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 What's Good For the Goose...?, NPC's vs PC's |
 Jan 15 2006, 03:08 PM
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#26
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Free Spirit  Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,928 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Bloomington, IN UCAS Member No.: 1,920  |
Ditto! Back on topic... The biggest perk for me for GMing is being able to play the characters that are not available to players as PCs, and easy access to unavailable gear, or all the other canon stuff off limit to PCs. I see little reason to invent "super powers" or gadgets. If I did, the players should have the same leeway. I have had players want to develop new stuff. This desire shaped the direction the game went as they carried out their plan. Since they introduced the new thing to that games universe, I let it trickle down to the rest of the inhabitants of that universe. The described metamagic power of allowing confusion to be used by the NPC during melee seems quite powerful at first glance. After all, TN modifiers are huge in melee. But the NPC is evidently a shaman of some sort (totem) so could have a spirit with the power on standby with the command to confuse everyone the character fights. So IMO, the GM kind of got too cute in describing how the confusion power goes into effect. Should this allow the PC to design a similar power? Maybe, as long as the outcome is as simple to duplicate as this example. |
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Jan 15 2006, 03:49 PM
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#27
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 751 Joined: 7-June 02 From: Hamilton.LTG.on.ca Member No.: 2,853 |
When players are aloud to create powers or tech it can sometimes ruins a game.
In one of my first groups, i had a fellow player have an adept abilaty that when ever a picture would be taken , it was blurry, people could never remebered him or anything , it was just a major unbalance and the GM at the time never used his abilaty as a bad thing. It was RETARDED like the drop bear thread. |
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Jan 15 2006, 05:07 PM
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#28
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Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760 |
[quote dictionary.com] re·tard1 Audio pronunciation of "retarded" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-tärd) v. re·tard·ed, re·tard·ing, re·tards v. tr. To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede. [/quote] You are correct, our progress has been... less than satisfactory at times. But we make up for it with determination. As for the topic at hand... I don't think the power itself is completely overpowering. Let the character buy it, but I would recommend setting the price and drain high, and try to give it in steps. Make the first, minor ability available (confusion power adds a modifier to everyone else, perhaps), then, if that works well enough, make the next level available. My biggest concern as a GM is always that it'll unbalance the game. Unfortunately, it's sometimes difficult to tell how unbalancing it'll be, and taking stuff back is never fun for players or GMs. If you give it in piecemeal, it'll let you test it and limit it without too much trouble. If you've given him an underpowered ability that he paid too much for, I doubt he'll complain if you upgrade it later. The same can't be said for downgrades. |
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Jan 16 2006, 04:36 AM
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#29
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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 |
What is good for the NPC is good for the PC if and only if it doesn't disrupt the balance of the game. It is perfectly alright to give NPCs gamebreaking powers up to a point. It just forces the PCs to find a different way to fight them or a way not to fight them at all.
When you give a gamebreaking power to a PC, however, it messes everything up. The players will be less likely to plan and more likely to fall back on the same superpower over and over. Meanwhile, players who don't benefit from these powers will be plotting way to kill the Mary Sue. When aproving any power there are two major questions that you have to ask. Does this power provide a significant advantage to the PC or is it just good for flavor? If the answer is the former then then you should seriously consider denying it. If it is the latter there is no reason not to allow it. If this power mimics something that is already available to canon PCs is it better or less costly than the canon version? If so, you should deny it. Let them gain the ability to same way to other PCs have to. On the other hand, if it is more costly or less useful than the canon version, then you may consider allowing it. I find that instead of letting players create PCs with unique powers it is better to let them create NPCs with unique powers. All too often players and GMs ignore PC enemies when they can really be a great source of Threat NPCs. Consdier the Hunted flaw. Some uncreative players put down Hunted 6 : Ares and suffer instant death from orbital cow, prompting some GMs to simply ban the flaw. On the other hand, a creative player could choose Hunted 6: Lemming Death God and then write an intricite backstory on a homosexual academic mage from the Atlantis Foundation who became obsessed with lemmings and followed them off a cliff into the ocean and discovered an artifact which transformed him into a regenerating demigod with the ability to induce SUGE effects in others at will. The player could go on to explain how this magician turned demigod kidnapped and sexually tortured his hetrosexual character as part of a ritual to grant him ultimate power and that he still needs the PC to complete the ritual. This would give a GM a great Threat NPC as well as an excuse to throw armies of bizarros at the PCs. And when players create their own superpowered Threats they have the same emotional investment that the NPC that they do with superpowered PCs, only that investment is directed toward the Threats downfall rather than a PC's success. (Of course, there are exceptions. Some players make characters with th intent that they die at the hands of their enemies.) |
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Jan 16 2006, 04:54 AM
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#30
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 16,898 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
How about "it creates flavour that goes against the flavour I want in my game"?
