New to OVA: A Few Questions

[Chris Brady]

Zealot, I personally would still give all the Maids Knowledge: Domestic Services, but at maybe Rank 2 and for free. Maids in general know a lot about how to maintain a residence. However, I would also get the Players to pick one 'specialty' at maybe Rank 1 to reflect where they want to be in the maid hierarchy.

[Clay]

Hello again Clay. A few more questions that came up:

1) The level of the Knowledge Ability and the Ineptitude Weakness are counted as half at character creation for the purposes of character creation limitations like the Base Zero rule, is that right? Well does that half price cost apply after character creation when purchasing or raising the Knowledge Ability with experience points, or buying off the Ineptitude Weakness with experience points?

Yes, that would still be the case.

2) Speaking of Knowledge and Ineptitude, how broad or specific should these be? For example, what if someone were making an anime maid type of character? Would they simply take something like Knowledge (Domestic Service) and leave it at that? Or would they take each of their particular maid skills as a separate Ability, such as Knowledge (Cooking), Knowledge (House Chores), Knowledge (Doing Laundry)? Or if a character was a chef, would they simply take Knowledge (Cooking) or Knowledge (French Cuisine)?

As mentioned by others, it really depends on the focus of the game. If the character is the only maid, there’s not much purpose in chopping up her maid-ly expertise in such definite chunks. On the other hand, if the entire party is a bunch of maids, then it makes sense to slice it up so that the characters can each have their own expertise. (You can even upgrade them to full on Abilities, as suggested in the box on p. 64” Changing the Focus of the Game.)

Broadly, I’d say “French Cuisine” is too specific for a typical game, but if you want that little bit of flavor, let the Player define it as French Cuisine but allow him use it for cooking rolls in general. The French does defines how he approaches a task.

3) The Magic, Arcane Ability lets one copy the effects of other Abilities as magic spells. But what about effects that aren't covered by the existing Abilities, or effects that are more narrative than mechanical? For example, if a wizard wanted to make it rain? Or make the sky turn pink instead of blue? Would all such miscellaneous magical effects just be lumped into Unique Ability spells?

If you really want to quantify it in the rules, yes, they would be defined as Unique Abilities. But you can also just wave your hand and poof, it happens. There’s no need to juggle numbers and Endurance for the sake of a little flavor or storytelling.

4) The Psychic Ability seems like it is mostly about reading minds and controlling them. But what about for telepathy? If someone wanted to use mind-to-mind communication, would that be lumped in as an alternative use of the Psychic Ability, or would that be a Unique Ability, perhaps taking inspiration from the Teleportation Ability's table of distances to represent how away far the communication can be made?

The last paragraph of Psychic actually talks about telepathy. If you need more crunch to it, taking a page from Teleportation would be the perfect solution.

5) The Tough and Vigorous Abilities mention what kinds of rolls they affect in addition to adding more Health and Endurance. The Frail and Languid Weaknesses don't mention this though. But just to be sure, they do in fact impose penalties to rolls in which they would relevantly apply in addition to also subtracting less Health and Endurance, is that right?

Yes, that would be correct.

6) Speaking of Tough, defense rolls don't have to be dodges, right? Rather than using Evasion to evade attacks in combat, could someone instead use their Tough Ability to go "Terminator" style and just take the hits and try to shrug them off as their defense roll? However, the Paralyzed Ability says you can't make any defense rolls because you can't move, so it does seem to assume that a Defense entails movement. Then again, I guess Tough might be a defense roll reflecting blocking or deflecting blows with ones arms or legs, which would require movement. Or would that be Agile? I guess Armor is for just standing around and taking hits without moving or getting hurt?

While it’s true the Defense Roll can encompass more than just dodging, it still requires movement. That is, the big muscle guy still has to block the attack with his arm, or the swordswoman parry with her blade.

Also, you already get the benefit of Tough through its Health bonus. You should never double-dip with any Ability. It either modifies Damage, Rolls, or Health/Endurance, never more than one. (At least, not at the same time. Rolling Tough outside of combat is not quite the same, as you’re not really benefitting from your Health). To reference your example, the Terminator shrugging off hits would be represented by the sheer amount of Damage it takes to bring him down (or his level in Armored), not his Defense rolls.

7) I'm really interested to hear your thoughts on Sentient Equipment, whether magical swords or computers with artificial intelligence, and how it could be represented when you get the chance: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12467

Check.

8 ) How would you make a fantasy/JRPG alchemist/chemist-type character, that is someone whose "magic" was making up potions and such that had various effects when imbibed by allies or thrown at enemies? Would that be a matter of taking Arcane Magic and/or Witchcraft Magic with perhaps the Ammunition X3 Flaw to reflect that once a potion is used it'll take time to brew up another one, and maybe Delayed to reflect that it may take a little time for the potion to take effect once imbibed? Would the Requirement Flaw be in there somewhere to reflect needing ingredients or something? Might one also take the Focus Weakness to reflect that the magic can only be done if the character has access to their potions and bombs? How might you reflect a character whose "magic" was their ability to make potions that "buffed" themselves and their allies when drunk, or could act as magical bombs when tossed at enemies? Or might it instead be made using the Inventor Ability? I have an idea of what Weaknesses and/or Flaws should be involved, but I'm not sure if you would pick one to represent the idea of if they'd all go together.

Unhelpfully, the answer is “any of the above.” It just depends on what you want the focus to be and how you want to build it with the rules. If you want your character to usually have access to the proper ingredients, Focus would probably be best. On the other hand, if your character has to manually source ingredients and the potion reportoire relies on what’s available, a hefty Requirement might work better. Just be careful not to use Focus AND Requirement for the same Ability to represent the same thing.

