Aberrant RPG - So What Would You Change

[Courier]

A) A number of the suite powers have issues that could be cleaned up.

Elemental Mastery...

1) Should make clear how, and how much, matter it can create (since we have multiple NPCs which can do this).

2) Should have the same detect element sense that some of the other suites have.

3) Should allow the destruction of it's element.

Spacial Manip...

1) Is a fan-boy power. It does too much and is way to strong.

2) Warp as a technique? For that matter teleport as a technique?

Kinetic Manip is a disaster. It introduces a new set of mechanics that don't relate to the rest of the system.

Biomanipulation should be a level 4 power.

The rule on "free" extras should be made a lot more clear.

C) Mega should probably all use the Mega-Strength rules, i.e. 5 auto-sux for their related skills. This would eliminate the need for a "higher mega always wins" rule and do other good things that match the setting.

And yes, it would also raise other issues, but those are workable.

D) Utopia.

The Sterility Conspiracy is really weak and should be redone. As of 2008 cannon says that *no* *one* is fertile. If that's what we want then we need a conspiracy that's better than what we have. If that's not what we want then cannon should be changed.

Utopia can wear a white hat or a black hat but wearing both is tough with the information we have available.

E) The Teragen was really well done. I don't think it needs to be changed at all.

[Courier]

RE: Werewolves (etc)

This is a theme, not a power. If you want a "click on" were-wolf with Mega-Dex, Mega-Str, INV, and Regen, then buy dorm 4 (or 5).

Then hit yourself with the taint club. Many of the WW attributes are it's flaws.

Takes damage from silver.

Rage.

Multiple Personality.

Hairy.

[Noah Weston]

Rev and I have discussed this in chat already.

Yes that is one valid way to go. However, not every player is going to be happy with a character that is either on or off. What if I want to make a character who can also become intangible (or fly, or shoot laser beams or whatever) regardless of whether he is in "wolf" form or not? I guess I'm just out of luck? That's a sucky response when the fluff of the game is saying "If you can imagine it, there's probably a Nova that can do it."

Oh, and it's not about aping a supernatural werewolf. its about making a character that can go from a human to a furry, basically. Shapeshift can do it but it's costly, requires diving into the horror that is Strengths and Weaknesses, and not altogether reliable (though I've seen characters here who do an interesting job of just that, like Caramel Bath). Dorm can do it if you don't mind your human form to be completely unpowered. I just think there is room between those two extremes for something else.

[Mr Fox]

Mal and Mercer.

Those two guys could use some better definition. As powerful as Mal is he should be a lot more competent than he is made out to be. He either has some serious mental issues as a result of Taint, or he's being portrayed as a bumbling idiot which doesn't jive with his mega-int/wits/manip etc. If he's got issues then define the issues. Otherwise hit him with the nerf bat and bring him down to Earth. The problem is that they wanted a Big Bad that could trump anything a PC could do, but that has consequences. Someone that powerful and that smart should be ruling the world.

[Dave ST]

I was asked why I was going through all the trouble of collecting this input and working on improving the Aberrant system. The answer really is a simple one: it's a good system with a poor presentation.

Much in the same way we continue to not only play the system, we, as fans, have continued to write supplements for it the we have collectively agreed are to be considered canon.

I hope to do the same, except I'm trying to improve the playability of the system as a whole through a better representation of the powers, their capabilities, and how to make that all mesh into a better system.

Since Aberrant's release WW has made several changes to the rules for the ST system, rules that were not incorporated into Aberrant or just updated in the ST system as a whole but left out of Aberrant because it was already canceled.

I feel that, if reviewed and cleaned up, the aberrant system could and would be a lot more fun than it is now. Sort of like 'Aberrant: Second Edition'.

So this is why I'm asking for input, I want to know what players have seen and think need changing. Either over all, or just with a specific pet peeve.

Originally Posted By: Sally

This is what I have always thought. There is no good reason for a power to have Elemental Anima, Mastery, Authority, Supremecy, etc.

There is just some manner of Elemental Control, we will call it Elemental Mastery to give it a singular name, and what you can do with it depends on you Quantum Level.

So if I have Elemental Mastery: Electricity and Quantum 4, I can only manipulate existing electricity. My quantum isn't strong enough to create it. At Quantum 5, however, now I can create. At Quantum 7, I'm getting into continent-wide control of it, etc.

