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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Quazar on September 20, 2012, 07:23:47 PM
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In some of the custom characters and NPCs that I've seen on this board, specifically for various were-people, their recovery/toughness powers have been attached to a Catch. I'm wondering what the general understanding of the board is for that situation. I tried to search for a thread with this topic specifically, but I came up empty.
NOTE: The OW Lycanthrope has Inhuman Recovery with no Catch. Do you view this as an essentially undiscoverable Catch [+0] or as literally no Catch possible or existing? How does this effect your consideration about a Catch for, let's say, an elephant?
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A strict RAW interpretation of Lycanthropes would require their write-up include at least a +0 (undiscovered) Catch. If it comes up in play at all, it will be a comparatively major event.
Where were-forms are concerned, I'm not sure that there is any concensus. A +0 (undiscovered) Catch is definitely an option
Various natural animals might have a Catch of exotic diseases (exotic being relative to the animal's natural habitat), radiation, dehydration, or perhaps some other non-injury source of harm. Some other animals might have a Catch that includes injury-sourced-harm, but not other types.
Personally, I would advocate a move to this board's Catch re-write, Limitation, that measures refresh value by how often the attached powers are estimated to be bypassed or made unavailable, rather than the ease by which those circumstances can be discovered/enacted.
Then I would go with 'unknown circumstances' and 'it will rarely matter', for a rebate of 1/6th of attached refresh.
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This (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,29517.0.html) seems relevant.
As does the note on the right side of page 185 of YS.
And this (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31624.0.html).
Like Tedronai, I advocate the use of Limitation. It solves most of the silly little issues with The Catch.
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I can't seem to find the Limitations thread either. Is it in Resources?
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I don't think you necessarily need to have a catch for inhuman toughness. Especially for (larger) animals, since they are... well... inhuman to start with, including wereforms. Anything above that though, I highly recommend attaching it to a catch.
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I can't seem to find the Limitations thread either. Is it in Resources?
Custom Powers Master List response #649
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Limitation is on the master list of Powers. For convenience, here's a copy-paste.
LIMITATION [+varies]
Description: Your abilities are limited in some way.
Note: Suffering from the negative consequences of taking this Power will often, but not always, be a Compel. If the importance of this Power changes during play, it might be necessary to change its cost or compensate with Compels.
Skills Affected: None.
Effects:
Limited Powers. Attach this Power to at least one other Power that you possess. Then, select a circumstance. Whenever that circumstance applies, you are treated as though you did not possess the attached abilities.
Rebate. This Power reduces the Refresh cost of the attached Powers. The percentage that the cost is reduced by depends upon how commonly the limitation on your Powers will cause problems for you.
- If it will matter rarely (perhaps once every 6 sessions or so), reduce the cost by one-sixth.
- If it will cause problems from time to time (in some, but not all, sessions), reduce the cost by one fourth.
- If it will be a frequent impediment (once a session on average), reduce the cost by half.
- If it will prevent you from using your Powers except in unusual situations (no more than once a session on average), reduce the cost by three fourths.
At the GM's discretion, difficult-to-classify limitations might grant a rebate in between two of the suggested ones. Decimal costs should be rounded to the nearest integer, with GMs rounding halves based on what cost seems more appropriate.
Most of its development was on this thread (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,32434.0.html), back when it was still named The Catch. The final touches were put on it in the Custom Powers Master List thread, IIRC.
I'd be happy to see Toughness lose the "mandatory Catch" bit, but by the RAW it's pretty clear that even Inhuman Toughness needs a Catch.
EDIT: Oops, ninja'd.
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No this is really useful, Sanctaphrax, thanks. I can see why they didn't include something so obviously mechanical and straightforward in the rulebook (doesn't really fit the in-universe tone) but it definitely makes the purpose of the Catch clearer.
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They probably have a catch of something like disease, or mordite.
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I rather suspect that Mordite would be represented as having either ACaEBG, or at the very least something akin to Soulfire's universal toughness downgrading. I really don't think it's a good choice for a Catch.
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Yeah, Mordite isn't really a catch, it's more of a plot device.