You've been reading too much Immoral Angel. ~J |
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Jan 16 2006, 04:59 AM
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#31
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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 |
That goes without saying.
Guilty. |
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Jan 16 2006, 10:39 PM
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#32
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,408 Joined: 31-January 04 From: Reston VA, USA Member No.: 6,046 |
Hmmm, confusion metamagic geas'd to sexually explicit dancing.
Plenty of ways that this wouldn't have to be overpowered.
Done this way, I wouldn't even make it that expensive... |
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Jan 16 2006, 10:52 PM
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#33
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 16,898 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Overpowered in combat. In melee, this would be a crushing effect.
To match the Charisma bonus of an Elf, you need to be an Albino Dwarf. To match a Dryad, you must be an Albino Gnome.
This could be assumed.
Now we're getting somewhere.
What about FFBA/Second Skin line? ~J |
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Jan 17 2006, 12:56 AM
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#34
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 668 Joined: 15-February 05 From: Ontario, Canada Member No.: 7,086 |
I have to make the comment that in melee.. if you're taking an exclusive complex action to apply confusion, I would be laughing. Really. The instant that happens, I'd be attacking all out. Every die possible, and some karma thrown in to boot. You can't defend, can't go full defence, can't do anything but try and soak the hits. There'll be fewer of them, proportionate to the penalty, but it's still a case of soaking only. |
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Jan 17 2006, 12:59 AM
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#35
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 16,898 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Exclusive means you can't perform any other magical action. You can defend and hammer them into the ground when they're rolling against 10s and you're looking for 4s.
~J |
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Jan 17 2006, 02:08 AM
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#36
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 668 Joined: 15-February 05 From: Ontario, Canada Member No.: 7,086 |
...erm.. Drat. You're right.
I forgot that it's only a house rule that some exclusive actions aren't magical and that some you can't do ANYTHING but the action. Canon doesn't have the limit, so you can still do things like dodge and fight back while trying to pick a lock.. |
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Jan 17 2006, 03:10 AM
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#37
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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 |
How about making the act of sustaining the dance a complex action. That way, one can't just apply the penality and then attack. If the dancer stops dancing then the TN modifiers instantly go away. The dance is still usefull for a member of a team but far less so for an individual who simply can't do anything that isn't a free action while performing it.
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Jan 17 2006, 12:29 PM
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#38
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 751 Joined: 7-June 02 From: Hamilton.LTG.on.ca Member No.: 2,853 |
Exotic danncing or Stripping is a good way for an adept to use that nifty power of enhanced preformance in SOta 64.
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Jan 17 2006, 01:41 PM
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#39
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,283 Joined: 17-May 05 Member No.: 7,398 |
Or maybe she was a Leshy, and she dyed her hair.
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Jan 17 2006, 03:10 PM
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#40
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Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
Or a cross-dressing Leshy/Sasquatch cross-breed ork-poser Technomancer!
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Jan 18 2006, 01:54 AM
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#41
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,283 Joined: 17-May 05 Member No.: 7,398 |
:please:
I was being perfectly serious when I said that. |
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Jan 18 2006, 11:04 PM
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#42
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
Judging from his other comments, he might have known perfectly well that it was serious.
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Jan 18 2006, 11:24 PM
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#43
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
You forgot albino shapeshifting vampiric. And lesbian . |
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