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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Pantheras on February 26, 2013, 06:25:33 PM

Title: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 26, 2013, 06:25:33 PM
I'm a fan of In Nomine and I was looking for a power to emulate coming back from the dead.  Not finding one, I wrote one.  I'd like feedback. 
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Return from the Dead (-4)
Description: Everyone dies, but … you can get better.
Musts: You must have a level of Recovery: Inhuman, Supernatural or Mythic.  You must attach this power to the same Catch as your Recovery.  This power has an inherent additional catch: Old Age.
Skills Affected: Endurance
Effects:
- Healing Corpse.  After death, your body will heal.  Your healing time is based upon the level of Recovery that you possess. If your body has been utterly destroyed, you will form a new body at the place that fits the story, either your personal story, someone else’s story, or the overall story.  If the final blow that slew you was dealt using something that satisfies the Catch for your recovery, then you’re not coming back.  Recovery from an extreme circumstance takes at least three days (what can I say, there’s a precedent for this sort of thing.)  New bodies will have same age you had when you died.
- Ghostly Form. (+1)  In this variant, your “soul” appears near to where you died, opening you up to the vulnerabilities of Ghosts (destroyed by sunrise, being consumed by other ghosts, etc.)  If your “soul” is destroyed before your body has recovered then you’re gone forever, leaving behind a very good looking corpse.
- Patron. (+1)  This variant means that your Power depends upon an arrangement with a Supernatural Patron providing you with either a new body (that looks exactly the same) or the healing of your body despite its dead condition.  In choosing this variant, you must incur a debt to your Patron each time you come back. The location the new body appears depends upon where your Patron can put it, or in a place that’s appropriate for the story.  Essentially, this variant means that you don’t really own the power, per se, only that you have ready access to it.
- New Face (+1) Each time you come back from the dead, you have a new body, with a new face, a new voice, possibly even a new gender.  The only caveat is that your new body does look related to your previous body (like a brother or daughter, cousin or uncle.)  Your new face and form will make it difficult for your old friends and allies to trust the new you, though it will also make it more difficult for your old enemies to target you.  Most pieces and parts from your old body (hair, nails, etc) are no longer useful to connect to you, magically, but blood from your previous body can be used.   Family members, objects important to you, and your True Name, however, are still viable symbolic targets.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Hick Jr on February 26, 2013, 06:31:36 PM
There's actually already a [-0] power for this, Undying. But this looks great.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Quantus on February 26, 2013, 06:39:39 PM
Are you playing this in a DV setting, or something more akin to the In Nomine worlds?

Some DV setting notes:
I would change the New Face Option to be more along the lines of possession of an existing body, similar to what we saw the villain of Ghost Story attempt, or else add it as another variant.  And similarly, an option that bypasses the Old Age Catch would make sense based on that same character.  Also, Re. Ghostly form:  would that be a normal Ghost, or the disembodied Soul like Harry.  GS featured both types, and there were extra downsides to the latter (which may or may not have any real bearing in your game). 

Random thoughts:  A higher power variant where you can come back as multiple copies of yourself starfish style could be cool. The classic Hydra would have a limited version of this. 
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Deadmanwalking on February 26, 2013, 07:34:02 PM
Uh...being immortal sans Catch is already available for free, at least by implication. Check out the Ghoul Catch, which involves staying dead if killed. This strongly implies that at Supernatural Recovery or better, you just don't die unless your Catch is used. And...not dying isn't actually that cool, mechanically. You can already not die whenever you like by conceding, so it only comes up in very specific circumstances, and even then you can sill inflict an immortal with permanent fates worse than death.

It's just not worth any Refresh, to be honest. I mean, I guess coming back instead of not dying might let you play possum...but that's worth -1 Refresh at most. Look at Living Dead.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Quantus on February 26, 2013, 07:37:07 PM
I dont think the other versions cover you quite so thoroughly as this one.  I mean, in the other cases if the body is completely destroyed thats pretty much it, yes?
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Deadmanwalking on February 26, 2013, 07:52:58 PM
I dont think the other versions cover you quite so thoroughly as this one.  I mean, in the other cases if the body is completely destroyed thats pretty much it, yes?

That's still really niche, since your Catch still works to do the job. It's worth -1 at most.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Quantus on February 26, 2013, 08:35:18 PM
That's still really niche, since your Catch still works to do the job. It's worth -1 at most.
You might be right.  You could conceivably get some useful things from the Ghost Form, or from the New Face bit.  At ther very least you should probably add some extra downside to teh effect of how this will attract the attention of some cosmically heavy hitters, as has been alluded to in CD and by WOJ.  This is supposed to be something very few have actually managed to do (as opposed to just healing damage or preventing it)
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 26, 2013, 09:19:55 PM
hrm - I didn't see the Undying power.  If you could give me the page number for Undying, I'd really appreciate it so I can modify it towards what I'm going for.

Return from the Dead doesn't -prevent- you from dying, it just brings you back once you do, even from total annihilation of your physical body.  Once you come back, you're not the Living Dead, you're alive - so very, very alive.  The Toughness powers don't prevent you from being killed, they just make it more difficult.  The Recovery powers don't allow you to totally recover from extreme consequences, and I assume Death is one of those.  If either of those two sets of powers did what this power does, I wouldn't have written it up.

Maybe the word "Healing Corpse" was a misnomer  - I was trying to imply that the person's body would heal Even If the person was dead.  Once the soul/spirit/whatever is -back- in its body, then it wouldn't be a corpse anymore.

Maybe I should go with "Death is a Minor Inconvenience" : Unless killed by special means (outlined by your Catch), you won't stay dead.  Even if your body is wholly destroyed, no "death" result is ever permanent.  The time before you return is based upon the level of Recovery that you possess.  The return time from total annihilation is at least three days.

Setting a low value on this Power's refresh cost seems ... I dunno.  I mean, shouldn't coming back from the dead be a really big deal?  Wasn't there actually an entire book about it?  Or is this power something that just Should Not Exist in the Dresdenverse? 

Really, the purpose of this power was to explain a character whose only "real" power is that he can never really die.  He's been burned to death, cut to ribbons, drawn and quartered, drowned, thrown into a star, torn apart by wolves, swallowed whole a few times, stabbed in the heart, decapitated, and shot.  He's been shot a lot, actually.  He just ... gets back up after a while and keeps going.  He's older than time and yet ... he Endures.  (He has the Doesn't Age power, which is considered a +0 refresh I think.)   So, I was thinking this power seemed relatively powerful.

But maybe this power can be achieved by combining Spirit Form with Human Form (Involuntary Change) and Recovery (-3, -5 or -7 refresh) where your Recovery Power are not available unless you've "shifted" into your Spirit Form which can't happen unless you've been killed.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Deadmanwalking on February 26, 2013, 09:27:39 PM
What you're missing is that Recovery powers already do this, and are useful otherwise. Living Dead also does this as well, mechanically speaking. Charging crap-loads of Refresh for something that's already available cheaply isn't really a good plan.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 26, 2013, 10:10:16 PM
I haven't read anything in the Recovery powers that state you can come back from the dead.  Inhuman Recovery's Total Recovery says you can recover totally from any consequence except extreme ones (so yes to a Broken Leg, Second-Degree Burns, etc, but not Extreme Consequences, which I is assume is much, much worse.)  Superhuman Recovery doesn't expand on Total Recovery and Mythic Recovery also doesn't expand on Total Recovery.  What Superhuman and Mythic Recovery -do- is speed up recovery time, increase your fatigue limits and help you to clear away mild physical consequences.

Is Death considered only a Severe Consequence in this game, and thus Inhuman Recovery allows you to come back from the dead?  Or is Death considered a mild physical consequence and is thus covered by other effects of the Recovery powers? 
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Deadmanwalking on February 26, 2013, 10:24:01 PM
Death isn't a consequence at all, it's a result of being taken out, and like all such, entirely based on GM fiat. It's not a real mechanic at all in at least one sense. As mentioned, read some existing Catches, the one for Ghouls explicitly includes the phrasing "Also, dead is dead with a ghoul; if you inflict enough massive trauma (e.g., decapitation), it’s not something they come back from."

If that doesn't at least imply that otherwise you could get up from 'death' with Supernatural Recovery, I don't know what does, or what it means.

Also, leaving Recovery aside entirely, there's still the example of Living Dead.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Hick Jr on February 26, 2013, 10:28:50 PM
I'll reiterate- Coming back from the dead absolutely isn't worth this much Refresh. In point of fact, it isn't worth refresh at all. The [-0] power Undying does this. I'm not saying this is a bad power. I'm saying it's overcosted to all hell. What DMW means is that a Recovery power makes you immortal in the sense that you won't die of old age. Ever. And you become extremely hard to kill. This power's only use that I can think of (Accepting a concession or take-out that involves you dying) is so niche it's almost not worth mentioning. 


Also, what? Mythic recovery explicitly gets rid of Extreme consequences.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Quantus on February 26, 2013, 10:30:08 PM
Is Death considered only a Severe Consequence in this game, and thus Inhuman Recovery allows you to come back from the dead?  Or is Death considered a mild physical consequence and is thus covered by other effects of the Recovery powers?
I wouldnt have thought so, but it sounds like others disagree.  In terms of the DV as shown in the novels, being an "immortal" (which honestly is an overused and ill-defined term) has more to do with aging and natural lifespan than it does with being able to come back from actual Death, and none of the powers would cover the kind of complete annihilation of your body the way this would (Which is why EVERYBODY is affraid of Nukes).  Harry has supposedly attracted the attention of "Big Things" by pulling it off.  And with how Corpsetaker was able to pull  herself back together and start affecting the world after having been properly Killed, which fundamentally changed how she was able to influence the living and ultimately possess other bodies. From a story standpoint, it /should/ be expensive.  Whether it is actually worth the (-5) refresh is more subjective, and probably has to do more with how it is implemented in your specific game. 
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Dr.FunLove on February 26, 2013, 10:34:06 PM
(click to show/hide)


Probably only needs to cost something if it has a mechanical effect - like your stress and consquences fill up to take you out...but you the blow that would take you out fails to do so, as an example.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: GryMor on February 26, 2013, 10:55:24 PM
It's a trivial restriction on the sorts of Consequences you can take, Concessions you can give and the Taken Out results that can be imposed upon you. It doesn't stop you from being taken out, it has no mechanical impact, I'd leave it as an aspect and invoke/compel it as needed. You may also want to take Recovery if it clears out pesky issues like missing body parts, but it many ways this is mechanically worse than a group of spirits with: "We are Legion" and "Distributed Consciousness"
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Dr.FunLove on February 26, 2013, 11:04:50 PM
When in doubt, Aspect up - tis a very elegant solution.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 27, 2013, 01:24:55 AM
Ok, so what I'm hearing is that the game system provides so many options to avoid death, that it's not "worth it" to have a power that allows you to easily, regularly, return from death.  The ability to come back from the dead is better to have as an Aspect rather than to have as a Power.  And, that if it were a power, its Refresh cost should be low, to reflect how unimportant it is, or that it's already included in Superhuman Recovery.

I agree that coming back from the dead Should attract the attention of Powers - but maybe not if the character is of a Supernatural type that has this power inherently.





Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Deadmanwalking on February 27, 2013, 01:31:33 AM
Yeah, that's pretty much the size of it. It's maybe worth -1 if it's got a real advantage of some sort.

