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Where wolves? There! There wolves!


Wakshaani

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Hah! Well done, good sir! WHile not 100% what I was after, it's certainly a darn sight closer than I would have expected! Not at all the book I'd have imagined Shapeshifter stuff in.

 

Of course, if this is more "The book for the Arcanists" and less "The big book of brass clockworks", then it'd make sense.

 

Aww. Understandable, but aww. That means more on magic in general, the Union, Rasptutina's bunch, and Colette.

 

But probably less cool brass gear stuff and more magic and critters. Not that there's anything wrong with critters!

 

Hrm.

 

Hrm hrm.

 

I see some Thinking in my future...

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The trick isn't letting characters turn into shapes so much as the -diversity- of shapes. A spell that allows you to turn into just a raven, wolf, or squid? Not so bad. One that allows you to turn into any of those trhee, or a snake, or a possom, or, well, whatever else?

 

THAT'S when you get problems.

 

Wonder if we wouldn't be better getting a change on teh Shapeshift spell to be a single critter (And a MUCH lower TN), then a 'Mengaerie' immuto that would allow you more options at, say, +1 TN per alternate form?

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Wizuriel is pointing to the fact that the Into the Steam book will provide a way to easily* shapeshift into any** beast.  I agree that this could potentially cause problems, but luckily Fated characters should still be limited by their skill ranks and mental aspects.  A potential balancing point is that the rule doesn't say you get the special attacks/abilities of the beasts you shift into, so arguably they're still limited by their own Pugilism or Martial Arts damage track.  But it does also say you gain their physical qualities, so you could also argue that you do indeed get everything that isn't a mental aspect.

 

One key question for the balance is:  can a shapeshifter still cast spells?

 

*it starts out relatively resource intense depending on how often players get to draw cards

 

**you're limited to only certain ranks of beast, and never gain access to Henchmen or Master ranks

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kind of iffy on the shapeshift rules. This might be bad experiences from 3.5 D&D, but tend to find any ability that lets the player browse a monster manual tends to be a very overpowered ability. 

Seriously?

 

First off, it's an Advanced Pursuit and therefore only attainable if the FM allows it and secondly, it's an Advanced Pursuit! So, by the time a character is ready to start using it it really won't be much different than the kind of power level they'll already be at.

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I agree with Dgraz- compared to a ressurectionist advanced pursuit where you'll be throwing zombies around like confetti shapeshift isn't even slightly overpowered, the attacks thing Zeeblee mentioned may need clarifying in the finished article though:)

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One thing to consider is how it compares to other advanced pursuits so you don't end up with the Ivory Tower problem.  For example, is Friekorpsman truly equal to Shapeshifter?  Or as already stated, is Grave Servant equal to December Acolyte?  Personally I don't think they all stack up evenly, and if I were running a more encounter-focused game (like typical DnD dungeon crawling) the issue would have a noticeable effect.  Luckily TTB encourages more story-heavy gameplay, so it pushes players away from power combos.

 

Depending on the special attack/talent/defensive trigger rulings on Shapeshifter, it's primary source of power will end up being a giant toolbox that will only get better with every book release.

 

-As a side note:  How are you getting to the Grave Servant to throw undead like confetti?  While he can definitely have a bunch following him, he is still limited to two Order (1) actions.

 

--Other side note:  Perhaps this discussion should get its own thread as this one was supposed to be dedicated to werewolves.

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