In the first edition of ED, tables were explicitly encouraged to design new talent knacks to bring more versatility to the characters, both PCs and NPCs.
Assuming that this is not going to change in the new edition, is there any chance for general guidelines for the talent knack design? This is especially problematic in the case of "utility talents" (i.e. strictly unrelated to combat), where it might be somewhat difficult to grasp, what capabilities characters are supposed to have at a given talent rank.
Is there any reasonable chance that such general advice will be added somewhere in print, in Companion or in some future supplement?
Knack design
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The Undying
- Posts:696
- Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:25 pm
Re: Knack design
I think this is a pretty standard part of the Companions. Specifically, whether it will be in the ED4 Companion, or what might be within it, would require a chime-in from Mataxes/Panda.
Now, that being said, I think you're going to be left wanting. The ED3 Knack creation guidance is pretty sparse (less than a page), and I don't think most tables are really in to developing their own Knacks to a point where a robust system is needed. Take for example monster creation - a LOT of guidance is needed for that because it's something that a GM must do on a regular basis, even if it's just to tune a monster to his/her table. Now, take the idea of Knacks - I'm willing to guess that maybe 1 in 5 tables might be interested in making their own Knacks for player use, and probably only once or twice.
Depending on how often you think this is going to come up, my recommendation is one of two things. First, if this is just a one-off, find a knack that sounds SIMILAR in power level with shared features (does it heal? does it heal a WOUND? does it require a ritual? etc) and use that as the basis for the cost and adjust from there. Second, if this is something you're going to do multiple times, then go through the grunt work of trying to reverse engineer some guidance based on examine the Knacks (e.g., maybe things that change healing damage to healing wounds only appear at Rank 8; maybe things that extend range from self to others always seems to appear ~5 Rank above the Circle where most Adepts get the Talent). Then, be a good community member and post your recommendations for others to use and potentially help refine or expand. =)
Now, that being said, I think you're going to be left wanting. The ED3 Knack creation guidance is pretty sparse (less than a page), and I don't think most tables are really in to developing their own Knacks to a point where a robust system is needed. Take for example monster creation - a LOT of guidance is needed for that because it's something that a GM must do on a regular basis, even if it's just to tune a monster to his/her table. Now, take the idea of Knacks - I'm willing to guess that maybe 1 in 5 tables might be interested in making their own Knacks for player use, and probably only once or twice.
Depending on how often you think this is going to come up, my recommendation is one of two things. First, if this is just a one-off, find a knack that sounds SIMILAR in power level with shared features (does it heal? does it heal a WOUND? does it require a ritual? etc) and use that as the basis for the cost and adjust from there. Second, if this is something you're going to do multiple times, then go through the grunt work of trying to reverse engineer some guidance based on examine the Knacks (e.g., maybe things that change healing damage to healing wounds only appear at Rank 8; maybe things that extend range from self to others always seems to appear ~5 Rank above the Circle where most Adepts get the Talent). Then, be a good community member and post your recommendations for others to use and potentially help refine or expand. =)