A couple of comments on the "Abilities & Weaknesses

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momosnyx
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A couple of comments on the "Abilities & Weaknesses

Post by momosnyx »

Finally printed my copy of OVA and started to read it. Here are some comments on chapter IV:


Mix-up of ability "Vitality" with stat "Endurance"?
- Flunkies (p. 46): "Each of these allies have 10 Health and Vitality, ..."
- Languorous (p.63): "For each level in Languorous, subtract 10 from your Vitality."
Shouldn't that rather be "Endurance"?


What are Emergency Dice?
- Lucky (p. 49): "In addition to your natural luckiness, you also get a number of free Emergency Dice equal to your level in Lucky."
Later on, on p. 77 and in the index these dice are called "Drama Dice" (which sounds much better than Emergency Dice).


Endurance Reserve increment
Endurance Reserve increases 20/40/60/100/200, while Toughness & Vitality increase 10/20/40/80/160. The first seems kind of random to me in comparison to the latter two. (+20 / +20 / +40 / + 100)


Mutual exclusive Abilities and Weaknesses:
It sounds obvious, but maybe it should be mentioned in the rules that some Abilities & Weaknesses are mutually exclusive i.e. your character shouldn't have levels in both:
Tough <-> Frail
Vitality <-> Languorous (but Langurous with Endurance Reserve is ok)
Perceptive <-> Unperceptive
Strong <-> Weak
Willpower <-> Weak-Willed

While these combinations are not only illogical they allow for some rules exploitation:
If I take Tough +1 I get a Health Bonus of 10.
With +4 Tough and -3 Frail (still only a +1 net Ability) I get a Health Bonus of 80 - 30 = 50 Points :wink:


Although it was already said in the chapter on character creation, it wouldn't hurt to mention at the beginning of the chapter that Abilities (always? usually?) have a level from 1-5 and Weaknesses from 1-3.


Power Perks & Flaws
It would have been nice if they were mentioned in the overview of the chapter as well. I almost missed them during my first cursory reading of the rules. Unfortunately, they are not mentioned in the character creation example. And as they can only be applied to Abilities, wouldn't it be more logical to put them after the these instead of after the Weaknesses?
momosnyx
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Strong-Will -> Willpower

Post by momosnyx »

On p. 72 under "Will Attack" there is an ability called "Strong Will" mentioned. I suppose this should rather be "Willpower" which seems to have been renamed at some time. On p. 56 under "Willpower" "Strong-Will" is mentioned as well: "You can add your Strong-Willed bonus to resisting ...", which should as well be "Willpower bonus".
Clay
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Post by Clay »

It's amazing how many people you can get to proofread a game and how many mistakes remain. ^_^; You have seen the legacy of a game that's been written and revised over the course of years. All of your assumptions are correct, and they will be added to the next file revision. (I may wait a while...I think RPGnow, and maybe even my customers, may tire of me being so "on the ball" with updates ^^;)

As for explicitly stating that some Abilities are opposites...I really didn't want to talk to the Player like he or she was an idiot. If you're the kind of person who will take Tough and Frail to gain a bigger Health Bonus, then there are far more ways you could abuse the rules for equal gain. OVA is not munchkin proof, and was never intended to try.

Power Perks and Flaws are where they are for typesetting reasons. If you read the book in facing format, you'll see what I mean.

Endurance Reserve has numerous flaws, so I wanted to balance it out by providing a bigger bonus. However, if I used an identical scale, it would result in some pretty ridiculous bonuses. I see now though that this is inconsistent at best and confusing at worst.

