Wise Turtle Publishing

Thanks Clay as always. This ever-growing personal OVA FAQ I've been compiling over these months as a Word document has proven to be very useful for me and so I appreciate all of your input.

Hey, I was wondering something. I recall it's mentioned somewhere in the text that Abilities and Weaknesses may work differently than usual depending on the context. The example given if I remember correctly was that Cute! could act as a Weakness penalty when trying to intimidate someone, whereas Bizarre Appearance could act as an Ability bonus when trying to intimidate someone.

1) Similarly speaking, Beautiful and Cute! are usually the two Abilities used for a character's attractiveness. But those seem to be specifically for somewhat feminine or at least effeminate characters, such as the androgynous bishonen samurai Raine. If however a manly male character had Abilities like Agile, Quick, Strong, Tough, and Vigorous it could probably be assumed that the character is in good physical condition, probably sporting a muscular and athletic build. Could such physical attributes aid in seduction and other such social rolls that Beautiful and Cute! usually handle if the character in question is showing off the hotness of their toned and fit bod rather than their beautiful or cute face?

2) Also, the name "Beautiful" makes the Ability sound most appropriate for females or effeminate or androgynous bishonen males. Does that Ability however just reflect attractiveness in general, even if it's a more manly or rugged handsomeness?

3) This one is unrelated to the above, but what happens when one combined Armored and Resistance? For example, let's say someone has both the Armored +3 and the Resistance (Fire) +3 Abilities. They are then successfully attacked by someone who is using the Attack +3 Ability with a level of the Effective Perk and a Fire Affinity. With the defender's combined levels in both Armored and Resistance (Fire) coming out to +6, and the attacker's DX value of 5.

The attacker's DX of 5 is reduced by the defender's combined Armored/Resistance (Fire) value of +6, bringing the attacker's DX down to -1. So, does that mean the fire attack will be eligible for actually granting Health to the defender? Or does it not qualify for granting Health because even though the DX was reduced below 0, it wasn't done so by Resistance alone but only because it was combined with Armored?

4) For Perks like Continued Effect, if someone has the Attack Ability at +1 and has taken the Perk just once, it means that when the attack is successfully used, the victim takes full damage. Then, on the following round, they automatically take an damage amount of damage equal to half the damage of the original attack, is that correct?

Also, does this additional damage occur at the start of the following Round, at the beginning or end of the victim's turn during the following Round, or at the beginning or end of the attacker's turn during the following Round?

5) With the Trap Perk, since OVA isn't a tactical game where one would normally keep track of every character's specific position on a grid, if a character lays a Trap on the ground during a battle, what would other characters roll to see if they are able to avoid stepping on said trap or if they instead set it off?

And would such a roll be a reflexive free action roll? Or would it cost others an action?

6) If a character has Magic, Arcane, do Abilities gained as spells stack with their existing Abilities? For example, if a character who already has the Attack Ability uses Arcane Magic to gain the Attack Ability again, do the two stack, or are they considered separate?

Related, if a person uses Arcane Magic to gain the Attack Ability, are they able to gain various attack spells from it by creating a suite of attacks each with their own unique Perks and Flaws, such as a fire spell, an ice spell, a lightning spell, etc?

7) When making an attack suite, can one give each individual attack the Weapon Flaw, but have each of those attack refer to the same weapon (so that if the weapon is lost, they lose multiple attacks in their suite?) For example, a sci-fi ray gun that had various different settings, such as burn, freeze, zap, stun, etc? Or a weapon that could be used as both a melee weapon and alternately be used as a thrown weapon as well?

Clay wrote:

2 C) And if one used the above method but with the Requirement (Heightened Sense: Vision Only Works in the Dark) Flaw, how much of an Endurance Cost reduction would that be worth?

Well, depends on the setting. If you’re playing Batman in Gotham City, pretty much everything happens at night, so getting more than a -5 Penalty wouldn’t really be justified. But as a general rule, I think -10 would be fine.

Because I'm building an urban fantasy paranormal investigation/occult detective setting world where magical Abilities that only work in the dark or in shadows will be a common restriction in the campaign, to cover my bases what level of the Trigger Weakness would that be?

9) Casting a spell using Arcane Magic costs an action, correct? So if I understand correctly, f one used Arcane Magic to cast a spell on them self that granted them the Attack Ability, they would have to take on multiple action penalties by spending an action to cast the spell and another action to actually attack with it, or wait until the next turn to use the newly gained attack? Or is casting the spell and the firing the attack considered all one action?

10) If someone takes the Arcane Magic Ability with the Self-Only Flaw, it means they can only grant Abilities to themselves, and not others. But can they still use their Magic to grant themselves Abilities that in turn can affect others? For example, if someone took Arcane Magic (Self-Only), could they still use spells like Teleport (with the Area Effect or Multiple Targets Perks) and Healing on other people, even if they couldn't actually grant those Abilities to other people?

Basically, I realize I'm not sure how Arcane Magic works by default when used on other people. Does using a Teleport spell for example with Arcane Magic simply cause the target to teleport somewhere else if successful as a one-time-thing, and that's the end of it? Or does it instead grant the target the Teleport Ability, allowing them to continue to teleport anywhere, anytime they want as much as they want for as long as the Magic-user decides to continue to commit the expended Endurance? Is Magic with Self-Only the way to have a magic user who can't grant Abilities to others, but can still use his own granted Abilities on other people?

11) Can the Activation Flaw be taken more than once, so that it takes more than one round to charge up the Ability before use, but during which the character can still dodge and move around? I like the idea of a character that needs multiple rounds to charge up before using an attack, but Buildup which can be taken multiple times for multiple rounds lets the character fight and act normally during the charge time which is less dramatic, but Concentration which can also be taken multiple times for multiple rounds is too dramatic since the character can't dodge or get hit without cancelling out the charging time and having to start over again. Activation is a good compromise between the two extremes, but unlike Buildup and Concentration, Activation doesn't say that it can be taken more than once to increase the charging time, so I was wondering why that was.

12) Can a weapon originally built simply as an attack with the Weapon Flaw, later be upgraded to being to an alternate equipment method that grants Abilities with the item rather than just an Endurance decrease? That is, for example what if later on Raine's Kaze Satsujinsha or Auren's Orion was enchanted with magic, so that it lit up when danger approached (Sixth Sense) and brought him good luck as well (Lucky). Would they just delete that attack from their Attack Ability's suite of attacks and then remake the sword as Gear? Or would they just take the Sixth Sense and Lucky Abilities, then add the Focus Weakness, and then delete the Weapon Flaw from the Attack (as you can't have Gear, Focus, Requirement, and/or Weapon apply to the same item)?

