Author Topic: In Brightest Day etc. etc.  (Read 4302 times)

Offline Mr. Death

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In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« on: February 03, 2013, 04:49:12 PM »
So, out of idle curiosity, I'm wondering how exactly to price and model a Green Lantern Ring as an item of power. I'm thinking a +1 discount (it's distinct, but small and hideable), a sponsored magic (Hardlight as the evocation element, evothaum for constructs, tracking, translations, etc.), and Modular Abilities for things like flight, toughness, speed, and strength on the fly.

As for the charging, I'm thinking Human Form (involuntary) for the charge running out.

Any thoughts?
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Magicpockets

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2013, 05:43:35 PM »
Human Form (Involuntary) means you can use the ring about 1-2 days per month, which doesn't really seem fitting. Maybe attach Feeding Dependency on the abilities instead?

Offline JDK002

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2013, 05:51:24 PM »
Feeding dependancy seems to fit the ring pretty well.  As it's almost identical thematically to how White Court vamps draw on their power.  Though the rings usually seem to be able to last quite awhile between charges.  I don't see it wearing out after 4 uses, maybe having an extended stress track power built into the ring?

Offline Hick Jr

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2013, 06:23:22 PM »
Speaking as a fan of the comics, Feeding Dependency makes the most sense.
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Offline Mr. Death

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2013, 07:14:19 PM »
Human Form (Involuntary) means you can use the ring about 1-2 days per month, which doesn't really seem fitting. Maybe attach Feeding Dependency on the abilities instead?
No it doesn't. It means that there's an involuntary condition under which the ring won't work.
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Offline Mr. Death

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2013, 07:15:19 PM »
Feeding dependancy seems to fit the ring pretty well.  As it's almost identical thematically to how White Court vamps draw on their power.  Though the rings usually seem to be able to last quite awhile between charges.  I don't see it wearing out after 4 uses, maybe having an extended stress track power built into the ring?
The thing I have against feeding dependency is it takes so much -effort- to recharge it--if it's out of juice, you either have to sit out a whole bunch of scenes, or you have to do some equivalent to killing something, when in the comics, it takes the 30 seconds it takes to say the oath to recharge it.
Compels solve everything!

http://blur.by/1KgqJg6 My first book: "Brothers of the Curled Isles"

Quote from: Cozarkian
Not every word JB rights is a conspiracy. Sometimes, he's just telling a story.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_T_mld7Acnm-0FVUiaKDPA The C-Team Podcast

Offline JDK002

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2013, 07:55:39 PM »
The thing I have against feeding dependency is it takes so much -effort- to recharge it--if it's out of juice, you either have to sit out a whole bunch of scenes, or you have to do some equivalent to killing something, when in the comics, it takes the 30 seconds it takes to say the oath to recharge it.
Hmm yeah seems a bit too easy if all you had to do was say you're skipping you next action to charge the ring and wipe your stress track. 

Though, on second thought.  What if it was more a quasi-feeding dependancy?  You can spend an action at any time to recharge it, when the track fills up it automatically gives a sticky aspect like "running out of juice".  So you can either recharge, getting rid of the aspect, or press you luck and keep fighting and hope the sticky aspect doesn't bite you in the ass.

I have no ideaif something like that would be even remotely balanced, just throwing out ideas haha.

Magicpockets

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2013, 09:06:15 PM »
No it doesn't. It means that there's an involuntary condition under which the ring won't work.

Quote from: YS pg. 176
If you are
only rarely able to take your powered form
(due to involuntary change, rare times of
the day or month or year, etc.), you regain
two points of refresh for taking this ability,
instead of one.

Emphasis mine. The only book example for Involuntary Change in play is the Lycanthrope: they get access to their powers for 5 days per month, and they do not get to choose those 5 days; they are set for them. The ring would have to be similarly restricted in usability in order to qualify for the rebate.

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2013, 09:38:52 PM »
This is exactly the kind of thing that Limitation is for.

