New to OVA: A Few Questions

[Clay]

The short answer is: Yes, Agile and Quick are more broadly applicable than Combat Expert and Evasive. But they’re still both very versatile in their use compared to a Knowledge.

Long answer: There are several reasons you might want Combat Expert/Evasive instead of (or in addition to) Agile and Quick.

1) There is a hidden cost in OVA, and that’s “plausibility.” It’s reasonable to give a lumbering beast Combat Expert, but giving it Agile implies a very different creature altogether. The “best" Ability is not always the most appropriate one.

2) If a character takes Slow, they (logically) cannot take Quick. Abilities like Evasive allow a towering warrior burdened with armor and a heavy shield to still have a decent Defense Roll.

3) Abilities stack. The game pretty heavily discourages Abilities above +3 in all but rare circumstances. But with both Agile AND Combat Expert, your character can achieve a much better roll than with either alone.

4) Building on point 1, OVA is a narrative game. Objectively there are A LOT of Abilities that are notably “worse” than others. Stuff like Cute! and Heightened Sense certainly have their place, but if we’re being honest will probably never be used as often as Agile. But that’s not the point. Sometimes you just want a character to be cute!

To get back to Knowledge, I tend to be pretty loose about what can and can’t add to a roll. But using Knowledge: Medical to add to your attack roll is a bit of a stretch. Sure, such a character can use syringes and scalpels and chemical concoctions to fight, but by and large these are not things a surgeon learns how to do. Being able to cut a prone body open on a table to save a life is not the same as getting in a knife fight with somebody.

But it’s a grey area. One could argue that, say Knowledge: Baseball would work, because hey, half the point is learning how to hit a specific target (the ball) with a big club. That sounds a lot like a combat roll, right?

Personally, I think a combat doctor should go ahead and buy Combat Expert and keep things simple. Using Knowledge is debatable, but by and large it’s squeezing points out of the rules, which is against the spirit of the thing. But the most important thing is to be consistent. If you let one person use a Knowledge this way, make sure everyone else has the opportunity to do the same at character creation.

[The Reddest Mage]

The short answer is: Yes, Agile and Quick are more broadly applicable than Combat Expert and Evasive. But they’re still both very versatile in their use compared to a Knowledge.

Long answer: There are several reasons you might want Combat Expert/Evasive instead of (or in addition to) Agile and Quick.

1) There is a hidden cost in OVA, and that’s “plausibility.” It’s reasonable to give a lumbering beast Combat Expert, but giving it Agile implies a very different creature altogether. The “best" Ability is not always the most appropriate one.

2) If a character takes Slow, they (logically) cannot take Quick. Abilities like Evasive allow a towering warrior burdened with armor and a heavy shield to still have a decent Defense Roll.

3) Abilities stack. The game pretty heavily discourages Abilities above +3 in all but rare circumstances. But with both Agile AND Combat Expert, your character can achieve a much better roll than with either alone.

4) Building on point 1, OVA is a narrative game. Objectively there are A LOT of Abilities that are notably “worse” than others. Stuff like Cute! and Heightened Sense certainly have their place, but if we’re being honest will probably never be used as often as Agile. But that’s not the point. Sometimes you just want a character to be cute!

To get back to Knowledge, I tend to be pretty loose about what can and can’t add to a roll. But using Knowledge: Medical to add to your attack roll is a bit of a stretch. Sure, such a character can use syringes and scalpels and chemical concoctions to fight, but by and large these are not things a surgeon learns how to do. Being able to cut a prone body open on a table to save a life is not the same as getting in a knife fight with somebody.

But it’s a grey area. One could argue that, say Knowledge: Baseball would work, because hey, half the point is learning how to hit a specific target (the ball) with a big club. That sounds a lot like a combat roll, right?

Personally, I think a combat doctor should go ahead and buy Combat Expert and keep things simple. Using Knowledge is debatable, but by and large it’s squeezing points out of the rules, which is against the spirit of the thing. But the most important thing is to be consistent. If you let one person use a Knowledge this way, make sure everyone else has the opportunity to do the same at character creation.

Thanks for clearing that up Clay. Oh yeah, and what's your take on movement speeds?

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?

[Clay]

Sorry, missed that bit. Yes, it would apply. Quick is moving quickly, even if that’s another environment.

[The Reddest Mage]

Sorry, missed that bit. Yes, it would apply. Quick is moving quickly, even if that’s another environment.

Awesome, thanks again!

[Chris Brady]

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.

That's where things can get dicey. For example, let's say Auren is facing off with a 'master swordsman' type foe. This enemy knows everything about swords, ergo, from the crafting to their usage. he has Knowledge: Swords at an unbelievable +5. Now, Auren, being a generally good combatant and definitely no slouch in the "I hurt you bad" school of personal injury application has a pretty durned good +3.

