Are Calabim obvious?

[Attercap]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

(Looking it up, the level of Disturbance has nothing to do with it -- if the situation's appropriate to the Role, ANY amount of Disturbance will be absorbed by a roll against Role level+Corporeal Forces. So you could be the figurative bull in a china shop and have a chance of getting away with it in this case. )

Ah, right. Roles give a chance for all Disturbance to be ignored, so long as the roll is successful. Pages 43 and 44 of the core rules. Right there in front of me. Good to remember as I've requested all my PCs have Roles in my current campaign.

[JCD]

Originally Posted by Attercap

Unless the disturbance is less than the Role--that's the point of a Role, things "in character" to that Role get overlooked by the Symphony (or, at least, somewhat overlooked). Or am I interjecting house rules into my memory as canon rules again?

Yes and no.

The Role will defend Boris the Calabim bouncer if he happens to break a guy's arm in the course of his ROLE if he rolls below Role and (thinks) Corp Forces? There is a rational explanation for that. Bouncers do that. I would probably add a house rule of there being witnesses. Sort of an anti-Paradox, for Mage fans.

Now, Boris pointing at Phil and 'magically' breaking his arm? There is no rationalization for that. Nor is there for Songs, becoming Celestial etc. It is a very specific cover.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by JCD

Yes and no.

The Role will defend Boris the Calabim bouncer if he happens to break a guy's arm in the course of his ROLE if he rolls below Role and (thinks) Corp Forces? There is a rational explanation for that. Bouncers do that. I would probably add a house rule of there being witnesses. Sort of an anti-Paradox, for Mage fans.

Now, Boris pointing at Phil and 'magically' breaking his arm? There is no rationalization for that. Nor is there for Songs, becoming Celestial etc. It is a very specific cover.

Exactly. My favorite example is that an angel with a Role as a coffee-shop employee could get away with spilling hot coffee on a customer by "accident," but she couldn't simply walk up and dislocate his shoulder.

[rknop]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Exactly. My favorite example is that an angel with a Role as a coffee-shop employee could get away with spilling hot coffee on a customer by "accident," but she couldn't simply walk up and dislocate his shoulder.

You just don't go to the right coffee houses :)

[Attercap]

Originally Posted by JCD

The Role will defend Boris the Calabim bouncer if he happens to break a guy's arm in the course of his ROLE if he rolls below Role and (thinks) Corp Forces? There is a rational explanation for that. Bouncers do that. I would probably add a house rule of there being witnesses. Sort of an anti-Paradox, for Mage fans.

Right. Songs, damaging resonance, or other wacky celestial stuff doesn't fall into the purview of a Role. Ah, In Nomine. The simple complicated game. :b

[Zone]

Wait wait wait!

You mean an angel / demon in a role can injure a human as long as it makes sense for that role?!

dagum ... I had never thought of that. That changes a few things on how I view the game! I mean, it was still awesome, don't get me wrong, but now servitors don't have to rely on humanity to do their dirty work as long as it makes sense!

[Edman]

Which means that anyone with a role as an assassin is in the clear, which frankly bothers me.

[William]

Originally Posted by Edman

Which means that anyone with a role as an assassin is in the clear, which frankly bothers me.

As long as you act like an assassin, taking money for the job and executing it. Killing random Soldiers isn't covered by that.

A "serial killer" can get away with more. So can an "extremely dirty cop." There are no doubt many celestials actively engaging in combat at various spots around the globe as legitimate soldiers. All of these Roles, though, have to be set up first, which means performing Disturbance-creating activities while building up the cover; this justifies the point expenditure on the higher Role if you start play with it. Killing a human makes a lot of Disturbance, which a low Role won't cover much of.

[Acolyte]

Also remember that the odds of your Role covering Disturbance are related to that Role's level, and the higher the level, the less time you spend doing non-Role activities. A level 5 or 6 Role requires most of your day to be devoted to maintaining it, so you really pay as far as celestial usefulness goes for the chance to cover your Disturbance. In fact, your Superior might forbid you from working/paying your Role up to that height, because of this loss in effectiveness.

Also to clarify the above, a ditzy blonde Calabite would still create Disturbance whenever using her resonance to destroy things, but might get away with some clumsy, non-resonance forms of destruction (bumping into a maintenance worker standing at the edge of the sewer hole he just climbed out of...). And the aura of entropy would do absolutely terrible things to her wardrobe.


Also, banditangel you are spot on. Ofanim are much more combat deadly than Malakim mechanically, but demons fear Malakim much more. Malakim might be more implacable as far as hunting you down, but I'd still say Ofanim would be harder to escape. No one ever said rumor was accurate, especially in Hell.

[rknop]

Originally Posted by William

As long as you act like an assassin, taking money for the job and executing it. Killing random Soldiers isn't covered by that.

A "serial killer" can get away with more. So can an "extremely dirty cop." There are no doubt many celestials actively engaging in combat at various spots around the globe as legitimate soldiers. All of these Roles, though, have to be set up first, which means performing Disturbance-creating activities while building up the cover; this justifies the point expenditure on the higher Role if you start play with it. Killing a human makes a lot of Disturbance, which a low Role won't cover much of.

The other way to "balance" Roles like this is to recognize that somebody with a Role of a serial killer is going to have a lot of unwanted attention from the corporeal authorities.... If you're a dirty cop, you have to duck IA, and cover your tracks. Those kinds of Roles *should* be harder to maintain than a more 'straight' Role, just because of their nature.

Then again, as has been pointed out repeatedly, IN isn't all about "balance", and if you've got players figuring out how to trick out the rules to get away with lots of stuff, you may not be playing the right RPG....