None of this silly technique separation BS where if I have Elemental Mastery: Electricity, I can't do the Authority techniques when I hit the appropriate power level because I haven't purchased the Authority power yet. Strictly speaking, the only real difference is the power needed to fuel these abilities.

If we needed to keep the "learned technique" vs on the fly technique, they could be purchased individually like Enhancements for Mega Attributes, minus the dots in the power = number of learned techniques restriction.

You and I agree so much right now on this little shred of truth it would blow your mind.

What can be done at what Q-dot should be more clearly defined (Q-Min), or just cast out completely and left to fall under complete purview of the power (No Q-Min, just defendant on Q for effectiveness).

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Noah Weston

Yes that is one valid way to go. However, not every player is going to be happy with a character that is either on or off... What if I want to make a character who can also become intangible (or fly, or shoot laser beams or whatever) regardless of whether he is in "wolf" form or not?

Fair enough, but you're moving the goal posts here.

Originally Posted By: Noah Weston

Oh, and it's not about aping a supernatural werewolf. its about making a character that can go from a human to a furry, basically. Shapeshift can do it but it's costly, requires diving into the horror that is Strengths and Weaknesses, and not altogether reliable (though I've seen characters here who do an interesting job of just that, like Caramel Bath). Dorm can do it if you don't mind your human form to be completely unpowered. I just think there is room between those two extremes for something else.

If all you want is "furry" and you want all your powers (flight, whatever) to always work independently of that, then buy a Mega-App enhancement. Face of Terror probably works, now you're big and scary.

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

As powerful as Mal is he should be a lot more competent than he is made out to be. He either has some serious mental issues as a result of Taint, or he's being portrayed as a bumbling idiot which doesn't jive with his mega-int/wits/manip etc. If he's got issues then define the issues.

They do and they don't. Mal has been through the big C 4 times. That means he's got at least -8 on social rolls and has serious problems with aberrations (although granted, they're of his own choosing).

The books 'hint' (but granted, should outright state) this. I suspect there's a reason why the core book lists Megalomania and Schizophrenia as major aberrations. The dude just has a better claim for being all powerful and "deserving" worship than most.

But Mal's various issues and failures IMHO reflect these aberrations.

[Dave ST]

This just occurred to me...

The game has no 'mental soak'. They treat all soak as both physical and mental, if they even explain the difference in the power's description at all. One of the attributes that functions as 'Mental Stamina'.

Also, the types of damage and how they heal need to be better defined.

[Adrian Moss]

For the love of God, do something to help the Heal Power. It is horrifically ineffective for the cost and Q:4 min.

The reason I love Bio-Manipulation is because there is no REAL healing before then.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Adrian Moss

For the love of God, do something to help the Heal Power. It is horrifically ineffective for the cost and Q:4 min.

The reason I love Bio-Manipulation is because there is no REAL healing before then.

Now this I don't understand. Heal lets you cure disease, restore limbs, crushed organs, undo Aggravated damage on baselines, etc.

What more do you want?

[Stargaizer]

Well, at rank 1, you can heal 1HL per scene, no matter what. Personally, I'd say something more effective would be to pay a set cost (like 6qp/HL) and have it decrease as the PL goes up (like 6qp/HL - PL, i.e. 5qp/HL @ lvl 1, down to 1qp/HL @ lvl 5), and have the max be like QPx1.5 or something.

What more do we want, to actually be able to heal some damage...

[Dave ST]

How's this? What changed? Note that I use 'Power Points' instead of 'Quantum Points', I just like how it sounds better.

1. Level is now 1.

2. It now has a dice pool, Wits + Healing. I chose wits because it is the skill that 'Empathy' is attached to.

3. You can use it as often as you like, but it costs more as a trad off. If you keep healing yourself you'll run outta juice fast.

4. You can heal more than one type of damage at a time.

5. Q-Min is now 2. You can regenerate yourself at Quantum 1 with the enhancement Regeneration. At Quantum 2 you can now extend this effect to others.

Healing

Level: 1

Quantum Minimum: 2

Dice Pool: Wits + Healing

Manifestation Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Target: Creature touched

Duration: Instant

Power Points: Variable; see text

Description: You can heal almost any injury to yourself or another by manipulating quantum energies.

