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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Quazar on December 09, 2010, 03:15:46 AM
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Even after reading the section in the book a dozen times, I'm still not clear how determine the value of a Catch. How about we provide some more example Catches and try to puzzle out what we think their value should be?
Weapons Forged with Magic
Suspension Above the Ground/Floor
Running Water
Meteor Rock (thank you Smallville ::))
Left-handed people
People born in a month ending with -ber (don't ask)
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A lot of these would depend on what the critter in question is - an obvious earth elemental? Gonna be very easy to figure out that if you separate it from Mother Earth it'll lose its power. John HumanGuise who happens to be a scion of Gaea? less obvious.
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My favorite one is from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle:
"Bullets! My secret weakness!"
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No offense meant, but it's rather straight forward:
o If your abilities only protect you against something specific, you get a +2 discount. If they protect you against
everything except something specific, you get nothing.
o 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. If it is bypassed by something only a rare class of people in the world have (like True Magic), you get a +1. If it is bypassed by something only one or two people in the world have access to or could produce (like a Sword of the Cross), you get nothing. Even the mere presence of the thing that satisfies your Catch will cause you discomfort (and may be grounds for a compel or something similar).
o If almost anyone with an awareness of the supernatural knows about the Catch or could easily find out (like from the Paranet, or Bram Stoker’s Dracula if you’re a Black Court vampire), you get a +2. If knowledge of the Catch requires access to specific research material
that could be restricted (like a wizard’s library), you get a +1. If knowledge of the Catch requires knowing you personally to learn about it (like the effect of Judas’ Noose on Nicodemus), you get nothing.
The first "plus" is against everything but, or just against that one thing.
The second "plus" is availability of the catch item.
The third "plus" is the "availability" of knowledge against said catch.
Cold Iron is generally +3. Nothing because it's against only cold iron, +2 because iron/steel is *very* easy to find. Grab a crowbar, or tire iron (tehehe). And +1 because faeries try to hide that knowledge, and varying legends argue it (some say iron, some say silver, et cetera).
I'm just assuming in all these, that the catch is protection against everything but listed items.
Weapons forged with Magic: +0 (most likely), +0 (this is going to be rare, it's not common at all), and +??? (this depends on the creature, really) which totals a +0 catch rebate for this. Maybe more, if it's common knowledge.
Suspension: +0 (again, most likely), +1 (it's *easy* to do, but setting it up may not be, feel free to argue), and again +???, is it common knowledge? So, this is +1-2. Maybe more.
Running Water: +0 (I sense a theme), +2 (easy, very. Got a shower? river? fire hydrant?), +??? (is it well known?) This one is probably a +3, as the knowledge may be available.
meteor: +0, +0 (this can be argued but it's going to be very hard to find. Very), +???
Left handed people: +0, +1 (well, they are common enough, but not *all that common*), +0, I'm sure this is obscure. Very. I could be wrong. So that leaves this at a +1.
-ber born people: +2 (you can very much argue only protects them from people not born in those months), +2 (one out of three people, statistically speaking. VERY COMMON), +0 (maybe more, but this would be very uncommon in my reckoning. as always, depends)
So, why people born in the cold months? :)
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meteor: +0, +0 (this can be argued but it's going to be very hard to find. Very), +???
Hey, it depends on the universe. If we're using superman as an example then it would be much higher because all of krypton seems to have fallen to earth. Lost your piece of kryptonite? There's another one chilling in the gutter over there. :P
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Hey, it depends on the universe. If we're using superman as an example then it would be much higher because all of krypton seems to have fallen to earth. Lost your piece of kryptonite? There's another one chilling in the gutter over there. :P
I remember hearing of a Silver Age comic where some movie directors accidentally thwarted Superman because they used real Kryptonite as props because it was cheaper than getting realistic looks fakes.
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Regarding kryptonite, that just serves as an example for how whatever you catch is, the value can slide based on the world. While Sinker is nominally right and it's rough to find a meteorite piece (though a large cottage industry displays a significant talent for it) what really matters to the Catch is how often it will appear in the game.
For the native american scion of Raven in my game her Catch is the "Honest Intent Of My Kinsmen" -- in the ancient past these scions were created to protect the tribes from outside threats (in this case the Uncheglia - choose your definition on them, wikipedia or Marvel... we still haven't settled) but they were never intended to rule those tribes either. So if one of the scions got uppity and decided to lord it over her tribe, she'd find out quite rapidly that all her powers were nothing when her tribe came after her for some good ol' "woodshed justice".
