Or just keep a lot of refresh unspent, and invoke your 'old and experienced' aspect or 'this is jut like the time I...' aspect frequently.
Or just keep a lot of refresh unspent, and invoke your 'old and experienced' aspect or 'this is jut like the time I...' aspect frequently.
There is definitely that problem, i just felt like an elegant solution in a way. I like DMW's idea of Wide Experience, and makes sense in a way since someone that long lived SHOULD have high scholarship, just that at -1 you would essentially be getting a skill for free at superb (or whatever level you have scholarship at), that seems to be a bit much...
CMEast's idea is also really interesting....It gives you a broader base, and that one really high skill, but seems to mess up the idea of the skill pyramid a bit, and makes point costs to buy skills odd...
Can anyone think of someway to mix the two that i am missing?
CMEast's idea is also really interesting....It gives you a broader base, and that one really high skill, but seems to mess up the idea of the skill pyramid a bit, and makes point costs to buy skills odd...
Well...there's already True Shapeshifting, which basically does that for Physical Skills. I'd say it'd be -3 sans the physical Shapeshifting (and thus the +4 on disguise)...so something like that might be valid for mental or Social skills, too. Maybe even for a slight discount...
If I as going to do truly Modular Skills ala True Shapeshifting for all skils, I'd probably call it a -7 Refresh Ability, and still not let it raise Contacts or Resources above the basic pyramid's ratings. But I don't think that would accurately reflect what you're looking for, I mean, why would your character suddenly have, say, lower Discipline just because he's using Deceit? It doesn't make sense in the context you're using.
Also trying to work out a power as a supplement to speed powers.
Athletic Prowess, (or maybe Fast Hands?)
-1 power option on Inhuman/Supernatural/Mythic Speed
If your athletics score is higher than an opponents in a direct confrontation, gave +2 when attacking to your fists or weapons skill due to being able to get the hits in before they can react.
How do these look as idea's?
+2 to attack for -1 power is to strong.
so +2 stress when an attack connects is less "valuable" (can't think of better word) than a +2 to attack?
Sorry if i seem to be belaboring the point, i haven't had a chance to play the game yet, just read through it so trying to get a good sense of the game in my head is hard.
+1 to an attack with a condition is balanced. +2 to an attack is unbalanced unless the condition is extraordinarily rare. (for -1 powers).
Sorry to sidetrack, but can a focused practitioner take refinement?Yes they can see Channeling in YS 181. They are somewhat limited in what they can do with it.
Most of refinement refers to evocation and thaumaturgy, not channeling or ritual, so the specialization from refinement doesn't look like it fits. And the template for focused practitioner doesn't say you can take refinement, whereas the template for sorcerer or wizard does say (and in the case of sorcerer, how much).They are limited in what they can gain from it b/c they they can't ever build a good pyramid for a major bonus. But They can take it for items slots as much as they like, So foci, Potions, and enchanted items are all open as far as they can go.
EDIT: I'm inclined to disagree. The only reference I can find that supports your statement is page 182, where is says you can "gain two additional specialization bonuses for Evocation and/or Thaumaturgy." It does not say the Evocation and/or Thaumaturgy powers. And those two words describe different methods of spellcraft just as often as powers.
See p. 181 under Channeling itself: "You may gain more Item Slots as one of the options on the Refinement ability (page 182)—but you may only buy Refinement for that purpose."
Elementalist...isn't too bad, actually. The loss of the Focus Items really weakens it. Though I'm not at all sure it's necessary. Channeling serbes the same thematic purpose quite well. Elemental mastery doesn't look too bad either, though I'm a bit more worried about what allowing it would cause.
Powers are way wider than Stunts, though. Look at A Few Seconds Ahead, which grants two entire Dodge trappings.
For comparison, inhuman speed calculates out to roughly six stunts, and the defensive powers (toughness/recovery) work out to about four to six stunts each. As A Few Seconds Ahead is a defensive power, I'd be inclined to compare it to other defensive powers first.
I also disagree with your assertion that OW Powers are inherently canon / acceptable as written under all circumstances; if everything in there had been subjected to enough attention to make sure that all powers were balanced, it would have been subjected to enough attention to catch minor errors. Further, you're not supposed to need OW just to run the game, so I see no reason to regard powers that only appear there as part of the core game that I'd need to feel at all guilty about disallowing from player use.
I suspect, though, that this is something we're just not going to agree on; my opinion on that particular power is based primarily off what it lets you do with character stats, not its numerical stunt equivalency.
Consider a wizard with +5 discipline and lore and A Few Seconds Ahead - suddenly you've got a character with effectively maximum values for magical attacks, all forms of defense, and thaumaturgy. How do you provide appropriate opposition for such a PC? Anything that can scratch them (in *any* form of combat) is going to walk all over other PCs that will have weaknesses in their defenses - everyone else will have at least one realm of attack where they've got only +3 for defense - and that's assuming they stack their skills to focus purely on defense.
And that's the logical character build to make if you have access to A Few Seconds Ahead; it doesn't even require deliberate munchkinry, just the existence of the power. That's why I don't like the power; it makes it far too easy to accidentally build a character whose only weakness is that they've probably got a low athletics and will have to resort to thaumaturgy if something decides to run away from them.