Mr. Gridlock Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 If you have a character with 50 PRE, his Casual Presence would be 25. There is no official game mechanic for this, or at least I couldn't find one. But if there were one (and I think it could be a good one), I have to wonder about game effects: Since a PRE Attack takes no time, then I would imagine that Casual PRE would be something entirely passive and even automatic on the part of the holder of the high PRE. You walk into a room with 50 PRE and everyone who has less than 15 PRE immediately hesitates and can only perform a Half Phase action. Your Casual PRE has bested everyone with a 15 or less PRE by 10 points. Has anyone used Casual Presence? I've never seen anyone take a PRE score this high, but it's an interesting concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcan Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Re: Casual Presence We've generally called it 'common sense PRE attack' and use it only to determine if a combatant surrenders. Of course, situational modifiers apply, and it's not done quite so strictly as the PRE attack rules. It's part handwave to justify goons giving up rather than risk getting pasted... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Re: Casual Presence In the 6th ED forums, someone has suggested extending the "casual" concept to other attacks. I think it's a good idea. Casual PRE makes some sense to me, although I am not sure it should be something always in effect (makes it hard to be stealthy for example....) Lucius Alexander Casual Palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Re: Casual Presence I think it's a good idea. Casual PRE makes some sense to me' date=' although I am not sure it should be something always in effect (makes it hard to be stealthy for example....)[/quote'] Characters have to make a deliberate point to use Casual STR (even though it takes no time). I don't see why any other Casual ability would be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcan Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Re: Casual Presence Agreed, and sounds good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: Casual Presence PRE has the ability to be ridiculously powerful already: take a villain with 60 PRE, within most superhero campaign limits, and suddenly the heroes are wetting themselves, if you assume a normalish PRE of around 20, especially if the villain uses appropriate modifiers to boost his PRE attack (logical for someone who relies on PRE attacks). In addition it is a selective AOE that does not require a roll to hit, and does not even take up an attack action. Personally I discourage high PRE because it often overshadows mental powers. Whilst I would consider the PRE of an attacker as a relevant consideration for targeting and such (only the overconfident types will pick Hight PRE Guy as a first target) I would discourage any notion of casual PRE, if only because it requires extra rolling. It is not fun for the heroes to fawn or even faint over a villain, so I'm not keen to have it work the other way either. Allow it and you'll either tend toward silliness, or PRE inflation, neither of which are fun, unless you keep an absolutely iron hand on the use of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Casual Presence If you have a character with 50 PRE, his Casual Presence would be 25. There is no official game mechanic for this, or at least I couldn't find one. But if there were one (and I think it could be a good one), I have to wonder about game effects: Since a PRE Attack takes no time, then I would imagine that Casual PRE would be something entirely passive and even automatic on the part of the holder of the high PRE. You walk into a room with 50 PRE and everyone who has less than 15 PRE immediately hesitates and can only perform a Half Phase action. Your Casual PRE has bested everyone with a 15 or less PRE by 10 points. Has anyone used Casual Presence? I've never seen anyone take a PRE score this high, but it's an interesting concept. I've used it, but only for dramatic effect, the old "Everyone stops and goes "Ohhh"" effect. I used to play a character named Sunburn that had a 50 Pres. But the GM did not use casual Pres (sob, sob...) but that game was mostly combat anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ockham's Spoon Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Casual Presence I'm with Sean on this one. I had a player that built a character with a reasonably high PRE, but then had a supernatural PRE Aid, which put his PRE in the range of 50+. PRE attacks from that character short-circuited so many encounters that I ultimately had to convince the player to tone it down for the sake of good game play. The PRE attack is definitely something that needs adjusting in 6thEd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: Casual Presence The subject of Casual Characteristics other than Strength, including Presence, is dealt with in Steve Long's "HEROglyphs" column from Digital Hero #3. HEROglyphs was a series exploring Steve's optional takes on various system elements (some of which have since become "official"). The column on Casual Characteristics was offered on the website as a free sample. You can view that here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Re: Casual Presence Wow, nice to see someone citing to an actual published source before I did. Thanx, LL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Re: Casual Presence Well, the OP did mention he was looking for official game mechanics. Otherwise, it's sometimes more fun to debate these issues while blissfully ignoring your rulings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gridlock Posted February 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Re: Casual Presence The subject of Casual Characteristics other than Strength' date=' including Presence, is dealt with in Steve Long's "HEROglyphs" column from [i']Digital Hero[/i] #3. HEROglyphs was a series exploring Steve's optional takes on various system elements (some of which have since become "official"). The column on Casual Characteristics was offered on the website as a free sample. You can view that here. I hadn't seen that, but that's the exact effect I was inquiring after. Hanx, mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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