I'm thinking skinflex is cheaper than buying the striking looks morph trait, isn't it?
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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto
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Emulate striking looks with disguise check?
Thu, 2012-10-04 01:16
#1
NewtonPulsifer
Emulate striking looks with disguise check?
Thu, 2012-10-04 01:38
#2
cglasgow
I would disagree that its
I would disagree that its possible at all. Real 'striking looks' are things that get a visceral reaction from people, a gut-check of [i]"Whoa!"[/i] You can't fake that by getting a good make-up job and padding your clothes.
Remember, this is a setting where the vast majority of the population are in bodies that are [i]genetically engineered[/i] to be healthy, trim, slim, and good-looking... and they don't get the Striking Looks trait. Striking Looks are about a personal appearance or a charisma so standout that they still draw the 'Whoa, mama!' response even in a world where virtually everybody has designer genes, and nobody's fat or ugly unless they deliberately choose to biosculpt themselves that way as a counterculture statement.
IOW, if your morph designer couldn't pull it off when putting your current biomorph together in the lab with direct access to your DNA(*), why should you be able to pull it off with a disguise kit or a simple cybermod?
tdlr; While you should be able to emulate the physical appearance of someone who already has Striking Looks (that's what a Disguise check is for, after all, looking like other people), you should not enjoy the same mechanical benefits they get from that trait; on some level, even if not consciously, the viewer is grokking that you are only a pale imitation of the real thing (much like we can usually tell when a movie star's looks come from themselves, and when they come from their cosmetologist), and so you don't get quite the same pop from your audience.
(*) Well, actually, they [i]can[/i] do that, given that Striking Looks is a morph trait. Its just that it [i]costs extra[/i], by a nontrivial amount... and if you don't pay, they don't play.
Thu, 2012-10-04 01:48
#3
NewtonPulsifer
So would you agree that in
So would you agree that in your view the striking looks trait should be an extremely effective foil to disguise attempts (where someone is trying to impersonate that striking likeness)?
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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto
Thu, 2012-10-04 02:09
#4
cglasgow
A general principle to keep
A general principle to keep in mind is that if somebody paid CP for something, he should be allowed to use it where its useful and the rules allow. Too much nerf is as bad as too much bonus.
That having been said, if Striking Looks is worth +10 of positive modifier to the guy who has it, then it would be in keeping to apply -10 or so negative modifier to the Disguise check of anyone trying to fake it. (Plus, of course, not giving the actual mechanical benefits of Striking Looks itself.)
Thu, 2012-10-04 03:35
#5
Jane the Bane
Cost effectiveness and maxing
Cost effectiveness and maxing out should never be your primary (or even secondary) concern. Power gaming runs contrary to telling a good story.
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[img]http://boxall.no-ip.org/img/lost_userbar.jpg[/img]
Thu, 2012-10-04 05:00
#6
Smokeskin
NewtonPulsifer wrote:So would
You can impersonate someone with striking looks as easily as anyone else. It's not a trait that is supposed to make you harder to impersonate.
When impersonating someone with striking looks, you don't get the striking looks bonus.
Simple and fair. Using rules lawyering or realism arguments to do something that's clearly not intented is abuse.
Thu, 2012-10-04 14:00
#7
NewtonPulsifer
Smokeskin wrote:
I find it very difficult to judge the game designer's intent with Eclipse Phase. With Mental Augmentations like "Hyper Linguist" at cost Low (.25CP) that cost 10CP if you take it as an Ego trait make it difficult to make a clear call of "cheese!". At least from my point of view. Math Boost is very similar.
That someone with Skinflex at Moderate cost (.5CP) should be able to emulate Striking Looks +2 (20 CP) with a Disguise check seems very much in line with the above. Actually slightly worse off, as you need an associated skill to use it effectively.
P.S. Did the above use rules lawyering or realism arguments? Please do let me know if I slipped into those.
—
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto
Thu, 2012-10-04 14:12
#8
NewtonPulsifer
Jane the Bane wrote:Cost
For me I feel storytelling is helped by immersion (I define immersion as that state of gaming where your character's actions are dictated by their "in character" persona and self-consistency of their nature). The more conceits I have to deal with in a setting (I define conceits as things that tend to cause jarring cognitive dissonance due to not being self-consistent - if viewed from a RL point of view - that you just ignore as genre convention) the harder that immersion becomes for me.
So it becomes harder for me as a player to achieve that immersion (by role-playing the character in a self-consistent manner) when the setting/environment lacks that same level of self-consistency.
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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto