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fate:extras [2013/08/27 21:23]
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 ====== Extras ====== ====== Extras ======
  
-An extra in Fate is a pretty broad termWe use it to describe anything ​that'​s ​technically part of a character ​or controlled by a character, but gets special treatment in the rules.+Powers are very similar to stunts ​in that they represent special abilities, but are restricted like [[skills|Power Skills]]This means that powers are derived from a character'​s ​aspect. In the same way that having an aspect "​Priestess ​of Vayne" allows ​a character ​to take the power skills, ​a character ​with the aspect "High Elf Sword Dancer"​ would be eligible to purchase those powers common to elves.
  
-Some examples of potential extras include: +<​note>​Page Numbers ​in italics are from Dresden Files Your Story</note>
-  * A vehicle or ship belonging to a character +
-  * Specialized gear or equipment, like enchanted arms and armor in a fantasy game, or hyper-tech in a sci-fi game +
-  * Unusual/supernatural powers or other augmented abilities +
-  * Organizations or nations where the character is a controlling interest The key binding concept here is that the extra in question should be an extension of the character sheet and wholly under the player’s control, rather than a part of the environment controlled by the GM. Another difference between an extra and a regular character element is that an extra requires some special permission or cost to take it.+
  
-<​note>​ +===== The Catch =====
-**The Bronze Rule**\\ +
-Before we start talking about extras in detail, we should review what we’re calling the Bronze Rule of Fate: “You can treat anything in the game world like it’s a character.” We've already seen some examples of this, from scene aspects, to assigning a skill rating to an environmental hazard, to making a character sheet for a whole scene rather than individual NPCs. +
-</​note>​+
  
 +The Catch represents a weakness to something that would not normally cause others difficulty. Examples include fae and iron, vampires and wood, undead and true faith, trolls and fire. In each case the creature suffers more from "their catch" than others. If someone has a catch, it applies to all defenses (Recovery and Toughness) and other powers as deemed appropriate to the catch. Hitting a fae with iron will cause them a great deal of pain and placing them in a cage of iron would reduce the effect of their glamours. However, hitting a troll with fire will bypass its defenses, but standing in a fire will not reduce its claws.
  
-===== How to Make Extras ===== 
  
-Fate offers several options for making an extra, using a combination of the same elements that you build a character with—aspects,​ skills, and stunts. An extra can be one, two, or all three of these. When you’re thinking about extras, you should start off by asking yourself what you want that extra to do in your game, what functionality you want it to provide your players.+===== Physical =====
  
