Quote Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
While it's true that in practice most clothing advantages are an always-on +2 to allure as well, that's something that I personally feel is a problem, as I've mentioned at least once before in this thread. Those are part of the core rules of the game though, so I don't contest them in actual games.

I would argue that balancing an ability around "RP consequences" is a very bad idea, though, because I don't think it's right that a player should be penalized for using one of their character's abilities the way they were designed to be used. Which really means that I don't like the idea of a hypnosis power being in the game at all, personally, since yes, that is extremely creepy and would be rather disturbing if used, well, much at all, really. But that's just me and doesn't really have to do with how the ability's mechanical balance is.
I have a problem with things like that too, but at the same time I really don't want to shoot this archetype in the foot by denying them the presence of an ability like that when basically every archetype has at least one. It's frustrating, but I've already gotten into one debate today about this, so rather than re-hashing that discussion, let's discuss how to change this ability to be more viable:

Accepting the fact that a large portion of advantages in the game are "unlimited use +2 to one roll type" abilities that require cleverness/contrivance in applying to the current roll (like dress powers, or Poker Face, or Connections, or Panty Thief, or what have you), and that I wish this roll to be like that, what would you suggest as an alternate limitation? If it helps get away from the creepiness, perhaps instead of being fluffed as hypnosis, the ability could represent a changeling using their vague empathic abilities to enhance their ability to influence others? It's more enhanced charisma than dominate person, so it accomplishes similar goals with less squicky means. What would you suggest as the limiter to make this power require at least a bit of cleverness to use from scene to scene?

That is a fair point, it would probably be less potent than many of the 1/episode advantages. Though personally I'd say Just as Planned and Shadow Out of Time are probably overpowered themselves anyway, so I wouldn't compare it to them. Hm, the others however...

- Cold Shoulder, Easily Forgiven, Hired Muscle, Security Detail, Destiny's Bond, and Heir to the Dojo are auto-successes, a single scene of guaranteed VP. That is better than +2 to you and -2 to an opponent, I'd say.
- Deep Freeze and Thaw Out are 3 scenes each of +2 to two different rolls, at the cost of a penalty to the other two. Again, better.
- Less is More is one scene of copying a probably very large modifier, which likely auto-passes an unopposed roll or turns an opposed one into an even roll-off with whoever posted the highest modifier. Usually better, since you'll prefer using it on unopposed rolls for the guaranteed points.
- Huh? What? is one I have a hard time judging since I haven't seen it in action and it's kind of weird. Theoretically I could see it being better, though.
- Simpler Times is really kind of dependent on having several opponents that are allure-focused, but since that is one of the most common abilities to focus on in the game it's not that hard for it to be better.
- Multiple Personalities and Shining Trapezohedron are weaker, but they're just bad abilities in general I'd say.

So, yeah, I must agree with you there. But at the same time, at 2 uses per episode it would be strictly better than already good abilities like Overclock, Fortune Talisman, and Personality Flip. Hm, so, I see two ways to take that: either make it twice per episode but attach a drawback of some kind, or make it strong but once per episode. Hm, maybe once per episode, and +2 to you and -2 to your opponent on the scene it's used, and the +2 bonus carries over for a scene but the penalty to the opponent doesn't? Keeping both for two scenes starts to sound iffy to me. Again, compare to Deep Freeze and Thaw Out, which are a +2 to two specific rolls and -2 to the others for three scenes - make this +2 to anything and -2 to an opponent for 2 scenes and I already start thinking it's quite possibly more potent than those, and that starts to worry me.
I like the 1/ep idea of carrying the bonus over to the next scene, but not the penalty. Alternatively, what if both carried over to following scene at half strength? Or would that be too much to keep track of reasonably?


Hm... maybe? I don't know, it seems like a logical way to improve that, but thinking about it, most builds will have at least one roll they just can't get bonuses on and are fine with leaving as their weak roll all the time (usually Luck), so the penalty isn't really an issue usually. And making it work that way means you always activate it on scene 1, since the doubled strong roll is permanent once it's used the first time. So it effectively becomes a constant +1 to your strong roll, and you can reassign your strong roll twice per episode. That could be okay, or it could start bordering on being too strong, it's kind of hard to say. Would need playtesting, I think.
The problem occurred to me as well. I actually had an idea of how to fix it, though: if you use the power, they have to change. That way, you couldn't just keep your weak roll the same while giving yourself a new strong roll to fit the moment, you have to change both of them. So like, Scene 1, you could be Strong Allure/Weak Conflict naturally, and use this ability in Scene 3 to change it to Strong Conflict/Weak Luck, and then use it again in Scene 5 to become Strong Skill/Weak Allure, and use your final third use in Scene 9 to become Strong Allure/Weak Skill. It's not a perfect solution, but it prevents people from keeping the same weak roll over and over.

Eh, sorry, two games is my limit.
Totally fair, totally fair.