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Distracted
This Ethereal Discord is most commonly seen in Kyriotates and Technologists, although some Servitors of Creation have started picking it up since Eli went on hiatus. A Celestial with Distracted must choose a particular subject (this can be a person, a field of study, or just about anything) for every level of the Discord; his total Intelligence score is then split into sections, one for general intelligence and then one for each level of the Discord. When making Knowledge or Intelligence rolls dealing with the subject of distraction, he uses the appropriate pool, and the general intelligence pool for everything else. Although the character may change distribution of points at any time, each pool must always have at least one point in it.
Example:
Cory, Impudite of Technology, has picked up Distracted/2. He normally has 7 Intelligence, but with the Discord, he now has 5 Intelligence to use on rolls related to general matters, 1 for matters related to computer games, and 1 for matters of Tartarus politics. He can change the distribution to 1/1/5 when having to deal with asking for a grant from his immediate superior, but a part of his attention is /always/ elsewhere, and he can never marshall his full attention to the task.
Distracted/1 is an annoyance, but higher levels of this Discord can cripple all but the most intellectually gifted celestials as random thoughts about side matters make it impossible to focus on anything that needs to be done. This Ethereal Discord is also appropriate for humans, although the effects tend to be far more pronounced, as humans are typically lower in Ethereal Forces.
This Ethereal Discord is most commonly seen in Kyriotates and Technologists, although some Servitors of Creation have started picking it up since Eli went on hiatus. A Celestial with Distracted must choose a particular subject (this can be a person, a field of study, or just about anything) for every level of the Discord; his total Intelligence score is then split into sections, one for general intelligence and then one for each level of the Discord. When making Knowledge or Intelligence rolls dealing with the subject of distraction, he uses the appropriate pool, and the general intelligence pool for everything else. Although the character may change distribution of points at any time, each pool must always have at least one point in it.
Example:
Cory, Impudite of Technology, has picked up Distracted/2. He normally has 7 Intelligence, but with the Discord, he now has 5 Intelligence to use on rolls related to general matters, 1 for matters related to computer games, and 1 for matters of Tartarus politics. He can change the distribution to 1/1/5 when having to deal with asking for a grant from his immediate superior, but a part of his attention is /always/ elsewhere, and he can never marshall his full attention to the task.
Distracted/1 is an annoyance, but higher levels of this Discord can cripple all but the most intellectually gifted celestials as random thoughts about side matters make it impossible to focus on anything that needs to be done. This Ethereal Discord is also appropriate for humans, although the effects tend to be far more pronounced, as humans are typically lower in Ethereal Forces.
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From:
no subject
Effectively, this is mechanically equivalent to reducing Int by 1 for each level of the Discrod, but that loses the flavr of "Distracted" and replaces it with "Stupid." Also, distraction might well detract from Precision-based tasks as well. For game balance, compare with "Crippled" which gives -1 to a physical characteristic (chosen at the time the Discord is taken) for each level of Discord. As written, you've got a good balance - but the mechanics don't support the flavortext well, and are unnecessarily complex.
Many of the core Ethereal Discords require a penalized Will roll to overcome the effect of the Discord. How about this: A distracted character must make a Will roll minus his level of this Discord whenever he makes an Intelligence- or Precision-based skill roll. If the Will roll is failed, then the Intelligence- or Precision-based roll is penalized by the CD of the failed Will roll.
From:
no subject
And yeah, the mechanics are cumbersome, something that was worrying me and that I'm glad you pointed out. Your suggestion for a change seems like it would fit well, without having to keep track of 'pools'.