-At a glance, it looks like this: +^Power ^  Cost  ^ Extras ​ ^  Page^ 
-  ​* An extra thats an aspect ties strongly ​into the narrative. +| Addictive Saliva ​ |  -1  | Narcotic Saliva ​ |  //162// | 
-  ​* An extra that’s a skill lets you do things in unique way or act in a different context (like when you’re controlling ​vehicle, etc.). +| Aquatic ​ |  -1  | Cant Drown; Easy Swimming ​ |  //162// | 
-  ​* An extra that’s a stunt adds pizzazz ​to what you already do by default. Once you know what kind of effect you want, you can start building.+| Blood Drinker ​ |  –1  | Drink Blood; The Taste of Death; Blood Frenzy ​ |  //188// | 
 +| Breath Weapon ​ |  -2  | Breath Weapon ​ |  //162// | 
 +| Claws  |  -1  | Natural Weapons; Venomous [–2] ​ |  //162// | 
 +| Cloak of Shadows ​ |  –1  | See in the Dark; Melt into the Shadows ​ |  //169// | 
 +| Diminutive Size  |  -1  | Hard to Detect; Small is Big; Wee Possession [–3] ​ |  //163// | 
 +| Echoes of the Beast  |  -1  | Beast Senses; Beast Trappings; Beast Friend ​ |  //163// | 
 +| Feeding Dependency ​ |  +1  | Hunger is Stressful; Limited Reserves; Failure Recovery ​ |  //190// | 
 +| Hulking Size  |  -2  | Easy to Hit, Hard to Hurt; Everything is Small; Big is Scary; Easy to Detect ​ |  //164// | 
 +| Inhuman Recovery ​ |  –2  | Total Recovery; Fast Recovery; Vigorous; Shrug It Off  |  //185// | 
 +| Inhuman Speed  |  –2  | Improved Initiative; Athletic Ability; Casual Movement; Almost Too Fast To See  |  //178// | 
 +| Inhuman Strength ​ |  –2  | Improved Lifting; Bruising Strength; Superior Strength; Hammer Blows  |  //183// | 
 +| Inhuman Toughness ​ |  –2  | Hard to Hurt; Hard to Kill  |  //185// | 
 +| Living Dead  |  -1  | Corpse Body; Death is Nuisance; Dude! You’re Dead!  |  //164// | 
 +| Long Life  |  0  | Total Recovery; ​ |  //170// | 
 +| Mythic Recovery ​ |  –6  | Total Recovery; Really Amazingly Fast Recovery; Indefatigable;​ Ha! You Call That Hit?  |  //186// | 
 +| Mythic Speed  |  –6  | Super Supreme Initiative; Extra Superior Athletic Ability; Instant Movement; Like the Wind  |  //178// | 
 +| Mythic Strength ​ |  –6  | Supreme Lifting; Unstoppable Strength; Supreme Strength; Devastating Blows  |  //184// | 
 +| Mythic Toughness ​ |  –6  | Nearly Impossible to Hurt; Nearly Impossible to Kill  |  //186// | 
 +| Pack Instincts ​ |  -1  | Pack Communication ​ |  //165// | 
 +| Physical Immunity ​ |  –8  | Physical Immunity; Stacked Catch [+varies] ​ |  //186// | 
 +| Spider Walk  |  -1  | Like a Spider ​ |  //165// | 
 +| Supernatural Recovery ​ |  –4  | Total Recovery; Faster Recovery; Unfaltering;​ It’s Nothing ​ |  //186// | 
 +| Supernatural Sense  |  -1  | Strange Sense; Strange Senses [–1]; Broad Senses [–2] ​ |  //165// | 
 +| Supernatural Speed  |  –4  | Supreme Initiative; Superior Athletic Ability; Effortless Movement; Faster Than the Eye  |  //178// | 
 +| Supernatural Strength ​ |  –4  | Superior Lifting; Bludgeoning Strength; Superlative Strength; Lethal Blows  |  //183// | 
 +| Supernatural Toughness ​ |  –4  | Harder ​to Hurt; Harder to Kill  |  //186// | 
 +| Wings  |  -1  | Flight ​ |  //165// |
  
  
-==== Extras as Aspects ==== 
-An extra that has or is represented by an aspect gives you the greatest amount of narrative freedom—you can use declarations to bring the extra into the story, invoke it for a benefit when relevant, and take compels to represent the extra’s vulnerabilities,​ inherent dangers, or weaknesses. There'​s not a lot of mechanical fiddling to do here, so it’s a simple, but flavorful way to go. 
  
-The main concern with aspects as extras is that they'​re still subject to the same cycle of fate point flow as any other aspect, so your ability to utilize the aspect to its full potential will depend on whether you have fate points to spend. This might take a little getting used to, for folks who are used to a power or piece of gear being "​always on," rather than having a varying level of spotlight time as dictated by fate points.+===== Shapeshift =====
  
-If you're going to use an aspect to represent an extra, it's a good idea to be a little more specific than usual about what kinds of advantages that aspect will allow, as well as what situations are appropriate for invocations and compels. That will give the extra a different feel from the PCs usual aspects, which are intentionally more open to interpretation in the moment.+| Beast Change ​ |  –1  | Beast Form; Skill Shuffle ​ |  //174// | 
 +| Flesh Mask  |  –1  | Flesh Mask; Idealized Appearance; What Lies Beneath ​ |  //175// | 
 +| Gaseous Form  |  –3  | Gaseous Transformation ​ |  //175// | 
 +| Human Form  |  +1((variable cost)) ​ | Regular Joe/Regular Jane; Rare or Involuntary Change [+1]  |  //176// | 
 +| Human Guise  |  0  | Normal Appearance ​ |  //176// | 
 +| Mimic Abilities ​ |  0((variable cost)) ​ | Eat Power; Mimic Stunt; Mimic Skill  |  //176// | 
 +| Mimic Form  |  –2  | Take Form  |  //177// | 
 +| Modular Abilities ​ |  0((variable cost)) ​ | Function Follows Form  |  //177// | 
 +| True Shapeshifting ​ |  –4  | Multi–Form;​ Skill Shuffle ​ |  //177// |
  