While you can use Magic or Inventor for this purpose, you may have an easier time just writing a new Ability and referencing both for building the rules for it. Dodging around Magic’s Endurance costs (which aren’t really appropriate for potions) or shoehorning it into Invention (which implies more permanent creations) is likely more trouble than it’s worth.

[The Reddest Mage]

This post has been edited enough times since the original posting that I think it warrants a new post below.

[The Reddest Mage]

Greetings again Clay. Thanks for those answers above, you're the best! If you are American, then I hope you had a good Independence Day weekend.

I'm still talking with my group about character creation in OVA in preparation for the game we'll soon start. They're new to the system and I'm not all that experienced in it myself (I've only played in one game of the original edition a couple years back) so a lot of questions come up between us as we talk about the rules and such. These are some that came up during the weekend's discussions that we weren't all together sure about:

1) What do you recommend as a good limit for the starting number of techniques as part of a character's suite for the Attack Ability?

2) The Endurance Reserve Ability says "Through some item, you have an extra store of Endurance for your use. It could be an ancient magical amulet, an electronic power pack, or any object capable of storing energy." It also says later that "Endurance Reserve is often linked to other Abilities through Gear or the Focus Weakness." I was a little unsure about how the Endurance Reserve Ability works for a character. On one hand, the fact that the description says it's a separate item, it originally made me think that it would be treated like Gear, in which it is assumed to be something separate from the character that can be lost, broken, or taken away even without any Weaknesses or Flaws being attached. But since the description later says that taking the Focus Weakness with it is optional, it then made me think that the Endurance Reserve, despite being described as a separate item, is still assumed to be innate and unable to be removed unless the Focus Weakness is attached or its made as Gear. The very end seems to confirm this by saying that the Ability "could represent luck, gumption, or giving it just that little bit extra" So just to be clear, the Endurance Reserve doesn't have to actually represent an item, is that right?

3) With the Attack Ability, having the Weapon Flaw means the attack is a weapon, whereas the Requirement Flaw might reflect that the attack needs a weapon, is that right?

4) Well, if someone with the Attack Ability has the Requirement Flaw to represent that it is a technique that requires the use of some kind of bladed melee weapon such as a sword, knife, axe, etc. and they use the technique while wielding a bladed melee weapon created with the Gear Ability, does the use of both the technique and the Gear get stacked together?

Okay, for example, let's say someone has Gear +3 (Attack +5 [Armor Piercing +5, Reach +5, Requirement: Two Hands -5, Unwieldy -5], Awkward Size -1, Slow -1) to represent a big and heavy sword, and the character also has Attack +3 with a technique that has Accurate x3 +15, Activation -10, Requirement: Bladed Melee Weapon -5 to represent a special attack technique that requires a sharp melee weapon such as a sword to perform. If said character used this attack with the sword in-hand, would the effects of the sword itself (the Gear Ability) combine with the sword technique (the Attack Ability)?

5) With some of the Perks and Flaws, the descriptions either say either "Your Ability..." or "Your attack..." When it says "Your Ability," does that mean it can't be taken for attacks? For example, the Effective Perk says "Your Ability." Does that mean it's not appropriate for attack techniques and is for Abilities other than Attack, or does it not matter?

6) Following from above, if the Effective Perk can be taken with regular attacks, could one use that Perk to give a character a really powerful attack, while keeping all their other ones really low to reflect that in other forms of fighting they would just be a little better than average, but they have one particular move that's really powerful? For example, a novice teenaged superhero who was only a competent fighter in most respects and thus just had Attack +1, but who had an extremely powerful laser blast move that had Effective x4?

However, if in fact Effective can't be taken for attacks, then how else would one represent a character that is above average with most forms of combat but has one single technique that is far more powerful than all of their other ones in terms of raw damage?

7) When called for, a roll on the Wealth Ability would usually determine whether a character already owns or has access to some goods or services that are particularly expensive, or alternatively whether they can afford to purchase them. Does the Wealthy Ability overlap with other Abilities like Companion, Minions, Gear, and/or Vehicle (Mecha)? That is to say, would the Wealthy Ability allow the character to purchase or already own things like a personal bodyguard (Companion), servants (Minions), various useful equipment (Gear), and a fancy car (Vehicle), even though those would normally be covered by other Abilities? What limits would such purchased goods/services have when "bought" with the Wealthy Ability as opposed to actually having them through Companion, Minions, Gear, or Vehicle (Mecha)? Would it be handled in a way similar to the limitations of similar Abilities like Dimensional Pocket, Inventor, or Walking Arsenal?

And speaking of Dimensional Pocket, Gear, Inventor, Vehicle (Mecha), and Walking Arsenal, Just to make sure I understand the differences between those Abilities:
Dimensional Pocket: let's you pull out a desired item useful for the task or situation at hand (though I'm not quite sure though if this item has to be something the character has actually previously put into the Dimensional Pocket, or of it can be any random item that would be relevant to the character even if they've never been shown to actually own that item before and don't have any other Abilities like Gear or Inventor that would allow them to have it)?
Gear: For each level one has in Gear, they can build an item with Abilities and Weaknesses just like a character.
Inventor: The character can create as many items as they want, with each attempt to build one requiring a roll with the difficulty based on how complex (meaning how many Ability levels it may have), and they may also start the game with one invention of a level equal to their level in Inventor.
Vehicle (Mecha): Similar to Gear, except you can build your vehicle with a number of Ability levels equal to twice the character's level in Mecha.
Walking Arsenal: You pick another Ability such as Gear or Vehicle (what other Abilities would apply I'm not sure though since I think those are the only two that specifically reflect items), and you can have access to any item or vehicle of a specific theme as long as the total level of Abilities is not greater than the character's level in Walking Arsenal or the other Ability it's focused on (Gear or Vehicle or whatever else).