Harry's death and return, specifically, were so difficult not because he died per se, but because it was a combination of paying off his various Sponsor Debts, and avoiding NPCdom by gaining much more power than his Refresh could support.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Dr.FunLove on February 27, 2013, 01:36:53 AM
Narratively speaking, Mab just really wanted a slice of Harry-pie...oh yea.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 27, 2013, 02:45:59 AM
Yeah, that's pretty much the size of it. It's maybe worth -1 if it's got a real advantage of some sort.

lol, like not having to worry about dying?  Maybe this could be an add-on to Recovery, like
Cheating Death (-1). No "death" is ever permanent (even the utter destruction of your body) unless the means of your death satisfied your catch.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Hick Jr on February 27, 2013, 02:51:10 AM
You know what? I'm just going to post it.

UNDYING [-0]
Description: You do not die when you are killed.
Skills Affected: Endurance
Effects:
Deathless. Unless utterly destroyed or killed by special means, you can never suffer a fatal wound. No "death" result is ever permanent unless special means are used (as determined by your creature type).

It's a zero refresh power because you don't ever have to die. You can concede. Always. Unless you have a very hardcore GM.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Quantus on February 27, 2013, 03:52:17 AM
You know what? I'm just going to post it.

UNDYING [-0]
Description: You do not die when you are killed.
Skills Affected: Endurance
Effects:
Deathless. Unless utterly destroyed or killed by special means, you can never suffer a fatal wound. No "death" result is ever permanent unless special means are used (as determined by your creature type).

It's a zero refresh power because you don't ever have to die. You can concede. Always. Unless you have a very hardcore GM.
The difference being that his removes the "Utterly Destroyed" qualifier.  In his version you can be utterly destroyed and will just reform somewhere else more or less spontaneously.  But yes, when compared to that the -5 does seem excessive.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Hick Jr on February 27, 2013, 04:13:59 AM
I'm not saying that the ability to do phoenix-esque resurrections isn't a bad idea. But it makes more sense to couple Mythic Recover with Undying and just say "i can be blasted to ash and still recover". 5 refresh is laughably high.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 27, 2013, 04:19:43 AM
You know what? I'm just going to post it.

UNDYING [-0]
Description: You do not die when you are killed.
Skills Affected: Endurance
Effects:
Deathless. Unless utterly destroyed or killed by special means, you can never suffer a fatal wound. No "death" result is ever permanent unless special means are used (as determined by your creature type).

It's a zero refresh power because you don't ever have to die. You can concede. Always. Unless you have a very hardcore GM.

Thanks, Hick Jr.   I found the page number.
http://vinlandsolutions.site11.com/Products/DFRPG/Powers.html

I find it strange that the power Living Dead is a -1 Refresh power, but this Deathless power is 0 refresh.  Living Dead prevents you from healing naturally and it screws with your ability to socialize normally - whereas Deathless has no associated drawbacks and yet is considered less powerful?

While I follow the logic that Because a player can always concede and thus avoid the death of their character OR a player can accept an Extreme Consequence and thus avoid the death of their character => Therefore "no permanent death" should not be powerful ... I don't agree. 

I mean, isn't the whole point of having Powers, Stunts and Skills to avoid Extreme Consequences and/or Concessions?  The reason we have Powers, Stunts and Skills in the first place is to attempt to convince the world that we are Right, to fight against the forces of darkness.

I would only accept this fan-written Deathless Power in my game if its refresh was increased.  It's more powerful than Living Dead (-1). Deathless allows the character to avoid death without suffering extreme consequences or making concessions, thus possibly avoiding two very important game mechanics.  Toughness allows you to avoid Physical Consequences, Deathless allows you to avoid Extreme Consequences and quite possibly having to make Concessions.  I feel that's a fairly powerful ability. 
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 27, 2013, 04:25:08 AM
The difference being that his removes the "Utterly Destroyed" qualifier.  In his version you can be utterly destroyed and will just reform somewhere else more or less spontaneously.  But yes, when compared to that the -5 does seem excessive.