Now since we're playing in the Pacific Northwest, and there are a ton of reservations out here, it's highly possible that one of her kinsmen might be convinced that she's a bad guy, and come up against her. As a result we're judging that +2, since the requirement is anyone with 1/4 Amerindian blood or more. Because not a whole lot of time has passed since one of these scions last walked the Earth, it's kind-of difficult to find out what her catch is, though it's more than likely that the wizards' libraries in Edinburgh and elsewhere might well have this information, as well as a number of shamans and medicine men who still keep the old ways alive. For us then, we give her Catch a total value of +3.
Now, if we were going to set this game say somewhere in Europe, then the likelihood of running into her catch would be significantly less (or so I would think and therefore judge at the table) and would have set that value then at +1 or maybe even +0, but my player thought ahead of me on that one and in our case we're actually combining Raven and Morrigan (the goddess, no the video game fighter...) into the same rough entity, and since her father is directly descended from the Tuatha Dé Danann (her mother is Makah, a tribe native to Washington state in the US) then that extends the available pool to anyone who shares a similar bloodline. This makes me more comfortable with the +2 for availability of the catch.
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Well the examples don't always follow the rules then. Cold Iron is clearly a +4 catch. It's easily acquired and anyone who knows anything about magic knows about faeries and cold iron. For many of the little faeries it makes sense to be only +1 or +3 because you can't have a catch that equals your Toughness and Recovery together. But an Elder Gruff still gets +3, despite his Supernatural Toughness and Inhuman Recovery. Is this just a typo then?
The whole process is very subjective, so when your players come up with far out catches the creation process definitely bogs down. I guess that's unavoidable in this system.
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Actually, the Trolls also have more than enough in Toughness and Recovery powers that they could warrant a +4, but only have +3. I would say that while iron and its variants are dirt cheap, the knowledge of overcoming them is not the kind of public knowledge that killing vampires are.
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I would say Cold Iron is public knowledge... To those in the know. All those wizards and vampires and such know it, but does the new kid on the block know it? Do the average people who read books about Red-Caps with iron-shod boots and a pike know about it?
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"If almost anyone with an awareness of the supernatural knows about the Catch or could easily find out, you get a +2."
- YS185
Cold iron vis-a-vis faeries definitely fits this. At least it's arguable.
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At least they're consistently inconsistent. All the Fey examples with huge Toughness and Recovery abilities don't get more the +3 (Gruffs, Trolls, Giant Scarecrow...)
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An argument could be made that although the weakness of Faeries is widely known, the fact that a given being is a Faerie isn't. The vampireness of a BCV is obvious, but the Feyness of a gruff isn't.
I don't actually agree with this argument, but it's at least reasonable.
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Pardon me, but aren't the fairy tale references to cold iron intended to be cold-forged-iron? That is, iron that has been beaten into shape with pure strength using a hammer, and without the use of fire at all. This would be a thing more rare than a common tire iron.
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Maybe, but considering that Lady Aurora, one of the upper tier Sidhe got taken out by a bunch of WyldFae using Box Cutters, it appears that claim is fairy tale itself.
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cold-forged-iron
Also, there's no such thing. Iron is far far too brittle to be hammered into a useful shape by pure strength. Cold-forged is a term without meaning. It just sounds impressive.
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Pardon me, but aren't the fairy tale references to cold iron intended to be cold-forged-iron? That is, iron that has been beaten into shape with pure strength using a hammer, and without the use of fire at all. This would be a thing more rare than a common tire iron.
i doubt that's it at all because its not just iron that can be used in GP (if my memory serves me) Harry used depleted uranium against Lea
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i doubt that's it at all because its not just iron that can be used in GP (if my memory serves me) Harry used depleted uranium against Lea
His depleted uranium was mixed with iron filings, according to him.
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It can be Iron alloys though. Steel seems to upset them as well.
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One of the big reasons iron is the bane of faeries, is that they are associated with nature, and that metal interfers with the magical flow of nature. It's a common theme in a lot of mythology, and is part of why D&D druids cannot wear metal.
And yes, the "ghost dust" that harry used had depleted uranium, iron filings and one other thing, IIRC.
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Also, there's no such thing. Iron is far far too brittle to be hammered into a useful shape by pure strength. Cold-forged is a term without meaning. It just sounds impressive.
That is not entirely correct. Normal iron cannot be cold-worked effectively. Meteoric iron on the other hand can; there are artefacts made of meteoric iron from as early as 5.000 BC. That was the original cold-forged iron, also known as thunderbolt iron and starmetal.
