Question: It seems odd to have Peregrine Fleetness cost 5 Legend, when it really costs 7 Legend because you have to activate two other Knacks to use it. Why not just have it cost 7 and multiply speed by a factor of 12?
Because it has more flexibility as an add-on to the earlier two knacks (Lightning Sprinter and Fast as Thought) than it does as a stand-alone power. Peregrine Fleetness is awesome - pretty much any time it or Marathon Sprinter comes out, we all have a short math break to figure out what Mach the Scion is doing right now - but it has a few limitations in that it's expensive if you don't need that much speed right this second and it turns off if you stop moving, meaning that it's great for stoops and sprints but not great for a scene's worth of speed.
So players often activate their Lightning Sprinter/Flyer/Swimmer for the scene, and then only pay for Fast as Thought or Peregrine Fleetness as needed within it, meaning that if they already have Lightning Sprinter up, they don't need to pay the extra Legend every time they suddenly need a burst of speed. It costs the Scion less and gives them the flexibility to decide when they most need Fast as Thought's quickness or Peregrine Fleetness's insane speed, rather than forcing them to pay the extra Legend each time or take a gamble that they'll be able to keep moving the entire scene and therefore never have to use the knack twice. Fast as Thought and Peregrine Fleetness are separated for the same reason - if a Scion pops Fast as Thought and finds that that's fast enough, awesome, but if they find they need to go faster yet, we don't want to make them pay a full 7 points of Legend for Peregrine Fleetness when they're already halfway there.
Escalating levels of speed isn't the most common use of the knacks, but it does happen, and we figure there's no reason to make Scions keep spending the extra Legend.
Hmmm. I'm onboard with your point about flexibility, but I don't understand the rest. Marathon Sprinter has the thing about turning off if you stop or slow down, but Peregrine Fleetness and Fast as Thought are scene-long and don't have that clause at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm working with is an additive system, where each Knack provides a different percentage boost to your speed (100%, 500%, 1000%) and they can be added together for a total increase of 1600% increased speed. That way if you just need middle speed, you only activate the middle knack instead of activating two knacks.
Overall, I think that might be more flexible since you can start off at 1000% speed instead of having to start off at the lowest speed and work your way up.
Hmm, it looks like our knacks are behind again - FaT and PF also turn off if you stop moving for us. Only the Lightning knacks are on scene-long no matter what you're doing.
DeleteSheesh. It's getting embarrassing the number of things I realize aren't on the site when they should be. I'll updated when I get home from work tonight. Sorry. :(
Also, they never work their way up. If they want the third tier they spend for them all at once, similar to how I think you're saying your system works. Your system I suppose gives more options for varying speeds, but I cant imagine the need for too much of that. Generally either they want to move a bit quicker and use lightning sprinter, or they want to move as fast as possible and just spend for everything. It seems like a lot of extra to work through when you wanna run, but if the runner likes those options seems reasonable.
DeleteHmm, Fast as Thought did already say that! Peregrine, didn't, though. Fixed.
DeleteHmm. If that is your intended functionality, you may want to clarify Fast as Thought. Currently, it reads much as it does in the RAW: the "if you stop" clause being specific to the running across water and defying gravity.
DeleteFor the WHOLE KNACK to go "poof" when you slow down, that probably needs to be more clear. Peregrine Fleetness is fix'd now, though.