Question: Multitasking can be used for social actions? So I can actually open my mouth and 11 things can come out simultaneously with no alternation to my vocal cords?
No, smartass. Multi-Tasking allows you to take multiple mental actions (including the use of social powers) at once, but talking is not an action in Scion. It has no tick value and takes exactly as much time as your Storyteller decides it does. Using a boon or a knack is an action; making an attack is an action; making a roll to do something, such as unlocking a door, is an action. Talking is not.
Multi-Tasking pretty clearly allows you to multi-task the powers you already have; it does not give you magical new polyphonic powers. You could take multiple actions while you're talking - that is, you could be saying something and using God's Honest to make your listeners believe it and using Instant Seminar to teach them something with it and Perfect Actor to make them feel your emotions while you do it, all at the same time. If you stunted, you could also perhaps say two things as part of a single action - James might point at one enemy and say, "Stop that snickering, and you, sit down!" to another and use both Freeze Out on the first guy and Overt Order on the second guy at the same time. But you could not speak seven different sentences to seven different people at the same time with your normal, unaugmented mouth, because this power is about multi-tasking, not extra voices.
If you want to talk to a bunch of different people at the same time about different things, the easiest way to accomplish that is to just use Multi-Tasking with Telepathy, beaming seven different thoughts into seven different peoples' heads simultaneously. If you want to get freaky, you could also give yourself extra mouths, tongues, vocal cords or whatever other equipment was necessary with Unusual Alteration, though doing so is going to look mighty weird and you may still have problems with talking over yourself unless you use other sound-cheating powers like Subvocalization or Divine Threnody. Some of our players have resorted to sign language to have two simultaneous conversations at once (bonus: if you both have Cipher, it's impossible for anyone who doesn't to follow what you're saying). If your Storyteller is amenable to a Music or Sound purview, I know of a few out there that have boons that let you polyphonically make several noises or hold several conversations at once.
But just Multi-Tasking will not let you do that, because it is only the ability to use powers you already have all at once, not adding a power you don't normally have.
First line was all i needed!
ReplyDeleteThats what I said!
DeleteWhy does blitzkrieg cap out at three attacks and those have penalties, when multi-tasking caps out at eleven social attacks? Shouldn't there be a tier 4 physical knack that mimics multitasking?
ReplyDeleteNo, there definitely shouldn't be, because being able to physically attack someone more than three times per action would be broken like the White House in Independence Day.
DeleteThe difference is that using mental actions to damage someone costs resources, whereas combat fighting actions can be deadly for free. Giving someone the option to use Perun's Apples six times at once certainly allows them to do a truly heinous amount of damage, but it costs them 60 Legend and 6 Willpower to do it. A combat-heavy character like Zwazo or Eztli who was allowed to hit people six times at once would be obliterating their opponent with no cost to themselves, which would be grossly unfair and way too powerful.
As John mentions below, though, we've also been talking about re-examining how Multi-Tasking works regarding damage-causing powers. Ideally, we'd want it to not allow someone to use Perun's Apples six times at once, either, and we have it in our log to examine ways to fix that without nerfing the knack's usefulness into the ground.
I'm not sure I understand the difference. One person can hit someone with a weapon for no resources, and the other person can hit someone with a social attack for no resources.
DeleteIn a lot of cases, the social attack can be more powerful than the weapon. Especially if the social attack convinces the guy to fight for you.
What non-physical attacks are you thinking of that don't use resources? Every attack in the game that doesn't involve physically hitting someone costs Legend, Willpower or both. There are no free ones.
DeleteIf you're saying "social attack" meaning someone using social knacks like Charmer or Overt Order on someone, that's entirely different. That's not a direct damage-causing attack, and while it might lead to your target fighting on your behalf, it's not a guarantee that they will or that they'll be effective when they do. It's definitely not comparable to lopping someone's head off, and it's still not free - that is, you're still paying Legend and/or Willpower to do it, while they physical fighter is not.
If you just mean trying to order someone to fight on your behalf with a normal Charisma/Manipulation roll, that's certainly an action, but most of the time trying to do it for free won't work. You can motivate mortals, who aren't very good at resisting, or creatures much lower Legend than yourself who may or may not make much difference in a fight, but Legendary beings on your same level have their own Virtues and drives and usually can't be bossed around that way without the use of powers. That's what the social knacks and boons are for, after all - if you could always just order people to do things even if they hated it, there'd be no reason for Overt Order to exist.
I dont like multitasking allowing many "attacking powers" It currently does, but I dont like it. Its in the changelog to have a good look and fix, but we havnt gotten to it yet. The reasons I think it needs a change are the same reasons there isnt a tier 4 physical knack.
ReplyDelete