Cheating Initiative!

[Druso]

Hi!

This might be a really dumb question but I have to ask it. Can players cheat Initative? As I see it there are two possible answers:

-Yes. It´s a Challenge Duel using Speed+Notice so if you have Notice skill you can do it (because having the skill is a requeriment for cheating).

-No. p.194 states that "A character may only Cheat Fate once per Action". I know that you can do it just once, but at is written "Action"...well, the Initative flip is not action at all so Fated can´t Cheat on that Challenge.

[War Disciple]

I let my players cheat Initiative flips, but I've found that the players really don't like to cheat Initiative unless a Fated absolutely has to go first.  They'd rather save their cards for other things.

[Druso]

Before I asked this question I said always "Yes" to the question about if the Fated can cheat initative, and well in one adventure a really combat focused guy with a melee weapon with a great Severe Damage just always go like "Ok, so I cheat Initiative to go before the enemies, and they I attack and crush his head with that awesome Severe" Whoaaah ...There are no more enemies now!

[Omenbringer]

I would consider upping the ranks of your non-fated to prevent the melee focused fated from dominating combats. A Henchmen and his posse of Enforcers should even the field quite a bit (the Henchmen will be "flipping" above the fated's average, while the Enforcers will be right at it). Add in some appropriately raised aspects and skills to reflect trained professionals and again the fated will likely struggle. I wouldn't consider this an adversarial move or a "Hard counter" approach, a fated that is that dominating in combat is going to attract the attention of higher skilled people who either want to challenge themselves or eliminate the competition.

You could also consider house ruling some randomness into the resolution system to keep the combat focused fated off balance. There are a number of good suggestions on how to do this floating around in the threads in this section.

Or lastly, you could try to encourage the player to play the game as a "Story" (where it really shines) instead of a combat game (which is entirely to munchkinable at non-henchmen and above ranks).