New perks

[CarrionPeacock]

Paparazzi - When using Photography skill, anyone rolling Per or Observation to notice you doing so rolls at -1.
I've seem this one used in an Action game by an Investigator, he used it to take photos of mobsters and their homes.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Plane

I think this might even be possible as a 0% feature, B47 already has it based on Per so if this works anything like how Requires (Attribute) Roll morphs into Requires (Skill) Roll ("special effect that does not change the value") it should be possible to fix it as rolling against a skill based on that attribute like Observation.

B211 mentions using Acute Senses "as appropriate" while B358 mentions Vision and Hearing BOTH using the skill...

But the context is different. In the ordinary case, Danger Sense can benefit from Acute Hearing because the danger is loud. The perk allows him to listen to the soundtrack and hear that danger is approaching.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Anders

But the context is different.
In the ordinary case, Danger Sense can benefit from Acute Hearing because the danger is loud.
The perk allows him to listen to the soundtrack and hear that danger is approaching.

Normally you get your Hearing roll and if it fails you also get your Danger Sense roll as a backup.

If that's "Hearing Roll" then I'm not sure if you would actually modify that for actual sounds though.

I could for example have "Healing (requires Per roll in addition to IQ roll -5%)" 0% make that "requires observation roll"

if I have "affects self" then am I rolling to observe (see or listen to) myself? Does that mean I need to make noise to hear myself and get a bonus to that roll?

You get bonuses to hearing checks based on proximity and noise made which would be a super-easy way to pass that check when doing self-healing which makes me think maybe it should be unmodified.

Healing is melee by default so penalties for distant sounds aren't even going to matter unless you make it Ranged.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Isn't this pretty much what the Summonable enhancement does? And even if it's less powerful than Summonable, I'd say it's more appropriate as an enhancement than as a perk.

It's specifically tied to one particular instance, that of losing your Ally. Instead of having to wait to put those points somewhere like usual, you're allowed to do it as part of the scene. You could call it a +5% if you wanted (since that's the cost of an always available equal point ally). It's basically a perk for when you and the GM both go "The Ally died?! Uh, lets get a new one real quick."

Originally Posted by Anders

Look at the first post.

I agree ;) (yeah, I totally forgot, I do love your perk)

[Plane]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

Always Got a Friend - When you lose an Ally through no fault of your own, you may immediately move those points over to a new one.

Mitigating the unavoidable loss of an advantage is basically covered under Impulse Buys p 10 "Deflecting Disadvantages". If I spend 10 CP to avoid incurring One Arm [-20] then I should be able to spend 5 CP to avoid losing Extra Arm [10] for example, so why not avoid losing an ally too?

For a non-Minion this would cover stuff like "I abused the ally so they left me" but that wouldn't happen to a Minion...

So maybe it should cover death itself as well? That also deprives you of an ally.

So spend one of your points to save an ally worth 2 points, 5 to save one worth 10, etc.

For perk allies, GM might allow you to spend just half a point and keep the other in reserve as an extra life for that ally next time they get offed...

Or on that note: why not just buy Extra Life for your allies? That probably won't increase their cost too much.

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

If the new Ally isn't at the scene, the GM will have them show up as an almost Deus Ex Machina to help out.

(This might seem pretty powerful but it also shouldn't often happen and you can't actively make it happen)

WAY too strong.

Closest I think would be a "Schrodinger's Ally" (pay 1/2 points in advance : when you REALLY need them to show up, you can pay the rest of their value at that time)

You would need FOA:constantly to guarantee they show up, but if you wanted it to be a one-time help, you only need "Schrodinger's Favor" which would only be 1/10 the cost.

If you don't prepay for a favor then retroactively getting one on the spot should probably cost double (like paying 50 for an Extra Life you didn't prepay for) which is the "simply appears" doubling on Impulse Buys 9.

IB8 suggests using "Constantly" (x4) for these retroactive buys, because obviously it'd suck if you went and bought it on the spot for double-cost and then failed your appearance roll!

IB9 pricing follows all of that except for applying "Potential Advantage" half discount.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Isn't this pretty much what the Summonable enhancement does?

