Say a player uses the Prepare Minor Action to invoke the Charge Quality on, for example, a Phaser-Type 2, and they then add one of the Damage Effects (e.g., the Area Damage Effect). Do you assume that they’ve now changed a setting on the weapon and it will have that Effect until the setting is changed again? This seems to make sense, but is that how the GM is intended to treat that Quality, or is the player required to do a Prepare Minor Action for each turn to apply the same Damage Effect they applied the previous turn?
Just looking for thoughts on how to systematically apply the Charge Quality. Thanks!
I feel like the intent is that you do it each turn. Like, for sacrificing your Minor Action and not moving (or anything else that is associated with Minor Actions) that turn (except with extra spends of momentum), then you get an extra effect from your phaser (or whatever). That’s the deal, in games mechanics terms. Also, if you compare with the Accurate quality and the Aim Minor Action as a parallel, there is a definite intent that you take it each turn - even though Accurate doesn’t say every turn, Aim does. I think that Preparation Minor Action is also intended for every turn. Another parallel is that you have to do the Prepare Minor Action to use weapons with the Cumbersome Quality, but it makes no sense that you could prepare your portable photon torpedo launcher once, leg it 500 yards and then fire it off the hip.
That said, it doesn’t seem to say anywhere that you do have to do it each turn…so RAW I guess says just do it once. You could also argue that the flavour supports this idea - your phaser doesn’t reset after every shot (which would indicate that putting it back to normal would also take a Preparation Minor Auction, which is never discussed and therefore implies that’s not how it works in the writers’ minds).
Personally though, it’s a reward for not using your free Minor Action for something else, so it’s every turn. The previous paragraph was just saying that there are arguments to be made otherwise.
In my game the minor action is only use once for a particular setting and my players often declare it before the fight. A minor action every turn is a too heavy cost.
I asked the same question several years ago and I think it was @Modiphius-Nathan who answered that the rules as intended require you to use the charge minor action repeatedly, even if you use the same setting.
The thread should still be around, I’ll link it later in the day.
Sounds like the main consensus is that the Charge Quality has to be invoked for every turn with a Minor Action, though GMs can obviously play it as they see fit. From the game mechanics, requiring it every turn makes sense – if you want to give your attack the bonus of the Charge Quality, you have to spend your Minor Action each time. However, this does not easily translate into a physical description of the action if using the Charge Quality means changing a fixed setting on the weapon.
I did come up with another way to think about it: What if, once you’ve set your weapon to use one of those Damage Effects, the activation of the weapon takes a little longer for each shot. For example, you may have to hold down the trigger longer for the weapon to have an Area effect or for a phaser beam to interact long enough with its target to have a Piercing Effect. In this way, the Minor Action isn’t changing the setting, per se, but it’s allowing the Charge time enough to cause the Effect. I think I like that idea.
Really? Area gives you an automatic hit against a second target in close range for every effect, which is better than what your phaser would be doing as a Task (which risks not hitting), not to mention that if anyone is in Reach, they automatically get hit. Depending on the situation, Piercing 2 can be really useful. The others are a bit meh, but Area is definitely worth a Minor Action in most circumstances, Piercing can be, and the others are worth it if you don’t have a better use for it.
A minor action is a heavy cost since you can’t move or aim unless you spend an extra momentum. My players default setting is Vicious 1 (area and piercing 2 worth changing for 1 minor action) but I will not make them pay 1 momentum for Vicious 1. And I don’t agree with you Vicious 1 is a great setting since your goal is to do 5 damage at least
I concur with @betatester that ‘Vicious’ is a, well, vicious setting. Though I do not think that paying one minor action every round to get it, is too costly. That being said: If the gaming group is fine with house-ruling otherwise, I am not the one to complain.
Regarding the in-world explanation: Reverting setting after a shot could be seen as built-in safety mechanism, as would be weapons-drill to change setting to default after a shot. There are plenty of ways.
