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Messages - Wolfwood2

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61
DFRPG / Re: Gun To The Head & Dead To Rights
« on: March 07, 2011, 06:45:35 PM »
Quote from: zenten on March 07, 2011, 07:09:33 AM
One is where having someone dead to rights is a concession.  So part of the terms is you don't blow the guy's head off.

Exactly.  Before you can answer the question of, "What happens if someone has you dead to rights?" you must first answer the question of how the character got in that position to begin with.  Mechanically, it probably happened as a result of losing/conceding a conflict.  Or maybe it was a compel, in which case part of the compel is going to be acting like someone has you dead to rights for the scene (or until its purpose is completed).

62
DFRPG / Re: Compels, Accidental Killings and the 1st law
« on: March 04, 2011, 07:30:49 PM »
Ultimately something like this could turn into a showdown at the table.

REFEREE: Take the Lawbreaker stunt.

PLAYER: I refuse.

Then the rest of the players start offering their opinion, and somebody gives or the game breaks up.

63
DFRPG / Re: Ritual complexity
« on: March 04, 2011, 03:57:04 PM »
Quote from: Moriden on March 04, 2011, 06:45:49 AM
Finally how long do you think a ritual that is under the complexity you can commonly handle, ie <lore, should take?
1] Exchanges
2] minutes
3] st whim

My rule of thumb is this:

Wards, veils, and maneuvers to place aspects on yourself or the environment can generally be done in exchanges.  Drawing a magic circle around yourself and activating it is the sort of thing practitioners seem able to pull off pretty quickly.

Anything that would be 'opposed', that is summoning or trying to impose aspects or consequences or transformations and the like will take a while.  (Though last game, we did impose a rather nasty surprise on a baddie we were waiting to ambush by drawing a circle in advance on a place we knew he would walk and then having two thaumurgists combine to activate a ward around him in one exchange when he stepped into it.  But I think that qualifies as 'prepping in advance'.)

64
DFRPG / Re: Giving teeth to enforcement of The Laws
« on: March 02, 2011, 07:28:35 PM »
Quote from: tymire on March 02, 2011, 07:22:09 PM
Overkill, with extreme consequences can also bring up the never fun revenge situation. 

I trust you mean "the always fun revenge situation".  It may not be fun for the character, but you wouldn't run it if it weren't going to be fun for the player!

65
DFRPG / Re: What to do with my Lawbreaker Wizards Apprentice
« on: March 02, 2011, 07:26:55 PM »
Does the Lawbreaker Stunt mean anything other than, "Now as punishment, I'm going to force you to play at one less Refresh than all the other player characters.  Their PCs all get 7 Refresh to play with.  You only get 6 because that Lawbreaker Stunt that will never help your character is going to squat like a toad on your character sheet, occupying space uselessly.  Congratulations on having a character that sucks more than everyone else's."

I mean, heck, even an Extreme Consequence is still an Aspect like any other.  It can turn into a Fate point factory and benefit your character.  Lawbreaker is a sucky stunt.  If Lawbreaker could actually help your PC in some fashion other than forcing more lawbreaking on him, it would be a different matter.

66
DFRPG / Re: Giving teeth to enforcement of The Laws
« on: March 02, 2011, 07:08:20 PM »
If I were the referee and I wanted to challenge the player to think about the consequences of his PC's actions, the last thing I would do would be to outright kill those mortals.  That's far too easy.  However, neither would I allow him to take them out in order to 'just knock them out'.

What I would do is load the mortals down with enough Consequences to withstand the attack.  An Extreme consequence of 'Horrific Burns', a severe of 'Scorched Lungs', and a moderate of 'Agonizing Pain' ought to be enough to do the job.  Naturally they wouldn't be interested in fighting after that and will concede against any further attack.

So the PC isn't a lawbreaker.  There's no permanent change to his character.  Yet at the same time he's done horrific damage to human beings and he knows it and will have to live with that.  So sure, I'd never force Lawbreaker on anybody's PC, but nor am I barred from having my NPCs take any Consequences appropriate in order to drive home the... well, the Consequences of the PC's actions.

I view the decision to take consequences as a metagame one, and so appropriate in this case.

67
DFRPG / Re: So the first law can't be broken unless you WANT to break it, right?
« on: February 28, 2011, 08:20:29 PM »
Quote from: LokiTM on February 27, 2011, 03:37:23 PM
Lets say the guy hits me for 8 stress. Now I know that the real boss BBG is still to come so I don't want to go in to that hurt and I don't think this guy is trying to kill me, just put me down. I could choose to be taken out right now and not suffer any consequences at all (at the risk of whatever "taken out" narration the GM chooses to impose).

I could take consequences, stay in the fight, and then clearly have the option to concede in the next exchange if I want since I have taken consequences.

Clearly not a very macho character, but does this capture the RAW?

Yes, except that part of the "taken out" narration could be the GM choosing to impose a consequence anyway.  It you're taken out, the GM is within his rights to both give you a moderate consequence _and_ have your PC get captured or something.

Now that said, if the only way to avoid being taken out is to fill up all your Consequence boxes, then sure, it might be worth your time to just take the hit and let the GM take out your PC.  Effectively dare the GM to kill your PC.  It's probably a pretty safe bluff.

