Limitation [Accessibility]

[Cursed_Lich]

I was working on a character with a friend in a fantastical setting and his concept is of noble that has his powers working only in domains he own. In other words, the powers would be under the limitation Accessibility (Domains under his rule) [-??%]. These powers work in less places if he loses territory or in a larger area if he conquer another territory.

How much would be a limitation like this and why?

[Anaraxes]

Think of it as a probability of the noble being in his domain. If he never leaves, it's not a limitation. If he's from a land across the sea and he's a wandering murder hobo in a foreign land, he'll never has his powers. So the GM has to make an educated guess based on how much of the campaign is expected to take place in the noble's domains. This could range anywhere from all to none, so it's a tricky judgement call. (The GM does, of course, have a fair amount of influence over where adventures takes place, so he can attempt to arrange things to make the proportion work out.) Then compare with the table on Powers p99. (The discount value is not the probability applied directly.)

Also, sometimes it's useful to keep in mind the point of view that when players choose character traits, they're telling the GM what matters about their character and so what they want to come up in the game. This character concept seems to demand that the noble at least sometimes be caught outside his domain, just so the Limitation will show -- and sometimes be at home, so the abilities themselves get used. Otherwise, why have them on the character sheet at all? The player should be fine with the GM arranging for the noble to be both at home and away. (If not, they probably would be happier with a modified concept.) Similarly, the table as a whole should be willing to accept that the noble will sometimes be relatively overpowered and sometimes underpowered by comparison with the other characters.

[jason taylor]

The domains might also be over more things then territory, such as regalia or peculiar privileges (if the game laws in a forest allow him to control hunting, he is immune to curses by the fair folk, if he levies toll on a bridge or road, the bridge will never break and no traveller will get sick on that road). An example of that sort of thing is the Palantiri which only obey the rightful heirs or deputies to the Kings of Numenor.

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Originally Posted by Cursed_Lich

I was working on a character with a friend in a fantastical setting and his concept is of noble that has his powers working only in domains he own. In other words, the powers would be under the limitation Accessibility (Domains under his rule) [-??%]. These powers work in less places if he loses territory or in a larger area if he conquer another territory.

How much would be a limitation like this and why?

In my opinion, these kind of limitations are -10%. Think for example of a chi limitation or a psi limitation. Sometimes these abilities also require some kind of mental disadvantage around -10 to -15 cp (an oath, a way of living, etc).

A "rough" example: The "ninja limitation". It grants you a -10% on stuff that could be attributed to ninjas (such as shadowform at -10% cost). However, you need to do secret ninja training (instead of resting 8 hours) otherwise you receive penalties such as losing your powers, having your fellow ninjas coming to kill you for betraying the ninja path, etc.

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