Re: [BNW] Improving Powers

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

<HUGE snip>

> However, I'm in a "Sean from Survivor" mood now (meaning I'm feeling 
> wishy-washy and am going to play both sides of the fence).  I am going to 
> disagree with her point 3, that powers in BNW are supposed to improve through 
> tricks and skills.
> 
> The main reason I disagree with her is actually a rules issue (not a game or 
> comic book issue like I mentioned above) that I have mentioned on here 
> before.  If power packages are supposed to be improved solely through tricks 
> and skill, then there would be a 5d6 limit on trait scores that powers work 
> off of, like the Goliath's Strength, the Telekinetic's Smarts, the Snuffer's 
> Spirit, etc.  As it says on page 58 of the rules, a human limit on trait 
> scores is 5 but deltas "push that limit all the time."  Therefore, there is 
> no limit on these traits for deltas.  I'm not trying to be a rules lawyer 
> here, I'm trying to point out that if you do not allow power intensities to 
> improve, some power packages get screwed and some do not.  
> 
> For example, some power packages can, actually, increase the power intensity 
> of their powers as well as improve via tricks and skills, while other power 
> packages can only get better with tricks and skills.  A Goliath can increase 
> her Strength dice as high as she wishes, effectively increasing the power 
> intensity of her power.  She can also develop more tricks based on her power, 
> and she can improve her skill with using her Strength, such as her unarmed 
> combat skills.  A Blaster just can't do that.  The game mechanics do not 
> allow it.  Sure, she can get more tricks and improve her skill with blasting, 
> but she will start the game, and end the game, inflicting 5d6+10 points of 
> damage with her blast.  The Goliath may start the game inflicting 5d6+5 
> points of damage with her punch, but she could end the game inflicting 10d6+5 
> points of damage with her punch (or even higher than that in theory).  Also, 
> the Goliath can effectively increase her resistance to the Blaster's energy 
> blast attack, and increase the intensity of her own attack (both result from 
> increasing Strength), but the Blaster cannot increase the intensity of her 
> energy blast attack.  The Goliath's resistance to attacks improves, but the 
> Blaster's attack intensity cannot keep up with the Goliath's resistance 
> improvement?  To quote Hollywood, "that just don't seem right."

I don't know how sound your comparison is. Sure the goliath can up his
str., but so can the blaster (cold comfort I know). The goliath's actual
power is the +5, as far as the dice go:
1. Anyone can have just as many dice in str.
2. the difference between 5d6 and 6 or 7d6 really becomes non-cost
effective after awhile if you look at the odds of actually doing more
damage. As far as wounds go, again, any delta can have a 7d6 str.

Also, can't a blaster simply increase his speed? Sure he won't do more
damage, but he gets a better chance to shoot, dodge, drive, etc. 

You say that the goliath can increase intensity and resistance, but the
blaster can't increase intensity, what about increasing resistance? He can
do that by uping his str. or even uping his speed and dodging. So the
blaster does get something out of the deal.

Some power packages are more closely linked to their stats (goliath,
bouncer, etc.) than others (blaster, flyer, etc.) But they all gain
several benefits from increasing their stats. Whether these relate
directly to their powers or not varies, but they all benefit. And they all
receive dimishing returns as they up the dice higher and higher (as far as
rolls are concerned).

I don't have my book, is there a 5 pt. limit on skills? If not then a
blaster actually has an advantage because he can raise his shootin' to
really high levels and then use tricks (yeah I know) like extra damage and
bull's eye to get really good damaging tricks. The goliath can do this too
actually with fightin, but I consider shooting to be more powerful than
fighting in general.

> Not only that, I think it's an easy problem to fix.  All you really have to 
> do is allow packages like the Blaster to improve the intensity of their 
> energy blast or similar powers as if they were a trait.  The energy blast has 
> 5d6 dice, so if the player wants her character to have a 6d6+10 energy blast, 
> she has to pay 18 points for it, just as the player with the Goliath 
> character has to pay 18 points to improve her character's Strength score to 
> 6d6+5.

This actually seems like a reasonable idea, but what about power packages
that don't fit into a stat or stat-like mold?
The goliath and blaster are getting more and more powerful, but the
speedster and flyer are stuck moving just as fast as before. 
I think the best case (as you pointed out) is simply not to allow powers
to increase, only stats, skills and tricks.

 Theo McGuckin -
	"It's not worth it"