68
DFRPG / Re: So the first law can't be broken unless you WANT to break it, right?
« on: February 18, 2011, 06:00:09 PM »
Applying the Lawbreaker stunt can have huge consequences for a player character, up to and inclduing suddenly becoming an NPC.  (Let's face it, a lot of spellcasters play on very low refresh.)  I would never, ever force a lawbreaker stunt on a PC without explicit out of character buy-in from the player, any more than I would kill a PC without discussing it with the player.

No, not even with a Compel.  Compels are there to create complications, not to radically and permanently alter the character.

That said, if the PC throws around a bunch of potentially-lethal evocations on mortals it may be appropriate to apply compels on his high concept and even request aspect changes to reflect how the PC constantly skirts the law and people are beginning to look at him suspiciously

69
DFRPG / Re: Magic Pants For Shapeshifters
« on: February 18, 2011, 05:48:59 PM »
In my view, if a player doesn't want to deal with the hassle of not having clothing then he doesn't have to.  I'm happy to say that this particular PC is just a really awesome shapeshifter who has mastered the art of morphing clothing, and NPCs look on in jealousy.

And no, it's not going to cost him anything.  Refresh cost is a very rough-grained system anyway.  I don't think the problems of being naked were figured into the costs or anything.

70
DFRPG / Re: Enchanted items - overpowered?
« on: February 08, 2011, 06:49:51 PM »
Quote from: BumblingBear on February 08, 2011, 06:29:16 PM
If you didn't want to allow it, the player could just take their block as armor and still use fate points to increase their defense roll.

Which (since it was a gunshot and the defensive roll started really low) means that the player will likely still take some stress rather than none at all.  All good!  The item helped, but it didn't let you become invulnerable by stacking rolls.

71
DFRPG / Re: Enchanted items - overpowered?
« on: February 08, 2011, 06:24:45 PM »
Quote from: BumblingBear on February 08, 2011, 06:04:11 PM
Oh yeah!  I actually just remembered how the mechanic would work.  The book does not say you don't get a defense in case of an ambush, it says that you "get an effective defense roll of mediocre (0)."  So you'd actually just be adding your +2 invoke to your pre-existing defense roll of 0.

Problem solved and it actually is covered by the RAW.

Sure you can do that.  It doesn't stack with the block, though.  You don't get to use the block to remove 5 from the 6 shift attack and then use a defensive roll to remove the last shift.  Instead you take the greater of your block or your defensive roll and substract that from the attack.

72
DFRPG / Re: Enchanted items - overpowered?
« on: February 08, 2011, 04:38:48 PM »
Quote from: infusco on February 08, 2011, 04:27:18 PM
Okay, here's another question then:

You need Thaumaturgy to create an enchanted item, and not Evocation, right?

So what restrictions would apply to someone with ONLY Thaumaturgy using an enchanted blasting rod he crafted for himself? According to rules, a practitioner could keep using it endlessly for a point of mental stress. For purposes of these rules, what exactly qualifies as a practitioner?

It really depends on the story the player has put together.  If he can make it make sense, then he qualifies.

73
DFRPG / Re: Enchanted items - overpowered?
« on: February 08, 2011, 03:51:25 PM »
Quote from: infusco on February 08, 2011, 03:37:01 PM
Quick question. We were discussing reactive Evocation Blocks in another thread, and it's already stated in the book (YS280) that defensive enchanted items definitely are a reactive Block. But one question that sticks in my mind is this: I'd rule that you can't cast an Evocation Block if you're caught by surprise ... but would a defensive enchanted item be able to reactively Block an attack if caught unawares?

Sure.  To my mind, the balancing factor on enchanted item blocks is that because there's no roll, you can't spend a Fate point and invoke an Aspect to boost the block.  And worse, your opponent can do so.

Oh, I got a 4 on my Guns roll to shoot you in the back and you have a duster with block 5?  I think I'll drop a Fate point and invoke my "I love Guns" aspect.  Would you like to invoke an aspect?  Oh you can't, can you.

74
DFRPG / Re: Magics Limitations due to Mental Stress
« on: February 08, 2011, 03:40:05 PM »
Quote from: jybil178 on February 05, 2011, 09:30:18 AM
There really isn't any precedent for a stunt to increase someones stress, and it strains the confines of what a stunt normally does... 

There's plenty of precendent in other FATE-system games, actually.  Increasing your stress tracks with stunts is common.  The trick is that a delberate decision was made not to do that for DFRPG, because they wanted grittier fights.  Instead of increased stress, you get extra mild consequences to use.

75
DFRPG / Re: Thaumaturgy Communication Ritual
« on: February 07, 2011, 11:06:32 PM »
Quote from: infusco on February 07, 2011, 10:54:40 PM
What IS a limiting factor is the normal limitations of Thaumaturgy, namely that of a symbolic link. So you can't communicate with someone remotely if you don't have anything that is uniquely part of that person ... either an actual piece of him, like hair, or something that that person identifies with very strongly, like his 20 year wedding ring.

Other than that, the complexity of something like this is probably next to nil, like 2 or 3 maybe. Easily a single roll. This assumes the person isn't resisting. Otherwise, the minimum complexity would be (probably) their Discipline score plus two to compensate for Aspect usage.

Although if it crosses into the Nevernever, it might cost more, although I'm not sure.

Since you're establishing a visual link between the two sites, I'd definitely say Divination since you're seeing something that you wouldn't normally be able to see otherwise.

Ah, now that's actually very helpful.  It seems like the easiest way to do this would be to take a normal mirror, break it in half (so the two halves are sympathetically connected) and send the fae the other half.  Then they could talk through the mirror.  (Again, assuming reasons not to use a phone.)

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