[Book of Judgement] Slate Agents (or why Forbidden Lore is not worth purchasing).

[Gregorius21778 249]

The Book of Judgement features the "Slate Agent".  Those can be fitted with a new persona and (most importantly) a fine set of knowledges to impersonate somebody else. By RAW, up to three Lores or Trades of Choice. Including Forbidden Lores. Jub, you got it. Oh, and you get +10 on the relevant skill tests for these Lores/Trade. For free. Jub, you got it.

This rank is available from 6+ onwards. Restriction: You need to be Unremarkable. As an example

FL(Cults)+10 become available for an Adept early on (Rank 3); Sisters and Arbitrators and Psykers get it in the End Game (7+). And have to pay for it.

FL(Daemonology)+10 is rather endgame... if available at all. Unless you are from the Radicals Handbook...

And so on...

My personal opinion: This is one touch to much. I will house-rule this away to "Common Lores and Scholastic Lores only" or to "Forbidden Lores only as Basic".

Other thoughts?

EDIT: Of course being an Adept beats being a Slate Agent. But otherwise, I would not see why not getting somebody to be one. Yes, is sacrifices rank. But all those Forbidden Knowledges at the tip of your hand...

[Zakalwe2 4]

Gregorius21778 said:

The Book of Judgement features the "Slate Agent".  Those can be fitted with a new persona and (most importantly) a fine set of knowledges to impersonate somebody else. By RAW, up to three Lores or Trades of Choice. Including Forbidden Lores. Jub, you got it. Oh, and you get +10 on the relevant skill tests for these Lores/Trade. For free. Jub, you got it.

This rank is available from 6+ onwards. Restriction: You need to be Unremarkable. As an example

FL(Cults)+10 become available for an Adept early on (Rank 3); Sisters and Arbitrators and Psykers get it in the End Game (7+). And have to pay for it.

FL(Daemonology)+10 is rather endgame... if available at all. Unless you are from the Radicals Handbook...

And so on...

My personal opinion: This is one touch to much. I will house-rule this away to "Common Lores and Scholastic Lores only" or to "Forbidden Lores only as Basic".

Other thoughts?

EDIT: Of course being an Adept beats being a Slate Agent. But otherwise, I would not see why not getting somebody to be one. Yes, is sacrifices rank. But all those Forbidden Knowledges at the tip of your hand...

Hi Gregorius.  I haven't seen the BOJ yet, but it's just the normal power creep.  I wouldn't have too much of a problem with it myself, over our first five ranks our GM gave us FL-ORDOS XENOS, FL-XENOS, and FL-INQUISITION!  Whoa, do we now know everything going on in Calixis or what?  You could look at it like you seem to that there is an unbalancing ammount of knowledge there with the SA, but most players won't mind one player having that knowledge.  For the GM, it can actually be a really useful game aid to assume PC competence.  For example you don't have to go off and do a whole adventure just to find out that demons are affected by fire or whatever.  I guess it depends on your campaign style.  I get the impression that yours is rich in detail, and that you like the 'ignorance and fear' appraoch so it might work for you to nerf it, but in a campaign like ours', the pcs posessing a lot of those knowledge skills makes life a whole lot easier for our rookie gm because the players are able to bring a bit of out-of-game knowledge of the setting to the table due to those skills which means he doesn't have to work too hard.

Yeah, it's power creep, which is nearly always unattractive (Rifts anyone!?).  It is an unfortunate effect of the need for publishers to sell books to stay in business so I find myself surprisingly confotable with it.  All up to you what you use though, for all the creep and cool options in the books, I'm still playing a pc straight from the core book and don't feel that he is any less competitive or fun.

How have you found the BOJ overall?

 

 

 

[Gregorius21778 249]

Zakalwe said:

 

For the GM, it can actually be a really useful game aid to assume PC competence.   

Do not get me wrong, for a GM this is handy as hell! The GM will never need to worry about the pc having this one Lore skill his/her plot normally would DEMAND for the solution of this thing s/he brewed up.

The thing is that (with some ahead planning) getting any +10 level in a FL-skill becomes "bad strategie" unless you have an Adept or some handy elite advance.

