Affliction (Secondary Characteristic Penalty) Pricing?

[Cowrie]

I'm working on something and I want an affliction that makes it's victims more susceptible to influence rolls. The obvious solution is to make it give a Will penalty, but, so far as I know, there is no RAW way to make an affliction penalize just Will without also lowering IQ and Per. So, what cost would you suggest assigning a Will penalty modifier? +5% per -1 to Will, maybe?

[Jefepato]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

I'm working on something and I want an affliction that makes it's victims more susceptible to influence rolls. The obvious solution is to make it give a Will penalty, but, so far as I know, there is no RAW way to make an affliction penalize just Will without also lowering IQ and Per. So, what cost would you suggest assigning a Will penalty modifier? +5% per -1 to Will, maybe?

That number seems reasonable to me, if that's how you want to do it.

You could also consider giving the victim a disadvantage. Depending on how you intend to approach them afterward, possibilities include Charitable, Compulsive Generosity, Delusion ("the person who used Affliction on me is trustworthy" or similar), Gullibility, Lecherousness, or some appropriate Obsession.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

The obvious solution is to make it give a Will penalty, but, so far as I know, there is no RAW way to make an affliction penalize just Will without also lowering IQ and Per. So, what cost would you suggest assigning a Will penalty modifier? +5% per -1 to Will, maybe?

I think this is reasonably balanced, yes. It's the same cost as reducing HT, the other main "resistance stat". However, that said, bear in mind that reducing Will will hit any uses of Will, not just influence rolls, so it may not be exactly what you're wanting. To reduce just influence rolls, I'd actually suggest using Susceptible. While Susceptible only talks about HT rolls, its advantage mirror, Resistant, does have rules for applying to Will-based resistance instead of HT-based, so I think Susceptible applying to Will seems reasonable, particularly in cases like this, where we're trying to model a curse more than a specific mental condition. I'd peg Susceptible (Influence Rolls) as a Very Common category, at -4 per level, and thus a +4% per level enhancement to Affliction. Not too far off the cost of the full -1 to Will, but that +1% difference can actually add up once you start taking more levels of Affliction.

[Cowrie]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

I think this is reasonably balanced, yes. It's the same cost as reducing HT, the other main "resistance stat". However, that said, bear in mind that reducing Will will hit any uses of Will, not just influence rolls, so it may not be exactly what you're wanting. To reduce just influence rolls, I'd actually suggest using Susceptible. While Susceptible only talks about HT rolls, its advantage mirror, Resistant, does have rules for applying to Will-based resistance instead of HT-based, so I think Susceptible applying to Will seems reasonable, particularly in cases like this, where we're trying to model a curse more than a specific mental condition. I'd peg Susceptible (Influence Rolls) as a Very Common category, at -4 per level, and thus a +4% per level enhancement to Affliction. Not too far off the cost of the full -1 to Will, but that +1% difference can actually add up once you start taking more levels of Affliction.

Ooh, I like this idea. Thanks, that seems ideal!

Edit: It is worth note, however, that this affliction isn't so much a curse as a weird-biology-pheromone thing.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Edit: It is worth note, however, that this affliction isn't so much a curse as a weird-biology-pheromone thing.

Hmm. If that's the case, I'd actually suggest looking at existing disadvantages to Afflict (or stick with your original idea of penalizing Will totally) - I'm not sure that "penalty to resist Influence, and only Influence" is particularly plausible as a biological condition. It seems like it's always going to come with other side effects, basically. You could go with Oblivious, which penalizes resisting and
making Influence rolls, or Slave Mentality, which slaps a rather huge -8 to resisting Influence, when it doesn't make it outright impossible.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

I'm working on something and I want an affliction that makes it's victims more susceptible to influence rolls. The obvious solution is to make it give a Will penalty, but, so far as I know, there is no RAW way to make an affliction penalize just Will without also lowering IQ and Per. So, what cost would you suggest assigning a Will penalty modifier? +5% per -1 to Will, maybe?

Actually I'd make it exactly the same as reducing IQ as a whole. Having your influence victims be otherwise alert and fully functional but under your spell isn't really a disadvantage for you. (Although honestly I'd chuck the idea and just give the character Mind Control (Suggestions Only)) That synergises very well with influence skills.

[Cowrie]

Oblivious doesn't seem like enough of a penalty. (Whether I go with reduced Will or Susceptible, I'm planning on a margin-based -2 penalty. The pheromones are pretty overpowering.) I looked at Slave Mentality initially, but the lack of individual initiative doesn't really fit, especially since the influence rolls that follow are often somewhat "indirect", requiring some creative interpretation. I think for me the main appeal of Susceptible over reduced Will was that the Affliction wouldn't affect Fright Checks, since if anything it would make those affected relatively ignorant of danger, at least danger coming from the character doing the afflicting. (There's also an obsession towards said individual in the affliction. The reason for the additional Influence roll penalty is that affected individuals are more open to suggestion from anyone.)

Edit: Didn't see David Johnston's post. Mind Control seems unsuitable, because the pheromones are always released unconsciously. Actually, I'm not entirely sure whether the condition for them being released is more normal Uncontrollable plus Unconscious Only or Uncontrollable Trigger with Unconscious only. Basically, it's for a predatory creature that hides among humans and involuntarily produces the pheromone whenever it's hungry. As for pricing it the same as IQ reductions, you do have a point.

[Anthony]

The default is 1% per -1 point in disadvantages, so yes, +5% per -1 seems right (in practice, the pricing of affliction (disadvantage) is poorly related to its effectiveness, but solving that is out of scope).

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

Oblivious doesn't seem like enough of a penalty. (Whether I go with reduced Will or Susceptible, I'm planning on a margin-based -2 penalty. The pheromones are pretty overpowering.)

I don't think it would be particularly unbalanced, especially for something like this where a PC isn't taking the disadvantage deliberately, but rather it's being imposed on someone, to treat Oblivious as a levelled trait, and make it -1 to resist and use Influence skills per -5.

[Anthony]

Note that the easiest way of doing this is to just buy Charisma (scent-based; possibly Resistible) for the character.