The mythological sword Balmung, who slew the dragon Fanfir, was made of meteoric iron.
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That is not entirely correct. Normal iron cannot be cold-worked effectively. Meteoric iron on the other hand can; there are artefacts made of meteoric iron from as early as 5.000 BC. That was the original cold-forged iron, also known as thunderbolt iron and starmetal.
The mythological sword Balmung, who slew the dragon Fanfir, was made of meteoric iron.
kudos for the random knowledge drop haha ;D
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Catch ideas...
Hmmm...
For Mythic Toughness and Physical Immunity
Cannot be harmed...
...while the Sun shines in the sky or during the dark of Night (dawn and twilight, you're up!)
...by the arms and fists of man. (kicking works wonders, though)
...by neither man nor woman. (take a guess)
...by either the clothed or the nude. (a classic, and the usual loophole is to wear a fishing net)
Other, more generic ideas:
Can be harmed greatly by...
...a sword of glass. (obsidian qualifies)
...a non-magical fire of green or blue flame.
...
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I played a character once, drawing on the myths of the children of Gaea in greek myth, whose toughness and resilience lasted as long as he touched the ground.
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I have to agree that Cold Iron should have a +4 value as The Catch (assuming sufficient Recovery and/or Toughness powers). It's an easy fix to make when it comes up (mainly with Changeling PCs).
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Catch ideas...
Hmmm...
For Mythic Toughness and Physical Immunity
Cannot be harmed...
...while the Sun shines in the sky or during the dark of Night (dawn and twilight, you're up!)
...by the arms and fists of man. (kicking works wonders, though)
...by neither man nor woman. (take a guess)
...by either the clothed or the nude. (a classic, and the usual loophole is to wear a fishing net)
You know... sounds like I should just sic my dog on him at dawn or twilight.
No man can defeat me!
(Gets run over by a horse).
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Well the examples don't always follow the rules then. Cold Iron is clearly a +4 catch. It's easily acquired and anyone who knows anything about magic knows about faeries and cold iron. For many of the little faeries it makes sense to be only +1 or +3 because you can't have a catch that equals your Toughness and Recovery together. But an Elder Gruff still gets +3, despite his Supernatural Toughness and Inhuman Recovery. Is this just a typo then?
That is not a typo, its just that the rules have successfully confused you. :)
While the catch applies to all toughness/recovery powers, you only get the cost reduction to one of your powers (the highest cost one), and the final refresh cost for that power can't go to 0, it must be -1. You do not get a cost reduction to the whole package of powers, you just get it to one.
So for the Gruffs, their highest power is Supernatural (cost: -4), so at most they can receive +3 from their catch, even if the catch you design for them would technically give +4 catch. It doesn't matter that they have 6 refresh of toughness/recovery powers, the catch "rebate" is limited by their single highest one.
In short, if your highest power is Inhuman, no matter what catch you take its only going to be worth +1. If your highest power is Supernatural, max catch rebate is +3. If you highest power is Mythic, max catch rebate is +5.
You can house-rule it differently, of course, but them's the rules as written.
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That's incorrect. The Catch value limit is based on the total of Recovery and Toughness, not to the higher of the two.
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Yeah, Happydaze is right. YS185:
You must specify something that
bypasses your Toughness abilities. This will
give you a discount on the total cost of any
and all Toughness category powers that you
take, based on how likely it is that the Catch
will be met in play. Add all the relevant
discounts from the list below:
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It can be Iron alloys though. Steel seems to upset them as well.
Yeah, meteoric iron is an alloy of cobalt, iron, and nickle. I think it is around 70 to 80% iron so it would be pretty easy to say that any iron alloy that is around 70% iron would affect a faerie creature as their catch.
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Best example for the Cold Iron thing is the Goblins on OW45:[qoute]Powers
Echoes of the Beast [–1] (Hunting Hound)
Glamours [–2]
Inhuman Strength [–2]
Inhuman Toughness [–2]
Inhuman Recovery [–2]
The Catch [+3] is cold iron and the like
Pack Instincts [-1][/quote]
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What do folks think about a Catch which requires someone to have conjured something using Thaumaturgy?
One example would be a Catch that can only be satisfied by conjuring and using weapons made of "false ivory" (perhaps requiring a minimum Ritual Complexity to satisfy the Catch in question).
