Re:[HOE] Cyborgs to unbalancing was About Rules of Engagement...

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

> > They may be a lot more fun but the random ROE are there to help balance
> the character out.  I personally dont even think the random ROE's balance
> out the Pros of being a Cyborg.  Thats why I dont allow my posse to make
> them.   If I allow one player to make one then I have to boost the threat
> to the party up but that causes weaker characters to get killed
> easier(all those non-Veteran, non-mutant, non-aracane characters) Then
> they make new guys that are toughers, by the end I'm stuck with a party
> of Veteran Heavy Can Greenie Templar Super Mutants. 

We're running into that problem with a Doomie in my posse (I'm a player,
but I have eyes). The posse is very arcane-heavy already (syker, greenie
syker, doomie and just recently a templar + 1 law dog).
Observations:
Templars are probably the least un-balancing of the arcanes because they
don't have a lot of the wiz-bang offensive powers of others.
Sykers aren't TOO bad because their powers tend to either be isolated to
one person, or fairly low damage (a good arson still only nets you a
couple wounds).

Doomies are the toughy with powers like ICBM and MIRV and Veridian Goliath
(and Glow Rod and Nuke and Molecular Bonding and...) they are not only
powerful, but versatile. A MIRV can be spread over several targets,
thereby wounding several enemies, or all the missiles can be focused on
one boss-type, killing him. The other thing is that MIRV increases
exponentially (well not exponentially, but quickly) because a success gets
you 5d10 (faith:5), while a raise gets you 10d10, then 15d10, etc. Compare
that to an Arson where a raise gets you from 2d10 to 3d10 to 4d10, etc.
(not complaining about Arson being weak, just using it as a comparison).

So the result is that the Marshal is having a hard time challenging the
Doomie in combat without the rest of us getting killed...

This is similar to the cyborgs situation (sorry to beat the
dead-doomie-horse). Our marshal has stated that he won't let anything
beyond an infiltrator in to the posse, but regular harrowed are okay. This
seems like a reasonable policy. It seems like totally out-lawing them is a
little harsh. But then we haven't had one in the posse or faced one yet,
so I can't say from experience.

 Theo McGuckin
		"They're attacking. We should build a fort."
		"I'll get some pillows."