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Old 11-15-2017, 08:15 AM   #1
JennyKumeo
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Default [HELP] Luck & Serendipity Question

Basically certain npcs in a setting have both Ridiculous Luck and Serendipity with the limitations psionic and limited use restrictions.

Basically, it's only luck, unless it's being used for medical or psycological reasons. If the npcs are working to heal themsevels or others they have Ridiculous Luck and Serendipity 4. Otherwise they only have Luck and Serendipity 1. What does this restriction cost?

Thanks ahead of time!
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Old 11-15-2017, 09:08 AM   #2
mlangsdorf
 
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Default Re: [HELP] Luck & Serendipity Question

Luck [15]; Serendipity [15].
Ridiculous Luck (Aspected: Healing Only -40%) [27]; Serendipity +3 (Aspected: Healing Only -40%) [27].

Aspected is usually on -20% but I feel Healing only is a pretty limited category and should have a bigger limitation.
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Old 11-15-2017, 09:12 AM   #3
khorboth
 
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Default Re: [HELP] Luck & Serendipity Question

Direct answer:

Aspected luck is usually a 20% discount assuming it's something that comes up often. This is the same discount as defensive luck. This would apply to the difference between always-applicable advantages and only-for-medical advantages.

Indirect answer:

If it's an NPC, how important is the point total, really? Unless it's a product of a point-limiting advantage like ally or patron, do you really need to know the exact value of these abilities? Usually, just knowing what the abilities are and how they work is sufficient.

Side notes:

This setup is difficult when it comes to luck because of how the timer works, but that's something you, as the GM need to work out.

I strongly encourage you to limit serendipity to one level, maybe two. otherwise, when a session or two doesn't lend itself to the particular person in question, the uses of serendipity add up very quickly. If Nothing medical happens for two sessions, this person will have 9 uses of serendipity ready for the third session. That becomes a real headache for the GM, trying to figure out 9 separate coincidences to go in favor of the character or have them carry over to next time.
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Old 11-15-2017, 09:45 AM   #4
Kelly Pedersen
 
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Default Re: [HELP] Luck & Serendipity Question

I'd call the value of the limitation "only for healing" -20%. This is basically the Aspected limitation (Powers, p. 110). Applying this to Serendipity is easy - just apply the -20% to the cost of three of the levels, but not the fourth. So, it would cost 36 points for the three limited levels, and 15 points for the unlimited level, for a total of 51.

The Luck is trickier. What I would suggest doing is actually treating the unmodified Luck and the Aspected Luck as two separate instances of Luck. So you'd have Luck [15], that can be used once per hour, and Luck (Aspected, Healing only, -20%) [12], that can also be used once per hour. Uses would be tracked separately. This has some drawbacks (you could use up both uses of Luck basically simultaneously, and then not have any for an hour), but I think they're balanced by the upsides (you can use two uses of Luck back-to-back, when you'd normally have to wait a half-hour). Ultimately, I think this is easier than trying to work out some scheme of tracking the Aspected Luck every half-hour and the regular Luck every hour.
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Old 11-15-2017, 10:04 AM   #5
Kelly Pedersen
 
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Default Re: [HELP] Luck & Serendipity Question

Quote:
Originally Posted by khorboth View Post
I strongly encourage you to limit serendipity to one level, maybe two. otherwise, when a session or two doesn't lend itself to the particular person in question, the uses of serendipity add up very quickly. If Nothing medical happens for two sessions, this person will have 9 uses of serendipity ready for the third session. That becomes a real headache for the GM, trying to figure out 9 separate coincidences to go in favor of the character or have them carry over to next time.
While I do agree that higher levels of Serendipity can get a bit excessive, I'd suggest that if the uses start piling up, allowing one or two really implausible coincidences to use up multiple uses is probably a reasonable approach. So, if you'd allow "Wow, the hospital we're at happens to have a specialist in the particular disease we're dealing with! Great!" as one use of Serendipity, saying "well, the world's leading expert in the disease just happens to be visiting the hospital, and she's looking to try out her new miracle cure" is reasonable as 2 or maybe even 3 uses of Serendipity.
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