Most of these I get the differences, but some of them still confuse me a bit:
* Does Dimensional Pocket require the character to actually already own the item they're looking for and have already put it in the pocket? I originally assumed so, but the usefulness table that a character rolls on when pulling something out makes it seem that the item retrieved is something random, unexpected, or improvised rather than something the character necessarily already had, but instead would be something that the character could be justified as having?
* Are there other Abilities that can be used with Walking Arsenal other than Gear and Vehicle?
* And what is the difference between Dimensional Pocket and Walking Arsenal? They both seem to basically be Abilities that allow a character to pull out some piece of equipment that they need at the moment, with Dimensional Pocket requiring a roll but having the potential to whip out something really powerful and useful if the roll is really high, whereas Walking Arsenal doesn't require a roll but is limited by the levels of two Abilities regarding how powerful or useful the item produced might be. Basically, they both seem to allow a character to pull out something random but useful, they just have slightly different limits and ways of doing it.
* The Gear Ability says: "While you might consistently have access to this Gear, you are not required to use it all the time." Does that mean that the other methods of making equipment, such as with the Focus Weakness or the Weapon Flaw, assume that you are required to use it all the time?

9) With the Knowledge Ability and the Ineptitude Weakness, their Levels are halved, rounded up, for the purposes of both any limitation rules at character creation, and for experience point costs later, is that correct? Well, when adding up the cost, if a character takes more than one Knowledge or Ineptitude, do you halve each one individually, or do you add them up all together and then halve them?

For example, what if a character started out at character creation with Knowledge (Something) +1, Knowledge (Something Else) +2, and Knowledge (Something Else Entirely) +3. Would the value of the three of them in terms of the Base Zero rule be +4 (0.5 rounds up to 1, and 1.5 rounds up to 2, so 1+1+2=4) or would it be 3 [1+2+3]/2=3?

10) The Gear Ability description says: "While you might consistently have access to this Gear, you are not required to use it all the time." Does that mean with the other methods of representing equipment, such as Attack with the Weapon Flaw, or any Ability attached to the Focus Weakness, must be "used" all the time and can't be intentionally left behind (such as leaving ones sword or armor back home) not used?

11) Speaking of equipment, can Abilities like Inventor be used to make items that only apply Weaknesses rather than granting Abilities? Basically, like an item-based version of Witchcraft. For example, creating a magical amulet that imposes the Unlucky Weakness to whoever has it to be used on ones enemies, or a technological gadget that scrambles the brain by imposing the Absent-Minded and Airheaded Weaknesses? In these cases, is the difficulty based on making the item based on whether it's both a + value or a - value (meaning a "Complicated at Best" item could be something that's either +3 or -3)?

12) Some Abilities, such as Invisibility, state that having certain Abilities can reduce the Penalty imposed by other Abilities by an amount equal to the appropriate Ability or Bonus. For example, if someone has Heightened Sense, Perceptive, Sixth Sense, etc. those bonuses can reduce the penalty from Invisibility. Does that also reduce the bonus as well? I mean, for example, if someone with Invisibility +3 were trying to hide from someone with Heightened Sense (Smell) +3, would that mean the person with Heightened Sense has no bonus to the roll (because their +3 is cancelled out by the -3 penalty from Invisibility), or would they still have the +3 bonus to the roll (because their Heightened Sense Ability cancels out the penalty from Invisibility but doesn't reduce their bonus)?

13) Why is Limited Uses a Weakness rather than a Flaw? And isn't it basically the same as the Ammunition Flaw anyway? Is it one of those things where, like the difference between the Focus/Trigger Weaknesses and the Requirement Flaw, the difference is simply a matter of whether the player would like to get points back for more Abilities (from a Weakness) or an Endurance Cost reduction (from a Flaw)?

14) Some Flaws, such as Impairing and Paralyzing, say that you may choose to do no Damage and instead inflict the relevant complication automatically on a successful attack roll. Does this option still count if the attack in question also has the No Damage Flaw (i.e. if it has the No Damage Flaw can attacks with Flaws like Impairing and Paralyzing always automatically inflict their conditions on a successful attack roll)?

15) How would you handle the losing of Abilities in-game? Take for example the sample character Natsuki. What if through a series of unfortunate events Natsuki was fired from Malicron and she lost her entire fortune. Would she lose her Minions, Position of Power, and Wealthy Abilities since she's no longer rich and powerful? Would she get some other Abilities of equal value to replace them with?

16) The Amazing Success rule mentioned on page 97 says that on such a roll, the winner may choose to impose a Complication on their opponent. Is that just for action rolls outside of combat, or does it also apply to combat rolls such as Initiative Rolls, Attack Rolls, and Defense Rolls as well?

17) When someone runs out of Health, further attacks subtract from Endurance, and when someone runs out of Endurance, further use of energy subtracts from Health. If for example a single attack would deal more damage than a character currently has Health, does it automatically carry over to Endurance, or does it just reduce it to 0 and then any further attacks after that start taking Damage from Endurance. Similarly, if someone uses an Ability that requires more Endurance than they currently have, does it automatically carry over to Health, or does it just reduce Endurance to 0 and then on further uses begin subtracting from Health?

For example, if a character currently only had 5 Health left with 40 Endurance, and is successfully hit by an attack that deals 20 Damage, is their Health reduced to 0 and their Endurance left at 40 this round until they take Damage from future attacks? Or is their Health reduced to 0 and their Endurance immediately reduced to 25 this round?

