[Basic] Advantage of the Week: Blessed, Heroic Feats, Very Blessed

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Otaku

[*]Magical Knack (does 4e have Knack Magic? I'd just use Powers myself)[/LIST]

Knacks were left behind and replaced with Fixed Magic in GURPS Fantasy which is mostly buying Margery (one Spell only -80%) plus 1 point per prerequisite pluse however ever many point you need to buy the skill to the level you want.

[Kuroshima]

Personally, I like blessed as a catch-all trait for things that are not straightforward to build. Of course, when things are straightforward to build, then you price blessed as those things!

Heroic Feats is technically +3.5 to the attribute with maximum duration, less than 30 seconds (-75%), and the cooldown lengthened to one session instead of 5 minutes of game time (at least a -5% nuisance effect, but probably worth about -20%). +3.5 DX is 70 points, with a 80% limitation, that's 14 points. ST and HT would be 7 points instead. One could adjust this to 1d-1 for DX [10] and 1d+1 [9] or 1d+2 [11] for ST and HT instead, but leaving it as 1d makes things much simpler, and the difference is pocket change anyway.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Personally, I like blessed as a catch-all trait for things that are not straightforward to build. Of course, when things are straightforward to build, then you price blessed as those things!

That would be my preference as well. A lot of pre-built officially published traits, to be "slottable" into a template with holy or other supernatural powers, as many as possible at the 10 point price point..

[Anders]

I think a more important question is why there isn't a Brian Blessed advantage.

[The Benj]

Originally Posted by Anders

I think a more important question is why there isn't a Brian Blessed advantage.

What do you mean? Voice already exists.

[Gnome]

I'm not sure we should be so concerned about the ST/HT vs. DX issue. DX costs twice as many CP as ST/HT, but that's because handles many problems that take more than a few seconds to solve. Piloting, Climbing, Stealth (usually), Sewing, Dancing, Sleight of Hand, Escape (to name just a few) are all DX-based skills that are mostly useless in a 3d seconds time-frame.

ST gives you damage, HP, and reduced encumbrance. These are all directly useful for combat. It's the main combat attribute (at least at low tech levels). HT gives you lots of things (probably more than 10 CP worth, as other forumites have pointed out in the past)--resistance to stun, unconsciousness, poison, and many nasty spells and afflictions.
Heroic Feats (DX) may seem like a better deal based on the CP cost of DX, but I think Heroic Feats (ST or HT) is just as good, since ST and HT are both so well optimized for kicking butt within that 3d seconds once per session.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Gnome

I'm not sure we should be so concerned about the ST/HT vs. DX issue. DX costs twice as many CP as ST/HT, but that's because handles many problems that take more than a few seconds to solve. Piloting, Climbing, Stealth (usually), Sewing, Dancing, Sleight of Hand, Escape (to name just a few) are all DX-based skills that are mostly useless in a 3d seconds time-frame.

Operating at upwards of DX+6 can really complicate proper planning and balancing for a particular adventure. I don't really like the variable bonus of Heroic Feats for this reason; not only do you have to allow that the player(s) might spend the bonus early, but that they don't roll as poorly or as well as you expected. It gets really messy when dealing with events that themselves can have a variable amount of time taken based on margin of success.

Even keeping it simple and just focusing on combat, when you get the +6 bonus, that can completely wipe out a Rapid Strike Penalty, improve your capacity for Deceptive attacks, your ability to wave Hit-Location penalties, etc. As I still trying to learn the 4e combat rules... are there any other potential exploits? In 3e multiple attack rules worked differently, so when this Advantage was in effect then, I know that even in a realistic (as in non-cinematic and non-silly game) a high enough Basic Speed granted an additional attack, and in cinematic games you might get them for high enough Karate or similar skills, even without the Trained By a Master/Weapon Master Chambara rules. I think Rapid Strike has replaced a lot of that in 4e...

Oh, and don't forget fantastic sniper shots if you roll well enough; again there is the usual luck factor, but you could use Heroic Feats (DX) for a David versus Goliath scenario (including perhaps an actual GURPS recreation of David versus Goliath).

[Kromm]

I broadly agree that DX isn't more useful than ST on the timescale where Blessed operates. Let's be honest: That usually means "in combat," and whereas most competently built GURPS warriors already have a high DX score and an even higher favorite weapon skill, ST admits less optimization and tends to be kept modest, so players of such fighters target vital areas with their weaker melee attacks and/or lighter firearms. Gaining DX mostly just makes them a little better at what they already do . . . in fact, as optimized fighters tend to be in the tail where bonuses don't produce massive, sweeping effects, there's a case that anything less than +6 on the roll for DX is underwhelming. Whereas gaining ST opens up a whole new realm of tactics: bashing through armor at full skill, engaging foes who lack vital spots, and generally acting as tanks.

(Which reminds me that I have a pending Pyramid article which – among other things – deconstructs Blessed and spells out why DX really isn't any more useful than ST on that advantage's terms.)

I definitely disagree that the randomness of Blessed is a bad thing. It's cheap for good reason: it's a gamble. It's also meant to represent the ineffable, so heroes can't rely on it, because the exact bonus at a given moment depends on factors you need a 20-dimensional, IQ 100 god-brain to grasp. And honestly, if your scenario is so fine-tuned that an unexpectedly good roll for a bonus that lasts a few seconds can break it, you need to unwind it some . . . because unexpected player actions, unexpected critical hits, and lots of other unexpected stuff will also break it, and most of those things don't depend on a special advantage which at least you knew about in advance.

In fact, Blessed is no more troublesome than Strength potions (+1d to ST), Might spells (the mage can opt to add +1 to +5 to ST), and many other variable bonuses. Such resources give the players some control over the terms on which they meet challenges – control that's theirs to have, and intentionally present to offset the GM's use of Rule Zero. How they spend those resources is a big part of what RPGs are about, really.

[Otaku]

Kromm answered most of my questions so I'll focus on the on point that still gives me some concern... and not necessarily the kind of concern others can answer.

Originally Posted by Kromm

In fact, Blessed is no more troublesome than Strength potions (+1d to ST), Might spells (the mage can opt to add +1 to +5 to ST), and many other variable bonuses. Such resources give the players some control over the terms on which they meet challenges – control that's theirs to have, and intentionally present to offset the GM's use of Rule Zero. How they spend those resources is a big part of what RPGs are about, really.

This presupposes someone has no issue with Strength potions or Might Spells.* ;)

Of course, my real concern was correctly diagnosed; if I as a GM design a scenario that can unravel due to the roll for Heroic Feats, I goofed. It really is that simple. Thank you for pointing that out since it should have been obvious and thus no one should have needed to explain it to me.

Getting back to Strength potions and Might Spells... they may be similar but it comes across as apples and oranges. Both are still fruit, but planning for a one-time use piece of equipment or a Spell that the players can more easily control just seems a bit easier than an inborn trait a player can use once per session. Maybe that's just more of my inexperience (or incompetence >.>) showing.

*That was mostly me cracking a joke; though I am wondering I I'd prefer the ST bonus be determined along different lines for a ST potion now that I think about it.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

and the cooldown lengthened to one session instead of 5 minutes of game time (at least a -5% nuisance effect, but probably worth about -20%).

I think my logic for -75% is pretty solid. It's one day per week, once per day and real-time.