Does anyone pay attention to this crap?, Declaring use of powers Options

[Inpu]

As a GM, if I can see where ambiguity may cause a problem, I'll ask in advance what equipment the group is carrying and what powers they're activating. This is particularly important in stealth operations where "everything on" can be a beacon. I take the initiative to prevent arguments later.

That said, if a player does backtrack because they forgot something obvious, I'd likely allow it, provided it doesn't change history. The players are busy dealing with a world expressed through words rather than hot-sim, so there's bound to be things that are missed and forgotten.

Yes. It always pays to know what the players are going in with: fairly common but good practice.

[Critias]

I personally plan on not using it most of the time, no neeed to go all Fist of the North Star on the average mundane. If its something you want to be considered "always on" then thats something to deal with the GM on.

Generally speaking, if someone's worth my melee-oriented Adept hitting, it's worth that melee-oriented Adept hitting really, really, hard. He doesn't hit unless he has to, and when he does, he means it. The times that he won't be out to really screw someone up with a punch are the exceptions, not the rules, so for me the default would be always on, and I'll remark on the rare instance he's not out to lay someone out with one attack roll.

*shrugs*

Your mileage (obviously) varies. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Ascalaphus]

We had an unarmed melee adept in the group; he had critical strike at 5. It was assumed that he always used it, because when he hit someone the point was to put someone down. The real issue was what type of damage to do; Stun or Physical. That depended on the context of the fight.

[Karoline]

"Declare use" powers are some of the worst, especially Dodge in That Other Game with the Two D's. "I declare dodge on you, I declare my dodge on you, I declare my dodge on you...and now you, you, you, and you over there, and yes, you too."

You mean like this?

As for the original question, I'm not going to make people declare things like critical strike which they will generally always be using. Instead I'll require them to declare when they aren't using it. If there is mutually exclusive stuff going on, then they get to pick what their character 'usually' does, and I'll go with that unless they declare different before they even roll their dice.

[Ascalaphus]

As for the original question, I'm not going to make people declare things like critical strike which they will generally always be using. Instead I'll require them to declare when they aren't using it. If there is mutually exclusive stuff going on, then they get to pick what their character 'usually' does, and I'll go with that unless they declare different before they even roll their dice.

This. I mean, you don't require people to declare they're using their smartlink when they fire a gun? It's assumed people do, unless there's a good reason not to.

[Draco18s]

You mean like this?

Hehehehe, that's a good one.

[Daylen]

I had a guy that was a rules lawyer. So out of Spite I made him declare it. You want to quote rules at me then I'm gonna use them right back. He only quoted the rules when they were to his advantage too. So yes It was spiteful but tell me he didn't deserve it and I'll go and apologize to him.

The sad thing is that he would whine about it when he forgot to say he was using it and I call him on it. What a baby. He doesn't play with us anymore...Felt my style of GMing was too fast and loose. I guess you can say that, If the rules get in the way of a good story or action sequence then I tend to throw them out or modify them for the scene.

thats a jackass not a rules lawyer. I quote rules at GMs especially when it will hurt me.


ps quoting rules to keep a GM from not hurting your char I have found to really infuriate some GMs.

[Saint Hallow]

Funny... yeah, in my old game, our GM just had us declare whenever we use a power/ability that was "always on", to specifically tell him when we "turned it off". As for stuff like Dodge (which was target specific), it was up to the player to state the target. I would think Critical Attack power is one of those "always on" things that doesn't need to be declared.

How about the Krav Maga thing of always "Call a SHot then Aim" thing? If they are both free actions, should the person using it just say "I'm always Call and Aiming" in all my shots?

[Yerameyahu]

You only get one Free action, generally. I guess you could Call, Aim, and use 1 Simple in the same Phase. That's why it's important to be clear what you're doing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Saint Hallow]

I thought Krav Maga made Call and Aim Free actions, and people had 2 free actions plus 1 simple per turn?

[Yerameyahu]

No, it's 1 Free plus (2 Simple or 1 Complex). You can use a Simple for a Free, though, AFAIK? (Doublechecking the book: yes.)

Incidentally, Krav Maga does not make Called Shots a Free action; they're already a Free action. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Traul]

I thought Krav Maga made Call and Aim Free actions, and people had 2 free actions plus 1 simple per turn?

You could do that, but it is generally 1 free and 2 simple. While you may always turn a simple action into a free one, there are few cases where aim + call shot + fire will be better than call shot + fire + fire a second time to finish the bastard (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Method]

Unless you have one of the best adept powers in the game: Multitasking, but that isn't going to apply in the Krav Maga situation, since you only get that bonus when not in direct combat.

I guess I have a different perspective on the auto-declared ability thing. Critical Strike is one example, but what I find much more common is cyberware (especially cyberware with multiple modes like vison mods) or commlink modes or things like that. There is a reason that previous editions included things like the Reflex Trigger and why it costs an action (Free action, but an action none the less) to change cyberware modes.

In some cases allowing "auto-on" for things takes an element of tactical thinking out of the game. If you allow auto-on abilities, your players will either a.) never be caught unprepared or b.) argue with you whenever they are because "Of course my thermographic vision is on! I walk around 24 hours a day with it on!". At some point you have to draw a line. For my game I decided it was easier to assume everything was off unless they declare otherwise. Its not about being a dick GM, its about making them think about things and decide what is optimal for their situation.