17.5) Also regarding Health and Endurance, can they go into the negative range? I assumed they couldn't, but then I remembered that the Resistance Ability can indeed reduce the Damage Multiplier below zero into the negative range. And the Healer Ability says that an unconscious character will be awoken when brought above zero. So I just wanted to confirm if 0 is the lowest Health and Endurance can go, or not?

18) Normally, if the Attack Ability was taken to represent a Weapon, a player could instead of building it with the Weapon Flaw instead take the Focus Weaknesses and attach it to the Attack Ability. However, what happens if the person takes the Attack Ability, and makes a suite of attacks that represent two or more weapons, such as a knife and a gun. It wouldn't make much sense to have to Focus Weakness apply here as losing the knife shouldn't affect losing the gun. So could the Attack Ability be taken twice, once to represent each weapon, with the Focus Flaw taken twice as well and applied to each one?

19) Can Flaws be added to Magic, Arcane and Magic, Witchcraft to lower the Endurance cost of each use? If so, do those Flaws only affect the cost of the Magic Ability itself and not the Endurance cost of whatever Ability the magic is emulating?

20) Can Perks and Flaws be used with any Ability? Some specifically say "This Ability" while others say "This Attack." For example, can Perks such as Accurate (which says "Your attack...") be used to improve the dice roll of non-attack Abilities such as Magic or Inventor?

21) It's already been said that characters can't have different Weaknesses that represent the same thing (such as having both Compulsion and Soft Spot refer to cheesecake). But what about for people? Could a character have both Love Interest and Rival refer to the same person? Could someone have both Guardian and Love Interest refer to the same person as well? What about having Love Interest and Servitude refer to the same person? Or even Servitude and Hatred refer to the same person?

22) When using Arcane Magic to mimic an Ability that would normally require a roll of its own (such as the Psychic Ability, or the Attack Ability when using an offensive attack spell), does the player have to roll twice: once to activate Arcane Magic and then again to activate the Ability that's being mimicked, or does the Arcane Magic roll take the place of any other dice roll needed? For example, if a wizard wanted to shoot a fireball spell (the Attack Ability), would they have to roll to activate Arcane Magic, and then if that's successful also then make their Attack Roll? Or would the Arcane Magic roll count as the Attack Roll?

23) Also about Arcane Magic, do any Perks and Flaws attached to the Arcane Magic Ability also apply to the mimicked Abilities it uses? For example, if the Arcane Magic Ability had the No Gesture Perk, does that mean any Ability mimicked through Arcane Magic, including Attack, could be done without using any gestures?

24) Even though their Health and Endurance aren't linked, do Vehicles get the -1 Penalty if they run out of Endurance like characters do?

[Clay]

Greetings again Clay. Thanks for those answers above, you're the best! If you are American, then I hope you had a good Independence Day weekend.

I am. Thanks!

I'm still talking with my group about character creation in OVA in preparation for the game we'll soon start. They're new to the system and I'm not all that experienced in it myself (I've only played in one game of the original edition a couple years back) so a lot of questions come up between us as we talk about the rules and such. These are some that came up during the weekend's discussions that we weren't all together sure about:

1) What do you recommend as a good limit for the starting number of techniques as part of a character's suite for the Attack Ability?

Three is a pretty good number. That gives a player a few unique options without giving so many that it results in decision paralysis. But I wouldn’t force a cap on your Players unless it gets really out of hand. Five is still fine. Ten would be kind of excessive.

2) The Endurance Reserve Ability says "Through some item, you have an extra store of Endurance for your use. It could be an ancient magical amulet, an electronic power pack, or any object capable of storing energy." It also says later that "Endurance Reserve is often linked to other Abilities through Gear or the Focus Weakness." I was a little unsure about how the Endurance Reserve Ability works for a character. On one hand, the fact that the description says it's a separate item, it originally made me think that it would be treated like Gear, in which it is assumed to be something separate from the character that can be lost, broken, or taken away even without any Weaknesses or Flaws being attached. But since the description later says that taking the Focus Weakness with it is optional, it then made me think that the Endurance Reserve, despite being described as a separate item, is still assumed to be innate and unable to be removed unless the Focus Weakness is attached or its made as Gear. The very end seems to confirm this by saying that the Ability "could represent luck, gumption, or giving it just that little bit extra" So just to be clear, the Endurance Reserve doesn't have to actually represent an item, is that right?

Right.

3) With the Attack Ability, having the Weapon Flaw means the attack is a weapon, whereas the Requirement Flaw might reflect that the attack needs a weapon, is that right?

Yes, but really Weapon is just an easy descriptor where you can have a Requirement without going through the trouble defining it and assigning a cost. “Weapon" is a term that’s immediately readable and understandable at a glance. I wouldn't sweat too much analyzing if a given attack is technically a Requirement or a Weapon. It just doesn't matter.

4) Well, if someone with the Attack Ability has the Requirement Flaw to represent that it is a technique that requires the use of some kind of bladed melee weapon such as a sword, knife, axe, etc. and they use the technique while wielding a bladed melee weapon created with the Gear Ability, does the use of both the technique and the Gear get stacked together?

You probably shouldn’t be creating an Attack in both places. Decide on one or the other.

5) With some of the Perks and Flaws, the descriptions either say either "Your Ability..." or "Your attack..." When it says "Your Ability," does that mean it can't be taken for attacks? For example, the Effective Perk says "Your Ability." Does that mean it's not appropriate for attack techniques and is for Abilities other than Attack, or does it not matter?

Perks that say "Your Ability" can be used for any Ability, including Attacks. Perks that say “Your Attack" are more appropriate for Attacks, but if you can justify their use elsewhere, go for it.

