 Need Help With Improved Reflexes |
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 Oct 9 2005, 10:51 AM
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#1
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 145 Joined: 6-May 04 Member No.: 6,305  |
Ok, my GM is trying to come up with a balanced house-rule for Improved Reflexes.
According to one of the other players (this is the way he *thinks* it works, but I dont have it straight from the GMs mouth), the way his current house-rule works is: 1: You take the 'improved initiative' spell, note that thats it "improved initiative", not "imp initiative 2d6" or etc. 2: You get an initiative bonus equal to half the number of successes you get on your sorcery test. Max successes limited by the force of the spell. So, if you want and extra 2d6 initiative dice, you need to take the spell at force 4 and get 4 successes on the test. Do any GMs out there use any kind of house-rule or anything for Imp initiative? If so, please share them. |
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Oct 9 2005, 05:34 PM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 745 Joined: 26-July 03 From: Montréal, QC, Canada Member No.: 5,029 |
Why do you need a house rule?
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Oct 10 2005, 01:00 AM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 143 Joined: 28-August 05 Member No.: 7,631 |
Sounds like an opportunity for someone with lots of dice and good luck to get 4 or more extra d6s to initiative.
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Oct 10 2005, 01:44 AM
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#4
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Target Group: Members Posts: 57 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,767 |
Increase Reflexes has a nasty drain code and a target number equal to the user's Reaction. A magician could technically take low Intelligence and Quickness to get an easy TN, but that's when you laugh at them for voluntarily turning themselves into massive gimps. By the house rule he mentioned, successes are limited by Force and you get one initiative die for every two successes. That means at Force 6 you'd need to roll 6 successes to get +3d6; you could not get more dice than this without going above Force 6, at which point the drain is going to get unmanagable. This is as opposed to the normal (non-house rule) version of the spell, where you can take Increase Reflexes 3d6 at Force 1 and get +3d6 with one success at Force 1. 6 successes at Force 6, 1 success at Force 1. I don't see how your concern with his house rule could possibly be that it's going to result in crazy ninja mages moving at the speed of light. To get 8+ Successes (for a hypothetical +4d6) he'd have to be rolling a LOT of dice for success (minimum 8, obviously), leaving him very few to roll against the rather massive drain of a Force 8 Increase Reflexes spell. Not going to happen, even with Centering, I'd say. Even if by some miracle he got it, without drain, and had a Force 8 Focus to sustain it for him, that's only +4d6 Initiative with no attendant boost to Reaction, meaning a sammy with Wired Reflexes 2 still has a decent chance of meeting or beating his total Initiative. Leviathan: It sounds good to me. If nothing else, it will prevent mages from taking dirt-cheap Sustaining Foci for it, getting off with a miniscule spell point expenditure, and getting to throw every last damn die for Drain Resistance to ensure a 'free' casting. |
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Oct 10 2005, 02:30 AM
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#5
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Midnight Toker Group: Members Posts: 7,686 Joined: 4-July 04 From: Zombie Drop Bear Santa's Workshop Member No.: 6,456 |
Which is why the original spell isn't broken. |
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Oct 10 2005, 05:53 AM
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#6
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,028 Joined: 9-November 02 From: The Republic of Vermont Member No.: 3,581 |
I use the spell as written, because, while the existing rules aren't particularly elegant, every house rule solution that I've seen presented makes it either underpowered and overpriced, or potentially insanely overpowered at high Force (sometimes even both!). Or puts a hard cap on the useful Force, which is hardly more elegant than the existing rules.
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Oct 10 2005, 08:46 PM
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#7
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,632 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Portland Oregon, USA Member No.: 1,304 |
The best house rule to keep increase reflexes from getting out of hand is to bring back grounding through a focus.
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Oct 10 2005, 09:57 PM
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#8
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Decker on the Threshold Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,922 Joined: 14-March 04 Member No.: 6,156 |
Or just have a Watcher Attack Pack around to kill the focus.
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Oct 11 2005, 12:34 AM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 104 Joined: 12-July 05 From: London, 1870 AD Member No.: 7,495 |
I feel like I read this idea before on DS, but it still doesn't work: MiTS p.101 explicitly states watchers being unable to affect foci because they only inflict stun damage. |
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Oct 11 2005, 12:46 AM
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#10
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Target Group: Members Posts: 54 Joined: 29-May 05 Member No.: 7,419 |
Still, grounding through foci is always usefull. Leads to big boom with very little chance to resist. Also keeps mages from going foci-crazy (never been, nor do I think there will ever be, a foci-addicted mage in our campaign).
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Oct 12 2005, 08:48 PM
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#11
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
The extra D6s also mean nothing in surprise situations. Most often a mage with hyped up initiative still has a mediocre reaction of say 5 - 7 at best.
A Sniper with Stealth (Hiding) 7 base reaction of 6, Enhanced Articulation, Wired Refelxes 2, Muscle Toner 4 and a couple of levels in Reaction Enhancement could easily have double the reaction of our amped up mage for rolling surprise. The Sniper needs 3s, the mage needs 5s. Law of averages = the sniper wins (unless the mage just happens to have a Detect Enemies spell sustained at the time which, if I am not correct, affects his or her target number as well). One 50 cal. round and it's another notch on the stock. Night angel's been there & done that several times. |
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