Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/Stunting

rebeccaborgstrom - 02/04/2004 21:37:56

> Shoggoth > Well the stunting rules explicitly allow stunting to do things that couldn't normally be done, so I really don't have a problem with the basic idea. But as I said, once you allow players to stunt something there is an expectation that, hey, if they did it once they can do it again.

Disabuse them of this notion. :)

Stunts are part of Exalted physics. It doesn't really work to assume that they're just a player convention. It does work to assume that Creation recognizes coolness---that heroism is a tangible force. If you want a good explanation, then figure out the reason for that physics. How does allowing certain, ritual violations of its logical boundaries help reinforce Creation against the Wyld?

I suggest it's like this: one of the pillars of creation is that your fighting spirit is more important than physical law. Stunts---doing things you've never done before, in part *because* they're flashy and cool---are a ritual reinforcement of that. So the universe rewards them by loosening physical laws. When you do it too often, the pattern spiders feel like you're taking advantage of them, and the universe doesn't get ritually reinforced, so other forms of physics apply.

Rebecca

Comments/Questions

But isn't Thunderbolt Attack Prana a charm built around a trademark stunt? Furthermore, there are many examples in legend of a hero who routinely performs some specific action that would qualify as a stunt every time, not because it's something new, but because it's an action that's associated with that particular individual. - Rathmun

Personalised consistent supernatural actions? Sounds like a Charm...DeathBySurfeit