Post by cassusaevum on Aug 13, 2019 14:00:43 GMT -5
First to answer Derek's direct question without the innumerable fat fingered things that would happen if I tried to do it on my phone.
Only in Hero ID certainly has the potential to save you points. As does every other complication in the game. The "price" that comes along with it is as follows:
1. You can't use your powers in a reactive way. I'll use the Toby McGuire Spiderman movie. In the fight scene with Flash, if he had "only in hero id" he would have gotten his ass kicked. Likewise, no Spidey Sense to avoid a car that's about to hit Peter and so forth. Or, if a super villain finds out your identity and surprise attacks you. Can't use any of your powers to defend against the surprise attack because even with instant change, you can't change until your turn comes up. Whereas, Thor gets hit by a car he didn't know was coming, he sort of shrugs.
2. It is not always appropriate to switch to your hero ID. Sitting down in a crowded restaurant and a runaway car is about to hit the building? Even with Instant Change, you still blow your secret identity if you poof forms right there in front of everybody. And if you do blow that identity and now everyone knows the real you? See item #1. This is compounded by the fact that movement outside of super form is slower than in it in most cases.
3. There is no subtle way to use your powers. Hero IDs stand out. The faceless guy in the crowd might be able to mind control someone with no one ever knowing, but the big floating brain? Different story.
The more general answer is, narrative matters. The story of who your character is and how they get their powers and how they use their powers and all of that stuff matters. It matters to the game world a whole lot more than whether you have 3D or 4D in an ability. So, yes, there are a ton of ways that you can reduce the cost of your powers and get MORE AWESOME STUFF!!! But let's be honest... the game world is just gonna level up around you. Right now, all of the characters are within a comfortable range of each other. If anything was way out of bounds, trust me, I'd talk to that person and get it back in line with where the game needs to be.
The one thing that will absolutely kill this game for me is if we degenerate into accountants trying to get the most min-max-y benefit out of the system and then being sad that someone else did it better. That is the deathknell of any super-hero game. You guys have access to unlimited Temporary Competency Dice. The breadth of things you can do in this game by narrative permission even without them far exceeds what can be done in a lot of other systems. Don't overthink it. Characters are supposed to be quick and easy. Do what makes sense for your concept and let the rest work itself out.
Only in Hero ID certainly has the potential to save you points. As does every other complication in the game. The "price" that comes along with it is as follows:
1. You can't use your powers in a reactive way. I'll use the Toby McGuire Spiderman movie. In the fight scene with Flash, if he had "only in hero id" he would have gotten his ass kicked. Likewise, no Spidey Sense to avoid a car that's about to hit Peter and so forth. Or, if a super villain finds out your identity and surprise attacks you. Can't use any of your powers to defend against the surprise attack because even with instant change, you can't change until your turn comes up. Whereas, Thor gets hit by a car he didn't know was coming, he sort of shrugs.
2. It is not always appropriate to switch to your hero ID. Sitting down in a crowded restaurant and a runaway car is about to hit the building? Even with Instant Change, you still blow your secret identity if you poof forms right there in front of everybody. And if you do blow that identity and now everyone knows the real you? See item #1. This is compounded by the fact that movement outside of super form is slower than in it in most cases.
3. There is no subtle way to use your powers. Hero IDs stand out. The faceless guy in the crowd might be able to mind control someone with no one ever knowing, but the big floating brain? Different story.
The more general answer is, narrative matters. The story of who your character is and how they get their powers and how they use their powers and all of that stuff matters. It matters to the game world a whole lot more than whether you have 3D or 4D in an ability. So, yes, there are a ton of ways that you can reduce the cost of your powers and get MORE AWESOME STUFF!!! But let's be honest... the game world is just gonna level up around you. Right now, all of the characters are within a comfortable range of each other. If anything was way out of bounds, trust me, I'd talk to that person and get it back in line with where the game needs to be.
The one thing that will absolutely kill this game for me is if we degenerate into accountants trying to get the most min-max-y benefit out of the system and then being sad that someone else did it better. That is the deathknell of any super-hero game. You guys have access to unlimited Temporary Competency Dice. The breadth of things you can do in this game by narrative permission even without them far exceeds what can be done in a lot of other systems. Don't overthink it. Characters are supposed to be quick and easy. Do what makes sense for your concept and let the rest work itself out.