-<note tip> 
-**Demonbane,​ The Enchanted Sword**\\ 
  
-Aspect: Slayer of Demon-Kind+===== Psychic Abilities =====
  
-Anyone wielding Demonbane automatically gets to use its aspect as though it were one of their own and can spend a fate point to do any of the following, one at a time:+| Cassandra’s Tears  |  0  | Unbelievable Predictions ​ |  //172// | 
 +| Domination ​ |  –2  | Psychic Domination; Create Renfield; Master Dominator [–2]; ​ |  //172// | 
 +| Incite Emotion ​ |  –1  | Emotion–Touch;​ Additional Emotion [–1 per]; At Range [–1]; Lasting Emotion [–1]; Potent Emotion [–1] ​ |  //172// | 
 +| Psychometry ​ |  –1  | Echoes ​of the Past  |  //173// | 
 +| The Sight  |  –1  | Arcane Senses; Wizard’s Touch; Opening the Third Eye  |  //174// | 
 +| Soulgaze ​ |  –1  | Soulgaze; Application ​of the Sight [+1]  |  //174// | 
 +| Emotional Feeder ​ |  –1  | Feeding Touch; The Taste of Death; Feeding Frenzy ​ |  //189// | 
 +| Ghost Speaker ​ |  –1  | See the Dead; Seen by the Dead; Speak to the Dead; Seek the Dead  |  //169// |
  
-  * Automatically know the hiding place of a nearby demon or see through its disguise. 
-  * Automatically destroy or banish any nameless NPC demonic servitor of your choice. 
-  * Gain a bonus or reroll on any action against a demon, as well as any action meant to inspire fear in or distract a demon. 
  
-The sword'​s enchantment carries a burning desire to destroy demons, and it will try to influence its wielder to do so without thought for any other motives. You may be subject to a compel when your decision to slay a demon creates complications for you (taking unnecessary risks, losing sight of another objective, etc.). You might also take a compel when you're in the presence of a demon and the sword reveals its hunger, if that isn't a desirable outcome (like if you’re going the stealth route). +===== Other =====
-</​note>​+
  
-==== Extras as Skills ==== +| Ward This House  |  –1  | Bless This House  |  //187// | 
-Representing an extra with one or more skills is pretty much the same thing you do as a GM, when you give the environment a skill rating to make attacks and other actions with. Either the extra in question has skills that you can use in place of your own (like with a self-guided machine gun)or the extra is an entirely new skill, complete with its own set of actions like the skills in the Skills and Stunts chapter.+| Demesne ​ |  –1  | Home Turf  |  //170// | 
 +| Otherworldly Co–Pilot ​ |  –1  | Host Agenda ​ |  //175// | 
 +| Guide My Hand  |  –1  | Guide My Hand  |  //187// | 
 +| Otherworldly Touch  |  –1  | Holy Touch  |  //188// | 
 +| Item of Power  |  0((variable cost))  | One–Time Discount [+1 or +2]; It Is What It Is; Unbreakable;​ Imparted Abilities ​ |  //167// | 
 +| Marked by Power  |  –1  | Aegis of Respect ​ |  //169// | 
 +| Righteousness ​ |  –2  | Potent Prayer; Desperate Hour  |  //188// | 
 +| Sponsored Magic  |  0((variable cost)) ​ | Depends ​ |  //183// | 
 +| Spirit Form  |  –3  | Insubstantial;​ Variable Manifestation;​ Variable Visage; Poltergeist [–2] ​ |  //170// | 
 +| Swift Transition ​ |  –2  | Everywhere Is A Portal; No Mortal Home [+1]  |  //171// |
  
-This is a good technique to use when the extra’s capabilities are very narrowly defined—no matter who has the extra, it’s always going to do the exact same set of things. So, you might use this to model specific cybernetic enhancements in a sci-fi setting where that technology is standardized,​ for example. 
  
