Hi everybody!

Now the questions:

A) When exactly does a Sorcerer suffer backlash?
1)
- fumble
- boxcars when shaving shotcost
- boxcars AND doing a desperate effort

2)
- fumble
- boxcars when shaving shotcost
- when doing a desperate effort (no boxcars necessary)

=> I am not a native english speaker and the question appeared on the mailing list.

B) Stat schticks: what happens if the correspoding attribut is lowered or increased, via magic or via the "transformation"-schtick? Is the stat schtick still avaiable or gets avaiable? IMHO only the basic "natural" attribut is important for the stat-schtick-consideration, even if it is temporarily changed. What about Hardware-schticks (Gorilla Warfare)?

C) Does an Abomination still have its Arcano-I/O-Ports when using the "Transformation"-Schtick? IMHO yes.

D) "Hands without shadows" counters active dodge ... what about parry, willow step, crane stance and fox retreat?

Thanks in advance.

BTW: are german members here on this board? Some friends of mine have opened a minor mIRC-Feng-Shui-Channel (#fengshui @ irc.euirc.net). We are still recruiting the masses for joining! Sometimes even a dicebot is avaiable. ;-)

SYL

Hi, Syl.

A> Sorcerers suffer backlash when they fumble a Sorcery check. (This can happen when they roll boxcars and then fail to meet the Difficulty, OR if they get a negative Action Result.)

However, you automatically get Backlash IF you get boxcars when shaving shot costs or using Desperate Efforts, even if you succeed on the check. (If you DO NOT get boxcars, no backlash for shaving or desperate efforts.)

So, your #1 choice is correct.

B> I don't use Stat Schticks, so I can't help with that one.

C> According to the Transformation description, you get to "determine any visual characteristics of the form you adopt". To me, that means that the I/O Ports can be hidden if you choose that as a visual characteristic to hide, but you could also easily have them visible if you choose to.

D> Hands W/o Shadows... I say yes, it affects Parry, because according to the book, parrying is a type of active dodge.

However, the descriptions for Fox Retreat, Willow Step, and Crane Stance say that your "Dodge" score is affected, NOT your Active Dodge score. So, to be picky, I don't think these schticks are affected by Hands W/O Shadows because Hands specifically affects 'Active Dodges'.

Thank you!

For A), I think Option 1 is correct. Backlash happens when you fumble (that is, roll boxcars and fail, or on a normal roll the total result is negative). When you do desperate effort or are snapshotting, then boxcars mean backlash, even if the roll succeeds.

For B), I dunno... my inclination would be to go with whatever would make the situation more dramatic. For temporary stat changes, such as the transformation schtick, I guess I'd make the stat schtick unavailable until the character restores their original stat/form. The description of transformation actually has something in there about not allowing creature schticks in alternate forms unless the character spends another schtick on it, but it's rather vague about how to implement that, because I can see a few situations where you might want a creature schtick in one form but not another. For example, a car form that spews slippery slime. If a character wants to use a stat schtick in a form that doesn't have the required stat... I'd probably work something out where the character could buy some kind of schtick to allow that.

For permanent stat changes via transmutation sorcery... I guess it depends on how it happened. If a villain is working the character over, then they lose the stat schtick and I may make them suffer a bit until they're ready to go through the cinematic necessity of a rematch where the hero restores his mojo and defeats the villain.

For hardware schticks... it's already established that which order you acquire them affects how your stats go up and down, so something that permanently lowers your stats later would mean your existing hardware schticks should still work. For the transformation power, unless it's a really bizarre form that can't realistically support prosthetics (giant amoeba-ish ooze, gaseous form, super-intelligent shade of blue, etc.), I'd most likely allow it if the character spends another schtick on it or if it's cinematically appropriate. (Muscle car with a chainsaw as a hood ornament? Sure!) If the change in stats is really, really drastic (evil sorcerer turns a chimp into a fish) probably best handled from a story standpoint than a rules standpoint.

C) I don't see why not. Sure.

D) Crane Stance isn't an active dodge, so it would work against Hands Without Shadow. Willow Step can be *combined* with an active dodge, but is not a defensive action in and of itself (shot cost zero), so it could be used against Hands Without Shadow, but could not be combined with a dodge.

Parry and Fox's Retreat *are* active dodges (requires 1 shot), and thus would not work against Hands Without Shadow.

Thanks for the answers.

However, I am not sure about one thing: while parry is defined "something like" an active dodge, it uses the same rule mechanism, so Hands without shadows could counter it. Fox Retreat however is not an active dodge, it is a defensive action ... and Hands without shadows counters active dodges, not defensive actions per default.

Right or wrong?

SYL

Sorry, I may be reading more into the rules than there should be. I think of "active dodge" and "defensive action" as different terms for the same thing. Either is a one-shot action that raises your Defensive Value.

Really, the game rules are loose enough that you can play it either way. If you think Hands Without Shadow is way too cheap for what it does, then let parrying and Fox's Retreat work against it. If you've got players who worked very hard to learn Fox's Retreat or are being extremely creative with their parries, then don't. If it makes the action more exciting and your players are enjoying the Fu tactics that go into picking the right schtick, then I wouldn't worry too much about whether or not you're following the exact letter of the rules.

Rules question:

During character creation, it says "+n to any 1 primary ability." Does this affect the secondary ability scores in any way during character creation? It does state (somewhere) that unless otherwise specified, your secondary ability scores cannot exceed your score in your primary.

This question came up often enough in our first session that it needs to be answered...

Steve

When it says to add +n to any Primary ability, it will raise all others that aren't already higher.

Consider the Spy. Chi 0 (For 6). If you add +1 to Chi: Fu and Mag become 1 as well, For remains 6. If you played long enough to get your Chi to 7, all of 'em become 7.

Hope that helps,
Neil.

yes that helps! We didn't do this during our one session, but we just wanted to get things started. In the future we'll do it correctly.

thanx!

Chuck