Multiple Actions: Yes

Effect: Each power point you spend heals two bashing health levels or a single lethal health level per success on the activation roll. You may heal damage by spending successes in any manner of your choosing but all successes must be spent on the same target.

Example: You roll three successes on the activation roll. You may heal three lethal levels (costing you three power points), or six bashing levels (costing you three power points). Or you may heal 1 lethal health level (for one success) and 4 bashing health levels (for the other two successes).

Extras

Cure: You can cleanse a target of any poison or disease, ending immediately all temporary poison effects and removing any diseases or parasites that the subject suffers from currently. Additionally, the target is immune to the effects of poison or disease for a duration of 5 minutes per your rating in Healing (effectively granting complete immunity to the 'Poison' power for that duration).

The power does not reverse instantaneous poison effects. It also does not prevent reinfection after a new exposure to the same disease at a later date. Cost: +3 pp.

Regenerate: You can reattach a target’s severed body parts and grow back limbs or organs. This functions like the Regeneration enhancement, except that you spend all the power points at once, there's no waiting. This Extra can also repair aggravated damage at the cost of 3pp per health level restored. Cost: Variable; see text.

[Adrian Moss]

I like it. If someone wants to be a combat medic, they can. If someone wants to be a doctor, he can, but it costs more. Make sense to me.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Stargaizer

Well, at rank 1, you can heal 1HL per scene, no matter what.

First of all, it's 1 lethal or 2 bashing at rank one... per person per scene.

If a scene is 2 hours per, then in less than a day you can heal anyone from death back up to total health. Of course your power doubles at rank two, so it might be more reasonable to look at that.

For most novas without regen, 2 lethal levels (or 4 if we wait till the start of the next scene) is pretty huge.

And then since this power works on *anyone*, it basically lets you create a cult, or trade favors, etc.

I've felt for a long time that it's one of the better deals in the game. Yes, it's not kick but in combat, but it's not supposed to be and it's HUGE outside of combat. You're a one man medical treatment center capable of replacing lost organs.

[Dave ST]

I've always found Regen infinitely more useful. While you may be right Courier from a statistics stand point, there is no reason the power needs to be level 3 with a Q-min of 4.

Considering most characters die or bleed out before a scene is over it's generally useless in combat. While sure you could be a guy who goes from hospital to hospital healing people. That pretty much makes you a traveling doctor and in most games that's pretty boring... especially when the players need you the most and the best you can do is heal them 1-5 Lethal... once.

All it is is a touch version of the Regeneration Enhancement with a lower wait time on how long organs regrow.

[Mr Fox]

It looks good. Also, I've always felt that there should be an opposite side of healing. Those with the ability to heal should be able to use those same skills to do harm. I'd love to see a Harm version of the above.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dave ST

I've always found Regen infinitely more useful. While you may be right Courier from a statistics stand point, there is no reason the power needs to be level 3 with a Q-min of 4.

The issues that the developers were trying to address are

1) Reduce Q-Cost. Slap one level on it and you can heal as many people as you can touch (thus the reason why it's level 3).

2) Rarity. This is supposed to be a fairly rare power, while regen is fairly common. If we make it as common as regen (by reducing the q-cost and making it cheaper and more useful) then this changes the setting by a fair bit.

3) There's supposed to be a reason to make people want to buy more than one dots of Healing.

Quote:

That pretty much makes you a traveling doctor and in most games that's pretty boring...

I've done this once or twice and it works out better than you'd think.

Quote:

All it is is a touch version of the Regeneration Enhancement with a lower wait time on how long organs regrow.

Healing is roughly a suite power in what it can do (diseases, healing, etc). My inclination is to leave it level 3, leave it at q-min 4, and get rid of the other restrictions.

With one dot, you can heal someone for as much quantum as you send through your node (or if you prefer, your limit is the number of succ on your proposed die roll). You can do this [dots in healing] times per scene. With two dots you can heal agg damage and with three dots you can repair destroyed organs.

And then maybe with 4 and 5 dots we reduce the costs of dealing with agg damage, i.e. 2x and 1x and not 3x. Maybe with 5 dots repairing destroyed organs only costs juice and not willpower.


But the setting breaker is RQC. WWII has that scenario where there are hundreds, maybe thousands of injured baselines. Its seriously a game changer if every tenth nova can deal with that by themselves.

RE: Harm
Q-Bolt or Poison with some restrictions.