-You can also use it to model extras that act autonomously,​ even though they’re under the player’s command. A wizard'​s familiar or a pet robot might have a set of skills all to itself - even though you're going to be rolling the dice for your familiar, the skills are attached to it, so you can’t use them when the familiar'​s not around. Organizations and nations might also have their own skills, allowing a PC to act on a scale normally not allowed in person-to-person interaction. 
  
-You won't often see an extra that's a unique skill, because having one adds a completely new context for action into the game. In other words, if the game is a superhero game and everyone’s expected to use superpowers,​ then your default skill list is going to reflect that or you'll use another method to represent them. Thus, they’re better used to represent outliers or one-off capabilities that aren't central to the core concept of the game, but are present in the setting, usually because one of the players is really interested in having it. 
  
-For example, you might be running a near-future espionage game, and the group agrees that certain people have a limited form of psychic training. You don’t want the game to turn into "​psychics vs. normals,"​ however, so you invent a Psi-Training skill that adds a handful of game actions for those who want to take it, and move on. 
  
 +{{tag>​fate powers}}
  
-<note tip> 
-**Commune**\\ 
- 
-The Commune skill belongs to those whose minds have been altered by the Council of Sigils to literally commune with their magical artifacts and devices. Because the Council’s magic has helped create the underpinnings of their society, Sigilcraft artifacts are everywhere, and in some places are so common that they replace more traditional technology entirely. 
- 
-**Overcome:​** You can restore function to a broken Sigilcraft device or dismantle one, provided you have enough time to do so. Usually, this requires a complex obstacle, but very simple devices might only require a single roll. This does not allow you to enchant new Sigilcraft devices, only work on ones already constructed. 
- 
-**Create an Advantage:​** The Commune skill allows you to examine any piece of Sigilcraft and figure out its salient properties (via aspects), or diagnose faults and problems with it. You can also make create new aspects about anything related to the creation and maintenance of Sigilcraft artifacts, as well as assigning aspects to any Sigilcraft artifact whose capabilities are not yet established. You can use this to have a particular Sigilcraft device be exactly what you need in a particular moment. Finally, you can create aspects to disorient, distract, or otherwise plant false signals on a Sigilcraft automaton, or to stop a Sigilcraft construct from moving out of its current zone in a conflict. 
- 
-**Attack:** You can roll the Commune skill to make physical attacks against Sigilcraft automatons, tearing their base enchantments apart with the power of your mind. 
- 
-**Defend:** Some Sigilcraft defenses are purely psychic in nature, attacking the mind rather than the body. You can defend against these with your Commune skill. If you fail to defend, take a mental hit. 
-</​note>​ 
- 
- 
-==== Extras as Stunts ==== 
-Stunts are part of the way to being extras by default already, given that they represent special ways that you use your skills. You can extrapolate from there and use a package of one or more stunts to represent the enhancements from a particular extra, grouping them together under the same source. 
- 
-This is a good approach if the extras in your game are meant to enhance what the characters can already do normally rather than provide wholly unique abilities. So, back to that superhero game example, if the premise of your game depends on everyone using superpowers to fight crime, then it’s more efficient to give them a skill list that revolves around crime fighting and let the stunts be the superpowers that build on that core competence. Gear is another good example of an extra best modeled with stunts, because it gives the gear a tangible effect in play without detracting too much from the character as the motive force—yes,​ the stunts might be interesting,​ but they can’t do anything by themselves. 
- 
-We recommend you build your stunt-based extras as "​uber-stunts,"​ combining all of the effects you want into a single package. One extra should hold two or more stunts'​ worth of benefits. 
- 
- 
-<note tip> 
-**The Enchanted Blade of Crowd Control** 
- 
-Cost: 2-stunt equivalent 
- 
-**Skills Modified:** Fighting 
- 
-When you're [[actions#​attack|attacking]] or [[actions#​create advantage|creating advantages]] against multiple targets in the same exchange, add 2 to your Fighting result before dividing it up between the targets. Hence, if you roll a Great (+4) while attacking two opponents, you’re at an effective Fantastic (+6) before you decide how hard to hit each of them. 
- 
-You have Armor:2 against physical attacks, but if you're aware of them. 
