Wise Turtle Publishing

A question concerning the working of Power Moves:
As far as I understand it, the level of Power Moves is not added to the attack roll, but only affects the damage?

In the example on p. 80 Raine attacks with his Power Move "Raging Thunder" and rolls 7 dice. Unfortunately, these are not explicitly mentioned, but I suppose it is 2 (default attack) + 1 (Agile) + 4 (Combat Skill).

The only exception from this rule seems to be "Will Attack" (p. 72), where it is explicitly stated "Your attack roll now consists of your Power Move (or Weapon) dice and Abilities like Strong Will".

BTW: Are the 2 default dice not added as well? I think it would improve the examples greatly if the attributes were stated, not only the total of dice used for the roll.

You're correct. Though it's not stated in the example, the text under "Attack!" gives examples of what applies. In the text of any appropriate Abilities, it mentions if it can be added to an attack or defense roll. The reason it's never specifically stated what is included and what is not is because I wanted to leave it open for GM interpretation. For example, I wanted the GM to use Weapon: Gun as a Knowledge skill of the gun in appropriate situations.

There wasn't enough room to properly break down the dice, but it's pretty easy to figure out (as you did). Rule of thumb: Abilities either affect your accuracy or your damage, never both. (except for rare cases like will attack)

As stated in the Taking Action chapter:

"Remember that no matter what you are
trying to do, you will always add to or subtract
from your two dice default. Even
Abilities that normal characters cannot
attempt at all (such as Teleport) are added
to the two dice default."

Clay wrote:In the text of any appropriate Abilities, it mentions if it can be added to an attack or defense roll. The reason it's never specifically stated what is included and what is not is because I wanted to leave it open for GM interpretation. For example, I wanted the GM to use Weapon: Gun as a Knowledge skill of the gun in appropriate situations.

I think what got me confused was the fact that Power Moves are described as attacks in the Abilities chapter, which I interpreted as the ability to hit. I should have known better: Later on they are compared to Weapon & Martial Arts which only add to damage.

Clay wrote:There wasn't enough room to properly break down the dice, but it's pretty easy to figure out (as you did).

Well, as it is an important example, it should be pretty self-evident without the necessity to figure things out

Clay wrote:Rule of thumb: Abilities either affect your accuracy or your damage, never both. (except for rare cases like will attack)

Thanks, THAT is a good guideline and should be helpful for any GMs in creating new abilities. If it is not yet in the GM chapter (haven't gotten that far in reading) you should put it there.

Directly previous to the example, it states what is used to make the attack roll. Just like I've explained the dice mechanic before, I didn't think it was neccessary to break it down once again. The exact makeup of what counts as a modifier isn't important to explaining the new attack mechanic. Deciding what counts as a bonus and how to add that bonus is discussed in Taking Action.

As for my guideline about attack rolls and damage totals, it is not in the GMs section. If the players and the Game Master's wanted an ability that added to both, for one reason or another, I am not going to stop them. It's just a guideline I used when designing the game.

One thing I am concerned about is how Power Move explains your Damage Total. The intent was that the Power Move DT is NOT added to one. I'm afraid, however, this is not made clear. How did you interpret it?

Clay wrote:One thing I am concerned about is how Power Move explains your Damage Total. The intent was that the Power Move DT is NOT added to one. I'm afraid, however, this is not made clear. How did you interpret it?

Well, that was actually the part I didn't have any problems with
From first reading about Power Moves it was clear that they are NOT added to the DT. You either have a "normal" attack doing 1 + degree of success + Abilities (Strong, Weapon) or you have a Power Move which has a "fixed" DT (that may be increased by Perks & Flaws).
Makes perfect sense to me from a game balancing point of view: You either do a "randomized" damage (based on your degree of success) or you get a fixed amount of damage with your Power Move (and have to pay with Endurance).
The question was only if you get dice for your attack roll as well
What I wanted to say above was that Power Moves can be compared to Weapon and Martial Arts, as all three do not influence the chance to hit, but relate to the DT (Weapon and Martial Arts add to it, Power Move replace it with a fixed amount).

Okay, apparently it is confusing, but not in a way I imagined. Power Move, too, is affected by your degree of success. IF that weren't the case, Power Moves would be pretty weak indeed.

Though I'm hoping it's because of your preconception of what DT means. DT is NEVER a final result. The result of attack is ALWAYS DT x degree of success. At least the part of not adding to one is clear. ^^;

Yes, that's it.