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Messages - Sanctaphrax

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181
DFRPG / Re: Rewriting Lawbreaker Powers
« on: March 15, 2019, 12:13:30 AM »
I like the idea of time as an evocation element! Would it be reasonable to have the third give some sort of bonus to empathy? It fits thematically, but it's not spellcasting, so...

Sounds like a plan to me.

182
DFRPG / Re: Mirror Magic (sponsored magic)
« on: March 15, 2019, 12:12:58 AM »
I'd be inclined to increase the cost to 5 as well.

Not confident that it'd be fair then, but I figure it's at least test-able.

183
DFRPG / Re: Mirror Magic (sponsored magic)
« on: March 14, 2019, 08:02:50 AM »
That's what I was thinking. I wasn't certain if I should limit it, though, given that people on this board have said that psychomancy at the speed of evocation can be overly powerful.

I think it'd probably be fine.

You may have already realised this, but in case you haven't: there's some controversy over whether the spirit element can be used to make mental attacks by default. If it can, then it's pretty easy to one-shot almost everything with it, because evocation attacks have huge weapon ratings and hardly anyone is tough enough to tank evocations with both their physical and mental stress tracks. Psychomancy evothaum doesn't pose the same threat because thaumaturgy attacks are weapon 0.

Because it's mirror magic, the idea is that your mirror can double your power the same way it doubles your image.

Doubling the mechanical power of a spell often does a lot more than double its power story-wise, though.

I think it would be more flavourful if, instead of doubling power, it allowed you to select a second target. Even that is probably overstrong, especially for magic with another extra benefit, though.

The restriction is supposed to be that if you abuse it the GM gets your mirror broken. The idea behind it is inordinate power at inordinate risk. The "if your mirror is sealed away, you lose access to this power" means that it can't be behind wards, so it should be vulnerable to assault.

This power was inspired by Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett, where Esme Weatherwax's sister is super-powerful (and deluded) up until her mirror is broken, at which point she is completely destroyed.

I don't think that's likely to lead to good gameplay.

184
DFRPG / Re: Rewriting Lawbreaker Powers
« on: March 14, 2019, 04:57:46 AM »
And that's my broadened version. The version that gives +1 control only to kill humans specifically? Absurdly and unconscionably weak for a full Refresh. Heck, that's weak for a Stunt, never mind a Power. A Stunt to give +1 to hit humans with an attack skill is plausible...but add the killing restriction and that's weaker even than most other Stunts. And Powers are rather intentionally more impressive than Stunts.

It can be useful at high Refresh. The pyramid system puts a premium on cap-breaking bonuses.

But yeah, it's pretty terrible at the levels people are actually meant to play at.

I'd say that the problem I was worrying about was more that they'd add a few more Lawbreaker powers.  Then they have a +2 or +3 to any attack they make, so long as they're aiming to kill.

That is extremely expensive refresh-wise and not really worth it unless you're having cap issues.

Do you have any suggestions for Lawbreaker (2nd-4th, & 6th)?

The second could probably be stretched to include a variety of maneuvers. Evocation can't really transform people but it can put Aspects on them and if you squint that's similar.

The fourth is powerful if you allow mental evocation attacks, which Evil Hat seems to. You shouldn't, though.

The third and sixth, unfortunately, are pretty useless for evocation and pretty narrow for thaumaturgy. You could have them broaden the Lawbreaker's evocation a bit; perhaps Sixth Lawbreakers can use time as an evocation element.

Might be worth thinking about compressing multiple Laws into single powers. You could connect them all to the same Power, or just merge 3+4 and 6+7.

I'm pretty sure this problem has a built-in solution: the stronger they are, the more likely they are to get killed by the White Council. Players abusing Lawbreaker powers? Throw a warden hunting party at them. They dodge that? Well, whatever problem they're trying to solve has also attracted the attention of the White Council. They kill the wardens sent after them? Well, now they've attracted the attention of Blackstaff McCoy, and so on.

