How would you price a Fright Check limitation?

[Pursuivant]

What would be a fair price for a new limitation which requires you to make a Fright Check each time you use a power?

I've notionally priced it at -15%, in line with a severe Phobia with a self-control roll of 6- and an Accessibility limitation ("Only When Using Power"), multiplied by 80% per Temporary Disadvantage. Add -5% per extra -2 to Fright Checks. Double costs if you must make a Cosmic Fright Check, which ignores Combat Reflexes and Fearlessness and limits the effectiveness of Unfazeable.

[Varyon]

Phobia's not a great fit due to the fact that it imposes a penalty to future actions even if you succeed on the Fright Check; it also means your Fright Check either doesn't happen (succeed on the SC roll) or is penalized (you suffer a penalty equal to MoF), and it sounds like you want it to just be a Fright Check... although it might be fair to say the "chance to succeed on SC" and "penalty to FC for failing SC" effects cancel each other out.

I'd be more willing to call those as canceling out for an SC roll of 10. That's not technically an option, but as the cost multiplier is linear with the SC roll (shifting by +0.5 every -3 to the roll), it's easy to make one - it would be x4/3 to cost. Considering this is something that is triggered every time the ability is used (normally, Temporary Disadvantage: Phobia would just make you susceptible to the listed phobia - something that gives you Arachnophobia would be perfectly safe to use if there are no spiders around), it seems like the highest Disadvantage value available should be used, since it's essentially Phobia: Everything. The highest I'm finding in print is Hoplophobia, the fear of weapons, at [-20]. That sounds fair here, and with the multiplier becomes [-26.67]. The fact this should cause you to suffer a penalty (-2.67) to future actions even if you succeed at the Fright Check needs to be accounted for; changing the above back to [-20] is a bit harsh, but probably workable. That's a -20% Limitation - and because we were harsh about getting rid of the penalty, it's fair to ignore the 80% cap (which only comes into play when applying Temporary Disadvantage to Advantages with a higher base cost than [80] anyway). So, it's simply -20% - comparable to Corrupting (H22), which honestly was my first thought for something like this.

[Donny Brook]

I would be tempted to use the value of Terror [30] as a guide and call it a -30% limitation, adjusted for additional penalties at -10% per -1.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I would be tempted to use the value of Terror [30] as a guide and call it a -30% limitation, adjusted for additional penalties at -10% per -1.

I thought about that but rejected it because Terror lets you scare others at will, not just yourself.

I ultimately went with Phobia as the best fit because using a power with the Terrifying limitation triggers a Fright Check, effectively giving you Phobia (Whatever Your Power Is). I didn't go with the most crippling (-20 point) phobias because you can easily avoid Fright Checks by not using your power and the FC only kicks in after your power activates.

Varyon's point about not reducing the value of the Temporary Disadvantage makes a lot of sense. His pricing of -20% is in the range where I instinctively priced to start with, especially given similarities to the Corrupting limitation from GURPS Horror.

I knocked the price down a bit, though, because anyone taking a power with the Terrifying modifier is probably going to do everything they can to minimize the risks of a failed FC, so there's a better than even chance of suffering no ill effects.

The limitation might be worth a bit more if the FC has a chance of negating a power which requires Concentration. In that case, I'd certainly go with -20% as a base.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

I knocked the price down a bit, though, because anyone taking a power with the Terrifying modifier is probably going to do everything they can to minimize the risks of a failed FC, so there's a better than even chance of suffering no ill effects.

Taking steps to prevent the negative effects from being a problem is actually part of what makes something a Limitation. If you don't use your power in cases where a failed Fright Check is likely to be problematic, that's still limiting the ability (because without the Limitation, you would be able to use it freely). That said, it's not like the difference between -20% and -15% is very extreme, so just go with the one you like better.