Stress Boxes

[Arctanus]

I searched the forums for Stress first, and couldn't find what I was looking for. Doesn't mean it isn't there, I just didn't find it if it is.

Okay, so I see that everyone starts with 2 stress boxes. There is a skill for each of them that can increase the number of boxes up to 4. Then there's Toughness, which increases the Physical stress boxes by twos. My question is, is there a way to increase the other stress boxes? I haven't found one in the book yet, but I'll keep looking.

[TheMouse]

Conviction and Presence add mental and social boxes respectively. I don't believe that there are any ways to add more boxes to either listed in the book.

If you decide to add something that does this, just be careful that you take the limiting effect of mental stress boxes on spell casting into account.

[Arctanus]

I was just wondering if there was a Supernatural Ability equivalent for the other two stress tracks, or a way to get them past 4 boxes.

Also, unrelated question, as far as character advancement goes you aren't limited to 10 Refresh, are you?

[HobbitGuy1420]

Nope; In the books, Harry's got to be up to 14 or 16 refresh by now. 

As long as the players keep racking up Major Milestones, they can keep gaining Refresh.

[Arctanus]

Alright, thanks. I got both books, and there are a bunch of characters that have more than -9 refresh. I wasn't really sure if that was intended for NPCs or what.

[TheMouse]

Nope; In the books, Harry's got to be up to 14 or 16 refresh by now. 

If you look at him at the end of Changes, I'd say he's actually up to a bit more than that. I haven't done an exact point by point examination, but I'm pretty sure he breaks 20 by that point.

[Arctanus]

I don't think it's quite that high... the OW166 entry lists the Merlin as having a -19 refresh. And Ancient Mai is stated at -18. The notes for most of the Senior Council suggest Refresh levels higher than actually stated, but as far as I can tell the ones listed are supposed to have been stated from the books. Which makes me think the Merlin's listed -19 is what Harry sees, and he sees that as pretty damn strong.

[Belial666]

He's about 25 refresh or so at the end. Spoilers ahead:

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[-7] evocation, thaumaturgy, the sight, soulgaze, wizard's constitution (the wizard template)
[-2] Lawbreaker 1st
[-1] Listening
[-5] Refinement 5x
[-3] Soulfire
[-2] Winter Magic
[-5] Inhuman Speed, Inhuman Strength, Supernatural Toughness with Catch: trappings of Summer

Remember, the writeups of all the Senior Council are woefully understated. This also applies to most high-power guys. I mean, McCoy can obliterate one hundred targets in a single blow and he is the weakest of the Senior Council

[TheMouse]

Dude, you might want to put spoiler tags on there.

[Todjaeger]

Dude, you might want to put spoiler tags on there.

I agree, spoiler tags seem in order.  And with that in mind.

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Two items seem to have been left off.
[-1] Sponsored Magic: Places of Power 'Demonreach'
[-1] Item of Power: Harry's mother's silver pentacle with gem granting World Walker*

Also, a [-2] Refresh cost for Lawbreaker, 1st Law after three or more occasions when magic was deliberately used to kill another mortal/human.  I don't recall when Harry would've used magic in that fashion.  Of why the Council wouldn't have given him a haircut.  At the neckline, given how (un)popular he is with some important members of the Council.

[Belial666]

Remember his last human kill? That is what gave him the second level of Lawbreaker 1st. Spoilers ahead:

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He killed Slade for gaining more magical power. Human sacrifice is a major violation of the First Law and Harry does it knowingly and willingly. The rest of the Council does not know about it yet. Or maybe they do, and the high-powered sniper rifle was used by one of the Council's hired assassins.

[Lanir]

Remember his last human kill? That is what gave him the second level of Lawbreaker 1st. Spoilers ahead:

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He killed Slade for gaining more magical power. Human sacrifice is a major violation of the First Law and Harry does it knowingly and willingly. The rest of the Council does not know about it yet. Or maybe they do, and the high-powered sniper rifle was used by one of the Council's hired assassins.

The circumstances of the situation you mention don't hold up too well. Oh sure, Council haircut time maybe. But not the metaphysical part of the Law.

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He kills Slade with a blade. Slade isn't sacrificed to power a spell, the power of the Winter Knight goes to the nearest Winter Queen as normal. Of course she seems to have decided Slade should bleed out on the table that powers the faerie courts but that's not really anything new or unusual for them. It seems to be part of their natural recycling system if you can call it that.

[wolff96]

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He kills Slade with a blade. Slade isn't sacrificed to power a spell, the power of the Winter Knight goes to the nearest Winter Queen as normal. Of course she seems to have decided Slade should bleed out on the table that powers the faerie courts but that's not really anything new or unusual for them. It seems to be part of their natural recycling system if you can call it that.

Yeah, I don't think that act would qualify him for Lawbreaker, either. 

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Besides, as a servant of Winter -- paralyzed, horribly tortured, and ready to die or not, Slade was still the Winter Knight -- did he even qualify for human status any more? 

The servants do have free will so I can see an argument for Lawbreaker, but would the Council be upset about a Warden killing a Knight under more 'normal' circumstances like a duel or in a straight-up fight?  (Leaving aside the political ramifications for a second).  For instance, when Slade was a renegade all the way back in Summer Knight, would Harry have picked up Lawbreaker if he whacked him on the battlefield during the "Chicago above Chicago" event, while trying to save the world?

One last thought:  Does anyone else find it ominous that the Stone Table was used for the Slade/Harry transfer?  Based on Lily/Aurora and even Ronald Reuel/Lily, the faerie court powers can be moved around without the table -- but Mab deliberately used the Table for that transfer.  I'm wondering if that will have repercussions later.

[Todjaeger]

Remember his last human kill? That is what gave him the second level of Lawbreaker 1st. Spoilers ahead:

(click to show/hide)

He killed Slade for gaining more magical power. Human sacrifice is a major violation of the First Law and Harry does it knowingly and willingly. The rest of the Council does not know about it yet. Or maybe they do, and the high-powered sniper rifle was used by one of the Council's hired assassins.

Spoiler:

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The First Law is Never Take a Life, with the caveat that it involves either using magic to directly/indirectly take someone's life, or using mundane means to kill (sacrifice) someone and then using their death to power a spell/magic.  In the case of Harry killing Slade to take on the mantle of Winter Knight, the situation is a bit different.  For whatever reason, the Winter/Unseelie Court requires that the mantle of their Knight be released by the death of the Knight.  He wasn't killed to make use of his life/life force, but to free the Mantle of Power that he had been entrusted with.  Once the Mantle of Power was freed, then Mab Harry take up that Mantle in a ritual.

One quick suggestion though.  If we are going to do much more discussion of possible plot spoilers, perhaps we should move it to the Spoiler section.

[vultur]

I don't think

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Changes Harry has the full WN template. Probably just Unseelie [-2] and Inhuman Toughness [-2]. *Maybe* Inhuman Speed, though I don't think he's faster enough to qualify, just ... physically improved in general.