Actually, I wrote -4 Refresh, but ... still, maybe that's a bit too much.  :)   
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Deadmanwalking on February 27, 2013, 04:39:29 AM
Corpse Body seems to be trumped by having any Recovery power...including Wizard's Constitution. Making its downside less than biting. Still, you may have a point, and actually being death-immune should be worth something. -1 is clearly around the right price if following that logic.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Sanctaphrax on February 27, 2013, 04:47:27 AM
PCs don't die very often. Spending Refresh on preventing something that probably won't happen once in a dozen sessions is kind of weird. So I think it's fair to give out immortality for free.

Also, death is just one of a bazillion nasty things that can happen to you. It's not necessarily permanent, and it's definitely not the worst fate possible in this game.

...Deathless allows you to avoid Extreme Consequences and quite possibly having to make Concessions.

No it doesn't.

I have no idea where you got that idea.

I find it strange that the power Living Dead is a -1 Refresh power, but this Deathless power is 0 refresh.  Living Dead prevents you from healing naturally and it screws with your ability to socialize normally - whereas Deathless has no associated drawbacks and yet is considered less powerful?

Living Dead is weird.

Its social effects are actually kinda useful, but it can be hard to work out exactly how they work.

Its healing drawback may or may not be trivial, depending on whether it works with Recovery and how hard your GM makes body repair.

And for some reason it doesn't prevent you from needing to eat and sleep and breathe. Apparently DFRPG undead can suffocate.

If you're interested in houseruling, you might want to try altering it. If you look at the list (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43356063/Custom%20Powers%20Master%20List%20%28V3%29.odt), you can find Semi-Animate near Undying. It's a Living Dead rewrite.

PS: Deathless and Undying are not the same.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Hick Jr on February 27, 2013, 05:01:04 AM
Argh. Sanctaphrax the ninja. I was about to ask what the hell you were on about in terms of Extreme consequences. Consequences are what you take instead of Conceding when you want to stay in the fight. Not to avoid being killed, which is the purview of Concession. I suppose a bloodthirsty GM might refuse a concession and try to perform a "death" take-out on you, which is uncommon to say the least.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 27, 2013, 05:39:09 AM
You're right, Sanctaphrax, PCs don't die very often; it's the permanent loss of a character that's beloved.

And you're right Hick Jr, I was confused to think that a PC would take Extreme Consequences AND make a Concession.  What was I thinking?!  Both of those are ways to cheat death is my point, using the tools of narrative.  Knowing that you'll come back from death means you can choose not to take an Extreme Consequence and you can choose not to concede.

My "Phoenix Power" or whatever it is, was written to avoid using either of those narrative tools.  I cite the Malakim from the game In Nomine: warrior angels designed to fight and die rather than be captured or forced to surrender.  They might fight and die, but they come back (like The Crow) with a vengeance.

I -like- the idea of a character who will choose to die in combat, knowing that he is not shackled to this mortal coil, without having to make concessions or accepting an extreme consequence.  I'm not writing this Power with a GM in mind who's trying to kill the PCs left and right.  I write this with a GM in mind who wants to allow her player to play a former angel immortal who, well ... just can't truly die, no matter how many times he's tried.  (He also seems to die a lot, to a comical degree.)

Oh, and thank you, Sanctaphrax for the P.S. (totally, you're right.)  Sadly, your link doesn't work for me.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Tedronai on February 27, 2013, 12:11:06 PM
And you're right Hick Jr, I was confused to think that a PC would take Extreme Consequences AND make a Concession.  What was I thinking?!  Both of those are ways to cheat death is my point, using the tools of narrative.  Knowing that you'll come back from death means you can choose not to take an Extreme Consequence and you can choose not to concede.