6) Following from above, if the Effective Perk can be taken with regular attacks, could one use that Perk to give a character a really powerful attack, while keeping all their other ones really low to reflect that in other forms of fighting they would just be a little better than average, but they have one particular move that's really powerful? For example, a novice teenaged superhero who was only a competent fighter in most respects and thus just had Attack +1, but who had an extremely powerful laser blast move that had Effective x4?

However, if in fact Effective can't be taken for attacks, then how else would one represent a character that is above average with most forms of combat but has one single technique that is far more powerful than all of their other ones in terms of raw damage?

When in doubt, take a look at what the Sample Characters do.

7) When called for, a roll on the Wealth Ability would usually determine whether a character already owns or has access to some goods or services that are particularly expensive, or alternatively whether they can afford to purchase them. Does the Wealthy Ability overlap with other Abilities like Companion, Minions, Gear, and/or Vehicle (Mecha)? That is to say, would the Wealthy Ability allow the character to purchase or already own things like a personal bodyguard (Companion), servants (Minions), various useful equipment (Gear), and a fancy car (Vehicle), even though those would normally be covered by other Abilities? What limits would such purchased goods/services have when "bought" with the Wealthy Ability as opposed to actually having them through Companion, Minions, Gear, or Vehicle (Mecha)? Would it be handled in a way similar to the limitations of similar Abilities like Dimensional Pocket, Inventor, or Walking Arsenal?

Yes, technically, but if it’s something you plan your character doing a lot, you should include it as its own Ability.

And speaking of Dimensional Pocket, Gear, Inventor, Vehicle (Mecha), and Walking Arsenal, Just to make sure I understand the differences between those Abilities:
Dimensional Pocket: let's you pull out a desired item useful for the task or situation at hand (though I'm not quite sure though if this item has to be something the character has actually previously put into the Dimensional Pocket, or of it can be any random item that would be relevant to the character even if they've never been shown to actually own that item before and don't have any other Abilities like Gear or Inventor that would allow them to have it)?
Gear: For each level one has in Gear, they can build an item with Abilities and Weaknesses just like a character.
Inventor: The character can create as many items as they want, with each attempt to build one requiring a roll with the difficulty based on how complex (meaning how many Ability levels it may have), and they may also start the game with one invention of a level equal to their level in Inventor.
Vehicle (Mecha): Similar to Gear, except you can build your vehicle with a number of Ability levels equal to twice the character's level in Mecha.
Walking Arsenal: You pick another Ability such as Gear or Vehicle (what other Abilities would apply I'm not sure though since I think those are the only two that specifically reflect items), and you can have access to any item or vehicle of a specific theme as long as the total level of Abilities is not greater than the character's level in Walking Arsenal or the other Ability it's focused on (Gear or Vehicle or whatever else).

Most of these I get the differences, but some of them still confuse me a bit:
* Does Dimensional Pocket require the character to actually already own the item they're looking for and have already put it in the pocket? I originally assumed so, but the usefulness table that a character rolls on when pulling something out makes it seem that the item retrieved is something random, unexpected, or improvised rather than something the character necessarily already had, but instead would be something that the character could be justified as having?
* Are there other Abilities that can be used with Walking Arsenal other than Gear and Vehicle?
* And what is the difference between Dimensional Pocket and Walking Arsenal? They both seem to basically be Abilities that allow a character to pull out some piece of equipment that they need at the moment, with Dimensional Pocket requiring a roll but having the potential to whip out something really powerful and useful if the roll is really high, whereas Walking Arsenal doesn't require a roll but is limited by the levels of two Abilities regarding how powerful or useful the item produced might be. Basically, they both seem to allow a character to pull out something random but useful, they just have slightly different limits and ways of doing it.
* The Gear Ability says: "While you might consistently have access to this Gear, you are not required to use it all the time." Does that mean that the other methods of making equipment, such as with the Focus Weakness or the Weapon Flaw, assume that you are required to use it all the time?

Dimensional Pocket lets you retrieve any object you could reasonably have possessed at some point. That's why rare or special items require other Abilities, like Inventor.

Walking Arsenal requires no roll, but is more focused than Dimensional Pocket

Nothing assumes that you must use an Ability all the time. Gear just makes it very simple to remove from your character since it’s compartmentalized.

9) With the Knowledge Ability and the Ineptitude Weakness, their Levels are halved, rounded up, for the purposes of both any limitation rules at character creation, and for experience point costs later, is that correct? Well, when adding up the cost, if a character takes more than one Knowledge or Ineptitude, do you halve each one individually, or do you add them up all together and then halve them?

I tend to add them all together, then halve it. It doesn’t matter much which you do, just be consistent about it.

10) The Gear Ability description says: "While you might consistently have access to this Gear, you are not required to use it all the time." Does that mean with the other methods of representing equipment, such as Attack with the Weapon Flaw, or any Ability attached to the Focus Weakness, must be "used" all the time and can't be intentionally left behind (such as leaving ones sword or armor back home) not used?

No, it’s just that Gear makes it easy since you can always tell exactly what attributes are a part of it.

11) Speaking of equipment, can Abilities like Inventor be used to make items that only apply Weaknesses rather than granting Abilities? Basically, like an item-based version of Witchcraft. For example, creating a magical amulet that imposes the Unlucky Weakness to whoever has it to be used on ones enemies, or a technological gadget that scrambles the brain by imposing the Absent-Minded and Airheaded Weaknesses? In these cases, is the difficulty based on making the item based on whether it's both a + value or a - value (meaning a "Complicated at Best" item could be something that's either +3 or -3)?

