Badass Kung Fu Demigods, design journal pt 6

So, I'm skipping ahead a bit because I had a bit of inspiration and wanted to get my thoughts down before it faded. In particular this concerns Powers and another one of those sacred cows that needs to be sent to the vet.

So, the current system divides powers into three categories: Basic Powers, Signature Powers and Release Powers (formerly called Trumps).

While Signature and Release Powers are player-designed, Basic Powers were universal and consisted of some very basic, straightforward ways to spend Energy. To understand the idea behind Signature Powers its important to look at the DNA of this system, which of course was heavily inspired by Exalted.

In Exalted, each charm category featured a selection of "Excellencies" which were basic ways to boost your effectiveness when using the linked ability. Rolling more dice, rerolling dice, etc. This should sound pretty familiar if you know my basic powers. I liked the basic idea of having an efficient, straightforward use for Energy to improve your odds, but I didn't feel like players needed to be charged a "power tax" to get such a simple ability (let alone purchasing a version for different abilities the way Exalted did). So, I hit on the solution of providing everyone with a selection of Basic Powers for free, generic ways to convert Energy into bonuses.

Now, since then I've steadily chipped away at Basic Powers as I realized some needed to be changed into more specific powers or didn't need to be powers at all (such as the one that forced you to pay energy to make a ki-blast or whatever). Now I'm down to four Basic Powers...and I think it might be time to take the concept behind the shed and send it to a farm upstate.

The thing that made me think this was the Flawless Power. It's not a bad power or anything (spend an EP to reroll a failed roll) but it makes me realize that there a lot of different, interesting ways you could do the same Power, especially now that I have introduced Core Traits.

You see, since I have Core Traits now I intend to incorporate them into power design, especially offensive powers. By tying powers to specific Core Traits they'll become more important and the difference in style and approach becomes more significant and one of my goals is to make a character fighting with Heat feel different than a character fighting with Impulse.

So, I came up with four variations of the Flawless Power, one for each of the Core Traits which help to illustrate the possibilities of Power design and the themes of the Traits.

Roar Of Blood (1 EP)
Just when your opponent thinks they have you beaten you surge forward, heedless of your enemy's weapons. With a spray of blood you lunge for your opponent's throat.

You may spend a point of EP after failing a Heat roll where your opponent scored at least one Strike against you. Your opponent keeps any Strikes they earned, but can only spend them on damage and only after you reroll and assign any Strikes you earned (if any). You may choose any number of dice from your original roll and then re-roll them, taking a new result based on the new rolls (or your original result, whichever is higher).

[[So basically, accepting damage in order to get a reroll on your attack, with the bonus that you can keep any high results from before. Since Heat will also get Powers that reduce damage this'll synergize well with them and prevent opponents from getting tricky with things like conditions. as is appropriate for Heat it provides very little benefit on defensive rolls.]]

Shattered Mirror (1 EP)
With a flicker of motion it's revealed that the figure your opponent was fighting this whole time was really an afterimage left by your incredible speed, finding only air where you were standing just a moment before.

You may spend a point of EP after making a failed Impulse roll, forcing both you and your opponent to roll again. You both must accept the result of the new roll (although you can always choose to use this Power again).

[[I view the Impulse Trait as a little chaotic and flashy, the classic "tricky ninja" Trait and with an emphasis on dominating lesser foes. So this power really shines when bad luck puts you in a hard spot against a weaker opponent but against a more powerful opponent it mainly serves as a way to blunt the dangers of a really high roll]].

Shining Clarity (1 EP) In your mind's eye you can see your actions and their consequences unfold in your mind's eye. This precognition lasts only for a split-second, but it's enough time to make an essential change in your strategy and snatch victory from defeat.

You may spend a point of EP after making a failed Style roll. You may immediately reroll your dice and take the new roll as your final result (or the original result, whichever is higher). If your new roll is still a failure you can use this Power again.

[[Since Style is kind of the poster-child Trait for the Flawless Power, this is the most basic, straightforward and efficient version of this power and focuses on preventing a crappy roll rather than trying to maximize your final result.]]

Stubborn Defiance (1 EP) 
In the face of imminent defeat you refuse to give up. The only acceptable response to failure is to try even harder until the impossible no longer exists. 

You may spend a point of EP after making a failed Guts roll. You can select a number of dice from your original roll equal to your current Fighting Spirit and roll those dice again, taking the new result or your original, whichever is higher.

[[As befits a Guts move, this Power only really shines when you're an underdog in a fight and have been surrounded or are taking a lot of damage. It's a super-cheap bonus when you've built up a huge Fighting Spirit but is incredibly inefficient (and perhaps even unusable) in other situations.]]

So, this should give you an idea of the way I'm thinking right now. I fully intend to include some sidebars with a cleaned up version of this very discussion in order to illustrate the design principles in order to help you create your own powers.  

The one Basic Power that will still remain is Supercharge which won't really be a power anymore, so much as kind of the most "basic" use of Energy (instead of just fueling powers). The bonus will revert back to 1 EP = +1 bonus die, because I no longer have to worry about balancing it against other Basic Powers. And lets be fair, I don't think anyone was going to use Perfection. Overkill will probably suffer the same fate as Flawless, getting folded into other powers as a way to build up additional Strikes.