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Old 04-28-2017, 10:49 PM   #4
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Portsmouth, VA, USA
Default Re: Price of Cumulative (+400%) if each successive use takes a cumulative -1 penalty?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raekai View Post
See, that's what I was thinking, but I feel like taking only 5% off of 400% is so insignificant for turning a previously possibly-infinite power into one with limits. I mean, RPM (which we're actually trying to model) has a cumulative -1 penalty per every 3 skill rolls, and that's still very limiting as you well know. You are one of the masters of RPM after all. At the very least, I would argue for taking 10% off of 400% to make it 360%, which still feels like too much. Sure, it's my game, and I can say 300% if I want to, but I hate to make calls like that by myself without checking in with you guys.

I feel like modeling it off of Hard to Use is unfair, but I might just be biased in this case. Hard to Use is so pitifully small because it gives a flat penalty per use. However, I feel like a cumulative penalty is far more restricting. It's not about how hard it is to make it work, but I feel like it's more about how many times it can work before it fails, which fits closer to something like Limited Use rather than Hard to Use. Again, I might just be biased, so, please, feel free to call me out, but I think there should be a separate limitation for something like that.
Considering most of the time cumulative penalties are a feature (per Powers), this is probably more than fair. Like you said, you can reduce it further (and you should if you feel it's not enough), but I wouldn't.
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