Sure. By the rules you’d probably use Witchcraft and then use various Flaws to buck the Endurance cost. Might be easier to just create a new Ability for it, or to just assign Weaknesses to the invention and hand wave its ability to apply to others when used.

12) Some Abilities, such as Invisibility, state that having certain Abilities can reduce the Penalty imposed by other Abilities by an amount equal to the appropriate Ability or Bonus. For example, if someone has Heightened Sense, Perceptive, Sixth Sense, etc. those bonuses can reduce the penalty from Invisibility. Does that also reduce the bonus as well? I mean, for example, if someone with Invisibility +3 were trying to hide from someone with Heightened Sense (Smell) +3, would that mean the person with Heightened Sense has no bonus to the roll (because their +3 is cancelled out by the -3 penalty from Invisibility), or would they still have the +3 bonus to the roll (because their Heightened Sense Ability cancels out the penalty from Invisibility but doesn't reduce their bonus)?

No Ability should count twice in a given roll.

The intent here is that Heightened Sense, etc. can only help so much. Once you have offset the Penalty, these Abilities can provide no extra advantage in seeing the target. (Any more than these things can add to your Attack Roll at any other time.)

This prevents your Attack Roll from being BETTER if the target is invisible than if he or she were visible.

13) Why is Limited Uses a Weakness rather than a Flaw? And isn't it basically the same as the Ammunition Flaw anyway? Is it one of those things where, like the difference between the Focus/Trigger Weaknesses and the Requirement Flaw, the difference is simply a matter of whether the player would like to get points back for more Abilities (from a Weakness) or an Endurance Cost reduction (from a Flaw)?

Yes.

14) Some Flaws, such as Impairing and Paralyzing, say that you may choose to do no Damage and instead inflict the relevant complication automatically on a successful attack roll. Does this option still count if the attack in question also has the No Damage Flaw (i.e. if it has the No Damage Flaw can attacks with Flaws like Impairing and Paralyzing always automatically inflict their conditions on a successful attack roll)?

That’s correct. (Otherwise they could never inflict a Complication)

15) How would you handle the losing of Abilities in-game? Take for example the sample character Natsuki. What if through a series of unfortunate events Natsuki was fired from Malicron and she lost her entire fortune. Would she lose her Minions, Position of Power, and Wealthy Abilities since she's no longer rich and powerful? Would she get some other Abilities of equal value to replace them with?

Yes, she would lose those potentially. Though I imagine Natsuki has enough wealth put in enough places that she would have plenty of money even if she quit the position herself. You do not get any Abilities for this loss automatically (but a good GM should arrange for her to get something new of interest, probably.)

16) The Amazing Success rule mentioned on page 97 says that on such a roll, the winner may choose to impose a Complication on their opponent. Is that just for action rolls outside of combat, or does it also apply to combat rolls such as Initiative Rolls, Attack Rolls, and Defense Rolls as well?

Combat uses the Combat Complication rules instead.

17) When someone runs out of Health, further attacks subtract from Endurance, and when someone runs out of Endurance, further use of energy subtracts from Health. If for example a single attack would deal more damage than a character currently has Health, does it automatically carry over to Endurance, or does it just reduce it to 0 and then any further attacks after that start taking Damage from Endurance. Similarly, if someone uses an Ability that requires more Endurance than they currently have, does it automatically carry over to Health, or does it just reduce Endurance to 0 and then on further uses begin subtracting from Health?

It immediately reduces the second total. There is no “break” at zero.

17.5) Also regarding Health and Endurance, can they go into the negative range? I assumed they couldn't, but then I remembered that the Resistance Ability can indeed reduce the Damage Multiplier below zero into the negative range. And the Healer Ability says that an unconscious character will be awoken when brought above zero. So I just wanted to confirm if 0 is the lowest Health and Endurance can go, or not?

Yes, zero is the lowest.

18) Normally, if the Attack Ability was taken to represent a Weapon, a player could instead of building it with the Weapon Flaw instead take the Focus Weaknesses and attach it to the Attack Ability. However, what happens if the person takes the Attack Ability, and makes a suite of attacks that represent two or more weapons, such as a knife and a gun. It wouldn't make much sense to have to Focus Weakness apply here as losing the knife shouldn't affect losing the gun. So could the Attack Ability be taken twice, once to represent each weapon, with the Focus Flaw taken twice as well and applied to each one?

It would be better to use the Weapon Flaw for the given attack. Trying to apply Focus in this way becomes more complicated than is necessary.

19) Can Flaws be added to Magic, Arcane and Magic, Witchcraft to lower the Endurance cost of each use? If so, do those Flaws only affect the cost of the Magic Ability itself and not the Endurance cost of whatever Ability the magic is emulating?

Subtract it from the total Endurance cost for using the spell.

20) Can Perks and Flaws be used with any Ability? Some specifically say "This Ability" while others say "This Attack." For example, can Perks such as Accurate (which says "Your attack...") be used to improve the dice roll of non-attack Abilities such as Magic or Inventor?

Arguably, but you'd be better off making a Unique Perk that sounds less awkward. A more Accurate Invention is kinda silly sounding.

21) It's already been said that characters can't have different Weaknesses that represent the same thing (such as having both Compulsion and Soft Spot refer to cheesecake). But what about for people? Could a character have both Love Interest and Rival refer to the same person? Could someone have both Guardian and Love Interest refer to the same person as well? What about having Love Interest and Servitude refer to the same person? Or even Servitude and Hatred refer to the same person?

Yes, though Love Interest and Guardian are a little too close. The other examples are fine.

