12-16-2018, 10:47 AM | #1 | |
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota, U.S.A.
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Trait Cost Variants in Specific Settings
On the thread about Honesty, it came up that the inconvenience of always obeying the law depends on how restrictive the laws are. To that Dalin replied:
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So this is a polite request for some examples of doing so. Or a prompt for discussion of how to set about deciding when to change point costs. GMs, would you be willing to share examples of advantage or disadvantage costs you have changed in your campaigns, and why you changed them? How did it work out in play?
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12-16-2018, 06:09 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Trait Cost Variants in Specific Settings
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In my own games, though, we sometimes adjust costs of things after character creation or even swap them out. There's a continuum here between players not role-playing things and unexpected ramifications of the setting. I had a player once who took a pile of social disadvantages for what was expected to be a regular fantasy game with plenty of time spent in civilized lands. After a few months of play, things changed dramatically, and it became clear that the wilderness exploration aspect of the game was going to be much more central than we had originally thought. It basically became a multi-year hex-crawl. The player voluntarily swapped out the disads for other things since they felt like free points. (In my experience, most players want their disads to create meaningful inconvenience; I've had sessions where we barely do anything other than role-play out the consequences of various disadvantages; people without interesting disads feel left out.) Other forumites are wiser than I am about how to decide costs. At my table, we just eyeball things and usually move in increments of 5 (or convert 5-pointers into quirks), though I might look at Bad Sight as a RAW example. |
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12-16-2018, 07:01 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Trait Cost Variants in Specific Settings
Any time technology provides a substitute for an ability that is small enough to implant in the body, it could be priced as an Accessory perk instead. Make it worth [2] to be organic and indistinguishable. E.G. Absolute Timing and Absolute Direction.
Last edited by Donny Brook; 12-16-2018 at 07:04 PM. |
12-16-2018, 07:32 PM | #4 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Trait Cost Variants in Specific Settings
I once priced a version of Jumper/Warp/Detect (Planar Crossings) at 20 points because I wanted it as part of the Elven racial template and I still wanted Elves to be affordable as PCs.
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12-16-2018, 08:36 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
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Re: Trait Cost Variants in Specific Settings
I think its tempting to change the trait's cost, but I would rather negotiate it elsewhere; and likely mime that trait for a better character.
I often require unusual background for things that are problematic for character generation rather than increase the cost of the trait due to bias. (example: children with somewhat rare adult skills) Also I often require unusual background for higher than semi-professional values for skills, some reason that you are skilled beyond belief in. An exception to this would be if you built in a reason elsewhere. (example: character is a STEM savant tween, unusual background unless you have a Duty: Tiger Mom or similar) I have played in games where people have changed values of traits in specific settings because of historic context. Likely that would have just been handled with frequency changes rather than revaluing. (example: racial/cultural bias during a specific era and location) Game-busting players that buy Fearless or Stoic for their a Mythos game character's seem like they should pay more, and Horror notes that the game may be at risk if you let them, but I have found those traits are often double edged, Overconfident Fearless bus drivers are not the best chauffeurs. I think neglecting this may be a problem for GMs that omit that.
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12-16-2018, 08:37 PM | #6 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Trait Cost Variants in Specific Settings
I've always run with the assumption that if you take a Disadvantage that could in theory be completely fixed, you can't or won't get it so easily fixed.
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