Another example would be a powerful and deadly creature with a Catch (presumably Unknowable without an Assessment or a Divination Ritual to find out lore about that particular monster) which requires the players to research, recover and successfully execute a specific and highly Complex ritual to conjure the one weapon/substance which can satisfy the Catch. The recovery and execution of the ritual could itself span several sessions, culminating in a confrontation between the somewhat-less-nightmarish monster and the better-prepared PCs.
Obviously, dispelling would be a possible risk for any conjured Catch substance, but that could make the confrontation more challenging. It'd probably be poor manners to specify that a monster's Catch requires a conjured substance, and then give the monster the means to Counterspell it. It could perhaps motivate the PCs to take out any allied spellcasters quickly and decisively.
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False ivory? tagua nut. You need to think more exotically. If you want something complex enough to require an extended duration thaumaturgical ritual, go with math.
"The beast's invulnerability can only be stripped away by containing that invulnerability. But that invulnerability will seek to return to its owner, thus it must be tricked. It can only be contained by an impossibility--a bottle that has no stopper, no lip, and only one side. The mathematicians have discovered it; they call it a Klein bottle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle). And to destroy this monster, you must conjure that which is impossible, a shape that cannot truly exist."
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False ivory? tagua nut. You need to think more exotically. If you want something complex enough to require an extended duration thaumaturgical ritual, go with math.
By my example I actually meant fake, conjured elephant horn-type ivory. I had no idea that the tagua nut (plant ivory) existed until your informative example! A GM could even specify conjured tagua nut, I suppose.
But your mathematical suggestion is wonderful! How much Complexity would you assign that?
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Ah. *blush* I keep forgetting that not everyone has eccentric craftsmen for fathers and friends. Apologies for my tone. But if you specify tagua nut, do it in a round-a-bout fashion. Don't say "tagua nut," say "the carved tusk of a plant" or something else suitably vague.
As for the complexity of conjuring an actual physical Klein bottle? :o Alot. The only reason they could get away with it is because, literally, a wizard did it. Even so, forcing an actual Klein bottle to exist in 3-D space? Probably 15-20 at a minimum, depending on how sadistic the GM is feeling.
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Ah. *blush* I keep forgetting that not everyone has eccentric craftsmen for fathers and friends. Apologies for my tone. But if you specify tagua nut, do it in a round-a-bout fashion. Don't say "tagua nut," say "the carved tusk of a plant" or something else suitably vague.
You don't have to worry. I'll be as obtuse as I can be if that Catch ever comes up: make it a riddle, perhaps. Thanks for the suggestion!
As for the complexity of conjuring an actual physical Klein bottle? :o Alot. The only reason they could get away with it is because, literally, a wizard did it. Even so, forcing an actual Klein bottle to exist in 3-D space? Probably 15-20 at a minimum, depending on how sadistic the GM is feeling.
Sounds like a great start!
Ultimately, the GM would have to have something in mind before making such a Catch, and figure out the narrative purpose.
If the intent is to give a thaumaturgist some screen time, and maybe get some game history out in the open through some RP challenges and conflicts, the spotlight would be on researching and satisfying the ritual requirements, insisting that the PCs spend actual game time on satisfying some of the component needs, rather than handling them with the standard Lore Declarations.
But a clever Catch has its narrative value as well, so the focus of that could be for the players to figure it out without dice rolling (perhaps by solving the afore-mentioned riddle) or to make some connections in new territory (befriend a Quantum Physicist, for your Klein Bottle challenge, an Art Dealer for an art-related riddle, a Demon for some unnaturally accurate information).
But the common denominator would be to make the Catch substance a part of the story, rather than just a Resources check or a Lore Declaration.
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You don't have to worry. I'll be as obtuse as I can be if that Catch ever comes up: make it a riddle, perhaps. Thanks for the suggestion!
Sounds like a great start!
Ultimately, the GM would have to have something in mind before making such a Catch, and figure out the narrative purpose.
If the intent is to give a thaumaturgist some screen time, and maybe get some game history out in the open through some RP challenges and conflicts, the spotlight would be on researching and satisfying the ritual requirements, insisting that the PCs spend actual game time on satisfying some of the component needs, rather than handling them with the standard Lore Declarations.
But a clever Catch has its narrative value as well, so the focus of that could be for the players to figure it out without dice rolling (perhaps by solving the afore-mentioned riddle) or to make some connections in new territory (befriend a Quantum Physicist, for your Klein Bottle challenge, an Art Dealer for an art-related riddle, a Demon for some unnaturally accurate information).
But the common denominator would be to make the Catch substance a part of the story, rather than just a Resources check or a Lore Declaration.
