Refresh bonus for the catch: Fire?

[Radijs]

The title pretty much explains it all, if a character takes inhuman toughness+recovery, how much refresh bonus does he get from having the catch be fire?

It falls under the category.
"If the Catch is bypassed by something
that anyone could reasonably get access
to, but usually doesn’t carry on them
(like cold iron), you get a +2."

Is that it? Or would the secrecy factor be able to get another +1 refresh?

[wyvern]

Depends.  If basically nobody knows he's vulnerable to fire, it's a +2 total catch.  If some people could figure it out with some research, it's a +3 total catch.  If it's just obvious ("Hi, I'm a water elemental!"), that would offer a +4 total catch... except that catch value can't exceed points spent on toughness+recovery, so he'd only get +3 worth of benefit.  (But could still get the +4 later if he bought toughness or recovery up to supernatural.)

Edit: just to clarify, the "some people could figure it out with some research" level has two sides; there is "He's clearly an X, but we'll have to do some research to figure out what Xs are vulnerable to", or there's the reason most fae have a +3 catch for cold iron: yeah, everyone knows fae are vulnerable to cold iron - what takes research is figuring out if you're looking at an actual fae (there are so many types!) or some other sort of nevernever beasty that'll just laugh at you if you try to hit it with a crowbar.

[Mr. Death]

I'd give it the +1 because, honestly, when faced with something supernatural, hitting it with fire is one of the first things you'd try if it's at all available. Hell, there's a reason Harry says it's wizards' go-to combat magic--when people see monsters, their default combat response tends to be "kill it with fire."

[Radijs]

Makes sense, thanks guys ( or girls )

[Mr. Death]

I tend to include something along the lines of "can you reasonably expect to run into it in a fight?" in the "research" bit. So while it may not be generally known that a specific creature is vulnerable to iron, it's reasonable to expect that in a fight, someone's going to come at you with a knife, or a crowbar, or something made of iron because iron is just so prevalent.

Or put another way, I consider, "Hit it with the crowbar and see if it works" to count as "research."

[Haru]

Or put another way, I consider, "Hit it with the crowbar and see if it works" to count as "research."

Ah, the wonders of science.
(Which is to say: I agree)

[Theonlyspiral]

Ah, the wonders of science.
(Which is to say: I agree)

Really it's an engineering problem:

Hey, look buddy. I'm an engineer. That means I solve problems. Not problems like, "What is beauty?," because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of 'philosophy'. I solve practical problems.

[Vargo Teras]

Ah, the wonders of science.
(Which is to say: I agree)

Likewise. I'd argue that nothing as common as fire or iron should ever have less than a +1 for research, because the dedicated research can easily be performed in the field even by someone who isn't intending to do so.

[Radijs]

Thanks for the advice guys. My player's getting a +3 refresh bonus for his troubles.

[GryMor]

Just to chime in, I've been using the same reasoning for treating Catch: Fire as +3, and have had my character repeatedly lit on fire for his troubles.

[InFerrumVeritas]

Just to chime in, I've been using the same reasoning for treating Catch: Fire as +3, and have had my character repeatedly lit on fire for his troubles.

Well yeah.  What else did you expect to happen?

[GryMor]

Well yeah.  What else did you expect to happen?

Kind of expected to be attacked with fire. What actually happened (most recently) was 'slightly' different. No, instead of being attacked, the blasted Fallen I pounce (and poison, woo hoo!) is wearing some armor, that when penetrated, applies 'On Fire' at 9 shifts, which shortly there after burns off my wings (spell generated, think conjured biology, so only bad from the perspective of no longer flying), resulting in a flaming cat auguring into the bay.

[wyvern]

Kind of expected to be attacked with fire. What actually happened (most recently) was 'slightly' different. No, instead of being attacked, the blasted Fallen I pounce (and poison, woo hoo!) is wearing some armor, that when penetrated, applies 'On Fire' at 9 shifts, which shortly there after burns off my wings (spell generated, think conjured biology, so only bad from the perspective of no longer flying), resulting in a flaming cat auguring into the bay.

Sounds like fun!