Offline Lavecki121

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2013, 11:08:18 PM »
Emphasis mine. The only book example for Involuntary Change in play is the Lycanthrope: they get access to their powers for 5 days per month, and they do not get to choose those 5 days; they are set for them. The ring would have to be similarly restricted in usability in order to qualify for the rebate.
I think the involuntary change that death was talking about was losing the power though, not gaining it

Offline Tedronai

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2013, 11:17:54 PM »
I think the involuntary change that death was talking about was losing the power though, not gaining it

And yet that's not what the power does.
The Involuntary Change upgrade to the Human Form power DOES NOT create an involuntary condition under which you LOSE your powers.  It creates one under which you GAIN your powers.  That condition must also be rare or otherwise inconvenient enough that it actually causes problems for your character.  The Incredible Hulk (as depicted in the recent Avengers movie) should probably not gain the additional rebate.  Yes, he can be involuntarily made to gain his powers, but he can also do so more-or-less voluntarily, and the involuntary gain only rarely causes meaningful problems.
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Offline Deadmanwalking

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2013, 11:32:00 PM »
And yet that's not what the power does.
The Involuntary Change upgrade to the Human Form power DOES NOT create an involuntary condition under which you LOSE your powers.  It creates one under which you GAIN your powers.  That condition must also be rare or otherwise inconvenient enough that it actually causes problems for your character.  The Incredible Hulk (as depicted in the recent Avengers movie) should probably not gain the additional rebate.  Yes, he can be involuntarily made to gain his powers, but he can also do so more-or-less voluntarily, and the involuntary gain only rarely causes meaningful problems.

That's not, strictly speaking, true. Though I agree the Hulk wouldn't have it. Human Form [+2] covers any and all conditions where whether you have your powers isn't entirely under your control. Losing them when you are touched by sunlight is just as valid as only gaining them on the full moon (though I guess you could phrase that one 'when not touched by sunlight you gain your powers' but that's awkward as hell, phrasing-wise) or losing them when 'bound by man' ala early Wonder Woman. The point is that there's a condition under which your powers are simply unavailable...and that's what you get the +1 Refresh for.

That said...any battery type situation Human Form [+2] is wrong for, both because that's what Feeding Dependency is for and because that's the definition of a circumstance within your control (you can always keep your power by not using it).

Offline Mr. Death

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #12 on: February 04, 2013, 05:01:35 AM »
That said...any battery type situation Human Form [+2] is wrong for, both because that's what Feeding Dependency is for and because that's the definition of a circumstance within your control (you can always keep your power by not using it).
Well, that depends on which version of the GL Ring you're going under--right now, the continuity has it so that it loses charge as you use it, but it used to be a thing where it had to be recharged every 24 hours whether you used it or not.

Like I said, though, the thing about feeding dependency is that either it doesn't have much teeth to it (Discipline is going to be the GL's apex skill almost certainly), but at the same time when it does come into effect, the RAW has it so that recharging would be ridiculously slow. Any ideas on that?
Compels solve everything!

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Offline Tedronai

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #13 on: February 04, 2013, 05:47:14 AM »
Even Chaotic Neutral individuals have to apologize sometimes. But at least we don't have to mean it.
Slough

Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: In Brightest Day etc. etc.
« Reply #14 on: February 04, 2013, 05:48:46 AM »
Human Form is inappropriate, Feeding Dependency is a pain in the neck, you probably already have Item of Power, and The Catch isn't applicable.

So no canon rebate Power will work well here. Use a homebrew one or just leave it to Compels.

That's not, strictly speaking, true. Though I agree the Hulk wouldn't have it. Human Form [+2] covers any and all conditions where whether you have your powers isn't entirely under your control. Losing them when you are touched by sunlight is just as valid as only gaining them on the full moon (though I guess you could phrase that one 'when not touched by sunlight you gain your powers' but that's awkward as hell, phrasing-wise) or losing them when 'bound by man' ala early Wonder Woman. The point is that there's a condition under which your powers are simply unavailable...and that's what you get the +1 Refresh for.

That would make more sense than what the Power actually does, in my opinion.

Human Form explicitly makes reference to shapeshifting...if you're not morphing, you can't really use it. But absolutely everybody ignores that.

And the +2 version says something like "if you can only rarely take your powered form", which doesn't apply to stuff like losing your powers when bound by man.

Of course, that's what Limitation is for.