Adventure! RPG - Do special effects from knacks stack?

[Guest]

For example, Cool Hand doubles the range for certain ranged attacks, such as bows, while Hightened Senses doubles the range of all ranged attacks. If someone had both of these knacks, would the effect stack? Would the range on the bow be tripled?

[Arcanum_V]

In this particular combination of Knacks, the key word to focus on is in Heightened Senses in which the word "aimed" precedes "ranged attack." The character in question has to spend the turn necessary to aim (p. 204) to get the extra range, which means that (in this case) allowing doubling up of bonuses is not going to happen so often that it's a game-breaker. I'd allow the doubling to stack, effectively tripling the range, especially since range doesn't come up that often as a major factor in my games. If it was commonly used die pools being doubled or tripled, I might be a little more stingy about the whole thing.

In general, I allow cumulative effects, even though this usually opens up a certain amount of munchkinism as characters develop and get more Knacks. The martial artist in my game, for example, now has pretty much every Knack that makes him a better martial artist, and the gunslinger has been a munchkin character from Day One. I just do the same thing to NPCs or craft situations in which a pile of Knacks in one field are not going to solve everything too easily.

[GenderBender]

I agree with Arcanum_V. I allow them to be stacked as well as most other Knacks including a few they say don't stack but it makes no sense why they would not. But then if the players can stack them than so can the villans. And if they are overusing the stacked Knacks it isn't too hard to make a situation where their munchkinisms will get them in trouble. I don't have too much trouble with that though.