The solution to a player taking over the story by being stronger than the other PCs is not to have them take over the story even more.

Besides, Compels are supposed to make things like "somebody wants me dead" into mixed blessings rather than outright problems.

185
DFRPG / Re: Mirror Magic (sponsored magic)
« on: March 13, 2019, 10:21:49 AM »
What do people think of this?

Mirror Magic (-4)
Description: You have found a way to draw magic from your own reflection. To use this power, you must have a specific mirror that you are magically linked to. (If your mirror is broken/sealed away, you lose access to this power. However, you do not have to have your mirror with you in order to use it, except where explicitly stated).
Sponsor: Your own reflection.
Agenda: Encourages deception (both deceiving others and self-deception), not looking past the surface, and being concerned more about appearances than reality.
Evocation: Mirror magic allows the use of the spirit element.
Thaumaturgy: This magic allows the use of magic for illusions and psychomancy.

Looks good.

Evothaum: Yes.

You should specify exactly what types of thaumaturgy it allows you to use the methods of evocation for. Illusions and psychomancy, maybe?

Extra benefits: Once per scene, you can use your action for the round to focus on your connection to your mirror to clear two stress boxes (if you do so, any attack against you that round is treated as an ambush). In addition, in a thaumaturgy spell, you can incorporate your mirror in order to double the power of your spell (the control roll(s) for this power is considered to be the same as for the power you called up the normal way). However, if the mirror breaks, every spell that you have cast using mirror magic is broken and you automatically suffer a mental attack equal to double your conviction plus the number of spells you've used your mirror in (to double power) for the last year and a day. You are not protected from this attack by thresholds, distance, mental armor, or any of your magic (other people's magic, however, may protect you). You defend against this attack with discipline.

This I'm not so sure about. Clearing stress boxes isn't really much of a thing in this system; I think it would be better to be able to hand a mild physical consequence off to the mirror.

As for the doubling-at-risk-of-backlash thing, I don't think it works. It's an inordinately powerful bonus, and while there's a way for the GM to turn it against you it seems hard to make that drawback interesting and game-able.

What specifically is the doubling bonus meant to represent, in the story of the game?

I also have suggestions for different levels of consequences that this power might inflict, if anyone is interested.

I am.

186
DFRPG / Re: Rewriting Lawbreaker Powers
« on: March 13, 2019, 10:15:58 AM »
I think both the extreme consequence approach and the broadened power approach can work well. Really, Aspects do all the heavy lifting when it comes to representing corruption.

Exactly how powerful a broader interpretation of Lawbreaker is depends on the Law. Since Lawbreaker only gives +1 for 1 Refresh and Refinement gives +2, it's probably appropriate for Lawbreaker to be a bit broader. But someone with Sponsored Magic (Outside) boosting every single spellcasting roll with Seventh Lawbreaker is probably still getting too good a deal, especially when you consider that they're getting to ignore the pyramid system. On the other end of the spectrum, the guy who broke the Sixth Law probably isn't getting much bang for his buck.

With all that in mind, I think it's best to write out the details of each proposed broadened Lawbreaker before passing any judgements.

187
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: March 13, 2019, 10:08:57 AM »
gotta give it to you Sanctaphrax in my mind he would be close friend to dresden but damn it this hit into perfect villain for games for team of wardens nicework

Kind of you to say so!

Hmmm. I would love to see Obi-wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress fleshed out. Just got through marathoning Star wars the clone wars animated series and man, I loved it. Annoyed me in some aspects but man the story just pulled me in.

Never seen it. Saw the main six movies years ago, but don't remember them very well. I'd need a pretty thorough explanation to make anything worthwhile for those guys.

I loved your version of Harry Dresden!

I'd love to see a couple of other versions, if you're interested:

Denarian!Harry
Necromancer!Harry
Captain of the Wardens!Harry
Senior Council!Harry
Summer Knight!Harry

It's been a long time since I cracked a Dresden book, so I'm not confident in my ability to get details right. But most of those would be fairly small changes.

