(YBA) Proposed New Powers

[Ciaran]

Here are some new YBA! powers I came up with while designing a high-level adventure. I'd like to hear people's opinions on whether these are appropriate to add to the game as a whole. Thanks!

- Eric

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Rend
Requirements: Mastery of at least one signature style or location
Cost: 5 xp
Effect: Once per fight per Rend known, when making a regular attack, the fighter may declare an attempt to Rend the opponent’s armor or shield. If the attack succeeds and it inflicts more than one point of damage, that armor or shield permanently loses one hit. (For example, a +3 shield would become a +2 shield.) If the affected armor or shield is only +1, it is destroyed. Rend may be purchased more than once but cannot be used more than once per round.


Sunder
Requirements: Mastery of at least one signature style or location
Cost: 5 xp
Effect: Once per fight per Sunder known, when making a regular attack, the fighter may declare an attempt to Sunder an opponent’s weapon. If the attack succeeds and it inflicts more than one point of damage, the chosen weapon loses 1 point from a bonus of the attacker’s choice. (For example, a “+2 to Dagger” weapon would be reduced to “+1 to Dagger.”) If the affected weapon has but a single +1 bonus, it is destroyed. Sunder may be purchased more than once but cannot be used more than once per round.


Mirror Style
Requirements: Mastery of at least one signature style or location or Flexible Style
Cost: 5 xp
Effect: Once per fight, when declaring a regular attack against an opponent, the fighter may become a Student of any signature style known by that opponent. This lasts for the duration of the fight.


Life Leech
Requirements: Undead
Cost: 3 xp
Effect: Once per fight per Life Leech known, the undead may use the Life Leech power along with a regular attack. If the attack is successful, the undead gains 1 additional hit for the duration of the fight. Life Leech may be purchased more than once but cannot be used more than once per round.


Regeneration
Requirements: Undead
Cost: 5 xp
Effect: An undead with Regeneration, if reduced to exactly 0 hits, immediately regains 1 hit. The undead may only be killed if reduced to a negative hit total by a single attack. Fists of Fury counts as two separate attacks for this purpose.

 

[Darkwolf]

Some good ideas here...however I do see some flaws with them.

Rend/Sunder: Players won't get these as, with exception of Wicht, DM's rarely have monsters with items. DM's would love these powers and players would hate going against creatures that destroy their stuff.

Mirror Style: In my opinion this power is worthless. I don't mean to be rude, but it is. Why become a student in a style for a battle when, if you draw the style, the move automatically loses because the monster has it mastered.

Life Leech/Regeneration: Undead have energy drain and life drain. These two alone make the fight very tough. The undead don't need any more help.

 

[Kalanyr]

Rend/Sunder: Basically as above. Most players will just run away from these monsters if that optional rule is used. And pretty much no player wil take these because not only is it rarely used but it deprives them of loot (something that becomes even more important when monsters are destroying their treasure).

Mirror Style: Is a weaker form of flexible style. The XP cost should be reduced.

Life Leech is adding a Holy Battery power to the Undead/Unholy Path, this is a bad idea in my opinion. They already are slightly stronger than the Holy Path.

Regeneration, in combination with Energy Drain this makes it virtually impossible to kill an undead and also has weird effects on carry over.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

I agree with DW/Kal about Rend/Sunder, although maybe there's a better way to incorperate this, perhaps if the item was just taken out of the fight (but not destroyed).

I think Mirror Style is basically useless since Mastery grants you immunity anyways. Perhaps make it the opposite of Flexible Style, in the first round of combat you gain student in the style that your opponent generates when you attack them. (Though word it better )

I think that Life Leech and Regeneration are interesting, but are unbalanced when considering the current undead path, here's my proposition:

When taking Undead, an Undead character can choose only 2 of the four abilities to take. This means that if an undead has Energy Drain and Life Drain, it cannot take Regeneration or Life Leech

Also, perhaps change Life Leech to something else, maybe should cost 5 exp, deals +1 damage and undead heals 2 hits and can't be purchased more than once.

 

[Wicht]

I find the rend and sunder ideas intriguing and will keep them in mind.

As has been noted, the mirror image is a fairly useless power due to mastery.

Regeneration, as written should be an epic power for undead, perhaps a 7 exp power. Life Leech, IMO is not all that bad an idea, but might ought to be worth 4 exp not 3.

 

[Kalanyr]

Rend/Sunder are very powerful since if a weapon/armour/accessory loses a plus you need to sell it for half the damaged price and then buy your old equipment again, this is gonna set you back 12.5 Yen for +5 Styles, 17.5 Yen for Protective items, 15 Yen for armour, 15 Yen for +5 Locations and 12 Yen for +5 Modifiers, assuming there is a handy sell your stuff store around the DMs adventure.