[Dave ST]

Originally Posted By: Courier

The issues that the developers were trying to address are

1) Reduce Q-Cost. Slap one level on it and you can heal as many people as you can touch (thus the reason why it's level 3).

Easily fixed with an amendment that states the power is not eligible for that Extra. Regeneration always costs quantum, so will this power.

Quote:

2) Rarity. This is supposed to be a fairly rare power, while regen is fairly common. If we make it as common as regen (by reducing the q-cost and making it cheaper and more useful) then this changes the setting by a fair bit.

There is no such thing as rarity in Aberrant. Quantum 5 grows on trees and players think Elemental Mastery is a text book power. At least that's what I've seen from players.

Quote:

3) There's supposed to be a reason to make people want to buy more than one dots of Healing.

Healing is roughly a suite power in what it can do (diseases, healing, etc). My inclination is to leave it level 3, leave it at q-min 4, and get rid of the other restrictions.

Healing is about as much of a suite power as Quantum Imprint. With one dot you get the entire power's suite open to you and can do it all at 1 dot. That's not a suite. Suite powers are powers the possess techniques. Healing has none of that.

Now, I could make it level 3 and break the extras down into techniques instead... either way it's the same thing.

Quote:

With one dot, you can heal someone for as much quantum as you send through your node (or if you prefer, your limit is the number of succ on your proposed die roll).

Die roll works better, it adds randomness to the situation.

Quote:

You can do this [dots in healing] times per scene.

What does it matter how many times you can do it per scene? Either way your spending juice and will run out of if you heal too much. I highly doubt most novas will have a q-pool high enough to heal enough damage more than 5 times per scene anyway.

Quote:

With two dots you can heal agg damage and with three dots you can repair destroyed organs.

And then maybe with 4 and 5 dots we reduce the costs of dealing with agg damage, i.e. 2x and 1x and not 3x. Maybe with 5 dots repairing destroyed organs only costs juice and not willpower.

That's why I broke it down into it's base components... if you buy all the extras for this power it's level 3.

Either way we have options, Rome wasn't built in a day.

[Courier]

Easily fixed with an amendment that states the power is not eligible for that Extra. Regeneration always costs quantum, so will this power.

Excellent idea. Probably a good thing no matter what is done.

Healing is about as much of a suite power as Quantum Imprint.

Ya, point... although Q-Imprint gets geometrically better at higher dots (although Disin does not).

What does it matter how many times you can do it per scene?

Mostly this matters for self healing, and then normally with ping damage.

That's why I broke it down into it's base components... if you buy all the extras for this power it's level 3.

I'd rather force people to get them all and make it level 3. Healing at level 1 is cheaper and more useful than regen. Making it cost 9 exp means you have to be at least somewhat serious.

[Ashnod]

Originally Posted By: Courier

Easily fixed with an amendment that states the power is not eligible for that Extra. Regeneration always costs quantum, so will this power.

Excellent idea. Probably a good thing no matter what is done.

Does the Mastery suite affect its quantum cost?

[Noah Weston]

But again, that goes into concept Courier. Not every healer will be able to handle agg damage, or poisons/diseases. If it's a level 3 power and I don't want to be able to cure poisons and diseases I then have play with the damn strengths and weakneses with is basically torture.

Besides it's much easier in Abbie to add something to a power (an Extra) then to take something away from a power (No real Mechanic; not counting S&W).

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Ashnod

Does the Mastery suite affect its quantum cost?

Healing + Mastery double dips. It doubles the effect (so instead of healing one HL you're healing two) AND it also halves the q cost.

However, we're talking about the healer equiv of Pax or perhaps Divis himself. Mastery is brutally broken for any other power so it might as well be brutally broken for Healing as well.

Originally Posted By: Noah Weston

But again, that goes into concept Courier. Not every healer will be able to handle agg damage, or poisons/diseases. If it's a level 3 power and I don't want to be able to cure poisons and diseases I then have play with the damn strengths and weakneses with is basically torture.

This is an argument... but IMHO even with those restrictions you're still looking at a level 3 power.

The basic setting has PU having already cured all diseases, most novas are immune to diseases, and Agg damage is extremely rare in many games (baselines have no access to it).

Similarly, many of the suite techniques, even removed from their suite powers and turned into a stand alone power, should still be level three. Regen lets you do yourself, Healing lets you do everyone and anyone. If you want to make a Healer who can *only* cure Agg damage, then IMHO you have a strong case for reducing the level.