At which point you're Taken Out, and your fate is in the hands of your opponent, subject to reason as overseen by the Table.
Just because someone takes you out, though, even in a physical conflict, doesn't mean they get to kill you.  With Undying, you've established the circumstances by which 'death' is a plausible result as being difficult to achieve.  Without it, that assessment must be done each time someone would have reason to propose 'death' as their preferred result.
All of that doesn't stop other Bad Things (TM) from befalling you, though, as a result of your unfortunate not-actually-demise.  Including those that could hypothetically make your character effectively unplayable while technically neglecting to 'kill' them. (take the classic, 'buried in several meters of concrete' solution to typical unkillable opponents; they're not dead, they're just not coming back)
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Vargo Teras on February 27, 2013, 02:07:31 PM
At which point you're Taken Out, and your fate is in the hands of your opponent, subject to reason as overseen by the Table.
Just because someone takes you out, though, even in a physical conflict, doesn't mean they get to kill you.  With Undying, you've established the circumstances by which 'death' is a plausible result as being difficult to achieve.  Without it, that assessment must be done each time someone would have reason to propose 'death' as their preferred result.
All of that doesn't stop other Bad Things (TM) from befalling you, though, as a result of your unfortunate not-actually-demise.  Including those that could hypothetically make your character effectively unplayable while technically neglecting to 'kill' them. (take the classic, 'buried in several meters of concrete' solution to typical unkillable opponents; they're not dead, they're just not coming back)
Very much this. A power that reduces the range of taken out results doesn't actually make them any less potentially permanent. Whether it's being scattered across the forest by scavengers or taken in chains before the King of the Seas, bad things can happen to those who heal from physical consequences.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 27, 2013, 07:01:29 PM
Very much this. A power that reduces the range of taken out results doesn't actually make them any less potentially permanent. Whether it's being scattered across the forest by scavengers or taken in chains before the King of the Seas, bad things can happen to those who heal from physical consequences.

I'm getting the impression that this concept just doesn't fit in the Dresdenverse, where PC death isn't considered a big deal because (a) a PC can avoid death by accepting an Extreme Circumstance instead of the stress that would kill them (b) a PC can avoid death by instead making Concessions (c) Supernatural and Mythical Recovery already allows PCs to come back from the dead (?) & (d) there are many, many fates worst than death, and therefore death isn't really all that bad in comparison, so a power to negate it is silly.

So, it sounds like a character who can be shot, stabbed, burned, drowned, drawn and quartered, shot into the sun, killed in all sorts of nasty ways only to reappear in few days later in Los Angeles ... isn't very powerful according to the Dresdenverse game, worth a -1 Refresh at the most. 

But ... that's the same cost at Living Dead, only without the Corpse Body or the Dude! You're Dead!, and you -can- come back from being wholly destroyed.

>.>  Yeah, I think it should be maybe valued at a -2 (which can be totally negated with a +2 Catch anyway.)

Thanks for the review, guys!

Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Tedronai on February 28, 2013, 01:14:29 AM
valued at a -2 (which can be totally negated with a +2 Catch anyway.)

That's not how Catches work.
Rebate powers can never reduce the cost of the powers they're applied to past -1.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Mrmdubois on February 28, 2013, 02:20:44 AM
Also an Extreme Consequence won't keep you from getting killed if the number of shifts it can absorb are exceeded.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Sanctaphrax on February 28, 2013, 03:00:04 AM
Immortality is narratively very powerful, but mechanically it's almost worthless. It's kind of like Wizard's Constitution...super awesome for the character, not so useful for the player.

Oh, and thank you, Sanctaphrax for the P.S. (totally, you're right.)  Sadly, your link doesn't work for me.

Oops. I must have broken something when I re-arranged my Dropbox. Try again, it should work now.
Title: Re: New Power: Return from the Dead, please review!
Post by: Pantheras on February 28, 2013, 08:38:18 AM
Immortality is narratively very powerful, but mechanically it's almost worthless. It's kind of like Wizard's Constitution...super awesome for the character, not so useful for the player.

Oops. I must have broken something when I re-arranged my Dropbox. Try again, it should work now.

Thanks, Sanctaphrax , I think your reply has summed this up for me nicely.  And, wow, this power list looks pretty cool!  Also, thank you, Tedronai, for mentioning that tidbit about Catches and refresh costs.