Obviously, you'd need to switch the High Concept for each. The Winter sponsored magic and the Molly-related Aspect would have to go. Replace winter magic with Kemmlerian Necromancy, Summer Magic, or some stunts representing political influence in the White Council, maybe move the way his Refinements are allocated around a little, and you're mostly done for all but the Denarian one.

The Denarian one is the trickiest because it depends a lot on what exactly his coin does. Each is different, after all, and I don't remember what Lasciel's schtick was. Dropping Soulfire and picking up Hellfire seems like an inevitability, though.

188
DFRPG / Re: thoughts on winning the war with the Outsiders
« on: March 13, 2019, 09:59:06 AM »
I hope people don't mind me posting since it's been a while but I'm new and this topic really grabbed my interest.

Forum being as quiet as it is, there's no need to worry about necromancy.

To be honest, I'm not sure if the war with the Outside is one we want to see won.  By 'we' I mean not just us as readers but also the beings living in the Dresdenverse.

So why not for us readers?  It goes back to our love of the Dresdenverse.  We love it as it is with all the power struggles, factions and supernatural goings-on.  Massively change the setting and suddenly fans lose a large part of what made them fans.  This doesn't discount fans using AUs in games and fanfic or inventing new struggles for the 'new' world but still, it's a bit of a damper on things.  In the back of your mind you always know the WoJ nixed the world you love.  Or at least greatly changed its paradigm.

Now for the characters in-world.  To be honest, if the Outside is permanently barred from the world forevermore, we'd better hope the Faerie Courts and the bulk of the supernatural nasties get squashed in the process.  Otherwise... well, where is Mab going to get her kicks?  Titania would have to get into it and all the consequences of one Court winning would happen.  Other supernatural factions would breakdown or form causing mass carnage over years.  Maybe God intercedes, maybe a struggle for power erupts, maybe magic is outed, etc.  Now, even if the supernaturals get eradicated (and I really dislike the shades of genocide here), what happens later on?  Somehow I doubt the Outsiders are going to be cowed for long and they have all eternity.  Earth probably won't be ready for recommencement and will be devoid of their protections.  Either way you look at it, for the average person, or even our favorite characters, 'winning' the Outsider War, isn't necessarily a good thing.

The series really promotes the concept of a supernatural 'balance of power'.  The write-up for Las Vegas in the Paranet Papers really typifies this.  The series is also strongly behind the concept of freewill in that you can do what you want... at a price.  Sometimes the price is higher than you know and there will be consequences.  Given that Harry has a tendency to upend the status quo, to questionable benefit, I think we'll probably see a huge change in the status of the War.  Will it be won?  A better seal placed on the Gates?  Who knows.

I just hope that the ending doesn't completely upend the Dresdenverse.  Add new conflicts, new goals?  Great!  Just not make it unrecognizable with a Pyrrhic victory.

One way or another, I think the setting's gonna be made unrecognisable. Jim has talked many times about the "big apocalyptic trilogy" at the end of the series, after all.

That aside, the Outside seems to be outside (no pun intended) the normal balance-of-power considerations. It's just plain bad. It's shown no redeeming qualities, and Outsiders seem inhuman enough that totally eradicating them wouldn't be particularly similar to genocide. So if I were a Dresdenverse mortal, I'd definitely want it gone.

189
DFRPG / Re: Crossroads Demon Sponsored Magic?
« on: February 15, 2019, 08:48:50 PM »
Conjuration has plenty of combat applications. Especially if you can create objects that are inherently dangerous or in motion. Conjuring acid or arrows in flight is pretty deadly.

The "worthless" part needs to be set aside, though; obviously you don't want your magic to be definitionally worthless.

190
DFRPG / Re: hellfire/holy water interaction?
« on: February 15, 2019, 08:46:12 PM »
Narratively, I don't know. I don't see any reason to expect an explosion, but there's no reason not to run it that way if that's what your table wants to try.

