Custom Power for Wereform Komodo Dragon

[kippers4tea]

I am in the process of starting up my first DFRPG game, and one of my players is going to be playing a Were-Komodo-Dragon. He is really interested in the bacterial saliva, and we are trying to come up with a custom power to address this. Neither of us feel the Addictive Saliva works, due to the mental stress and maneuvers aspect to that power. So based on what he has talked about, I came up with this so far, sort of as an alternate upgrade to the Claws power.

Bacterial Bite[-?]
When you deal damage with your Bacterial Bite, your opponent must roll his Endurance against a difficulty of your Fists roll to hit him or have the aspect "Septic Wound" placed on him. While this aspect endures, any rolls to track this target by scent gain a +1 to the roll. In addition, any consequences inflicted by the Bacterial Bite are treated as one step higher for the purposes of justifying recovery from that consequence.

I feel this captures the feel, but I'm not sure how much a power like this might cost, nor am I sure I like Endurance rolling against the Fists attack, since it seems to me Endurance will probably be lower than a dodge skill. Any suggestion on an alternate way to set difficulty? Or how many Refresh this might cost? Thanks for the help all around.

[Magicpockets]

The Poison upgrade for Claws might fit your needs.

[Taran]

Instead of the consequences one higher thing...why not require a Scholarship (first aid) roll equal to the value of the attack before the consequence will begin to heal.

I'm not sure how this would work with recovery powers though...

[JDK002]

The Poison upgrade for Claws might fit your needs.

Beat me to it.

Also, IMO the custom power as written undermines some of the base mechanics of combat.  You're effectivly allowing the player a chance to place a consequence on anyone they attack.  Remmeber aspects still follow all the same rules regardless of how they came to be, meaning the player would get a free tag EVERY time this happened, as well as further invokes with fate points.

The tracking bonus combined with a free aspect tag could turn into a nightmare for the GM.  It would make any npc hit with this power almost as good as dead, as it would be hard to make sure they are able to run off and "live to fight another day".  Bit some GMs may not care much about that.

As far as the recovery delay, I don't know how often you would see that actually be helpful.  Generally speaking, the mooks (and supporting villains) will fight to the death.  Main antagonists will be saved by concessions usually, and are typically killed off by the end of the scenario.

Not trying to dump all over your idea or anything.  Just giving my two cents of feedback. =)

[Taran]

Speaking of aspects, why not make it a power that allows for a maneuver?  So instead of damage it places an aspect.  This can be tagged to track the enemy if they escape.  Consequences should be flavoured in such a way to reflect the kind of bite.  I strongly encourage my players to do so, but since a person can choose their own consequences, there's a good chance they can wiggle around those types of consequences.

[JDK002]

Speaking of aspects, why not make it a power that allows for a maneuver?  So instead of damage it places an aspect.  This can be tagged to track the enemy if they escape.  Consequences should be flavoured in such a way to reflect the kind of bite.  I strongly encourage my players to do so, but since a person can choose their own consequences, there's a good chance they can wiggle around those types of consequences.

Unless I'm misreading it the applied aspect isn't an actual consequence.  It's a sticky aspect that gives a tracking bonus that has a chance to be applied ANY time stress is dealt. 

But I agree that instead of tying the aspect to stress, the maneuver option to place a sticky is easier, you could treat it just like a maneuver aspect, but sticky, and not just pretaining to tracking.

[kippers4tea]

The Poison upgrade for Claws might fit your needs.

We did look at this, but my player and I agree the bacterial bite isn't something that keeps attacking and dealing stress on its own until the target is taken out, it's more that the Bite requires more or better medical attention to recover from.

Speaking of aspects, why not make it a power that allows for a maneuver?  So instead of damage it places an aspect.

So similar to the Venomous Claws upgrade, you apply the specific "Septic Wound" aspect rather than Poisoned, which can only be removed by proper medical attention, and until then can be tagged/invoked normally and also for a tracking by scent bonus.

Instead of the consequences one higher thing...why not require a Scholarship (first aid) roll equal to the value of the attack before the consequence will begin to heal.

