaving [-1] The Strong Weaving upgrade is a prerequisite for this one. You get another +2 stress bonus on successful attacks as per Strong Weaving, as though you had Weapon: 4.

(This is intended to be the mechanism by which most fateweaving effects are generated, its poorly written as yet, but the general idea is to have aspects generated by the consequences invoke/compel in any situation that could conceivably push the target towards the destiny you've laid down. I have no idea how strong the power is yet, however.)

Hidden Fate [-???]
Description: As far as the Powers that Be are concerned, your fate is an enigma. Your destiny is entirely your own, and you are beholden to none in this regard. You do not even appear in prophecy, and divinations targeting you are particularly difficult.
Skills Affected: None
Effects:
Nonexistent Prophecy. As far as prophecy is concerned, you are a complete and utter nonentity. Prophecies do not take your presence into account in any way, shape, or form. Events play out in such visions as if you aren't invovled.
Difficult to Divine. The complexity required by any divination spell that targets you or any item in your possession is increased by one half of your discipline.

[Locnil]

So, basically Proclaim Fate is a version of Addictive Saliva. Seems good - trading increased cost and ability for the ability to enjoy the effects without being physically present. Seems like a bit too much of its effectiveness is in the GM's hands, but that's too be expected I suppose.

I'd price Hidden Fate as [-1].

[Deadmanwalking]

I'd price Proclaim Fate at at least -3. It's mostly the target always being unaware of it that does some of that, though.

Also...free invokes every scene? That's...not the way anything else works ever. I'd ditch that completely. If being permanently crippled (an Extreme Consequence) only gets invoked once for free then the same is (or should be) true of fateweaving. The GM would still get to invoke it as appropriate, and people with the right senses could Assess and Tag it. If you don't ditch it the whole power's broken and overpowered at almost any Refresh cost.

And I agree, Hidden Fate is really specific and thus -1.

[KOFFEYKID]

Addictive Saliva grants a free tag every scene for as long as the consequence lasts, and it only costs -1.

What if it was started via an announcement of their fate (verbally), which would let them know what was about to occur (the private conflict). How would you price it then? I could see a upgrade for a touch based proclaim fate which allowed them to twist fate without the announcement instead.

[Deadmanwalking]

Addictive Saliva is specific to scenes where you interact with them...this isn't, and logically applies in every scene ever. That's a pretty huge power up.

Though I'll admit I'd entirely missed that aspect of Addictive Saliva. Nastier than I thought.

If it requires either touch or speech it's probably -2 or so (assuming something's done about the issue noted above). Neither's actually better than the other, since one's harder to do in, say, combat while the other's more obvious. It's being able to do it undetectably from across the room that's really nasty (and ups it to -3...barring the above, which jacks it even higher).

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't think being able to tag an Aspect when one of the characters isn't present means much. I mean, you still have to justify the invocation.

Nonetheless I dislike the first Power. It's too different from the way the rules normally work, plus it disrupts play and offers perverse incentives. Why not just use an ordinary mental attack with special consequence effects?

[KOFFEYKID]

The reason why I dont want to use an ordinary mental attack is mainly due to other effects of mental stress on the target, I dont think fate weaving should, for instance, reduce an enemy wizard's stock of power. I've been thinking of just having it work as a long duration maneuver instead, since I also dont like the fact that it takes up an enemy's consequences either.

[Sanctaphrax]

I think a long-duration maneuver is a good way to go.

Might have to limit it somehow, though, lest it be exploited.

[Deadmanwalking]

I don't think being able to tag an Aspect when one of the characters isn't present means much. I mean, you still have to justify the invocation.

The issue is that, logically and thematically, if you put an Aspect of "Destined To Fight Vampires" on someone, as written you can literally tag for effect every scene, even when not there, to make vampires show up and fight them (or cost them FP), since that's their destiny now. That's...really problematic. Especially since there's no real limits on what kind of Aspects you can put on someone with it.

[Sanctaphrax]

Since such Invokes are adjudicated by the GM, I think doing that would be liable to be a source of free FP for your target.

[Deadmanwalking]

Since such Invokes are adjudicated by the GM, I think doing that would be liable to be a source of free FP for your target.

Possible. Still an issue, IMO.

[KOFFEYKID]

The aspect would be there to mainly enhance stressors which are already present, not create them where they aren't, if I am making sense. Of course this is why the bulk of the power is in the hands of the GM.