13) For Abilities like Barrier, Incorporeal Form, and Teleport that let you roll those dice pools instead of a normal Defense Roll, do they also let other Abilities stack with them as well? That is, could Abilities like Smart, Intuitive, Iron-Willed, or any other possibly applicable Abilities apply to the roll as well? Or do those only exclusively use the Barrier/Incorporeal Form/Teleport dice pools?

14) Abilities taken as spells via the Arcane Magic Ability only require spending the casting cost once, and do not cost anything further to maintain the spell though the character cannot regain the Endurance spent to cast the spell until they end the spell. What about Abilities taken in combination with the Endurance Use Weakness? It costs Endurance to use the linked Ability, but can they also maintain the Ability for as long as they like? Also, can they still recover that spent Endurance used on the Ability even if they maintain it, or must they end the Ability to get the Endurance back just like with Arcane Magic?

15) For Abilities like Telekinesis that can be used both for combat (as an attacK) and non-combat (to lift things up) purposes, if the Accurate Perk is given to the Telekinesis Ability, does that bonus get applied to both when it is used as an attack and when it is used to lift things up, or does the bonus only count towards attacks?

Also regarding Telekinesis, it adds to the Damage Multiplier (DX) for telekinetic attacks the same way that Strong adds to the Damage Multiplier for physical strength-based attacks. Does the Attack Ability also stack towards damage with Telekinesis though in the same way that Attack does with Strong?

16) When calculating threat value for the purpose of difficulty of an opponent NPC or group of opponent NPCs (on the table on page 124), should you round up the final result by default, or round accordingly by standard rounding rules?

17) As a rule of thumb, when an Ability is linked to the Endurance Use Weakness, do simple uses of the Ability that don't require a die roll still require spending the Endurance cost? For example, using Telepathy for telepathic communication with someone who is not resisting, using Telekinesis to lift small, light objects, or seeing and talking to a spirit with Spirit Medium. Do such uses require the use of Endurance even if such actions don't normally require a dice roll?

The Reddest Mage wrote:Thanks Clay as always. This ever-growing personal OVA FAQ I've been compiling over these months as a Word document has proven to be very useful for me and so I appreciate all of your input.

You’re welcome! Also, it’s nice to have your occasional “stress tests” for the system to make sure everything works!

Hey, I was wondering something. I recall it's mentioned somewhere in the text that Abilities and Weaknesses may work differently than usual depending on the context. The example given if I remember correctly was that Cute! could act as a Weakness penalty when trying to intimidate someone, whereas Bizarre Appearance could act as an Ability bonus when trying to intimidate someone.

1) Similarly speaking, Beautiful and Cute! are usually the two Abilities used for a character's attractiveness. But those seem to be specifically for somewhat feminine or at least effeminate characters, such as the androgynous bishonen samurai Raine. If however a manly male character had Abilities like Agile, Quick, Strong, Tough, and Vigorous it could probably be assumed that the character is in good physical condition, probably sporting a muscular and athletic build. Could such physical attributes aid in seduction and other such social rolls that Beautiful and Cute! usually handle if the character in question is showing off the hotness of their toned and fit bod rather than their beautiful or cute face?

If you can justify it in the context of what’s going on, by all means. Generally though, while being fit may be a plus in real life, it doesn’t have a lot of sway in, say, your typical shounen romp. In such things, everyone is fit and moderately attractive, but the only people that seem to have a real bonus to such efforts are the beautiful ones. That said, if your character is actually taking part in a fitness pageant, where both physical ability and attractiveness are being considered, then that may be another matter. Likewise, perhaps raw strength might encourage the adoration of an impressionable minotaur where the Beautiful Ability would not. Just use common sense and be consistent, whatever decision that is.

2) Also, the name "Beautiful" makes the Ability sound most appropriate for females or effeminate or androgynous bishonen males. Does that Ability however just reflect attractiveness in general, even if it's a more manly or rugged handsomeness?

Once again, beautiful conveys something beyond the norm in a setting where everyone is at least moderately attractive. I think rugged handsomeness is more likely to be attributed to Charisma (you know, the whole “ladykiller” angle) than the Beautiful Ability, even if you renamed it something like "Attractive."

3) This one is unrelated to the above, but what happens when one combined Armored and Resistance? For example, let's say someone has both the Armored +3 and the Resistance (Fire) +3 Abilities. They are then successfully attacked by someone who is using the Attack +3 Ability with a level of the Effective Perk and a Fire Affinity. With the defender's combined levels in both Armored and Resistance (Fire) coming out to +6, and the attacker's DX value of 5.

The attacker's DX of 5 is reduced by the defender's combined Armored/Resistance (Fire) value of +6, bringing the attacker's DX down to -1. So, does that mean the fire attack will be eligible for actually granting Health to the defender? Or does it not qualify for granting Health because even though the DX was reduced below 0, it wasn't done so by Resistance alone but only because it was combined with Armored?

The real question here, I think, is the theoretical order of operations of the ordeal, and that depends on the fiction. If the character is wearing a suit of platemail over their fire-resistant lizard skin, then Armored would be “used up” first, allowing the skin underneath to restore Health. On the other hand, a mechanical robot with an armored shell surrounded by a electronic flame barrier would logically expend the Resistance first, negating the possibility of restoring Health.

Also, keep in mind the healing bit is an optional effect, something that MAY take place. If it doesn’t make sense (for example, maybe you don’t feel that mecha’s flame barrier should restore its Health), it doesn’t work that way.

4) For Perks like Continued Effect, if someone has the Attack Ability at +1 and has taken the Perk just once, it means that when the attack is successfully used, the victim takes full damage. Then, on the following round, they automatically take an damage amount of damage equal to half the damage of the original attack, is that correct?

Correct, for one round if the source Attack Ability is +1.

Also, does this additional damage occur at the start of the following Round, at the beginning or end of the victim's turn during the following Round, or at the beginning or end of the attacker's turn during the following Round?

At the beginning of the attacker’s turn is my personal take.

5) With the Trap Perk, since OVA isn't a tactical game where one would normally keep track of every character's specific position on a grid, if a character lays a Trap on the ground during a battle, what would other characters roll to see if they are able to avoid stepping on said trap or if they instead set it off?

And would such a roll be a reflexive free action roll? Or would it cost others an action?

