Re: [BNW] Specific Package Questions

["Patrick O'Duffy" <redfern@thehub.com.au>]

> Blaster and Hotshot -- seems a bit unfair that the hotshot gets massive
> damage AND complete immunity to fire, heat and smoke, while the poor
> blaster only gets Armor 5/. Immunity to all energy blasts is probably a
> bit much, but maybe Armor 10/ against energy attacks?

Massive damage looks much nicer on paper than it is. Yes, it's damage to all
locations - but those wounds all heal at the same time, give the same amount
of impairment, and require only one stun check.

Also, the Hotshot does 5d6 damage. That's an average result of 8 - enough to
cause one wound per location for most targets. The Blaster gets 5d6+5, for
13 damage - enough to cause two wounds to normal characters, and (about 40%
of the time) two to a Goliath as well.

Add to that the Blaster's ROF of 3 (per hand, for up to 6 shots) and the
fact that their blast ignores armour, and they crap all over Hotshots. Put
the two of them into a cage match and the Blaster will win 9 times out of
10.

> Speedsters - seems like they should get a toughness bonus for the same
> reason flyers do, otherwise how does they body withstand the pressure of
> moving that fast (not to mention the pain of smacking someone upside the
> head).

They use a stick or sword. Or better yet, a gun.
Start at 100m away or so. Run up to your opponent, shoot them from
point-blank range, then run back. Repeat. Repeat.

Speedsters have the potential to be very nasty. I plan to slot one in soon
for the PCs to fight.

> Sneaks - the radar trick seems of questionable usefulness and I'm not
> quite clear on what it has to do with the abilty to be unnoticed.

Not much, frankly. Our PC Sneak has yet to use her radar/sonar power. But it
may come in handy in dark, chaotic firefights.

> Telekinetic - would it make more sense for the TK effective strength be
> be based on spirit instead of smarts? I notice there's not willpower
> skill, but since spirit is used for faith it seems closer to what would
> power a mental ability rather than IQ.

I can see arguments for either option. TK could be based on willpower, or on
mental acuity and reaction time (Smarts).

I doubt it'd matter (from a 'balance' point of view) if you changed it.

> Bouncer, Tough, and Scrapper
> The numbers on these three are interesting.
>
> Bouncer: +5 Speed, +3 Strength
> Scrapper: Armor 5/-, Heal every hour, +3 Strength
> Tough: Armor 20/-, heal every 8 hours
>
> Sooo, armor 5/ and healing every hour are roughly equivalent to +5
> Speed? Seems like the Scrapper kicks butt over his two colleagues here.
> Pity the poor bouncer. He's fast and strong, but can't take a punch.
> All the other bricks (aside from goliath) not only have armor but a
> healing factor as well. Sucks to be a bouncer I guess.

Something I've found is that initiative is _really_ important - and that
even with a high Speed, you get impressive initiative rolls quite rarely.
Your initiative, after all, governs both how many actions you get, and where
you stand in the 'actions queue'.

You're right, Bouncers don't get any protection. But they get to go first 9
times out of ten, with a guaranteed extra action. So they hit first, and
(with a STR of 3 or more, and an average roll) around 8-11 points. Even
after armor, that's a good chance of injuring a Scrapper.

When the Scrapper gets a chance to hit back, the Bouncer can dodge - and
with that big +5 bonus, the odds are strongly in the Bouncer's favour. Add
to that the fact that while they can't reduce damage, they get 3 extra
wounds per location, so you really have to hit them a lot to take them down.

It's certainly not cut and dried. The Scrapper is, I would say, about equal
with the Bouncer, at least in potential.

The Tough is, if anything, underpowered. 20/- armour is nice, but they can
only take the normal amount of wounds, and lots of things will injure them
even with the armour (falling, for instance, can easily kill a Tough).

In fact, Goliaths shit all over Toughs as fair as 'soaking' damage. 10/-
armour, plus a _huge_ wound capacity. A blow that could kill a Tough
outright (say, 70 points, which would do 10 wounds after armour) would only
badly injure a Goliath (70-10 = 60; divide by size 7 = 8 wounds out of a
probable capacity of 20).

That's why in my game, I dropped the armour power from Goliaths (along with
their initiative penalty).

Something I've found as I've gotten used to BNW is that there are more
checks ansd balances in plave than you might think. Yes, there are
imbalances and broken rules - I think Toughs should have Armour 30/-, for
one thing - but fewer than you think. Various packages are good at different
things, and you can't always tell that at first glance.

Try sitting down with a breakdown of the probabilities for the various dice
pools (such things are floating around online), and compare the various
damage output / damage capacity / tricks of the various packages. You might
be surprised.

--
Patrick O'Duffy, Brisbane, Australia

I have recorded a number of spots discussing the important things
in life. Voting. Truth. Horror. Loss. Being Fucked With Knives.

 - Spider Jerusalem, TRANSMETROPOLITAN: I HATE IT HERE