22) When using Arcane Magic to mimic an Ability that would normally require a roll of its own (such as the Psychic Ability, or the Attack Ability when using an offensive attack spell), does the player have to roll twice: once to activate Arcane Magic and then again to activate the Ability that's being mimicked, or does the Arcane Magic roll take the place of any other dice roll needed? For example, if a wizard wanted to shoot a fireball spell (the Attack Ability), would they have to roll to activate Arcane Magic, and then if that's successful also then make their Attack Roll? Or would the Arcane Magic roll count as the Attack Roll?

Two rolls. Magic should never replace another roll.

23) Also about Arcane Magic, do any Perks and Flaws attached to the Arcane Magic Ability also apply to the mimicked Abilities it uses? For example, if the Arcane Magic Ability had the No Gesture Perk, does that mean any Ability mimicked through Arcane Magic, including Attack, could be done without using any gestures?

No, it only refers to casting the spell.

24) Even though their Health and Endurance aren't linked, do Vehicles get the -1 Penalty if they run out of Endurance like characters do?

No, they don’t.

Anyway, I'm happy to answer your queries, but keep in mind OVA is a framework for telling stories. It's not a competitive game where following every rule exactly as written and intended by the author (me) is that important. It’s more important for the game to do what YOU want it to do. You don’t need to think about it so hard.

[The Reddest Mage]

Anyway, I'm happy to answer your queries, but keep in mind OVA is a framework for telling stories. It's not a competitive game where following every rule exactly as written and intended by the author (me) is that important. It’s more important for the game to do what YOU want it to do. You don’t need to think about it so hard.

Sorry to be such a bother, but I really appreciate your input. Once again I thank you!

[The Reddest Mage]

1) So today I was asked what's the mechanical difference between the Knowledge and Passion Abilities, and I realized I wasn't exactly sure myself.

The best way I assume to explain it is that Knowledge is something you "have studied and thus know a lot about or have practiced for a while and so are skilled at" and Passion is something "you really love, enjoy, or enthusiastic about." Of course, the same things seem like they can apply to either, such as cars. But mechanically speaking, does Knowledge only apply to specific tasks or actions related to the knowledge, while Passion provides a bonus to any actions that the character is attempting when the character is in a situation that invokes their Passion, even if said action is unrelated?

For example, if a character had Knowledge (Cars) and he went to a car show, I assume he'd get his bonus if trying to fix a car, when showing off his knowledge of cars, or performing some stunt driving. However, if someone with Passion (Cars) went to a car show, he'd get a bonus to all of the things mentioned with Knowledge, but also they'd get the bonus to any rolls while at the car show, whether it was hitting on a cute model who is on display with some car, fighting off ninjas who were attacking the car show to steal some rare car, or trying to run on foot to catch up with his car that's just been stolen. Is that how it works? Since Knowledge is worth half its level in terms of character level limitations and experience point costs, I assume that Passion must be more useful than Knowledge since its cost isn't halved.

Also, does Passion stack with Knowledge when applicable? And can Passion apply to Combat as well, such as Attack Rolls if a character has Passion (Fighting) or something like that?

2) And on an unrelated note, about the Minion Ability, are minions supposed to be built identically, or can they each be individually different (for example a crime boss with Minions +2 to represent one minion who is the brains of the outfit, one minion who is the muscle, another minion who is the pretty arm candy, and another that is his pampered white Persian cat?)

Also, even though mechanically speaking minions are built like Extras, does that mean they have to be faceless and nameless, or can they have names and detailed personalities and backgrounds the same as a Companion might have?

[SirAston]

1) So today I was asked what's the mechanical difference between the Knowledge and Passion Abilities, and I realized I wasn't exactly sure myself.

The best way I assume to explain it is that Knowledge is something you "have studied and thus know a lot about or have practiced for a while and so are skilled at" and Passion is something "you really love, enjoy, or enthusiastic about." Of course, the same things seem like they can apply to either, such as cars. But mechanically speaking, does Knowledge only apply to specific tasks or actions related to the knowledge, while Passion provides a bonus to any actions that the character is attempting when the character is in a situation that invokes their Passion, even if said action is unrelated?

For example, if a character had Knowledge (Cars) and he went to a car show, I assume he'd get his bonus if trying to fix a car, when showing off his knowledge of cars, or performing some stunt driving. However, if someone with Passion (Cars) went to a car show, he'd get a bonus to all of the things mentioned with Knowledge, but also they'd get the bonus to any rolls while at the car show, whether it was hitting on a cute model who is on display with some car, fighting off ninjas who were attacking the car show to steal some rare car, or trying to run on foot to catch up with his car that's just been stolen. Is that how it works? Since Knowledge is worth half its level in terms of character level limitations and experience point costs, I assume that Passion must be more useful than Knowledge since its cost isn't halved.

Also, does Passion stack with Knowledge when applicable? And can Passion apply to Combat as well, such as Attack Rolls if a character has Passion (Fighting) or something like that?

The basic difference is that Knowledge rolls by itself (which is the primary reason why Knowledge can replace Combat Expert; read the box next to CE) while Passion enhances other rolls (excluding combat rolls because no ability shall enhance more than one combat-related stat).
There's still some logic to be applied to the individual situations. Lets say the model on the car show is genuinely interested in cars, then Passion would yield a bonus for flirting with her. But if it's just a job for her or she actually doesn't care one bit for cars, Passion will not help a lot or could even be a disadvantage if she hates cars. Because, lets reverse roles, if you would hate roleplaying and a friend of yours just goes on and on and on about it, living out his +5 Passion for roleplaying, you'd rather shut him up with your fist instead of being convinced that roleplaying is great.
Remember: Abilities are seldomly forced to be used (those exceptions would be of innate nature, like Resistance), so if the character flirting with the car model notices beforehand that she's not interested in cars, said character could swallow down his passion and use regular flirting techniques because they might be more successful.

