Stunts vs Powers

[ChewyGranola]

Which tends to be more effective? How well do stunt based characters stack up with powers based characters? Do PCs mix and match at all?

[umdshaman]

Powers are stronger than stunts, which is why pure mortals get a refresh bonus. Most powers aren't going to be significantly stronger but some are just so far outside the realm of what stunts can do that it can be hard to compare. Mortals can still play with supers and will tend to be better able to specialize or round out. However, as the power level goes up the disparity will start to become more noticeable (which is probably why the book stops at Submerged).

EG: Worldwalker is 2 refresh.
It gives you a special ability that can't be accomplished without taking Powers.
In addition it does the following things that stunts can do:
Creates a new trapping for Lore and Investigation.
Gives a +2 bonus to Survival and Lore under specific circumstances.
Moves a trapping from Survival to Lore under specific circumstances.

So, depending on how the character is built Worldwalker is probably worth at least 3 refresh of stunts, plus it has a minor ability stunts couldn't give you.

[Haru]

The conversion rate for powers to stunts is roughly 2:1, that means a power that's worth 1 refresh is roughly worth 2 stunts. Roughly. I doesn't always work out like that, but it's a good rule of thumb.

Remember though, that you get +2 refresh if you don't take any powers, so you might be able to get more, depending on the powerlevel you are playing at. To keep mortals compatible with supernaturals, we had a discussion about a progressive bonus for the pure mortal template, but I don't know where it is.

But that's a problem we can solve.
*summon greater linkmaster*

[Taran]

Alas Haru, your spell didn't work.  You only summoned a 'lesser linkslacker'.  Fortunately, the cntl F works better than the Search function on this site.

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,40237.0.html

[Sanctaphrax]

Powers are stronger, but I'd be reluctant to give a direct conversion rate. Usually Powers and Stunts don't compete directly.

Like, if you want to boost your Contacts skill you're not going to find a Power that helps you. So you'll be using Stunts even though Powers are stronger.

Powers sometimes give stunt-like effects, but they usually do so as part of a big package of effects. The total package is way cheaper as a Power than as a Stunt package, but if you just want one effect you might go for a Stunt.

Stunt-based mortal characters are reasonably well-balanced against supernatural characters as long as the Refresh level is within the expected range. If you're playing below Feet In The Water mortals will probably be too strong, if you're playing above Submerged they'll probably be too weak.

It's possible to build supernatural characters without a single stunt, but I prefer to mix and match.

[OwleIsohos]

It depends on what you want to do.  Stunts are better for some things, while Powers are the best at the small subset of things they do.  It's possible to make a perfectly effective character by taking only Stunts or only Powers, but plenty of players mix and match. 

My 8(+2) Refresh Pure Mortal seems to stack up perfectly well against the 10 Refresh Wizard and 10 Refresh Shapeshifter in our tabletop game, and I've seen some pretty amazing pure mortal builds on these forums.  That said, my mortal is specialized in social combat, and there aren't many Powers that effect that, so I can't speak to whether or not my experience is typical.

[umdshaman]

My 8(+2) Refresh Pure Mortal seems to stack up perfectly well against the 10 Refresh Wizard and 10 Refresh Shapeshifter in our tabletop game, and I've seen some pretty amazing pure mortal builds on these forums.  That said, my mortal is specialized in social combat, and there aren't many Powers that effect that, so I can't speak to whether or not my experience is typical.

Why is your character operating at a different power level? That kind of defeats the point, as I understand it.