I think if the enemy party is aware of the trap, most of the trap’s benefit is lost. That said, if a character should inflict the Stunned Complication, I think it’s feasible to knock an enemy intentionally into the trap.

I would probably leave it at that, but if you wanted to really stress the nuisance of the trap, I would give everyone fighting around it the choice of a penalty to avoid it (say, –1 or –2 to everything), or risk triggering it on ANY failed roll.

6) If a character has Magic, Arcane, do Abilities gained as spells stack with their existing Abilities? For example, if a character who already has the Attack Ability uses Arcane Magic to gain the Attack Ability again, do the two stack, or are they considered separate?

Related, if a person uses Arcane Magic to gain the Attack Ability, are they able to gain various attack spells from it by creating a suite of attacks each with their own unique Perks and Flaws, such as a fire spell, an ice spell, a lightning spell, etc?

Generally, they stack. If you have specific Focuses or other limitations that make your basic Attack only work with a sword, and your spell is worded in such a way that it doesn’t enchant the sword, then maybe not. But as a rule, yes.

And yes, you can create a suite with the spell, if you’re so inclined.

7) When making an attack suite, can one give each individual attack the Weapon Flaw, but have each of those attack refer to the same weapon (so that if the weapon is lost, they lose multiple attacks in their suite?) For example, a sci-fi ray gun that had various different settings, such as burn, freeze, zap, stun, etc? Or a weapon that could be used as both a melee weapon and alternately be used as a thrown weapon as well?

That’s how pretty much every character in OVA is written. I think the only character to have different weapons for each of their attacks is Miho.

Because I'm building an urban fantasy paranormal investigation/occult detective setting world where magical Abilities that only work in the dark or in shadows will be a common restriction in the campaign, to cover my bases what level of the Trigger Weakness would that be?

If it’s something you plan on affecting a lot of people, I’d probably stick to –5. But just try it out. If it seems like it’s hindering people a lot, consider bumping it up.

9) Casting a spell using Arcane Magic costs an action, correct? So if I understand correctly, f one used Arcane Magic to cast a spell on them self that granted them the Attack Ability, they would have to take on multiple action penalties by spending an action to cast the spell and another action to actually attack with it, or wait until the next turn to use the newly gained attack? Or is casting the spell and the firing the attack considered all one action?

You can use the multiple actions penalty to attack with it on the casting turn or voluntarily wait a turn.

…but I wouldn’t be a stickler about this, as long as everyone agrees to waive the first turn penalty, I don’t see the harm.

10) If someone takes the Arcane Magic Ability with the Self-Only Flaw, it means they can only grant Abilities to themselves, and not others. But can they still use their Magic to grant themselves Abilities that in turn can affect others? For example, if someone took Arcane Magic (Self-Only), could they still use spells like Teleport (with the Area Effect or Multiple Targets Perks) and Healing on other people, even if they couldn't actually grant those Abilities to other people?

Basically, I realize I'm not sure how Arcane Magic works by default when used on other people. Does using a Teleport spell for example with Arcane Magic simply cause the target to teleport somewhere else if successful as a one-time-thing, and that's the end of it? Or does it instead grant the target the Teleport Ability, allowing them to continue to teleport anywhere, anytime they want as much as they want for as long as the Magic-user decides to continue to commit the expended Endurance? Is Magic with Self-Only the way to have a magic user who can't grant Abilities to others, but can still use his own granted Abilities on other people?

Technically, yes, but I think that’s going against the spirit of Self-Only as a Flaw. If it doesn’t actually hinder you in some way, you shouldn’t get the Endurance kickback. Self-Only should be self-only, even if you’re trying to skip it by making spells.

As for giving someone else the continued power to do a thing, it’s possible, but only as long as the caster continues to “lock” that Endurance. If the caster wants the Endurance back, they need to revoke the spell, usually after one use.

11) Can the Activation Flaw be taken more than once, so that it takes more than one round to charge up the Ability before use, but during which the character can still dodge and move around? I like the idea of a character that needs multiple rounds to charge up before using an attack, but Buildup which can be taken multiple times for multiple rounds lets the character fight and act normally during the charge time which is less dramatic, but Concentration which can also be taken multiple times for multiple rounds is too dramatic since the character can't dodge or get hit without cancelling out the charging time and having to start over again. Activation is a good compromise between the two extremes, but unlike Buildup and Concentration, Activation doesn't say that it can be taken more than once to increase the charging time, so I was wondering why that was.

I don’t see why not, offhand.

12) Can a weapon originally built simply as an attack with the Weapon Flaw, later be upgraded to being to an alternate equipment method that grants Abilities with the item rather than just an Endurance decrease? That is, for example what if later on Raine's Kaze Satsujinsha or Auren's Orion was enchanted with magic, so that it lit up when danger approached (Sixth Sense) and brought him good luck as well (Lucky). Would they just delete that attack from their Attack Ability's suite of attacks and then remake the sword as Gear? Or would they just take the Sixth Sense and Lucky Abilities, then add the Focus Weakness, and then delete the Weapon Flaw from the Attack (as you can't have Gear, Focus, Requirement, and/or Weapon apply to the same item)?

Any of the above is fine. Though you misunderstand, as you can have Focus, Gear, and Requirement/Weapon apply to the same item, it just cannot grant its benefit to the same ABILITY.

So you could have Focus (Sword) for your Lucky and the Weapon Flaw for your Attack Ability. You just can’t have the Weapon Flaw and Focus (Sword) both apply to Attack.

13) For Abilities like Barrier, Incorporeal Form, and Teleport that let you roll those dice pools instead of a normal Defense Roll, do they also let other Abilities stack with them as well? That is, could Abilities like Smart, Intuitive, Iron-Willed, or any other possibly applicable Abilities apply to the roll as well? Or do those only exclusively use the Barrier/Incorporeal Form/Teleport dice pools?

Generally no, unless you have some really good justification for it.

14) Abilities taken as spells via the Arcane Magic Ability only require spending the casting cost once, and do not cost anything further to maintain the spell though the character cannot regain the Endurance spent to cast the spell until they end the spell. What about Abilities taken in combination with the Endurance Use Weakness? It costs Endurance to use the linked Ability, but can they also maintain the Ability for as long as they like? Also, can they still recover that spent Endurance used on the Ability even if they maintain it, or must they end the Ability to get the Endurance back just like with Arcane Magic?

I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at here. Do you mean Endurance Use applied to Magic, Arcane? Or are you implying a spell that somehow also includes Endurance Use?

