Why is Control (Natural Phenomena) so expensive?

[Lia Valenth]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Maybe, it really depends on your definition I suppose.
It lists other factors like area and that without range you must be touching.
Yes a lot is open to GM interpretation, but as Kromm posted the bonus/penalty is a rough guideline for intensity.

Unfortunately, it is not a very good guideline IMO. Kromm did say that, even if the bonus/penalty is all there is mechanically, you look this bonus or penalty up (Somewhere? Where do I look up these things?) and have that effect going on to explain it. This is extremely GM fiat dependant, making the power's value GM fiat dependant.

I think I need a specific example to explain this. What if a player has Control (Winds, Occasional ; NP, +100%) 3 [90] and they decide that they are going to cause enough wind to give the big guy with a sword a -1 to Broadsword skill. How much wind, or more accurately how fast of wind, have they created to do this?

More importantly, They apply this penalty to all enemy forces. Tactical combat with, for this example, 4 generic enemies; the big guy, thief, archer, and mage. The character created winds strong enough to apply a -1 penalty to Broadsword skill of the big guy, High ST (18+) with heavy armor. Does this wind give the same -1 penalty to the archer for their Bow skill? That makes absolutely no sense. Obviously, wind strong enough to apply a -1 to a melee attack is going to do much worse things to an arrow. There are more questions here, but this is probably the most important.

As GM I could try to fiat a way to explain this, giving penalties based on the wind or diallowing the -1 to Broadsword. Or, I could use it as it says mechanically: you bought the ability to cause +/-1 and so you are giving a -1 to both Broadsword and Bow skill. If I do not use fiat then the Control (Winds) guy is paying for only the +/-1 effect, and he is paying too much for it. If I try to use fiat I have absolutely no idea where to begin or how to deal with this power.

I guess, in the end, I am grasping on to the +/-X of Control (NP) because, without it, I would have to disallow the ability from my game entirely because I am not well enough versed in all possible weather effects to fiat a reasonable mechanical outfall of using this ability. Considering that, it is far too expensive for just the +/-X effect.