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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 5344415" data-attributes="member: 27160">More flavour (to a degree) I can agree with, and I can see an argument for more encouragement for players to improvise with powers - provided the basic abilities of the power in game terms are defined.&nbsp; The problems with Instant Friends are:<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">It includes flavour description in the &quot;Effects&quot; section; a description of how one imaginary character feel about another is fluff, not mechanics.&nbsp; It describes what is happening in the game world - it says nothing about what effect that will have on the game.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Take away that flavour description and there is barely any mechanical description at all - a +5 to Bluff Checks targetting the one creature.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Helping out is mentioned; answering questions is mentioned - but no idea as to the scope of either &quot;effect&quot; (if that is what they are meant to be) is given, other than a flavour description (again).&nbsp; &quot;Anything that &lt;an imaginary character&gt; believes will not endanger its life or property&quot; is speculation about imaginary events in a game-world, and speculation about imaginary events is about as useless a pursuit as I can imagine (even if I indulge in it from time to time <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ).</li>
</ol>In short, it's an incompletely defined power.&nbsp; At least it could state more clearly the restrictions on the target - it can't attack the caster (or allies of the caster??) until the effect ends (which it will by the caster or an ally attacking the target or an ally).&nbsp; That in itself could be an important restriction if played to well - but it's not explored at all - just &quot;assumed&quot; (I assume).&nbsp; And the questions - are Bluff checks needed to get answers?&nbsp; How are questions that the target might or might not know the answer to handled?&nbsp; Can the target's allies sense what is going on?I still think it's a badly written power; it doesn't really say clearly what it does, it doesn't give any real guidance on what it cannot do and the flavour text and mechanical effects are muddled up in the &quot;Effects&quot; section (that is supposed to give mechanical effects).&nbsp; I don't fancy the idea of running it, and the thought of some poor newbie faced with it makes me shudder with sympathy.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 5344415, member: 27160"] More flavour (to a degree) I can agree with, and I can see an argument for more encouragement for players to improvise with powers - [I]provided the basic abilities of the power in game terms are defined[/I]. The problems with [B]Instant Friends[/B] are: [LIST=1] [*]It includes flavour description in the "Effects" section; a description of how one imaginary character feel about another is fluff, not mechanics. It describes what is happening in the game world - it says nothing about what effect that will have on the game. [*]Take away that flavour description and there is barely any mechanical description at all - a +5 to Bluff Checks targetting the one creature. [*]Helping out is mentioned; answering questions is mentioned - but no idea as to the scope of either "effect" (if that is what they are meant to be) is given, other than a flavour description (again). "Anything that <an imaginary character> believes will not endanger its life or property" is speculation about imaginary events in a game-world, and speculation about imaginary events is about as useless a pursuit as I can imagine (even if I indulge in it from time to time ;) ). [/LIST] In short, it's an incompletely defined power. At least it could state more clearly the restrictions on the target - it can't attack the caster (or allies of the caster??) until the effect ends (which it will by the caster or an ally attacking the target or an ally). That in itself could be an important restriction if played to well - but it's not explored at all - just "assumed" (I assume). And the questions - are Bluff checks needed to get answers? How are questions that the target might or might not know the answer to handled? Can the target's allies sense what is going on? I still think it's a badly written power; it doesn't really say clearly what it does, it doesn't give any real guidance on what it cannot do and the flavour text and mechanical effects are muddled up in the "Effects" section (that is supposed to give mechanical effects). I don't fancy the idea of running it, and the thought of some poor newbie faced with it makes me shudder with sympathy. [/QUOTE]

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