If I read the answer it’s worse than that because it’s one for action for every attack so if you make several attack with swift momentum it’s also several minor action/momentum.
You know what for 1 momentum you can request an extra weapon and make a task to set it on Vicious permanently and use the other one if you need other settings
Fair enough, I’d misread it. However, it just reinforces my point that these extra options are potent upgrades and worth putting up against the options of Aim or Move. Area alone is actually worth not moving unless you have to, and not being able to use Aim (unless your target number is really low so you need the boost just to hit). All the Minor Actions are situationally useful and can compete at different times to be the “right” or “best” one. Don’t want to stay where you are? Then the play-off is that your attack is less powerful, or affects fewer targets, or whatever the Minor Action you would otherwise select would do. Or you can spend momentum and do both.
If you think that moving and/or Aim are strictly better than Area (or Vicious etc) then yes, it would make sense to not have them cost the Minor Action. However, I disagree with that assesment, and the dilemma is what makes it fun - do I want to try to flank them, or do I try to drive this attack home and end the fight right now? Hence to me, the cost being what it is is what makes it interesting, and doesn’t block me from using those options.
I have also thought about personal effects that is the more appropriate but I wanted to find a 1 momentum solution to prove that you can do better with 1 momentum/1 minor action since the first one is at this price.
Tinkering your phaser is a good opportunity to have a Diff 0-1 task to fill the momentum pool.
As a matter of fact Close Knit Crew may do a good job too since it will provide 1 momentum on the first scene and and any scene where you start at 0.
Actually, since it is a phaser that differs from the regular stats of a phaser (as it is permanently vicious) I, personally, would rule that tinkering would be equal to create the advantage “phaser permanently set to Vicious 1”, making this a Diff 2 task.
Also, I would ask the respective player to reflect on the message it would send to go in dual-wielding phasers, all guns blazing. Not that Seven doing this wasn’t cool. It’s just that this is probably more the exception than the norm…
But this is only me, balancingy my/our game. Your mileage may vary.
I agree that it could be an advantage but I think that it’s a simple tinkering. I will consider an advantage diff 2 only if an Engineer do it for several phasers in the team.
I will consider that Dual wielding is Escalation.
Naturally. If someone wanted to have a 50CD phaser and the table is happy with it, then they can crack on, have fun! I was just curious about bt’s opinion, and asking about and discussin these things is how I learn - bt reminded me that Vicious X is X per effect, to example of something productive. Asking these questions is how I learn - and I’m interested in learning from you guys
Well, the “tinkerer” is losing a main action, plus most likely multiple minor actions, as well as momentum spent (since he’s going to want more dice) and still a risk of failing anyway, so I think it’s fair to extend the effect to multiple phasers. I’m not sure how I’d flavour that though? If it were in the show, maybe everyone throws their phaser to the tinkerer who adjusts them and throws them back? Or maybe this is better modelled as an opportunity thing, akin to getting type-3 phasers or pattern enhancers - you pay the cost at the beginning and the Armoury Officer adjusts your phasers for you (and of course, that spend that lets you do it retroactively). Not sure how I’d balance that though.
Modifying more than one phaser sounds like either multiple Tasks (if handed back, individually) or an Extended Task (if handed back in bulk), if you ask me.
the goal of the tinkering is to do it on the first scene before any fight occurs not during a fight. It’s only a speculation but I think this is the way my players will do it if I enforced the one minor action rule. And yes they will buy the Personal Effects talent very fast (since with the current xp rule “I remind the way I tinkered the phaser on last scenario and do the same” will qualify for a call back event and a Milestone to buy the talent ending with a personal Vicious 1 phaser) .
I tend to use one task instead of multiple tasks when I can to not monopolize the time with the Engineer and a task Diff 1 to modiphy 1 phaser +1 phaser for each momentum spend will not fill the pool unlike 2 diff 2 tasks for 2 phasers