[Stargaizer]

Personally, I like Dave ST's idea, but then again I'm coming from playing Gen. Bridges, who can't heal himself... so I might be a bit biased towards the 'small(er) initial power that you can beef up' idea.

[Dave ST]

Originally Posted By: Ashnod

Does the Mastery suite affect its quantum cost?

It's possible. One of the largest misconceptions with any extra that reduces the quantum cost of a power is that reduces each quantum point spent. This is not the case. The reduction of quantum, if used on a power whose activation does not fall under the typical 1,2,3 per use, is applied to the total cost of activation, not each point you spend. You don't get to keep halving your 1qp/HL and paying nothing.

However, since I've worked on redesigning powers in a way that break the 1,2,3 mold (some cost more some cost less) applying mastery to a power may reduce the cost of activation.

Certain Extras add to the cost of activation but you can use the power with or without the bonuses the Extra provides if you wish.

Since Quantum was such a worthless and abstract trait that didn't seem to define anything but how and when a character could get mastery (which face it, that all people want Q6 for anyway) I've looked into way of adjusting it to make it more useful and necessary. These are currently in the brainstorm...

For example:

1. You can't buy Quantum with Bonus Points. Bonus Points are spent during the 'baseline' stage of character creation. Baselines to not posses a Quantum Trait and you can not purchase traits you can not posses with Bonus Points.

2. Quantum Minimum is gone. Powers will likely not possess a quantum minimum. This prevents the quantum trait as trying to be used a measuring stick of what can be done at what level, and disrupting continuity issues with certain powers being able to do 'illegal' things at lower quantum ratings. This idea worked well in Mage with the Spheres, but it did not flow well in Aberrant.

3. Powers can not possess a rating higher than your quantum trait.

4. Mastery is not an Extra. It's automatically attained upon reaching particular Quantum scores. Yes, this will mean it free, but will not be as powerful as it's portrayed in previous versions. Mastery is broke as fuck and was bad idea with even worse execution.

[jameson (ST)]

Any thought given to having all powers work on a dice pool of Quantum + Power rather than Attribute + Power? Or perhaps Attribute + Power but megas do not apply? Its silly to think that a M-Stamina 5 guy can shape shift better with SS1 than a SS 5 guy who has M-Sta 1

Edit: I understand that SS has built in limiters and was a poor example but powers like TK, Teleport, Warp, etc etc do not have limits based on their rank and a user can often use megas as a cheaper way to power that buying the power level up.

[Courier]

SS is an excellent example of a power that should be redone. It's Q-min 4, it's unclear enough that it often becomes a massive box filled with other powers.

3. Powers can not possess a rating higher than your quantum trait.

Now this I like a lot. But if we're going this route then we should have fewer powers that give all their stuff on the first dot.

That proposal I had for Healing would be a good example. 1 dot gives you something, 2+ gives you a lot more...

...and maybe with 5 dots you should have RQC as a free extra.

[jameson (ST)]

Re: Mega Attributes

I suggest using the Scion System (slightly modified)

Megas require a Q-min of Equal to the the mega in question and provide the following auto Sux. Also you need at least the same rating of baseline stat as Mega Stat (up to rating 5 anyways)

Dots | AutoSux

1 | 1

2 | 2

3 | 4

4 | 7

5 | 11

6 | 16

7 | 22

8 | 29

9 | 37

10 | 46

Edit: I would also remove the Megas interaction with powers outright and as compensation allow 1 free enhancement per dot of mega.

[Courier]

RE: Scion Megas

That works reasonable well for all but Strength (although I'd like to skip the "1" and start at 2)

RE: Removing Mega interaction with powers

That reduces both the power of megas (which you are admittedly compensating for) and the power of powers (which you're not).

The mental powers especially just got pretty nerfed... although we could build more succ into high levels of dots. I.e. 3 dots of Domination gives 4 auto succ as well as rolled dice.

[jameson (ST)]

Originally Posted By: Courier

The mental powers especially just got pretty nerfed... although we could build more succ into high levels of dots. I.e. 3 dots of Domination gives 4 auto succ as well as rolled dice.

