Thinking some more on traits that provide extreme good results vs. traits that negate chances of bad results:
We in fact don't have a canonical way for
reaction modifiers to 'pick' between those different improvements.
So here's what I propose:
Allow certain reaction modifiers to apply reputation-like frequency-of-invocation that is tied directly to the unmodified dice result of the Reaction Roll.
So you can have Love'Er-or-Hate'Er characters, 'if he is liked, he is adored, but otherwise nobody cares one way or another', or 'Parker never manages to impress anyone, but nobody
ever, ever says a bad word to her', and other variants.
Game-mechanics:
The above phenomenon can be applied to any reaction modifier, and should also apply to skill bonuses provided by them for balance. Price modifications are as follows (stolen from Reputation modifiers):
- ×½ price if the trait applies either on reaction rolls of 3-10, or on rolls of 11-18, or only on rolls of 9-12 (pick one of the three variants during character creation).
- ×1/3 price if the trait applies either on a roll of 7 and less, or on a roll of 14 and more.
- Alternatively, a trait can have the roll-applicability ranges as above, and get an ×2 or ×3 boost to the effective modifier number instead of a discount (to avoid rounding issues).
How's it look?