- 
-This might mean that you don’t take any harm. 
-</​note>​ 
- 
- 
-===== Permissions and Costs ===== 
- 
-Now you know how to build an extra. The next question is, what are the requirements to have one? 
- 
-We express these requirements in one of two ways: permissions and costs. A permission is some kind of narrative justification that explains why your character has that extra. A cost is something you pay out of the resources available on your character sheet, whether that’s a skill point, a refresh point, or an aspect slot. Most of the time, you’re going to use a combination of both permissions and costs. 
- 
- 
-==== Permission ==== 
-The reason why we make note of permissions is because you don’t want your extras to take the focus away from establishing your persona at character creation. You shouldn'​t come into the game going, “I want to play a guy who has a special ray gun and a special jet pack,” because it’ll take a lot of work to make that character into somebody dramatic and interesting enough to be a Fate protagonist. 
- 
-Conversely, you do want to come into the game going, "I want to play a space ranger type who is way over-committed to the ideals of the Space Corps, like the worst Boy Scout goody two-shoes ever," and give him the special ray gun and jet pack as a logical extension of that idea. Therefore, the default permissions rule is that //whatever extras you take should fit with your character’s high concept aspect//. If you can’t make the logical leap from your high concept to the extra you want, then the extra probably doesn'​t fit with the character. 
- 
-For example, if your high concept aspect is Bloodthirsty Mercenary, you can probably justify all kinds of weapons or armor as extras, or even combat-related powers if your setting has that. But you can’t really justify, say, an enchanted necklace that has a calming aura on it, because that doesn'​t fit with your high concept—there’s no reason for a bloodthirsty mercenary to have that. 
- 
-Change that high concept to Repentant Mercenary, and you might be able to justify it. Your character would want that necklace, in order to minimize the violence around him. At the very least, even if you don’t want to be so strict as to run every extra by your high concept, your group should have a discussion about how the extra fits in with your character, and make sure it’s not just a random thing you want to take because it sounds cool.  
- 
-Sometimes, the aspects you make during game creation, or the premise of the game itself, will justify extras for all characters. If you know that your game revolves around a cadre of Space Rangers, for example, they should all be able to buy your fancy gear extras without further justification. 
- 
-==== Costs ==== 
-Once you've figured out the permission part, dealing with costs is relatively easy, because extras use exactly the same elements that a character already has. Thus, you have two major approaches here. 
- 
-=== A Slot is a Slot is a Slot === 
-The simplest way to handle an extra is simply to require that the PC use up one of his existing slots to buy the extra with. If the extra is an aspect, then you have to take that aspect during one of the phases. If the extra is a skill, then you have to use your skill points to assign it a rank. If the extra is a stunt (or the equivalent of multiple stunts), then you use your free stunt to take it and/or spend from your refresh to pick it up. All the normal rules apply to these costs—if a player wants a skill-based extra at a certain rank, he has to have a legal slot free to assign. 
- 
-If the extra consists of multiple categories, you have to be able to afford all of them in order to have the extra. 
- 
- 
-=== Additional Extra Slots === 
-Given that a default Fate character only gets five aspects, 20 skill slots, and 2 additional refresh to spend at character creation, some of the costs above might seem pretty steep—the second version of Ghiraul is almost half a normal character sheet! 
- 
-Because of this, if you’re going to have a game where players commonly take several extras for their PCs, you’ll probably want to offer additional slots to allow players to cover the cost without biting into their own character’s resources too much. 
- 
-It’s pretty easy to right-size the amount of additional slots to offer—keep it minimal, limited only to the types of extras you use (aspect, skill, stunt, or combo), and make sure that everyone gets the same amount. Don’t allow a great disparity between player characters—if one guy wants to control a nation-state but no one else does, then you shouldn'​t handle that nation state as a full extra... just tell the player in question to note that he’s the Ruler of X with an aspect and move on. 
- 
-If the extras in your game have their own aspects, skills, and stunts, consider the approach of giving everyone a secondary sheet for those extras, letting them build the extra like a second character 
- 
- 
- 
-{{tag>​fate rules}}