There are two types of Summonable and it the "New Summonable" type in Powers more than the "Same Summonable" Basic Set version in B38... P41 makes the distinction: "same beings" means if the ally dies you lose the advantage, while "new beings" means you keep the advantage if they die.

'new beings' means there's no ongoing memories/devotion to you, in addition to the FOA roll you actually need to make a reaction roll whenever you summon a new being, so there's less guarantee of cooperation unless you design them to cooperate, and you still need to instruct them on how to do things

Talent/Reliable for allies helps w/ that reaction roll and using influence skills on them, but that still obviously takes time, they can't be "pre-programmed" out of the ether like a "same" ally is. You're basically INCAPABLE of summoning the same ally, it's like you're creating an ally out of nothingness...

If you didn't then someone might make species go extinct by summoning minions from other dimensions as canon fodder in a galactic war (well: actually I guess per ally advantage you're limited to wiping out 36,525 allies per century due to daily limit, people are born faster than that... the problem is more if you get a Summonable Ally Group like 100 wolves for merely x12 cost) and there's no resistance rolls involved by them to actually stop you from snatching them from whatever dimension you plucked them from.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

And even if it's less powerful than Summonable, I'd say it's more appropriate as an enhancement than as a perk.

I actually think it's MORE powerful than summonable, because Kirb is allowing the new ally to show up to help Deus Ex Machina style, like perhaps instantly as soon as your previous ally dies.

Even if you have FOA: Constant (autopass roll) on Summonable there's an "If they’re killed, the summoner must wait a full day to call replacements." limit on the "New Summonable" enhancement. That's a LOT of "Reduced Time", to make it affordable you'd have to limit that enhancement a bunch, like give it some serious Aftermath.

I mentioned Minion earlier and P41 says GMs should obligate Minion for the "New Summon" version because it doesn't make sense to have obligations to new charges (meaning loss of points if they get killed too)

Eventually it'd probably be possible to turn a 'new summon' into either a 'same summon' or just an ally who hangs out and you don't summon them anymore, but that'd probably be paying for a new advantage. Maybe as an Alternative Ability to your old one: you can't summon a new being until your previous-new-but-now-same is dismissed!

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Gef

Innocuous

Something about you (specify) that would normally draw comment or ire, people just don't notice unless you want them to (or they have some power of true seeing). If can't directly endanger them, and if it's something that would normally warrant a disadvantage, you don't get credit for it. People aren't blind, but they react to you as if the social circusmtances were different. Here are some examples:

Innocuous Age: This one's from Phineous and Ferb. Sure the bystander may ask, "Aren't you a little young to be flying a starship?" but he's non-plussed when they answer "Yes, we are."

Innocuous Appearance: You may be a hideous monster, but you can walk about town and greet the folks with nobody blanching or running scared, as if it were Halloween.

Innocuous Carry: You can go armed and not get hassled. Brandish the weapon, let alone attack somebody, and that changes.

Innocuous Dress: You can wear an aloha print and flip-flops to a black tie party, or a tux to a pool party, ignore the "No shoes, no shirt - no service" sign.

Innocuous Habit: Light up in front of the No Smoking sign.

Innocuous PDA: From necking to dirty dancing, this perk protects your partner too, but only when he's returning affection to you, not when he dances with the next girl.

If you want to turn it into a telepathy power, use a Cosmic Modular Ability (Limited). Each level allows you to make people ignore one inappropriate thing about you, although at higher levels you might be better off with Invisibiliy.

As Kromm noted when I posted originally, what this perk mainly does is allow a player to visualize his character in a certain way that would not otherwise fit the campaign. I'd say it still requires at least a cinematic if not fantasy setting, except that there are some people who push the envelop with flamboyant behavior like "wardrobe malfunctions" and get away with it sans censure.

One time Noor Inayet Khan was setting up the antenna of a briefcase radio and a German guard saw her. He politely helped her to finish because she was a sweet, demure, and harmless girl

well, two out of three is ok.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Plane

Mitigating the unavoidable loss of an advantage is basically covered under Impulse Buys p 10 "Deflecting Disadvantages". If I spend 10 CP to avoid incurring One Arm [-20] then I should be able to spend 5 CP to avoid losing Extra Arm [10] for example, so why not avoid losing an ally too?

