Breaking Up Enhance Attribute

[CRMcNeill]

It seems to me that perhaps Enhance Attribute is too generalized, in that with this one power, a Force Sensitive character can enhance any skill they've got. The evidence seen in-universe, however, would seem to suggest that this ability is more specialized. If we assume that Anakin used this ability when repairing things (assuming there isn't some more advanced Control/Sense skill involved), then a more narrow focus would seem to be appropriate, breaking down the general Enhance Attribute power into six separate powers: one, for each attribute, something like:

Enhance Reflexes (Dexterity)
Enhance Cognition (Knowledge)
Enhance Piloting (Mechanical)
Enhance Perception (Perception)
Enhance Strength (Strength)
Enhance Repair (Technical)

Thoughts?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Pel]

I like it the way it is. The Jedi (or Sith) is channeling energy to boost mental or physical capabilities. The Force doesn't care if it's making your character super-strong, super-smart, or a Solo-level pilot, so one power to increase Attributes works well.

If we substitute six separate powers then the players either learn them piecemeal, robbing it of functionality and creating a bookkeeping headache, or they learn them all at once, making this substitution moot.
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Aha!

[CRMcNeill]

I can see both sides of it, and I agree there would need to be some sort of incentive built into the power to make it more worthwhile, like making the attribute bonus more open-ended.

And while the Force may not "care", it's worth taking into account the fact that the Force may provide the bonus in different ways. I mean, technically, it's all just the Force enhancing people, but we still break it up into discrete powers...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[MrNexx]

While it's not breaking it up, per se, I think Enhance Knowledge could also be a sense power, letting you use Sense to substitute for certain knowledge skills.
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[CRMcNeill]

[Naaman]

What about having only two, instead of six?

Somatic enhancement and cognitive enhancement. The power could either:

1) enhance all physical (or mental) attributes when activated (seems more "realistic" to me)

or

2) the player chooses a single attribute to boost.

FWIW, I've always felt that enhance attribute was too difficult for what you get out of it. I think it would be a better element of the game if it produced pip-based bonuses that last long enough to eliminate round-by-round book keeping.

[garhkal]

I like the idea of a 'somatic' and 'cognitive' version, so you have one for mentals, and one for physicals..
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[Darklighter79]

[CRMcNeill]

I never said as much, but part of the reason I'm looking at this is because I specifically don't want Enhance Attribute to be usable on a Force attribute. You could potentially daisy-chain the dice bonuses to oblivion given enough time to stack repeated power uses.

I like the suggestion of Cognitive and Somatic Enhancement, but in at least half the attributes (Dexterity, Mechanical and Technical), there is a blending of both. Dexterity and Mechanical, for example, are both heavily dependent on hand-eye coordination, which would IMO be a part of Cognitive.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

So if you did a phys one, would that be just str, while dex was under cognitive with know, per, tech and mech?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[Naaman]

[CRMcNeill]

It would depend greatly, IMO, on the exact manner by which the Force enhances each attribute. Yes, the nervous system plays a critical role in all human activity, but why would the Force be limited solely to interacting with the nervous system?
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

It isn't. But once a decision is made to "do" a thing, the nervous system must be engaged in order to complete the task. No matter what the force is doing, the brain/nervous system is the gateway to performing that task.

FWIW, I've always imagined that powers work differently for each force user, while producing the game effect described in the rules. For example, one character's enhance attribute might actually increase the size of his muscles, yielding a +1D to Strength, while another's might flood his system with adrenaline, also producing +1D strength.

The how, to me, is less important since the purpose is to generate the effect described in the rules. That is, it's already established that force users can enhance their attributes, so we don't really need to know "how" they do it unless that specific information is impactful to the gameplay.

In any case, I wasn't trying to say that enhance attribute = enhance nervous system (after all, there could be some species of force user that doesn't even have a nervous system, yet, they'd still have access to the power).