Re: Improv penalties

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 14:16:43 -0700

Wulf Corbett <wulfc_at_...> wrote:
> [re. improv penalties]
>
> It was -5 & multiples, changed to -3 and multiples for publication
> (but not every example got changed), and now, it seems, it's back to
> -5 again. Good, I've been using -5 all the time anyway. -3 is a
> pathetic and meaningless modifier after about 10W... even -5 is pretty
> petty. A good dose of -10 lets people know they're using the wrong
> skill...

...maybe the size of the penalty should be based on the level of the skill? (e.g. -5 per mastery, minimum of -5). When Harrek the Berserk decides to improvise a "Belch really loud" feat from his "Rude: 10w6" affinity, he'd suffer a big penalty (it'd play as "Belch: 20w4"), but that's still a darned loud belch.

Otherwise, it seems the incentive would be to over-specialise--past a certain skill level, you're better off improvising everything from one super-skill, instead of being well-rounded. (Of course, a good GM would keep that in line...)