15) For Abilities like Telekinesis that can be used both for combat (as an attacK) and non-combat (to lift things up) purposes, if the Accurate Perk is given to the Telekinesis Ability, does that bonus get applied to both when it is used as an attack and when it is used to lift things up, or does the bonus only count towards attacks?

It seems feasible you can use that Perk outside of combat.

Also regarding Telekinesis, it adds to the Damage Multiplier (DX) for telekinetic attacks the same way that Strong adds to the Damage Multiplier for physical strength-based attacks. Does the Attack Ability also stack towards damage with Telekinesis though in the same way that Attack does with Strong?

Yes. Though each move should be defined as either strength-based or telekinetic in nature. It’s rarely both.

16) When calculating threat value for the purpose of difficulty of an opponent NPC or group of opponent NPCs (on the table on page 124), should you round up the final result by default, or round accordingly by standard rounding rules?

I tend to add everything together, then round. Rounding each individual combatant might inflate the TV.

17) As a rule of thumb, when an Ability is linked to the Endurance Use Weakness, do simple uses of the Ability that don't require a die roll still require spending the Endurance cost? For example, using Telepathy for telepathic communication with someone who is not resisting, using Telekinesis to lift small, light objects, or seeing and talking to a spirit with Spirit Medium. Do such uses require the use of Endurance even if such actions don't normally require a dice roll?

No, it doesn’t. If an effect is cosmetic, doesn’t affect another part in a negative way, or otherwise doesn’t require much thought or effort, skipping on the Endurance cost is fine.

Thank you for the answers Clay, you're as awesome as OVA is.

To be clearer about some things that I may not have be clear about:

Clay wrote:

The Reddest Mage wrote: Because I'm building an urban fantasy paranormal investigation/occult detective setting world where magical Abilities that only work in the dark or in shadows will be a common restriction in the campaign, to cover my bases what level of the Trigger Weakness would that be?

If it’s something you plan on affecting a lot of people, I’d probably stick to –5. But just try it out. If it seems like it’s hindering people a lot, consider bumping it up.

I see, so that would be -5 Endurance for the Requirement Flaw then? Thus, for the Trigger Weakness, it should also be at the lowest level then, at -1 for the Weakness? But in either case, they should be pushed up higher if it seems like it should be worth more? Got it, thank you very much for the rule of thumb.

Clay wrote:

The Reddest Mage wrote:14) Abilities taken as spells via the Arcane Magic Ability only require spending the casting cost once, and do not cost anything further to maintain the spell though the character cannot regain the Endurance spent to cast the spell until they end the spell. What about Abilities taken in combination with the Endurance Use Weakness? It costs Endurance to use the linked Ability, but can they also maintain the Ability for as long as they like? Also, can they still recover that spent Endurance used on the Ability even if they maintain it, or must they end the Ability to get the Endurance back just like with Arcane Magic?

I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at here. Do you mean Endurance Use applied to Magic, Arcane? Or are you implying a spell that somehow also includes Endurance Use?

Ah, let me clarify. Basically, there are three ways to make Abilities have an Endurance cost: the Arcane Magic and Witchcraft Magic Abilities, tacking on the Endurance Use Weakness to an Ability, or adding Perks to an Ability.

With Arcane Magic it explains that when casting a spell, Endurance is spent at that time, and after that the spell (Ability) can be maintained without any further Endurance expenditure. So I was wondering, similarly if someone for example had Flight with the Endurance Use Weakness attached (without Arcane Magic involved), does that mean that they would spend the Endurance when they flew, during which time they could maintain their Flight Ability to use anytime by maintaining it, but they would not be able to regain that spent Endurance until they "revoked" the Flight Ability again? Or does the Endurance Use Weakness occur once-per-use, so that if the person flew they would spend the Endurance cost, but once they landed on the ground taking off again would be another expenditure of Endurance?

Clay wrote:

The Reddest Mage wrote:16) When calculating threat value for the purpose of difficulty of an opponent NPC or group of opponent NPCs (on the table on page 124), should you round up the final result by default, or round accordingly by standard rounding rules?

I tend to add everything together, then round. Rounding each individual combatant might inflate the TV.

What I meant was, for example I have a combined player character TV of 29. That means an "easy" combined enemy threat value rating for that group would 7.25. Following standard rounding rules, 7.25 rounded to the nearest whole number would be rounded down to 7. However, I wasn't sure if OVA like many games had some standard "always round up" or "always round down" rule, or if it just followed standard rounding rules in such cases?

Also, one more thing, I'm just curious to hear your opinion on an alternate use of the Companion Ability. For the Vehicle (Mecha) Ability, it says: "Your Level in Vehicle may be an abstract representation of its overall usefulness, or it can be used to create a vehicle with specific attributes much as you would a character." Well, I was thinking of using Companion in a similar way to the "abstract representation of its overall usefulness" method mentioned in Vehicle, in which the level in Companion represents how generally useful, or how loyal, the Companion is rather than its actual number of Abilities and Weaknesses. What do you think about that in your opinion?

Thank you again in advance for clearing these up.

The Reddest Mage wrote:Thank you for the answers Clay, you're as awesome as OVA is.

Aw shucks.

I see, so that would be -5 Endurance for the Requirement Flaw then? Thus, for the Trigger Weakness, it should also be at the lowest level then, at -1 for the Weakness? But in either case, they should be pushed up higher if it seems like it should be worth more? Got it, thank you very much for the rule of thumb.

Err, yeah. Sorry about that; I must have glossed over when you switched from Requirement to Trigger. I’d still say try –1 to start with, and again, if it proves a bigger hindrance than you expect, bump them up to -2/-10.

Ah, let me clarify. Basically, there are three ways to make Abilities have an Endurance cost: the Arcane Magic and Witchcraft Magic Abilities, tacking on the Endurance Use Weakness to an Ability, or adding Perks to an Ability.

With Arcane Magic it explains that when casting a spell, Endurance is spent at that time, and after that the spell (Ability) can be maintained without any further Endurance expenditure. So I was wondering, similarly if someone for example had Flight with the Endurance Use Weakness attached (without Arcane Magic involved), does that mean that they would spend the Endurance when they flew, during which time they could maintain their Flight Ability to use anytime by maintaining it, but they would not be able to regain that spent Endurance until they "revoked" the Flight Ability again? Or does the Endurance Use Weakness occur once-per-use, so that if the person flew they would spend the Endurance cost, but once they landed on the ground taking off again would be another expenditure of Endurance?

Ah, gotcha! I see what you’re saying now. I think using Magic as a template is the best idea: Once for the initial use and “lock” that endurance until you’re done using it.