How would you personally handle it? Not saying I will or won't change it, but I'm willing to hear comments just the same.
momosnyx
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Post by momosnyx »

Clay wrote:It's amazing how many people you can get to proofread a game and how many mistakes remain. ^_^;
Yes, quite so :)
Clay wrote:All of your assumptions are correct, and they will be added to the next file revision. (I may wait a while...I think RPGnow, and maybe even my customers, may tire of me being so "on the ball" with updates ^^;)
I don't know how if RPGNow has any download limits, but as I know these errors already and have them corrected in my printed copy, I'd rather wait if other OVA buyers find other mistakes I haven't noticed :)
Clay wrote:As for explicitly stating that some Abilities are opposites...I really didn't want to talk to the Player like he or she was an idiot. If you're the kind of person who will take Tough and Frail to gain a bigger Health Bonus, then there are far more ways you could abuse the rules for equal gain. OVA is not munchkin proof, and was never intended to try.
It is always good to appeal to common sense as a final arbiter and I don't mind that OVA is not munchkin proof nor do I think that a great effort should be made to make it munchkin proof. But this one of the most obvious loopholes which can be closed easily.
And, when I wrote this comment I had the neophyte player/gm in mind. (IMHO OVA has the potential to bring new players - anime fans - to the rpg hobby.) I think it would be helpful to give them a better understanding of different types of abilites. Usually, abilities are not related so they can be combined in any way one likes to. But some of them (like Tough and Frail) are related or rather are just different steps on the same ladder - Tough giving you a bonus while Frail gives you a malus. This difference may be worthwile mentioning. (Something similar _is_ already mentioned on p. 55 in the paragraph about Transformation.)
Clay wrote:Endurance Reserve has numerous flaws, so I wanted to balance it out by providing a bigger bonus. However, if I used an identical scale, it would result in some pretty ridiculous bonuses. I see now though that this is inconsistent at best and confusing at worst.

How would you personally handle it? Not saying I will or won't change it, but I'm willing to hear comments just the same.
The basic idea of Endurance Reserve is sound: You get more Endurance per level than from Vitality, which is balanced some limitations. The only problem here is - as you state quite correctly - that it may be inconsistent. I thought about a "better" scale, but I must admit that I currently can't come up with a better one. The major issue here is that I haven't played OVA yet - so I don't know how much additional Endurance per level would be still ok without unbalancing the ability. Maybe someone else or I can come up with something at a later time...
Are there any Abilities or Weaknesses in the making that have an individual scale as well?
momosnyx
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Post by momosnyx »

One more thing concerning "Abilites & Weaknesses": The entry for Quick & Slow should mention that these stats are added to Initiative, so players do not have to look it up in the Combat chapter.
jblittlefield
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Post by jblittlefield »

http://www.ncinvest.com/uploads/OVA_Abi ... nesses.zip

A list (no rules mechanics included) of the Abilities and Weaknesses from the main rulebook. Great as a handout to the players during character creation.
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Post by Clay »

I was actually going to do this, as it was suggested to me on another forum, but you seem to have done a darn good job! Actually, you wouldn't happen to be that person, would you? -.o

In either case, I may make a few edits and offer it as an official download. ^^ You don't mind, right?
jblittlefield
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Post by jblittlefield »

Clay wrote:I was actually going to do this, as it was suggested to me on another forum, but you seem to have done a darn good job! Actually, you wouldn't happen to be that person, would you? -.o

In either case, I may make a few edits and offer it as an official download. ^^ You don't mind, right?
No, I'm not the same guy. I just picked up the rules yesterday. Feel free to do with it what you will ... they're your words. ;)

Nice job on the rules, btw. I picked the rules up as "source material" for doing an anime-type setting using my system of choice. Between OVA, BESM, and RandomAnime, I should be good to go... ;)
hobbit_marco
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Post by hobbit_marco »

What is the difference between Perceptive and Heightend Sense? They look pretty much the same to me.
Clay
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Post by Clay »

Like many Abilities and Weaknesses, the difference is mostly cosmetic. In actuality, Heightened Sense may be more limited, since it applies to only one sense. However, Heightened Sense can allow Character to notice things beyond a normal human. A Character with Heightened Sense: Smell, could possibly track a person by scent. A simply Perceptive person could not.

Heightened Sense and Perceptive can also be cumulative in the right situation.
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