If I wanted to keep the Ally, absolutely. All I'm focusing on is B37;

If your Ally dies through no fault of yours, the GM will not penalize you. You may put the points spent on the deceased Ally toward a new Ally. The new relationship should normally develop gradually, but the GM might allow an NPC to become an Ally on the spot if you have done something that would win him over (e.g., saving his life).

The option already exists. Assuming you are playing correctly and thus trying to keep your Ally alive, this perk is basically "you have less downtime before getting your new Ally". I think the most important part is that if you're doing things right, you likely won't get use out of the perk, and if you're doing things wrong, you won't be able to use it. Heck, I've had this just be a campaign feature in the past so making it a perk that applies to one person doesn't seem that much different (there's already perks that let you have access to a cool feature that might be normal in some campaigns).

You also don't get to choose how the Ally shows up or how they help outside of knowing who the Ally is and you still have to have a relationship that could already potentially become an Ally.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Gef

InnocuousInnocuous Dress: You can wear an aloha print and flip-flops to a black tie party, or a tux to a pool party, ignore the "No shoes, no shirt - no service" sign.

Note to self: Add this perk to the character sheet(s) for Doctor Who....

[Plane]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

All I'm focusing on is B37;

Thanks for pointing that out, for some reason I thought you lost the ally like if someone chopped off your extra arm (doesn't grow back for free w/o regrowth)

I guess this might also apply if the Ally just gets too powerful (ie no more Nightwing, he went beyond 50% CP and you were forced to buy down his FOA on his Allyness to reduce FOA on his Dependent and eventually remove it entirely) and it's not your fault: so if you want a FOA:constant sidekick you should still get one, even if it means Dick goes off to join the Titans and you come across some random car thief who you begin to groom?

The whole "no fault of yours" thing sure is open to a lot of interpretation though. Like is it your fault if an ally dies because you decided to spend money playing the stock market instead of buying them a bulletproof vest and a bulletproof car for maximum protection?

That probably goes more into "dependent" territory... it's a fuzzy line sometimes.

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

The option already exists. Assuming you are playing correctly and thus trying to keep your Ally alive, this perk is basically "you have less downtime before getting your new Ally".

maybe this is something like "Standard Operating Procedure: I've already been grooming a replacement sidekick, so they can jump right in if someone crowbars my old one" ?

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

I think the most important part is that if you're doing things right, you likely won't get use out of the perk,
and if you're doing things wrong, you won't be able to use it.

Doing things right doesn't necessarily mean you're up to the challenge of protecting your allies from extreme dangers :) You just need to be doing your best, I guess?

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

You also don't get to choose how the Ally shows up
or how they help
outside of knowing who the Ally is
and you still have to have a relationship that could already potentially become an Ally.

Like perhaps using B44 and establishing them as a Friend (Perks 18) ie Claim to Hospitality (B41) first, then upgrading them to be a Contact (B44)?

You could even buy all three, maybe?

Contact/Ally wouldn't really be that useful sumultaneously if it's the same person (they're already giving you info if they're at your side) so that could be priced as Alternative Abilities: you could make the roll to see if they show up on your adventure, and if they don't, you could try and at least get them on the phone to do some research for you while you're in the field.

Contacts seem like they're more protected from harm than Allys, so you might opt to keep them at the library working for you in lower-risk, and only make them an Ally/Sidekick during times you're facing smaller threats.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Plane

That probably goes more into "dependent" territory... it's a fuzzy line sometimes.

Sense of Duty talks about how you can't take it AND Ally, dependent, etc, so it's already assumed to be a part of it. At least that works out simply enough for me, you effectively have Sense of Duty: Your Ally and should treat them as such (and vice versa!).

Originally Posted by Plane

maybe this is something like "Standard Operating Procedure: I've already been grooming a replacement sidekick, so they can jump right in if someone crowbars my old one" ?

Wow, that basically is a perfect explanation, yeah. If nothing else, it's probably as good as any SOP.