Mechanically, the key question is what action is being taken. If someone is attempting a maneuver with hellfire to remove a holy water related Aspect, the Aspect goes away if and only if they beat the difficulty. If someone is anointing themself with holy water to protect against hellfire, as a GM I'd be inclined to say that that's armour 1. And so on.

191
DFRPG / Re: Anything I've missed?
« on: January 21, 2019, 08:57:12 PM »
Despite the description we get of what is functionally a pre-gunpowder battle? With unit formations, maneuvers, an ambush?

Despite that.

Ultimately, this is a battle between cosmic forces. It's not reasonable to treat it as a normal war.

192
DFRPG / Re: Building a jedi knight of the faith
« on: January 21, 2019, 08:48:56 PM »
... ?
I thought that what made the Warden-swords "ok" to kill with was that -- as a tool for killing -- they're ... just swords.  Very finely-crafted, ultra sharp like they're fresh off the whetstone... but swords.  If you get stabbed somewhere fatal, they kill you; if you get stabbed somewhere non-fatal, they don't.  Are they written up in the DFRPG system with extra +StabbyKilly ?

As tools I think they are ultra-tough, harder to break than an ax or other heavyweight chopping-tools, etc.

But it's mostly their anti-magic that makes them fearsome to wizards.

Have I overlooked some  extra +StabbyKilly ?

Yes. As explained on YS 303, Warden Swords are weapon 6 when you spend a "charge".

193
DFRPG / Re: Anything I've missed?
« on: January 20, 2019, 02:50:06 PM »
Except that the Dresdenverse God seems solely interested in protecting free will, which neither side has; Mab regards him as 'the White God' ie merely a god of morality, not the Creator, so there's no particularly reason why He should come to her aid.

The Outside is, ultimately, after humanity.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Outside defeated Winter and was then destroyed by God or humanity.

Sheer numbers come into play here. Wizards are rare; the scale of the one battle Dresden saw blew his mind.

...

Jim might well write something like that, but - numbers. It's frankly unbelievable.

Numbers, shmumbers.

Look at how the Red Court went down.

Wars tend to be like that. Granted, nothing like this is likely to occur in the series, but armies being slaughtered by new developments is historically common.

The war between inside and Outside isn't so similar to historical wars.

If it was decided by new developments, they wouldn't take the form of magitechnological advances.

194
DFRPG / Re: thoughts on winning the war with the Outsiders
« on: January 16, 2019, 12:42:19 PM »
Anything I've missed?

Well, God is the obvious one.

And then there's magic. Dresden is apparently a "starborn", which gives him some power over Outsiders. Perhaps whatever principle or process makes that possible can be pushed further.

Heroic action is another possibility. Maybe all that's needed is the right person, in the right place, at the right time. We really know nothing about how the Outside works, after all.

- Mab doesn't understand technology. Introducing her to 'ferromancy' and the force multipliers thus available could be interesting. Trolls armed with machine guns would be a game changer.

Possible. Thematically, it'd make some sense. Human ingenuity defeats primordial chaos.

- domains can be created within the Never Never, with their own powers. Could micro-domains bec created at the borders of reality, using those rules to create weapons? Say, a domains that the piles of bones could fall into, keep falling until their speed is many multiples of the speed of sound, and then leave the domain, directed at the advancing armies of Outsiders.

I'm pretty sure nothing like this will happen, though. A weird physics trick is not likely to end a cosmic struggle. I mean, narratively that's just totally unsatisfying.

- Mab's armies are probably constantly being driven insane by the Laws: they'll be racking up large amounts of knowledge of the Outside, for one thing. Granted that few of the troops will live long enough for that to be a problem, but (hopefully) some do, and if not improveed weapons and armour will change that.

The Laws are a mortal thing, I don't think they matter at all to faerie troops.

195
DFRPG / Re: Request A Character
« on: January 12, 2019, 10:01:55 AM »
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