Glad you like the tagua nut idea. As for researching the Catch being part of the story, I agree on those points. (Although a topologist or mathematician might be better as a contact instead of a quantum physicist for the Bottle; you want to start getting into quantum mechanics for catch ideas, I can promise that your head will explode)
But math has so many fun shapes and images that could fulfill some obscure Catch (perhaps for the mental toughness powers that people keep coming up with), like, say, the Calabi-Yau Manifold (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifold). And the best part is, if you describe them in word format, not equation format, and then throw in the poetic license of some ancient wizard writing a treatise in the 9th century on various supernatural beasties... and then sit back as your English major players go nuts. ;D
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But math has so many fun shapes and images that could fulfill some obscure Catch (perhaps for the mental toughness powers that people keep coming up with), like, say, the Calabi-Yau Manifold (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabi%E2%80%93Yau_manifold). And the best part is, if you describe them in word format, not equation format, and then throw in the poetic license of some ancient wizard writing a treatise in the 9th century on various supernatural beasties... and then sit back as your English major players go nuts. ;D
The Charles Stross Laundry Stories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#The_.22Bob_Howard_.E2.80.94_Laundry.22_series) feature a lot of mathematical/programming imagery their supernatural elements. In that universe, demons and similar monsters are "infovores" which eat energy and minds. Rituals and spells are simply mathematics taken to an advanced, obscure level. There is no barrier between technology and "magic," so programmers who get too creative are "enlisted" (kidnapped and recruited) before they can inadvertently summon anything horrible that would eat our universe. It's similar in tone to Dresden Files, but along the spy/computer hacker axis rather than the gumshoe/investigative axis.
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Just thinking...
When Harry was doing a summoning he needed "unnatural rope" - or words to that effect. Maybe they intended conjured rope as the catch for that summoning. That would be some trick - mixing a conjured rope with a magic circle and a vastly powerful being. Truly only the most skill would ever attempt such a thing...
Dresden got some nylon rope - it worked.
Richard
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The Charles Stross Laundry Stories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#The_.22Bob_Howard_.E2.80.94_Laundry.22_series) feature a lot of mathematical/programming imagery their supernatural elements. In that universe, demons and similar monsters are "infovores" which eat energy and minds. Rituals and spells are simply mathematics taken to an advanced, obscure level. There is no barrier between technology and "magic," so programmers who get too creative are "enlisted" (kidnapped and recruited) before they can inadvertently summon anything horrible that would eat our universe. It's similar in tone to Dresden Files, but along the spy/computer hacker axis rather than the gumshoe/investigative axis.
Ah, yes, the Laundry. Poor Bob Howard. Have you read the Fuller Memorandum yet?
Rule #1 for Summoners: Do Not Call Up What You Can Not Put Down.
Really, that should go for most Dresdenverse summoners, too...
Hmm... Moe's violin would actually make a really good--if gruesome--Item of Power...
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Just thinking...
When Harry was doing a summoning he needed "unnatural rope" - or words to that effect. Maybe they intended conjured rope as the catch for that summoning. That would be some trick - mixing a conjured rope with a magic circle and a vastly powerful being. Truly only the most skill would ever attempt such a thing...
Dresden got some nylon rope - it worked.
Richard
Which story was that? All I can remember is the rope with strands of a unicorn's mane/tail woven into it.
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Ah, yes, the Laundry. Poor Bob Howard. Have you read the Fuller Memorandum yet?
I must catch up. I Left off at Jennifer Morgue. But yes, definitely a good place to mine for inspiration, and possibly more magically compatible with DFRPG than Harry Potter's magic system. I'm sure plenty of fanfic ink has already been bled picturing a story in which Dresden encounters Bob Howard as the Laundry rep investigating strange metaphysical happenings in Chicago.
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Of note I wouldn't have any problem with giving a creature the ability to counterspell it's own catch. Just means the players can't walk directly up to it and go "Aha! I have conjured your secret weakness and now will stab you with it!" Means the players have to get a little devious.
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Which story was that? All I can remember is the rope with strands of a unicorn's mane/tail woven into it.
Dead Beat.
It was needed to summon the Erlking. That, unless I'm remembering something else and mixing it up, but I'm sure I remember Butters saying something about Harry summoning it with stuff from Wal-Mart and Harry shrugging the comment off.
Richard
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Dead Beat.
It was needed to summon the Erlking.
That sounds familiar - thank you!
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I thought he used barbed wire to summon the erlking.
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Darn, I think you're right. But I could swear that he used nylon in place of "unnatural rope" somewhere and I'm pretty sure that Butters or another person said something about him using stuff from Wal-Mart.