That said, if a significant chunk of time passes, or the scene changes, I would require respending the Endurance. That goes for Magic, too, really, but it ultimately depends on how you want to spin the narrative of how it works.

What I meant was, for example I have a combined player character TV of 29. That means an "easy" combined enemy threat value rating for that group would 7.25. Following standard rounding rules, 7.25 rounded to the nearest whole number would be rounded down to 7. However, I wasn't sure if OVA like many games had some standard "always round up" or "always round down" rule, or if it just followed standard rounding rules in such cases?

OVA just uses standard rules for rounding (ie. 1-4, down, 5-9, up.) That said, In the case of TV I don’t think 1 point either way would matter enough. Just use whatever rule for rounding suits you best.

Also, one more thing, I'm just curious to hear your opinion on an alternate use of the Companion Ability. For the Vehicle (Mecha) Ability, it says: "Your Level in Vehicle may be an abstract representation of its overall usefulness, or it can be used to create a vehicle with specific attributes much as you would a character." Well, I was thinking of using Companion in a similar way to the "abstract representation of its overall usefulness" method mentioned in Vehicle, in which the level in Companion represents how generally useful, or how loyal, the Companion is rather than its actual number of Abilities and Weaknesses. What do you think about that in your opinion?

Perfectly plausible. It’s just that a Companion tends to have the ability to contribute to the game—that is, they can take actions—and are usually worth statting up. It’s much easier to use Vehicles as backdrops or a means to get from point A to B, making defining attributes not necessarily worth your time.

But if you feel like a Companion’s actual attributes aren’t going to contribute to the game (or just that you’re comfortable handwaving those contributions), abstracting the Level to represent usefulness is just fine.

Well, I got a few inquiries of my own that weren't answered in my other topics so I might as well ask 'em here and see if either Clay or the more experienced players could direct me to the correct solution.

1) Now we're all familiar with the basic operation and utility of Perks and Flaws with Attack Variations and Abilities, but this brain fart just came to me the other day that deals with Effective and Cancel for starters. Hypothetically, a character had an Armored Ability at +1 with Effective x2 and Canceled against Lasers. Now, would it be safe for me to assume that if said character with Armored is facing a foe that attacked via lasers, would that mean that Armored no longer counts in calculating the total damage dealt or does Canceled only affect the +2 Levels given to it by the Effective perk?

2) For Tough and Vigorous, the Health and Endurance respectfully increase by 10 per level with the exemption of 5 which is increased by an additional 10 for a total bonus of 60 as shown in pages 63 and 65 of OVA2e in their respective sections. My inquiry is basically how one measures the bonuses of either Ability beyond Level 5?

3) This deals with vehicles and Focus in the form of pilot/driver attire. To put it simply, would something that is worn or present upon the character be applicable as a Focus for a vehicle or no?

Thanks again for any aid rendered to my questions regardless.

Clay wrote:

The Reddest Mage wrote:Also, one more thing, I'm just curious to hear your opinion on an alternate use of the Companion Ability. For the Vehicle (Mecha) Ability, it says: "Your Level in Vehicle may be an abstract representation of its overall usefulness, or it can be used to create a vehicle with specific attributes much as you would a character." Well, I was thinking of using Companion in a similar way to the "abstract representation of its overall usefulness" method mentioned in Vehicle, in which the level in Companion represents how generally useful, or how loyal, the Companion is rather than its actual number of Abilities and Weaknesses. What do you think about that in your opinion?

Perfectly plausible. It’s just that a Companion tends to have the ability to contribute to the game—that is, they can take actions—and are usually worth statting up. It’s much easier to use Vehicles as backdrops or a means to get from point A to B, making defining attributes not necessarily worth your time.

But if you feel like a Companion’s actual attributes aren’t going to contribute to the game (or just that you’re comfortable handwaving those contributions), abstracting the Level to represent usefulness is just fine.

Thanks a bunch for the help Clay, much appreciated as always.

So then, to give a little background on my thoughts about Companion, I think it's fine as it is and it's the way I usually use it for most games. But I've been mulling over other possible applications for it. But first some background

During my last OVA game, I came to realize that statting out lots of NPCs could be daunting. I like games like MAID RPG where making NPCs on the fly is quick and simple. With my last OVA game though, there ended up being a lot more recurring NPCs than I planned, because a lot of NPCs I had intended to be one-off mid-boss antagonists, the players chose to try to befriend and recruit rather than fight. And I noticed a pattern in which the NPCs I had statted out in advance never actually made many rolls, and some other NPCs that I didn't bother statting up because I thought their appearance would be very minor ended up needing to make some rolls.

Generally, with NPCs I've come to like the idea that an NPC's stats are only relevant as they come up. So, unless an NPC is ever in a situation where they have to make a social roll against a player character, there's no reason for me to sit and think about which social Abilities they have exactly and what level they would be at. That is to say, I generally only make rolls for NPCs when it would in some way affect the player characters, either for good or for bad. For the most part everything else with the NPC is handled by roleplaying. If it's just an NPC versus the environment, or an NPC versus another NPC, I just let those play out narratively based on what makes the most logical sense without rolling dice. So if an NPC wants to attack another NPC, I'll make a roll if the player characters are going to attempt to stop him. If however they're not intervening or not able to for whatever reason, then it just plays out in a way that would make the most sense for the story.

So, back to how this relates to Companion, when I run my games, for non-antagonist NPCs I generally don't bother actually statting them out, as ally NPCs usually don't make contested rolls against the player characters too often anyway. And if they do, then I just go over my list of related Abilities and Weaknesses (I have my own list where I categorize them as Physical, Mental, Social, Special, and NPC/Equipment) and choose what they would likely have, give them a level in each, and then write it down so that next time if they have to make the same roll again, it's been noted down already. The same goes for antagonist NPCs, in which I only usually choose the stats in advance that relate to Threat Value (TV) such as Attack roll, Defense roll, Levels in Armored, etc. That's usually all I need to know for such characters if their main purpose is to be a mid-boss or boss battle.

But recently I was thinking of incorporating elements of games like Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor in it, which had humans (the protagonists being teenagers), who are able to make contracts with gods, angels, demons, spirits, fairies, and other powerful beings from mythology and folklore to summon and do their will. Like finding treasure in a dungeon-crawling adventure, in a "pet monster" theme game coming across additional new monster Companions is a main point. I like the idea of running such a game, but having lots of pre-statted out monsters ready all the time would be difficult, and making one up on the fly might be hard sometimes. But since the Companion Ability, as it is, bases its level on the number of Ability and Weakness levels of the Companion, it seems to be expected that the GM should know what the exact stats of the Companion are in advance. This also seems to take away some of the mystery, as their stats feel "locked" and "set in stone" already without much surprise.