Now, during the fight, Mr. Swords suddenly gets disarmed! "Wham, bam, sorry Ma'am!" Sword-dude is down 5 whole dice, and is likely scrambling to get his pig sticker back. Meanwhile, Orion gets removed from Auren's hands and... Nothing happens, he gets to keep his 3 dice, because not only is he pretty good with a blade, he's got the fisticuffs to back it up when his flesh cleaver is not available to take his calls.

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.

Don't forget, Agile and Combat Expert stack. Also, you can argue (rule) that being Agile doesn't mean you're good with a weapon in hand. Same deal with Evasive and Quick. But that's a judgement call, and NOT in the book.

[The Reddest Mage]

Hey Clay, a few quick questions. For the Healer Ability, it says: "However, if you make any other rolls, even a Defense Roll, the effort is aborted, and you must try again."

1) If a player attempts to Heal someone during combat, but doesn't have anyone to safeguard and protect their efforts, will their healing attempt be aborted if the healer is attacked, even if they don't bother to try to make any Defense roll, due to losing concentration, or will their healing attempt still be considered successful even if an opponent has intervened so long as the healer doesn't make any other rolls even if they are being attacked?

2) I was reading the Vampire Cheerleaders crossover for some ideas on how to handle vampires in OVA. Though I'm not familiar with that series, I have some general questions on how you might handle vampires. First, for their Vulnerability to sunlight, since sunlight isn't an attack itself, and outside of combat it isn't handled by a normal Ability, how would you determine how much damage they take while in the sunshine, since the sun itself wouldn't be making an attack roll? The same goes for other traditional vampire weaknesses, like holy symbols and garlic, that aren't usually actual attacks but are non-lethal substances?

3) Similar to the above, how would you determine damage in situations where someone allows a vampire to bite them? That is, the "victim" does not try to resist and doesn't make any Defense roll. Does the vampire still make their attack roll? If not, how do they determine damage to the victim for the bite?

4) For undead vampires, what would be an appropriate level of Life Support to reflect that they don't need to breathe and aren't affected by most environments that would be dangerous or deadly to humans, yet they do still need to sleep during the daytime, can't go out in sunlight, and do need to drink blood, so they can't be considered completely immune to environmental conditions?

5) For a vampire Vulnerabilities, such as sunlight, holy symbols, garlic, fire, stakes through the heart, etc. should those all be lumped together into one Vulnerability Weakness, or taken as separate Vulnerability Weaknesses?

[Clay]

1) Good question! I rule that leaving yourself completely open to attack and taking that damage vs. a defense of zero is a fair “trade” to be able to perform the Healing ability. It’s a heroic sacrifice, and I see no reason to be nitpicky and disallow it.

2) The vampires in Vampire Cheerleaders are sort of their own thing, and don’t prescribe exactly to all the tropes we know and love. Anyway I’d just apply a DX vs. zero, with the DX based on the nature of the exposure. Being tied to a metal rooftop in the noon sun and taking a stroll on a partially cloudy day present very different DXes. Likewise someone waving a garlic bulb at you and lacing a drink with garlic powder and forcing you to drink it have different implications. Just make your best judgment and compare the DX to zero, and repeat as often as seems appropriate.

3) I wouldn’t bother with damage. Maybe an Endurance drain for the blood loss to represent wooziness, but it’s not like the vampire is biting to kill.

4) Sounds like Level 3, to me.

5) Depends on how often you think they’ll be taken advantage of. If it’s a romance game and their vampire nature is kind of secondary, lump them together. If the game is all about fighting, then the multiple weaknesses can be come a real hurdle and worth counting separately.

Hope that helps!

[The Reddest Mage]

Hope that helps!

Indeed it does! Thanks a bunch, that really helps!

[The Reddest Mage]

1) Oh yeah, additionally about OVA vampires, how many points do you think a Unique Weaknesses based on the vampire tradition of having to sleep in Earth or in a coffin be worth? Or would Dependency be a better Weakness to represent that?

2) Also, lets say you have a Vampire that gains new abilities from drinking blood, such as Strong and Healing (Self Only). The Trigger Weakness usually only applies to one Ability. If the the Trigger instead grants multiple abilities, would one just take Transformation with Trigger instead? Is Transformation always assumed that the character looks different and unrecognizable as a result, or can a Transformation have a character become more powerful but still look exactly the same or only have minor feature changes?

3) If a Suck Blood attack has both the Fatiguing and the Vampire Perks, does the attacker still replenish a percentage of his Health as usual, or does he instead replenish a percentage of his Endurance instead since the attack deals damage to Endurance rather than Health?

4) For the Cancel Flaw, how much of an Endurance cost decrease would it be worth if the attack was a blood-sucking attack and thus only worked on living, blood-filled beings (thus wouldn't effect undead enemies like vampires and zombies, nor robotic enemies or androids/gynoids)?

5) Similar as above, for the Requirement Flaw, how much of an Endurance cost decrease would it be worth if the character had to first successfully grapple their opponent first via the Wrestling rules before being able to use the attack, or the victim must be restrained or otherwise not resisting?

