So, I am having some serious issues with this Path. I feel like I am missing something, so I decided to come to the forums to get some additional opinions.
Issue #1:
The first two levels of power do nothing but disable an electronic device to varying degrees. Why would you ever want this, a power that requires you to spend a blood point per use, when you could use the Machine Blitz ritual instead for free at no experience point cost?
Issue #2:
By touch, levels two and three can cause electrical damage. The problem is, the attack used to say in previous books you could use this as a weapon but V20, the most recent printing, just says "By touch". Does this allow you to do with a weapon, or has this become a weird comparison to the Shocking Grasp spell from D&D. It also says that these touched require a Dexterity + Brawl rolls. So trying to zap someone now takes two actions, is that right? So I need to split my dice pool between a Dexterity + Brawl roll AND the Willpower roll to activate these? That's terrible.
Issue #3:
Thor's Fury. The thrown lightning power. This power requires a Perception + Science roll, so let's already get out the way that you need to raise two non-combat stats, including an ability that almost never comes up as a rolled trait in games (Science). Now we have the range, which is and I quote:
"...difficulty of 6 plus the range in yards/meters, maximum 4 yards/meters."
So, let me get this straight. A crossbow at this range would be difficulty four and cost me no experience points to buy. But this power, which requires a blood point to use every single time and an investment of 31 experience points to even have, is difficulty 7 to use at the incredible distance of three feet? And it can never fire more than sixteen feet, assuming you want to try to hit at a whopping difficulty 10?
We'll leave guns out of this example, since a vampire is going to half the damage for bashing. So we'll go with a relative mundane counterpart, the crossbow.
Crossbow:
Base Damage: 5
Range: 20
Difficulty 4-6
Expends: Nothing
Experience Cost: 0
Thor's Fury:
Base Damage: 0
Range 4 (at best)
Difficulty 7-10
Expends: Blood
Experience Cost: 31
Someone please explain to me why Thor's Fury loses out in every single way to a mundane crossbow I can get my hands on with one dot of Resources.
The ONLY advantage it seems to hold is that the damage is two points harder to soak (8) than other forms of damage (6).
I desperately want to be wrong about all of this. Someone please make that happen, because I don't like what a huge waste this is when any starting Protean user can whirlwind unlimited amounts of aggravated damage for an entire scene and I get.... this. At this rate, there's no reason you'd ever NOT take Lure of Flames.
Issue #1:
The first two levels of power do nothing but disable an electronic device to varying degrees. Why would you ever want this, a power that requires you to spend a blood point per use, when you could use the Machine Blitz ritual instead for free at no experience point cost?
Issue #2:
By touch, levels two and three can cause electrical damage. The problem is, the attack used to say in previous books you could use this as a weapon but V20, the most recent printing, just says "By touch". Does this allow you to do with a weapon, or has this become a weird comparison to the Shocking Grasp spell from D&D. It also says that these touched require a Dexterity + Brawl rolls. So trying to zap someone now takes two actions, is that right? So I need to split my dice pool between a Dexterity + Brawl roll AND the Willpower roll to activate these? That's terrible.
Issue #3:
Thor's Fury. The thrown lightning power. This power requires a Perception + Science roll, so let's already get out the way that you need to raise two non-combat stats, including an ability that almost never comes up as a rolled trait in games (Science). Now we have the range, which is and I quote:
"...difficulty of 6 plus the range in yards/meters, maximum 4 yards/meters."
So, let me get this straight. A crossbow at this range would be difficulty four and cost me no experience points to buy. But this power, which requires a blood point to use every single time and an investment of 31 experience points to even have, is difficulty 7 to use at the incredible distance of three feet? And it can never fire more than sixteen feet, assuming you want to try to hit at a whopping difficulty 10?
We'll leave guns out of this example, since a vampire is going to half the damage for bashing. So we'll go with a relative mundane counterpart, the crossbow.
Crossbow:
Base Damage: 5
Range: 20
Difficulty 4-6
Expends: Nothing
Experience Cost: 0
Thor's Fury:
Base Damage: 0
Range 4 (at best)
Difficulty 7-10
Expends: Blood
Experience Cost: 31
Someone please explain to me why Thor's Fury loses out in every single way to a mundane crossbow I can get my hands on with one dot of Resources.
The ONLY advantage it seems to hold is that the damage is two points harder to soak (8) than other forms of damage (6).
I desperately want to be wrong about all of this. Someone please make that happen, because I don't like what a huge waste this is when any starting Protean user can whirlwind unlimited amounts of aggravated damage for an entire scene and I get.... this. At this rate, there's no reason you'd ever NOT take Lure of Flames.
Comment