So I started thinking that Companion Ability in this case might be easier to use if it was more abstract and just represented how useful or loyal the servant was. In that case, I wouldn't need to have all the stats ready at a moment's notice, but could have the Abilities and Weaknesses of the creature revealed little by little as they came up in play, so that both the character and the player could learn more and more about the Companion as the adventure continued.

I also realized that the limits on Companions might not fit all games. As it is, a Companion is at best a Secondary NPC, intended to be supporting characters. It also doesn't help that their Health and Endurance is halved and they generally shouldn't have more than a +2 or +3 in an Ability. I think this fits the style of stuff like Pokemon, where the majority of the monsters are very simple-minded animals, and are usually not characters in their own right but are more like tools for fight scenes or the occasional helping hand outside of battle.

But then I was thinking more along anime, manga, and video games like Ushio and Tora, Shaman King, etc. where the Companions are characters in their own right, and in many cases are far more powerful than their human companions (meaning they would be built on more points).

So I got to thinking, what if I wanted to introduce Companions that were more powerful than the usual Companion limits, and weren't limited to to being +3 or lower, or didn't have to have a ton of Weaknesses to balance out being over +3?

I also considered what if a game had the "masters" and the "pet monsters" both being played by player characters, ones that might not even be using any of the limitation rules like base zero, power ceiling, and scaled cost. Or, if the players played both their "master" character and their "pet monster" character as player characters, alternating between the master character in mundane situations and the pet monster character in combat and other action/adventure situations. For the "pet monster" player characters might have such Weaknesses as Code of Conduct, Restricted Freedom, and/or Servitude to represent the relationship they have with their master/owner. But for the pet monster trainer/owner/monster player characters, the only Ability available to represent that they have others who are in their command are Companion and Minions, and neither of those would be suitable if applied towards a player character, or to a Heroic-type NPCs. To a lesser degree there's Connected I suppose too.

1) So in summary I think what I'm looking for is a Unique Ability that allows a player character to have someone on equal or even higher standing, such as another player character or a Heroic-type NPC, as a Companion without any of the usual Character Point total limitation rules. Each level wouldn't be based on the total number of Abilities and/or Weaknesses of the Companion, but would instead be a narrative reflection of their general usefulness, loyalty, bond, etc. If it did have a mechanical function though, I'm thinking that the level might either be determined by how many such companions the character has (sort of like Minions, but looser, like "a handful of companions," "a few companions," etc. instead of a specific number), or provide a one-time bonus to a Companion's rolls during a dramatically appropriate moment to assist them (sort of like the Trust Unique Ability that Yuu and his pet monster dog have), and this could be done a number of times per adventure as the level of the owner's Ability.

Any suggestions for this?

2) And totally unrelated, but I was considering the usual psionic powers, and while OVA already covers some of the main ones with Psychic, Sixth Sense, Spirit Medium, and Telekinesis, how would you recommend handling being able to see the future or past, or gain knowledge of the present, and other such forms of divination, as a Unique Ability in OVA? Should each level determine how far into the future or past one could gain information on a successful roll? Should each level determine the Difficulty Number of gaining such information?

2.5) Similarly, what about other psychic abilities like astral travel (leaving the body), or being able to enter into and/or control dreams? How might you suggest handling those two psychic abilities with Unique Ability?

3) Just to make sure I understand Time Freeze correctly, if someone had the Time Freeze Ability at the +3 Level, and on their turn they wanted to use Time Freeze and then make two attacks that Round, the Acting Multiple Times rule would normally be -3 penalty due to making three actions in one Round, however since Time Freeze offsets the Acting Multiple Times penalty by the Level of Time Freeze, a +3 Level in Time Freeze would cancel out the -3 penalty for making three actions in one Round. So basically someone with Time Freeze +3 could activate Time Freeze and then attack twice that round without any penalties, is that right?

Does one have to spend an action to activate Time Freeze every time they use it in a combat? Or does one use an action to activate it the first round its used, but then during subsequent rounds it's considered to be still in effect so the user doesn't have to spend an action to use it again? And if Time Freeze should have an Endurance cost, such as from having Perks or from being linked to the Endurance Use Weakness, does the person spend that Endurance each time its used in combat to offset those Multiple Action penalties, or only the first time its activated? In short, how long does the time freeze effect last?

4) In OVA, would using ones non-dominant hand (off-hand) incur a penalty modifier, such as when dual wielding with two weapons, or when forced to perform an action with ones other hand? If so, how much? And would being ambidextrous be a Unique Ability, and if so how would you suggest it function?

Again, any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

RE: Time Freeze

Yes, someone with Time Freeze +3 can use Time Freeze and Attack twice that round.

However, they can't attack the same target twice in that round.

Multiple Actions says you can't perform the same action against the same target. In this case "Attack" is the action.

Quick question about the boss ability Health Reserve.

It makes sense that the Health Reserve is equal to the Health value, but could it also be equal to the Endurance value if the Endurance is higher than Health?

For example, fighting a Lich or Sorcerer type boss, it'd make sense they'd have lower Health than Endurance. But since Endurance can be used as a secondary 'bar' or 'pool' for Health (and vice versa), it'd make more sense that a magical boss would have higher Endurance than Health. But if they are a boss with Health Reserve ability, then their spare Health would be paltry compared to their Endurance.

The Health and Endurance being used together is a pretty unique mechanic. Usually energy points are kept completely separate from health points, but it works to give players a bit more survivablity, as well as personalize a player's style. They can be a squishy wizard and still survive an encounter.

No one answered this question?...

Alright, let me give it a try...

On one hand, yes, it makes sense, Melancthon. If you want a sorcerer or lich (or anything really) to have an extra Endurance bar instead of an extra Health bar, as a boss, they absolutely can (boss special abilities shouldn't be limited to what's written in that chapter, you should always be able to create new & interesting ones for your bosses). However, be aware of the fact that this will give the boss double the points to cast his mojo. Also, usually it's the Health bar that's the first to go, so even though the boss will have more staying power, they'll be compromised for the rest of the fight, due to having only Endurance left (not a huge difference if they had little Health to begin with).