In addition, I'd guess that Passion wouldn't stack with Knowledge. Having a passion about something does not equal knowing anything about it. In fact, you could be passionate about, say, firearms and still lack the knowledge of handling them correctly (like how to safely use and carry firearms and how important it is to clean them regularely and all the important legal fineprint about it). Which means someone with Passion for firearms but no Knowledge about firearms could be a typical teenager interested in contemporary action movies where a lot of Gun-Fu happens.

Of course, we still have to hear about Clay's opinion about it, it might enlighten us even more.

[Clay]

I think Passion is being taken a little too literally. It’s less that you’re REALLY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT THIS THING and more that there is some cosmic force in the universe that makes you grow more powerful by the nature of its being. A Sith Lord from Star Wars may have a Passion for Anger, and Curly from The Three Stooges can only win boxing matches when his Passion for the song "Pop Goes the Weasel" is taken care of.

As far as stacking goes, almost everything stacks in OVA. The only exception is the few instances that specifically state “replaces your Defense Roll.” (Old hats may remember that the old edition stated that Knowledge and Combat Skill, now Combat Expert, didn’t stack. This is no longer the case.)

Minions was intended to be faceless goons, but there’s no reason you can’t make them more individualized if you like. As long as they follow the rules (and you don’t go overkill on making each Minion specialized in some unique skill), you should be fine.

[The Reddest Mage]

Thanks for clearing those up for me, I understand them better now.

[The Reddest Mage]

1) When it comes to movement speed, does the Quick Ability only give a bonus specifically to land speed (such as running), or does it also stack with other Abilities that represent forms of movement, such as Flight, or Unique Abilities for Swimming, Brachiation, or Digging/Burrowing/Tunneling, etc?

[Chris Brady]

When it comes to movement speed, does the Quick Ability only give a bonus specifically to land speed (such as running), or does it also stack with other Abilities that represent forms of movement, such as Flight, or Unique Abilities for Swimming, Brachiation, or Digging/Burrowing/Tunneling, etc?

Literally? Yes.

[The Reddest Mage]

1) When it comes to movement speed, does the Quick Ability only give a bonus specifically to land speed (such as running), or does it also stack with other Abilities that represent forms of movement, such as Flight, or Unique Abilities for Swimming, Brachiation, or Digging/Burrowing/Tunneling, etc?

2) Also, why is the Knowledge Ability and the Ineptitude Weakness suggested as being worth half their levels in terms of limitation rules like Base Zero? I don't see what makes Knowledge less useful compared to other Abilities, or what makes Ineptitude Less debilitating compared to other ones.

[Chris Brady]

It's because it's limited in what you can use it for, compared to some other stats.

For example, Smart can be used for anything involving general intelligence, it can represent knowledge in a wide field of sciences, investigation work AND engineering.

Whereas Knowledge would be used to show things like Mechanical Engineering, Biology or Forensics. Very limited compared to Smart.

Combat Expert which allows you to use every weapon and technique known to man and probably beyond. Karate, on the other hand, is mostly barehanded and a small selection of melee weapons.

So on and so forth.

[The Reddest Mage]

It's because it's limited in what you can use it for, compared to some other stats.

For example, Smart can be used for anything involving general intelligence, it can represent knowledge in a wide field of sciences, investigation work AND engineering.

Whereas Knowledge would be used to show things like Mechanical Engineering, Biology or Forensics. Very limited compared to Smart.

Combat Expert which allows you to use every weapon and technique known to man and probably beyond. Karate, on the other hand, is mostly barehanded and a small selection of melee weapons.

So on and so forth.

In the case of Combat though, the difference between Combat Expert and Knowledge (Karate) are really mostly narrative. That is, they both will give a bonus in Combat, the main difference being simply how one describes them hitting their target.

I find Knowledge to be a catch-all Ability, basically like a more mundane version of Unique Ability actually. How narrow or broad it is can vary, and it can be used to represent talents that aren't already covered by other Abilities. It can also be used to represent talents that could be very important for the campaign. But even when a Knowledge does fall into the realm of another Ability, in some ways it may seem more narrow than an existing one, but in other ways it can be more versatile. Take for example "Smart." Though that might included medical knowledge, I would say generally Smart wouldn't apply to Combat. However, if someone was playing a fighter that used a medical theme (a nurse who fought with a giant syringe or a doctor with a big scalpel), I would say that Knowledge (Medicine) or whatever could apply to not only medical rolls but also combat rolls too, since Knowledge (fighting style) applies to Combat rolls whereas Smart usually wouldn't.

Also, speaking of being cheaper because it's more specific - and on a separate note - in a purely mechanical sense I've always found Combat Expert to be a less versatile version of Agile, and Evasive to be a less versatile version of Quick. Sure, Combat Expert and Evasive do apply to more than just Attack and Defense rolls respectively. But the other things they apply to don't seem as broad or as versatile as Agile and Quick, which can apply to both Combat as well as a lot of other useful non-combat situations. Of course I just mean this from a purely mechanical standpoint, as I can see the clear difference between someone who would be described as being good at combat because they are Agile and Quick and someone who is good at combat because they are an Evasive Combat Expert. But mechanically the Agile Quick guy seems more broadly useful than the Evasive Combat Expert since he can do what the Evasive Combat Expert primarily does (accurately hit things and avoid getting hit himself) but can also run fast, leap over stuff, climb things, do acrobatic somersaults, swing from ropes, dance, etc.