Help me evaluate this catch

[Michael Sandy]

"John Buck" is a  Native American trickster spirit scion.  So he has glamours, and he can transform himself into a shadowy form.

So he has
-2 Glamour
-1 Cloud the mind (stunt gives Deceit the stealth trapping)

And in his shadow form he has
-1 Wings
-1 Cloak of Shadows
-? Inhuman toughness, only in darkness or shadow

Basically, anyone who does a maneuver to hold a light on him, flashlight, laser pointer can get a good enough lock on his position to bypass the Catch.  (be a harder maneuver for a smaller light source though).  Since he can resist the maneuver with athletics or deceit, it isn't a gimme.

Btw, the campaign lore we are considering is that Native American magic is generally stronger at self-transformation, like into beast or spirit creatures.

Would it be better just to have a stunt that gives a bonus to his defense roll under the same restrictions?  The cloak of shadows power gives +2 to stealth in shadows, should a defense stunt give +2 to defense or just +1?

[computerking]

"John Buck" is a  Native American trickster spirit scion.  So he has glamours, and he can transform himself into a shadowy form.

So he has
-2 Glamour
-1 Cloud the mind (stunt gives Deceit the stealth trapping)

And in his shadow form he has
-1 Wings
-1 Cloak of Shadows
-? Inhuman toughness, only in darkness or shadow

Basically, anyone who does a maneuver to hold a light on him, flashlight, laser pointer can get a good enough lock on his position to bypass the Catch.  (be a harder maneuver for a smaller light source though).  Since he can resist the maneuver with athletics or deceit, it isn't a gimme.

Btw, the campaign lore we are considering is that Native American magic is generally stronger at self-transformation, like into beast or spirit creatures.

Would it be better just to have a stunt that gives a bonus to his defense roll under the same restrictions?  The cloak of shadows power gives +2 to stealth in shadows, should a defense stunt give +2 to defense or just +1?

I think that catch would be +2 if you had Supernatural or higher toughness, but inhuman only costs 2, so you can only get +1 for the catch.

I believe the defense stunt would give +2.

[Becq]

How about something along these lines:

Protective Shadows: When invoking a darkness-related scene/zone aspect to improve a defense or stealth roll, you gain +3 to your roll instead of +2.  You may not benefit from this more than once for any given roll.

[Tedronai]

rather weak

[UmbraLux]

Basically, anyone who does a maneuver to hold a light on him, flashlight, laser pointer can get a good enough lock on his position to bypass the Catch. 

A catch of "light" should be +2 for "easy / reasonable access" and potentially another +1 or 2 depending on how obvious it is.  If they have to know you personally, you wouldn't gain any more but if everyone knows "tricksters are weaker in the light" you'd probably gain the +2.

Would it be better just to have a stunt that gives a bonus to his defense roll under the same restrictions?  The cloak of shadows power gives +2 to stealth in shadows, should a defense stunt give +2 to defense or just +1?

Depends on the flavor you're looking for.  Does the form (or the shadows) soak up damage or help you avoid it?  A +2 to dodge only when in shadow sounds appropriate.  If it added to the dodge trapping at all times I'd reduce it to +1.

[Michael Sandy]

I think that when fighting a big shadowy bat thingy (in the dark), illuminating it would be a pretty obvious tactic.

In a group combat, I envision my character would be making the bad guys waste their fire on shadows (glamor to make the shadows move suspiciously).  So he would have a bit of a tank role.  The inhuman toughness is so that is would take much more than a single lucky shot to down him (usually) when doing that.

[Tsunami]

The Catch would effectively be worth +1, since that's the max you can get when you only have inhuman toughness.

As for the general value:

• The first criterion, specificity, doesn't really apply here. But i'd say the circumstance "Darkness or Shadow" is common enough to not count as "something specific". So no Bonus here [+0]
• Second, Availability: Everyone can bring a Flashlight, or any other light source to make a scene something other than Dark or shadowy. That's a [+2]
• Third, Knowledge: Does everyone know that Light makes him Weaker? Seems to me that it's a strange enough creature that people would not automatically know. (Depends on the setting though) The Fact that people will usually try to light up a combat zone doesn't really play into it. Knowledge is what counts. I'd say people can research it in specialized sources. That's a [+1]

So the Catch ends up at +3 Bonus


As for the alternative.
A Defense Stunt would give a +2 under a specific circumstance.
"Darkness or Shadow" is not really specific... it's basically available at least 50% of the time. Namely at Night, other situations add to that. I'd say that's a broader circumstance and and only grant +1. But it's always a judgement call.

(Cloak of shadows adds +2 because it is a Supernatural Power, not a stunt)