[Karoline]

In some cases allowing "auto-on" for things takes an element of tactical thinking out of the game. If you allow auto-on abilities, your players will either a.) never be caught unprepared or b.) argue with you whenever they are because "Of course my thermographic vision is on! I walk around 24 hours a day with it on!". At some point you have to draw a line. For my game I decided it was easier to assume everything was off unless they declare otherwise. Its not about being a dick GM, its about making them think about things and decide what is optimal for their situation.

This is true, especially for the increased reflexes things. For the cyberware stuff that isn't going to be always on or you'll feel like your days will drag on forever. Every minute will be those last five minutes before school/work lets out. And the fact is that most people forget that it takes that full first combat turn to kick in for IPs, so anyone using something like that would only get 1 IP for the first round of combat. Now, if you're talking about mid-run, then yeah, everyone will have their reaction boosters on full tilt, heck, even in a J meet or something alot of people will have them on 'just in case' but they're unlikely to have them on while driving to get a soycaf.

As for the visions, those I could see always having on because of the way the tech works. I see no reason that a person with thermo vision in their glasses wouldn't have it on 24/7, especially since it would simply overlay their normal vision, instead of replacing it entirely.

[The Dragon Girl]

This is true, especially for the increased reflexes things. For the cyberware stuff that isn't going to be always on or you'll feel like your days will drag on forever. Every minute will be those last five minutes before school/work lets out. And the fact is that most people forget that it takes that full first combat turn to kick in for IPs, so anyone using something like that would only get 1 IP for the first round of combat. Now, if you're talking about mid-run, then yeah, everyone will have their reaction boosters on full tilt, heck, even in a J meet or something alot of people will have them on 'just in case' but they're unlikely to have them on while driving to get a soycaf.

As for the visions, those I could see always having on because of the way the tech works. I see no reason that a person with thermo vision in their glasses wouldn't have it on 24/7, especially since it would simply overlay their normal vision, instead of replacing it entirely.

Actually I have one who does have it on all the time- I just play her as if shes always tweaking (which was actually true for the first half of the game, when she was on the chemical boosters, then later it switched to adept power)

[Ascalaphus]

Well, trolls and dwarves have their thermographic vision always-on too, so it's not so unusual really. Ultrasound-assisted vision shouldn't be a problem either. But as a GM you might bump against things like UWB yeah.

[Mäx]

"Of course my thermographic vision is on! I walk around 24 hours a day with it on!". At some point you have to draw a line.

If they would see better with thermo in that situation, i think it's pretty dickish to say "You didn't say that you turn your thermo on so your not getting it".
I atleast assume my character is using what ever lets her see best, becouse who the hell walks around in pitch black if they dont have to.

[Method]

I'm not saying that I don't assume a character in a dark room will turn on his lowlight vision. That would be dickish. I'm more so referring to situations like detecting someone in a chameleon suit with thermo in broad daylight, for example. Obviously if you have natural LL or thermo it's always on, but if you have the option to turn it off (as with cyber) then no, I don't think people would walk around using it all the time. It would be destracting.

And to reiterate my point in a slightly different way- it's not the GMs job to keep track of what abilities the character has on or off or auto-on or whatever. The player should declare such things.

[Karoline]

I'm not saying that I don't assume a character in a dark room will turn on his lowlight vision. That would be dickish. I'm more so referring to situations like detecting someone in a chameleon suit with thermo in broad daylight, for example. Obviously if you have natural LL or thermo it's always on, but if you have the option to turn it off (as with cyber) then no, I don't think people would walk around using it all the time. It would be destracting.

It really depends. If your Joe Average then maybe you would turn off thermo in that case, but why really? It is just an overlay, it isn't like it is going to mess up your vision in the middle of the day or anything. If however you are a professional criminal who does illegal things for a living then I would expect thermo to be on 24/7 to minimize the chance of an ambush by cops, corps, or other criminals.

And to reiterate my point in a slightly different way- it's not the GMs job to keep track of what abilities the character has on or off or auto-on or whatever. The player should declare such things.

It's not so hard. For stuff like critical strike it isn't even an issue because the player goes "Okay, I hit him for 36P damage with my punch." and you can figure out that critical strike was involved. For things like thermo/LL... well, someone is bound to have them, and if you need to you can always ask "What kinds of vision does your character have?"

[Yerameyahu]

Indeed: at this point, enhanced vision is a seamless augmentation, part of how you experience life. Even for Joe Average, perhaps. Radar may not be, yet, but anything that fits in your cybereyes could well be.

[Method]

If however you are a professional criminal who does illegal things for a living then I would expect thermo to be on 24/7 to minimize the chance of an ambush by cops, corps, or other criminals.

Well I guess all you have to do to win SR is buy the right gear and assume its always working. <Yawn>

[Yerameyahu]

… Duh.

I like my 'seamless augmented reality norm' better, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[DireRadiant]

As a GM I tell the players I cheat, and that I am cheating often.

[Method]

… Duh.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

I liked your other explanation better as well.

[Nifft]

Well I guess all you have to do to win SR is buy the right gear and assume its always working. <Yawn>

It beats the hell out of playing "HA HA HA, you didn't say you looked UP!".

There's nothing fun about requiring players to recite legalistic boilerplate for common actions.