IMHO, the best way to give a sorcerer/lich boss more staying power is not to give 'em an extra bar of Endurance/Health. Choose instead to give them extra actions, so they'll be able to unleash hell on the charas & they'll have to focus on containing the damage & freeing their comrades from bad status afflictions, thus not being able to damage the boss as much as they would if it inflicted less damage/disabled less attackers, plus absolutely give the boss Barrier, even at a pretty high level (exactly *what* level depends on what you're comfortable with, given the boss's power level).

A good way to make a nice fight is to think of what works in fiction & videogames, and the classic wizard often has a barrier up, due to their lack of armor, Health, etc (plus meatshields! Wizard bosses often have small armies of undead/bandits/goblins/summons etc to shield them from the full brunt of the main characters' offensive - and often an escape plan too, as per the rules, but that depends on where you're seeing the boss in the near future, i.e. still alive & kicking thanks to a last teleport or dying on the cold hard floor with a knife in the throat).

To reiterate, the best sorcerous bosses I've fought had the following advantages going for them: 1) barrier, 2) teleport, 3) meatshields, 4) heavy damage & crowd control spells, 5) some friggin' scary summons to keep you real busy, 6) an escape plan

Don't know if it helps, but I sure hope so

I spent a couple hours to reply to these, even though I'm not Clay, and it all disappeared when I tried to submit it... I'll see if I can make it quick this time.

The Reddest Mage wrote:But recently I was thinking of incorporating elements of games like Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor in it, which had humans (the protagonists being teenagers), who are able to make contracts with gods, angels, demons, spirits, fairies, and other powerful beings from mythology and folklore to summon and do their will. Like finding treasure in a dungeon-crawling adventure, in a "pet monster" theme game coming across additional new monster Companions is a main point. I like the idea of running such a game, but having lots of pre-statted out monsters ready all the time would be difficult, and making one up on the fly might be hard sometimes. But since the Companion Ability, as it is, bases its level on the number of Ability and Weakness levels of the Companion, it seems to be expected that the GM should know what the exact stats of the Companion are in advance. This also seems to take away some of the mystery, as their stats feel "locked" and "set in stone" already without much surprise.

So I started thinking that Companion Ability in this case might be easier to use if it was more abstract and just represented how useful or loyal the servant was. In that case, I wouldn't need to have all the stats ready at a moment's notice, but could have the Abilities and Weaknesses of the creature revealed little by little as they came up in play, so that both the character and the player could learn more and more about the Companion as the adventure continued.

I also realized that the limits on Companions might not fit all games. As it is, a Companion is at best a Secondary NPC, intended to be supporting characters. It also doesn't help that their Health and Endurance is halved and they generally shouldn't have more than a +2 or +3 in an Ability. I think this fits the style of stuff like Pokemon, where the majority of the monsters are very simple-minded animals, and are usually not characters in their own right but are more like tools for fight scenes or the occasional helping hand outside of battle.

But then I was thinking more along anime, manga, and video games like Ushio and Tora, Shaman King, etc. where the Companions are characters in their own right, and in many cases are far more powerful than their human companions (meaning they would be built on more points).

Tora would be better off being played by an actual player, it'd be a damn cool & interesting character.

So I got to thinking, what if I wanted to introduce Companions that were more powerful than the usual Companion limits, and weren't limited to to being +3 or lower, or didn't have to have a ton of Weaknesses to balance out being over +3?

No rule in the game forces a companion to have abilities limited to +3. You can go all the way to +5 if you have a good concept.

I also considered what if a game had the "masters" and the "pet monsters" both being played by player characters, ones that might not even be using any of the limitation rules like base zero, power ceiling, and scaled cost. Or, if the players played both their "master" character and their "pet monster" character as player characters, alternating between the master character in mundane situations and the pet monster character in combat and other action/adventure situations. For the "pet monster" player characters might have such Weaknesses as Code of Conduct, Restricted Freedom, and/or Servitude to represent the relationship they have with their master/owner. But for the pet monster trainer/owner/monster player characters, the only Ability available to represent that they have others who are in their command are Companion and Minions, and neither of those would be suitable if applied towards a player character, or to a Heroic-type NPCs. To a lesser degree there's Connected I suppose too.

Connected is more something that defines the PC than anything else. It means you have contacts & you're very streetwise - you can also use it for a PC who has an infinity of small, simple spirits whispering in their ears, for instance, but maybe a Unique would be better there (modeled after Connected of course).

1) So in summary I think what I'm looking for is a Unique Ability that allows a player character to have someone on equal or even higher standing, such as another player character or a Heroic-type NPC, as a Companion without any of the usual Character Point total limitation rules. Each level wouldn't be based on the total number of Abilities and/or Weaknesses of the Companion, but would instead be a narrative reflection of their general usefulness, loyalty, bond, etc. If it did have a mechanical function though, I'm thinking that the level might either be determined by how many such companions the character has (sort of like Minions, but looser, like "a handful of companions," "a few companions," etc. instead of a specific number), or provide a one-time bonus to a Companion's rolls during a dramatically appropriate moment to assist them (sort of like the Trust Unique Ability that Yuu and his pet monster dog have), and this could be done a number of times per adventure as the level of the owner's Ability.

Any suggestions for this?

Yes, 4:
1) Have the big important summons be played by real players (it's the best option if it is possible).
2) Use Companion with an Ability patterned after Yuu's trust, so that it's more powerful
3) Simply have a boss level NPC being collaborate with the group, without rules. This only needs to make sense narratively, you don't need rules. Maybe the characters defeat the being and they offer them their service for a while, for instance. You just have to consider the boss level being as well when calculating the party's TV, to keep encounters balanced. As for the rest, you'll play the being(s) anyway you want, always considering what the characters are doing narratively (intimidations, summoning, cajoling, persuasion, burnt offerings, sacrifices, whatever sounds adequate).
4) Just use Companion. Arasuni & Fenrir actually kick ass. Normal extras have 10 health & Endurance, normal secondaries have 20, and they're practically 99% of the world population. The PCs have 40 b/c they're the protagonist & the odds are stacked in their favour, not because they're all incredibly tough & full of stamina. Also, if you give a companion 5 levels of Armored & Tough they'll be Titanium, to quote a song I like. Don't use the PCs as standards for the rest of the world, they aren't.

2) And totally unrelated, but I was considering the usual psionic powers, and while OVA already covers some of the main ones with Psychic, Sixth Sense, Spirit Medium, and Telekinesis, how would you recommend handling being able to see the future or past, or gain knowledge of the present, and other such forms of divination, as a Unique Ability in OVA? Should each level determine how far into the future or past one could gain information on a successful roll? Should each level determine the Difficulty Number of gaining such information?