6) With the Transformation Ability, one can gain new Abilities as well as new Weaknesses. But can one lose Weaknesses as well? For example, what if someone in their normal form had the Weak Weakness, but in the Transformed form they lost the Weak and instead gained Strong? How do you handle the removal of Weaknesses while Transformed?

7) How many Levels would it be worth for a Unique Ability that basically reflected the character as being ancient or ageless? That is, being an Immortal in the sense that they won't die of natural causes like age or illness, but they can still die from injury like anything else? Basically things like vampires, elves, robots, etc. that don't get old and don't get sick. Or is this already covered by the Life Support Ability, or perhaps even the Resistance (Aging) Ability?

[Clay]

1) I’d vote Dependency, just so PCs don’t have to be totally crippled by Vampire mainstays. You don’t want a character out of commission because there’s no coffin on that space cruiser...just inconvenienced a bit. The severity would be up to how important you want this detail to be.

2) You can either take multiple Triggers or use Transformation yes. The “unrecognizable” bit is just for flavor and you can ignore it if it suits the character of the power. You could also used Suppressed Power for, say, Strong.

3) Good question! I think I would say it’s the player’s choice (though they should stick to one or the other, and not choose between them mid-game as they see fit.)

4) I think Ai has that Cancel, one second while I peruse the rulebook...I only give it -5 there, but it assumes a modern setting where non-living threats aren’t overly likely. I also use “Living” in the sense of “has a consciousness” which would include vampires. If you restrict that definition to “has blood”, or if fighting robots/undead/etc. is a more common affair, I’d bump it up to -10.

5) Hmm...complete restraint would be worth -10 or even -15 I’d say. Just wrestling though? That’s fairly easy to accomplish and only worth -5.

6) They stack. So if you had Weak -1 and gain Strong +3, your effective Strong would be +2.

7) I don’t think that’s really worth statting. Any knowledge or experience they gain by being old as dirt will already be reflected by Abilities like Knowledge and Smart. And since they’re no harder to kill, it has no real combat advantage either. If you want it on the sheet just so it’s THERE...make it a +1 or +2 Unique Ability.

[The Reddest Mage]

Awesome Clay, thanks again!

[The Reddest Mage]

So Clay, I was wondering about the Trigger Weakness and would like to hear what you think about it. Its level is based on the rarity of the trigger. But does the difficulty in obtaining the trigger factor into the rarity of it as well? Take for example human blood. In a modern, present day setting humans and their blood are very accessible, so having to drink human blood as a trigger seems like the Trigger Weakness would be at level 1. But since human blood isn't something one could just buy from a supermarket, and most humans are not willing to give theirs up, would the Trigger Weaknesses for needing to drink human blood instead be at a higher level such as level 2, or even level 3 if most people in the setting would never willingly give up their blood and attacking people for it would have dire consequences?

What do you think would be an appropriate level then for drinking human blood as a Trigger in a modern day real world setting?

Also, would a sensitivity to light that caused vision problems fall under Impaired Sense, or would that be a Unique Weakness? If a Unique Weakness, what level would that be?

[Clay]

Well, arguably it depends on the vampire. There’s a big difference between blood’s accessibility for a vampire who’s trying to keep his vampirism secret and has a moral compass that makes drinking blood difficult and a vampire who’s openly dastardly and has a meal within arm’s reach at all times.

It also depends on what kind of blood counts. Getting human blood is indeed difficult, but getting a hold of animal blood is something that’s less morally apprehensible, especially in societies where game hunting is alive and well.

All that aside, maybe -3 for a typical good guy, -2 for an anti-hero, and -1 for a villain.

As for light sensitivity, I would probably rewrite Dependency as a new Sensitivity Weakness. Instead of getting a penalty for the absence of a item/substance, you get a penalty for its PRESENCE. The text should work the same otherwise, with higher levels resulting in higher penalties.

[The Reddest Mage]

Thanks for that Clay!

How about being able to turn others into vampires, how would that be done? In the NPC Fragments section, the zombie NPCs have "Unique Ability +3 (Turns Defeated into Zombies)." So what about for Vampires? Would it be something like that, with whatever condition causes the change, such as "Turns Bitten into Vampires" or "Turns those who Drink My Blood into Vampires?" And what would the Level for that be? +3 as with zombies, or something more or less?

[Clay]

I think I might need to start a FAQ and name it “Frequently Reddest Mage” ;D

Anyway, the thing you’ll notice about the zombie is that word, “defeated.” I know lore generally says “once you’re bit, that’s it,” but while a story/TV show can pace a battle as it wants, RPGs require the HP wear-down to make them fun and exciting to PLAY. Allowing a single good bite to effectively kill a character might work for certain kind of campaigns, but I feel like it’s a bit heavy-handed for your typical anime adventure. As written, it’s a powerful ability that has a deadly risk, but players only succumb if they flat-out lose.

But that’s me. If you want to make it easier to inflict the creepy-monster-itis of the week, might want to bump that up to +4 or +5.