Now I wish I had the electronic versions of the books to search them...
Of course, it's always possible that I'm confusing Dresden with another urban fantasy that had it.
Richard
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I'm not sure why there's so many attempts to make The Catch into something so exotic that's it's almost impossible for it to come up. I'd rather see The Catch be something that likely will come up in play (especially for PCs with The Catch) and instead try to make the creature/opponent more interesting and have to think through things rather than just rely on a near-impervious defense from a super-obscure application of The Catch.
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I'm not sure why there's so many attempts to make The Catch into something so exotic that's it's almost impossible for it to come up. I'd rather see The Catch be something that likely will come up in play (especially for PCs with The Catch) and instead try to make the creature/opponent more interesting and have to think through things rather than just rely on a near-impervious defense from a super-obscure application of The Catch.
This is a thread for Catch ideas, which implies exotic ideas, as opposed to the mundane. It's easy to say "The Catch is Sunlight/sugar/glass/blond hair/etc and you have to deal with that in play." But that can get boring as well, to the point where you might as well not have those powers.
Also, the spice of the exotic can keep a game interesting. Fairies and cold iron? Been there, done that. Black Court? Murphy called it living the cliche for a reason. But a big McNasty from the Nevernever who can kill with its mind... and is only vulnerable to the application of obscure mathematical treatises? That'll be an encounter that the PCs will remember for a long time.
And for other considerations, sometimes the weird Catches make sense. I know that a magical assassin with an easy to exploit weakness is going to have a short career, so in cases like that, an obscure/exotic Catch makes sense and adds tension (and, if handled right, drama).
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I know that a magical assassin with an easy to exploit weakness is going to have a short career, so in cases like that, an obscure/exotic Catch makes sense and adds tension (and, if handled right, drama).
I'll have to disagree here. If the enemy is intelligent, they can hide even a "common & known" weakness. Your magical assassin could have something as common as Cold Iron as The Catch, but then he hides that he's a Changeling (Glamours work wonders, and so does adequate precautions and planning) so that it doesn't open him to a hurting quite so much. To me that's more interesting and strains my suspension of disbelief less than some of these crazily exotic versions of The Catch.
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Darn, I think you're right. But I could swear that he used nylon in place of "unnatural rope" somewhere and I'm pretty sure that Butters or another person said something about him using stuff from Wal-Mart.
Now I wish I had the electronic versions of the books to search them...
Of course, it's always possible that I'm confusing Dresden with another urban fantasy that had it.
Richard
actually i just finished rereading dead beat for the billionth time he did use barbed wire and harry was the one making the comment about his circle calling it a quikie mart alcatraz
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I'll have to disagree here. If the enemy is intelligent, they can hide even a "common & known" weakness. Your magical assassin could have something as common as Cold Iron as The Catch, but then he hides that he's a Changeling (Glamours work wonders, and so does adequate precautions and planning) so that it doesn't open him to a hurting quite so much. To me that's more interesting and strains my suspension of disbelief less than some of these crazily exotic versions of The Catch.
Fair. That's even on the Evil Overlord List:
222. Whatever my one vulnerability is, I will fake a different one. For example, ordering all mirrors removed from the palace, screaming and flinching whenever someone accidentally holds up a mirror, etc. In the climax when the hero whips out a mirror and thrusts it at my face, my reaction will be "Hmm...I think I need a shave."
And to be fair, I doubt any GM would use such rare/creative/unusual Catches more than once or twice a campaign (I'm currently not planning on using any, actually, for my present campaign); overusing it leads to your issue, as well as cases of Special Snowflake Syndrome and Power Creep. But, used occasionally and well, I think the exotic Catches add to the story.
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actually i just finished rereading dead beat for the billionth time he did use barbed wire and harry was the one making the comment about his circle calling it a quikie mart alcatraz
Darn. I was sure the unnatural rope bit was in the series somewhere. I guess I'm mistaken...
Mental note: I need to buy the series in ebook so I can search for keywords like "rope" and "nylon".
Richard
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The rope with unicorn hair was a present from lily or titania, IIRC. And I can't remember who exactly,..... Oh that's right! :) He used it to type up a certain somebody that was inhumanly strong and *hungry* so they could have their fun time. :)
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The rope with unicorn hair was a present from lily or titania, IIRC. And I can't remember who exactly,..... Oh that's right! :) He used it to type up a certain somebody that was inhumanly strong and *hungry* so they could have their fun time. :)
I thought i remember him saying fix made it