@Overall & very off-topic

In ordert not to derail my own topic, I will answer this in the BoJ topic

[Blood Pact 14]

Gregorius21778 said:

The Book of Judgement features the "Slate Agent".  Those can be fitted with a new persona and (most importantly) a fine set of knowledges to impersonate somebody else. By RAW, up to three Lores or Trades of Choice. Including Forbidden Lores. Jub, you got it. Oh, and you get +10 on the relevant skill tests for these Lores/Trade. For free. Jub, you got it.

Yeah, and it's all for the low low price of becoming a Manchurian Candidate.

Who doesn't want to be brainwashed by looking at the Queen of Hearts?

[ZillaPrime 3]

Blood Pact said:

Gregorius21778 said:

The Book of Judgement features the "Slate Agent".  Those can be fitted with a new persona and (most importantly) a fine set of knowledges to impersonate somebody else. By RAW, up to three Lores or Trades of Choice. Including Forbidden Lores. Jub, you got it. Oh, and you get +10 on the relevant skill tests for these Lores/Trade. For free. Jub, you got it.

 

Yeah, and it's all for the low low price of becoming a Manchurian Candidate.

Who doesn't want to be brainwashed by looking at the Queen of Hearts?

So I was sitting at a derelect table covered in questionably stained felt playing a semi-friendly game of cards in my favourite lower-hive dive when a stranger in a leather overcoat and a well-worn hat of off-world style pulled up a crate and invited himself to the game.  "I like my Amasec warm, but only when it is served in a broken glass" he rasped over scar-crossed lips.  The next thing I know I am waking up in a well apponted Malfian bedchamber wearing blood-stained silk...   Man, I really need to lay off the sauce!

[ItsUncertainWho 3]

Personally, I have never thought skill or knowledge overlap was a bad thing. It gives redundancy and a second chance. Besides that , the act of becoming a slate agent is destroying a character that is rank 6. Your personality goes out the window. That needs to be played up.

Watch Doll House for a version of a Slate Agent.

[Blood Pact 14]

I honestly thought if anyone was going to stupidly complain about something, it would have been the Proven Innocent background package.

I know I'm going to find it tough -not- spending 100 xp and 1 fate point on +3 to every stat. Granted, I also recognize that insane loyalty and belief in the infallability in the Inquisition isn't a good thing.

[Letrii 0]

Blood Pact said:

I honestly thought if anyone was going to stupidly complain about something, it would have been the Proven Innocent background package.

I know I'm going to find it tough -not- spending 100 xp and 1 fate point on +3 to every stat. Granted, I also recognize that insane loyalty and belief in the infallability in the Inquisition isn't a good thing.

 

This from same book?

[Zakalwe2 4]

ZillaPrime said:

Blood Pact said:

 

Gregorius21778 said:

The Book of Judgement features the "Slate Agent".  Those can be fitted with a new persona and (most importantly) a fine set of knowledges to impersonate somebody else. By RAW, up to three Lores or Trades of Choice. Including Forbidden Lores. Jub, you got it. Oh, and you get +10 on the relevant skill tests for these Lores/Trade. For free. Jub, you got it.

 

Yeah, and it's all for the low low price of becoming a Manchurian Candidate.

Who doesn't want to be brainwashed by looking at the Queen of Hearts?

 

 

So I was sitting at a derelect table covered in questionably stained felt playing a semi-friendly game of cards in my favourite lower-hive dive when a stranger in a leather overcoat and a well-worn hat of off-world style pulled up a crate and invited himself to the game.  "I like my Amasec warm, but only when it is served in a broken glass" he rasped over scar-crossed lips.  The next thing I know I am waking up in a well apponted Malfian bedchamber wearing blood-stained silk...   Man, I really need to lay off the sauce!

Nicely put Zilla.

[Blood Pact 14]

Letrii said:

Blood Pact said:

 

I honestly thought if anyone was going to stupidly complain about something, it would have been the Proven Innocent background package.

I know I'm going to find it tough -not- spending 100 xp and 1 fate point on +3 to every stat. Granted, I also recognize that insane loyalty and belief in the infallability in the Inquisition isn't a good thing.

 

 

 

This from same book?

 

Yup, page 39.