I'm not sure how this would work with recovery powers though...

I like this idea rather than mine. Might be a book keeping problem though, depending on the situation. Maybe use the base values found in the book +2, kinda like tagging the consequence to oppose the treatment. So a Mild Septic Wound would be Great difficulty rather than just Fair.

Ok, where I'm at now
Bacterial Bite[-1 or -2]
Your bite is septic. Make a Fists Maneuver, and if successful, the target gains the "Septic Wound" Aspect. While this aspect endures, any rolls to track this target by scent gain a +1 to the roll. In addition, any consequences taken by the target while they have the "Septic Wound" aspect requires more skilled medical attention: treat the difficulty of the Scholarship roll to treat such consequences as +2 higher than normal.

I think this is slightly better and more focused now. Any further suggestions, such as the refresh cost? Thanks again for the input everyone!

[JDK002]

Definitely much more concise and focused.  I would say this is a -1 cost, the sticky aspect has a lot of utility, the tracking bonus has it's uses, the healing difficulty is probably not something that will come up too often and is basically icing.

[kippers4tea]

Thanks. I'm thinking I can justify using this myself for some NPCs too, which might make the consequence thing more meaningful in play. Maybe a ghoul or other beasty that spent too much time in the sewer has this. Really looking forward to my first session  .

[Sanctaphrax]

Seems a bit weak even for 1 Refresh. I doubt the bonuses will matter often.

You get the normal Aspect tag when you use this, right? I would assume so, but I could see someone reading the "special Aspect" rules of this Power as an invoke-for-effect. Some people read Venomous Claws that way, after all.

And you should probably specify that it applies to physical consequences. As written it seems to apply to mental and social consequences.

All that aside, should I add this to the list?

[JDK002]

Seems a bit weak even for 1 Refresh. I doubt the bonuses will matter often.

You get the normal Aspect tag when you use this, right? I would assume so, but I could see someone reading the "special Aspect" rules of this Power as an invoke-for-effect. Some people read Venomous Claws that way, after all.

And you should probably specify that it applies to physical consequences. As written it seems to apply to mental and social consequences.

All that aside, should I add this to the list?

I was speaking under the assumption that you would get the standard free tag and could invoke it with fate points like normal.  Otherwise, I agree it needs more teeth to be worth a -1 cost.

[Sanctaphrax]

Even with the tag I think it's a bit weak.

+1 to track by scent is roughly half a stunt. +2 to the difficulty of treating consequences is harder to evaluate, but I doubt it's worth more than 0.5 Refresh.

Put those two together, limit them so they only work against people you've bitten as a maneuver, and I don't think you have a full Refresh worth of power there.

[cold_breaker]

Gotta agree. I'd say any time someone takes a consequence from you're attack, ALSO add a sticky aspect - septic wound. This sticky aspect persists until X roll at a +4 can be completed, prevents the consequence it's tied to from healing until it's removed (possibly multiple), and provides a +1 bonus to tracking the creature by scent.

The meneauver wording comes off a bit weak to me, since you can do that without a power. This way, it has the restriction of having to inflict an actual consequence, but once it's applied it keeps the wound from healing and provides a tracking bonus. I left it at a +1 because it seems a little too powerful for a +1 power after that. As it is, it might be worth making it a +2 power.

[wyvern]

Honestly, I'd just make this a -0 "power", that healing bite wounds is more difficult, and maybe move the +1 to track by scent thing over to be part of a "Echoes of the Beast" power.

Why?  Well, an actual serious bite wound is going to have to be a consequence.  And if you try to bite someone... well, yeah, they can take a consequence "bitten", but they can also take a consequence "sprained ankle" from dodging badly, or they can decide that this fight isn't really worth a consequence and try to negotiate a concession instead, or... etc.  So, it won't necessarily come up much - especially if your players follow standard player practice of never wanting to let an enemy get away.

And when it does come up... well, that's just an invoke of the consequence, or maybe a compel from the GM.  Not worth paying refresh for.