Which is a much more elegant system and one that would provide incentive to buy a new level of the power rather than more of the associated mega. See also my comment about making the dice pools Quantum + Power, having higher dots provide limited auto Sux would help to balance out purchasing a LOT of Quantum and only a dot or two in a power at char gen. It would also accurately show that while raw power is nice, practice and refinement of the technique can take one further than pure power can (though the two combined is still boss).

Re: Scion style megas, starting with 2 would merely bump everything up by 1 sux, not a huge change but it depends on how one views Megas at low levels. Adjustments can be made of course depending on how you see the power level.

[Courier]

I like it.

Basically you're rewarded for the number of dots in the power, and megas are their own power.

Say... every dot in a power gives you the number of succ equal to the Scion chart above.

Every dot in a mega gives you the number of succ equal to the chart +1. M-Strength will probably still have to be 5x.

There'd be a lot of powers where this works out of the box, but a lot of others will need "extras" for their dots. Note Q-Bolt already does this for 4 and 5 dots worth.

[jameson (ST)]

I would only give those auto sux on powers for Dots 3+, it shows a certain level of mastery of the power and encourages buying powers up at chargen.

I don't see at all why M-Str should be treated any different than the other 8 Stats. Can you give me a single flat out clear reason why it would need to be so?

[Courier]

I would only give those auto sux on powers for Dots 3+, it shows a certain level of mastery of the power and encourages buying powers up at chargen.

We've just taken away Megas AND we've reduced the number of dice being thrown (i.e. Q+Dots as opposed to Stat+Dots). If we're going to preserve balance, then we need some way to get more sux. Ideally this "way" would expand in scope as you increase the number of dots you get.

If only start getting more sux with 4+ dots, then either the power curve for that power will be very steep (lots and lots of suc on the last few dots) or we're not going to be giving out enough sux to balance what we've taken away.

I don't see at all why M-Str should be treated any different than the other 8 Stats. Can you give me a single flat out clear reason why it would need to be so?

Game Balance and setting.

Because otherwise M-Str 4 lets you pick up a motorcycle and not juggle tanks (much less pick up a mountain). Because otherwise Mitoids are a joke and M-Str is pretty nerfed against Q-Bolt.

[jameson (ST)]

Q+Dots = max 15 dice

Stats+Dot = Max 20 dice with broken rules on double and triple sux

but realistically the Stats+Dots max is going to be 15 except in high level games so the only nerf is the double/triple BS

Change the ramps for power scaling and combine with a more moderate number of auto sux. They WHOLE system needs an overhaul not just one magic fix. I'm not implying that changing how the dice are rolled fixes how Teleport will work or how telepathy will function, those powers need to be looked at as well once the dice rolling mechanic is fixed.

As for M-str ... change the way M-Str allows for weight lifting, right now M-str is broken and stupid as compared to other stats. It works too well for damage and not at all for skills? WTF? I can hit Hit but hit poorly? Seriously, weak. As for Q-bolt, yeah Q-bolt needs to be changed too, you know why? Cause with a new system the power ALL need to be changed and overhauled. Its not like those two powers are at all balanced against each other now. The Q-bolter will in a long running fight ALWAYS lose to the M-str guy because he doesn't pay for his extra damage.

[Courier]

Its not like those two powers are at all balanced against each other now. The Q-bolter will in a long running fight ALWAYS lose to the M-str guy because he doesn't pay for his extra damage.

Yes and no. QB is more attractive at certain point levels and for certain characters and less so for others. I have had 3 NP left and, having already purchased Q5, decided to go with QB as the "cheaper" and more effective power. I have also had 3 NP left and gone with M-Str for the same reason.

Over the very long run QB probably dominates because it can have Mastery.

Cause with a new system the power ALL need to be changed and overhauled.

Ya, agreed, and point taken.

[Dave ST]

You two lemme know what you come up with... I'm going to get back to work.

[Courier]

Hmm... this is like a big puzzle. I think it'd be easier to work on one of the easier powers (like mental powers) and not worry about soak just yet. Let's assume that we keep willpower at 10 dots with baselines starting at 3. (If we redo willpower then ignore all of this).

Presumably weak Domination should still has *some* impact on weak baselines. I'll assume Manip of 5.

Weak Domination: Now

Before weak Doms (like Steve in SG) would be rolling 6 dice (ave 2.4) total, 1.2 suc over a weak baseline.

Against a mid ranged baseline (willpower 6) he averages 0, but might be able to get a sux every now and then.