2.5) Similarly, what about other psychic abilities like astral travel (leaving the body), or being able to enter into and/or control dreams? How might you suggest handling those two psychic abilities with Unique Ability?

You can do it however you want, but your best bet is to model any new ability you come up with after something that already exists. Be faithful to your setting but take existing abilities in consideration, and don't be afraid of fine-tuning abilities while you play, always discussing changes with your players of course.

3) Just to make sure I understand Time Freeze correctly, if someone had the Time Freeze Ability at the +3 Level, and on their turn they wanted to use Time Freeze and then make two attacks that Round, the Acting Multiple Times rule would normally be -3 penalty due to making three actions in one Round, however since Time Freeze offsets the Acting Multiple Times penalty by the Level of Time Freeze, a +3 Level in Time Freeze would cancel out the -3 penalty for making three actions in one Round. So basically someone with Time Freeze +3 could activate Time Freeze and then attack twice that round without any penalties, is that right?

Yes, as Rangoric already said, and as they specified you can't attack the same target more than once.

Does one have to spend an action to activate Time Freeze every time they use it in a combat? Or does one use an action to activate it the first round its used, but then during subsequent rounds it's considered to be still in effect so the user doesn't have to spend an action to use it again? And if Time Freeze should have an Endurance cost, such as from having Perks or from being linked to the Endurance Use Weakness, does the person spend that Endurance each time its used in combat to offset those Multiple Action penalties, or only the first time its activated? In short, how long does the time freeze effect last?

Personally I would make it last no longer than 1 round, maybe a little bit more out of combat, but feel free to crash test it before deciding on a set duration.

4) In OVA, would using ones non-dominant hand (off-hand) incur a penalty modifier, such as when dual wielding with two weapons, or when forced to perform an action with ones other hand? If so, how much? And would being ambidextrous be a Unique Ability, and if so how would you suggest it function?

No, no penalties for the off-hand & no bonuses for ambidexterity, it starts to become too simulation-oriented instead of narrative-oriented. If you want a simulation-oriented game then GURPS might (perhaps) be better (if you don't lose your mind because of the complexity & the scatteredness of it all), or TROS or Blade of the Iron Throne (they're not as freeform as OVA though, they're fantasy with quite rigid setting & magic definitions). Anyways, if you want to penalize using the off-hand you can take away 1 or 2 dice, or step up the DN from say Moderate to Challenging and so on. Otherwise, if you have a duel like the one in Princess Bride between Inigo & Westley, you have them fight at full skill with their off hand, then when they switch to their dominant hand you have them undergo a Transformation (or a Unique based on it) of 1+ levels, which in turn increases their Combat Expert, Evasive, Quick and/or Strong abilities. How's that sound? Remember that the narrative's the thing, not slavish adherence to realism

And with that I sure hope this time I manage to post this thing

XOXO,
Rosie-

Sry, double post

Roswynn d'Cannith wrote:No one answered this question?...
However, be aware of the fact that this will give the boss double the points to cast his mojo.

The counter to that is that anyone can use Health as Endurance costs when their Endurance is used up, just as anyone can use Endurance as back up Health when their Health is exhausted. So a Wizard still has that extra points for their mojo regardless.

Maybe renaming Health Reserve as Boss Reserve and letting the Reserve be equal to Health or Endurance, whichever is higher.

Malancthon wrote:The counter to that is that anyone can use Health as Endurance costs when their Endurance is used up, just as anyone can use Endurance as back up Health when their Health is exhausted. So a Wizard still has that extra points for their mojo regardless.

How silly of me, of course you're right... one can't help but notice I haven't opened my OVA pdf in a while, now can they?

Maybe renaming Health Reserve as Boss Reserve and letting the Reserve be equal to Health or Endurance, whichever is higher.

I think that sounds peachy, actually

Sabersonic wrote:Well, I got a few inquiries of my own that weren't answered in my other topics so I might as well ask 'em here and see if either Clay or the more experienced players could direct me to the correct solution.

1) Now we're all familiar with the basic operation and utility of Perks and Flaws with Attack Variations and Abilities, but this brain fart just came to me the other day that deals with Effective and Cancel for starters. Hypothetically, a character had an Armored Ability at +1 with Effective x2 and Canceled against Lasers. Now, would it be safe for me to assume that if said character with Armored is facing a foe that attacked via lasers, would that mean that Armored no longer counts in calculating the total damage dealt or does Canceled only affect the +2 Levels given to it by the Effective perk?

It would cancel out the entire Armored Ability. It would probably make more sense to buy the full value (Armored +4) and then take a –1 to –2 Unique Weakness (Armored Doesn’t Work Against Lasers) depending on how ineffective you want it to be and how common lasers are.

Or you could just give lasers Armor Piercing and don’t make any special exception at all.

2) For Tough and Vigorous, the Health and Endurance respectfully increase by 10 per level with the exemption of 5 which is increased by an additional 10 for a total bonus of 60 as shown in pages 63 and 65 of OVA2e in their respective sections. My inquiry is basically how one measures the bonuses of either Ability beyond Level 5?

It’s probably better to make use of Armored and other Abilities (like Health Reserve) over expanding the Health total. But if you really want to break the 100 Health barrier, just start bumping them by 20 points a step.

3) This deals with vehicles and Focus in the form of pilot/driver attire. To put it simply, would something that is worn or present upon the character be applicable as a Focus for a vehicle or no?

Thanks again for any aid rendered to my questions regardless.

It depends on how much of a “Weakness” it really is. Most vehicles imply they require a pilot, and to take it a step further, it’s a pretty common trope that pilots need to don a “plugsuit” in order to do so.

However, if there’s some legendary mecha that requires a special magic amulet to pilot, and no one without this rare special amulet can do so, then yes, that’s perfectly reasonable. Likewise, if most mechas you just jump in, and a special super-fast model requires special gear, it could work, too.

But if EVERY mecha has this same “flaw” …then you should probably skip on it.

Thanks for answering my inquiries Clay. Granted, I eventually came with similar answers if only due to inactivity towards them and basic assumptions, but it's nice to hear it from the horses' mouth on the subject. Though for the Tough/Vigorous one, well it was mostly pertaining to capital ships where such a high HP/EP were a necessity. Everything else was gravy even with Scaled.

As for my inquiry on Focus, well said Focus on some of my designs were for access to certain range combat abilities to give the use of said machine's full potential.

That and make the whole "fell into the cockpit" trope just that much harder for that unfortunate character