Ahri
Khadan
Posts: 71
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Post by Ahri on Apr 19, 2017 14:59:59 GMT -5
Two questions.
1.) The current rule for Dexterity Armor indicates those with Dexterity Armor cannot have BESTOW ARMOR cast upon them. Why not? What is this rule attempting to prevent?
2.) Armor is not a valid target for Imperto (Bestow). Was this intentionally left out?
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Post by Sheppard on Apr 19, 2017 15:39:29 GMT -5
Two questions. 1.) The current rule for Dexterity Armor indicates those with Dexterity Armor cannot have BESTOW ARMOR cast upon them. Why not? What is this rule attempting to prevent? 2.) Armor is not a valid target for Imperto (Bestow). Was this intentionally left out? 1- This rule is attempting to prevent Mages from easily soaking a 20 2-This is a typo, armor is a valid target for the bestow symbol
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Ahri
Khadan
Posts: 71
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Post by Ahri on Apr 19, 2017 15:48:24 GMT -5
But can't I just Bestow 5BP and be able to take a 20? Or cast 20 Shield on myself? Or Weapon Shield? There are a few ways a mage can prevent a 20, preventing mages from using BESTOW ARMOR (one of the least efficient ways to prevent a 20, mind you) seems fairly out of place to me.
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Post by Sheppard on Apr 19, 2017 16:28:38 GMT -5
But can't I just Bestow 5BP and be able to take a 20? Or cast 20 Shield on myself? Or Weapon Shield? There are a few ways a mage can prevent a 20, preventing mages from using BESTOW ARMOR (one of the least efficient ways to prevent a 20, mind you) seems fairly out of place to me. Max Blood (10) +5 Bestow Blood + Dex Armor = 18, requiring you to also be in a full mask to Take a 20 A mage in a full mask indicates to your enemies that you are possibly prepared for a 20 Weapon shield does not save you from all 20s, (divine,Alchemy,Runesmith,other Thaumturge, or a crushing 20) 20 Shield Protects you from most, unless they add crushing. These stipulations are about preventing a thaumaturge from easily taking a 20, requiring preparation on their parts, while still feeding into counterplay.
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Ahri
Khadan
Posts: 71
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Post by Ahri on Apr 19, 2017 18:27:33 GMT -5
Is the desire of forcing a mage to wear a mask in order to survive a 20 the only reason for the rule? Unless I'm mistaken, in order to cast both BESTOW 5 ARMOR and BESTOW 5 BLOOD, it costs 20 attributes total (so it'd require the mage to have capped both their Focus and Stamina pools to 10). If a mage didn't want to wear a mask and had both BESTOW 5 ARMOR and BESTOW 5 BLOOD active, they'd need to have 8BP in order to survive a 20 (total of 13BP and 8AP), leaving them with 1BP. If they were a fully capped character with 10 BP and hit with a 20, they'd only have 3BP remaining. If the rule is just to force mages to wear masks to prevent a 20, the limitation only kicks in when a player has 8BP, 10FP and 10SP (which will likely take the majority of players a long time to get to). Until then, it's a needless limitation if the rule exists to prevent mages from living through a 20. I'm not too sure how this really ties into counterplay, especially considering the enormous cost to the mage casting both Bestow effects, while 20 or even 20 Crushing being used to drop them is significantly cheaper.
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Post by Sheppard on Apr 19, 2017 20:16:48 GMT -5
To elaborate on the counter play options, and the intention of this ruling. 1-Bestow Costs, since Mages have the most versatility and adaptability in the system vs anyone else they pay high bestow costs. This is to both limit what they could cast to them selves within a fight, and reign in how much of a passive bonus they could create for their teams before a fight. Since someone can bestow a series of buffs to their teammates, and then reset to bestow more different resistances and abilities, all bestow costs are made with the idea of actively occurring during combat. Meanwhile it needs to be balanced with the restore base cost- hence the high prices. 2-Since mages have such high versatility and adaptive power, as well as their many avenues of reducing costs, it was decided at game creation that they should have multiple avenues to limit said power. One of these limitations is indicated in silhouette, at a glance you appraise the likelihood if a character can take a 20. Every time someone shoots a 20 at a character in heavy armor (especially after a couple more events) there is a strong chance they will survive. If, however I see someone in clothing/incanting there is a strong chance they will not be able to withstand a 20. This forms a dividing line between thaumatugists and the other core headers. A mage as either a NPC or PC telegraphs certain tactics which allows us to create diverse battle scenarios as well as help fit core headers into roles for fights. This distinction also serves to further incentivize the wearing of full face protection that a mage is less likely than other characters to include in their costume(as opposed to helmets a fighting type might wear). 3-All of this pours into counterplay. Both a mage and a npc lieutenant or boss monster can and should make a series of decisions/taking chances when fighting. Before a single call is made I can estimate that a mage may only be able to dodge a crushing 20 to prevent it, on that estimate I may fire a maim to your leg. <maim shield being the winning precaution in this case>. Now the target may not have any of the abilities I estimated, but if these are the most efficient means for me to make an attack (and I am playing a High skill challenge boss of course) these will lead towards a predictability to my tactics, and then however my target responses redefines the fight. This is of course just one example of how silhouette, verbals, and calls can come together to inform the tactics and counterplay available to both parties. It is also worth mentioning that while we've been using "mages" here, we actually mean anyone using Dex Armor; there are reasons for anyone to take Dex Armor, especially because it means a player can be largely unencumbered while fighting, a nice advantage. These trade offs don't strictly apply to thaumaturges. I'll boil it down to this, in this game what equipment/weapons a character is wearing all telegraphs a huge potential of the fight. It does not guarantee anything, but limits what someone can expect on a person to person basis. It is the games opinion that a thaumaturge should not be able to easily tank damage, and should use the other abilities in their disposal to prevent or negate the negative damage/effects that are coming at them from the enemies.
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