Against a high level baseline (willpower 10) he averages -1.6 sux. Novas with defenses are even worse.

Weak Domination: Revamp

If we're rolling dots+Q, weak domination is 2 dice (ave 0.8). That gives him an average of -0.4

Note that if we expand to 2 dots, we're rolling 4 dice against a weak baseline's 3.

Somehow I doubt a power should be unusable on anyone until we get to 3 dots. For trial I'm going to assume we use Sion's mega rules right out of the box here. One dot, +1 suc, etc

Let's just see how that rule expands:

Revamped Domination: 1 dots of Dom, 1Q (2 dice) (ave 0.8+1) = 1.8

Revamped Domination: 2 dots of Dom, 2Q (4 dice) (ave 1.6+2) = 3.6

Revamped Domination: 3 dots of Dom, 3Q (6 dice) (ave 2.4+4) = 6.4

Revamped Domination: 4 dots of Dom, 4Q (8 dice) (ave 3.2+7) = 9.2

Revamped Domination: 5 dots of Dom, 5Q (10 dice)(ave 4.0+11) = 15

Baseline (3 will) : 1.2 suc

Baseline (6 will) : 2.4 suc

Baseline (10 will): 4.0 suc

Currently a very high end Dominator rolls 10 dice and 5 mega. That averages 8.5, but the standard deviation is crazy.

What do you think?

[Noah Weston]

Okay one of my big pet peeves is peoples interpretation of the Eufiber Background and how the Weave skill interacts with it.

My interpretation does not include it being an amorphous blob of symbiotic goo that can take on any shape imaginiable. From my understanding Eufiber is an actual fiber grown on the body of (unpronouncable name). This is then woven into a cloth and then turned into a piece of clothing such as a dress, pair of pants, a shift, a bra, etc.. A nova, when attuned, can make minor changes to the eufiber such as change it's color or minor stylistic differences however they cannot alter the clothing's mass. The Weave skill allows for a broader range of changes (such as making those wimpy-assed tendrils), but again the article of clothing cannot be made to gain or shed mass.

I'd personally like to see the Eufiber made a little less Uber in the shapeshifting area and I'd like to see a better definition of just what is capable with the Weave skill.

[jameson (ST)]

Courier, I'd say that might just work out.

[Dave ST]

Originally Posted By: Noah Weston

My interpretation does not include it being an amorphous blob of symbiotic goo that can take on any shape imaginiable. From my understanding Eufiber is an actual fiber grown on the body of (unpronouncable name). This is then woven into a cloth and then turned into a piece of clothing such as a dress, pair of pants, a shift, a bra, etc.. A nova, when attuned, can make minor changes to the eufiber such as change it's color or minor stylistic differences however they cannot alter the clothing's mass. The Weave skill allows for a broader range of changes (such as making those wimpy-assed tendrils), but again the article of clothing cannot be made to gain or shed mass.

I'd personally like to see the Eufiber made a little less Uber in the shapeshifting area and I'd like to see a better definition of just what is capable with the Weave skill.

For my house rules, I have different types Eufiber. Each is its own background. Some are 'The Symbiote' (because that's what everyone thinks when they get weave! It's Venom/Carnage time!), one is armor, one is good at Q Storage, onse is really suited for active camoflague... each Eufiber suit gives you something but take something away to balance it out (like not as good Q storage, or weaker protection).

I also don't call it Eufiber... wearing a novas skin is fucking gross... period. I have limits to what I'll do in a game wearing someone skin and calling it fashion is just crossing a damn line to me...

[Noah Weston]

Cool. I did something similar myself. (I think I actually posted the rules I used around here years ago).

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: jameson (ST)

Courier, I'd say that might just work out.

Thank you.

This system works for many of the resisted powers and all of the mental ones.

Off hand I suspect we want Psi-Shield to provide "Rank+1" auto-sux i.e. 2,4,7,11,16 because the defense should work better than the offense on the rare powers.

A dominator can use his power on anyone, P-shield can only be used on the dominator.


I'm less sure about Force Field. Assume that a heavy hand gun still does only 5d lethal damage. Right now the weakest FF you could have would still give 4 lethal soak. Do we want the weakest FF to start at that? Maybe have FF give Rank+2 soak and have Armor give Rank+1 ?

EDIT: Correction: The Weakest FF would currently average 6.8 soak.