I am just saying that's how it is in 2e. As to whether you use it like that is up to you.
I do think 1 dice specialty is...very weak, so if you don't want to use 3 dice specialty for some reason, maybe something else?
Difficulty reduction maybe? Though I am unsure.
Not really weak.
1 die is 20% of a 5 dot Ability scale, much cheaper to buy than an Ability or Attribute dot, and a specialty can be pretty broad.
Specialties are a boost for mortals to professional levels. Most mortals have only 2 ablity dots, and then pick up specialties to boost them in a particular area. So an experienced mortal tends to have 2-3 stats dots, and 2 ablity dots + their specialties total average 6-8 dice pool. This raises their average to levels where it is possible to regularly make to 2 successes. Remember mortals taking more dots both takes a ton of time, and costs a ton of xp. It not worth for a mortal to buy the full 5 dots.
Mortals, at least in the Ex2 system, benefit from equipment and teamwork bonuses.
Your surgeon has an entire suite of equipment giving either additional dice or autosuccesses depending on equipment, in addition to nurses and other assistants throwing their own dice into the pool.
Thats where it begins to add up.
-Interesting external commentary of Molly's cinematic style of combat and how it worked out in practice.
I have to admit I initially expected them to practice on the back lawn of their home. Charity(and her siblings) actually seeing Molly fight would go some way to reassuring them of her personal safety when she goes out.
Guess that will have to wait for when she learns to fly which should serve as assurance that she can always run away.
-Just occurred to me that the Shadow Clone charm would probably reassure and alarm Charity in equal measure.
With Splintered Gale giving conditional reincarnation, you could leave a clone at home as a guarantee against dying abruptly.
At E2 and with Keys to the Kingdom, you could clone 2 of them, leave 1 in Molly's personal Hell as personality backup and have the other go to school when you have to handle supernatural bullshit.
Not quite, it opens like you would a deck of cards into a hand only it keeps going. Each card is not square, but the arc of a circle that completes when it is done. .
So basically Percy Jackson's shield watch thing.
Or one of Kratos' shields
View: https://youtu.be/9T1w7SRnEzc
I'm a bit worried that head-on means mechanically we attack without parrying, which is I think suboptimal here.
Shouldnt really matter. Our opponent is our father in a practice ring.
Possibly the safest opponent for Molly to fight.
So, a bit of long-term thinking. Should Molly attend university, and, if so, which one?
I would argue that yes, she should aim for a prestigious university. There are several reasons to do so. Yes, Molly can buy knowledge via XP. However, we could also learn like normal people do. Prestigious universities are also a way to network with future best and brightest of humanity. It should be a good place to recruit minions, if nothing else. And mundane world is no less important than magical one (hence the masquerade).
Which university to go to would depend on Molly's access to Ways (and other methods of fast transportation), as well as what she is aiming for. From "future ruler of her domain" politics, economics or something like that might be best. The alternative route could be to get an engineering degree (we could make something and use it as a project to win a free admission in some
competition). We could model Molly's public persona as a sort of Tony Stark, really. That's a viable route with her charms, and a way to get money legitimately and productively.
Yes, of course.
University of Chicago is a Top 10 university and has its main campus right there in Chicago. I cannot think of a reason why Molly would not take advantage of the school, its connections and its resources. Including its library and its faculty.
And its not like she has to be a fulltime student, or that tuition fees are going to be an issue.
Just take as many or as few courses as she feels she can handle per semester, and defer when necessary. Doesnt matter if it takes her half a decade to graduate with a bachelors; she's in it for the knowledge and connections, not to qualify her to make a living.
As long as she's not doing something with a practical load, like medicine or engineering, she can handle the course work.
Even practical classes are doable as soon as she buys
Splintered Gale Incarnation for 20XP and spawns a clone to got to class. Sync up memories every few days.
Frankly she'd benefit from a major in something like political science or international relations.
Something that translates to insight into the political dynamics of nations, which would translate to insight in understanding and predicting the dynamics of supernatural factions and how they impact realworld nations.
That whole plot is orchestrated by a goddess with the emotional and strategic depth of a kiddie pool. If we can't kill her dead and make a fancy hat out of her corpse by the time she's relevant we should hang up the exaltation and go home.
No, by all indications Ethniu was a patsy as well to Nemesis/the Black Council.
Not to mention that you should expect the world will react to our presence as well, especially after we get done shanking the Red Court. You cannot assume the Fomor will be as dumbshit or as arrogant as they were in canon.
A lot of their acting up came from the perceived weakness of the rest of the supernatural world after the end of the Vampire War.
Their encroachment on Chicago and much of the coastal US was in part because Dresden was believed dead, and when he came back Mab spent much of her time nursing him back to health, ignoring the rest of the world.
And in the meantime Nemesis had tainted Maeve the Winter Lady, weakening Winter.
If they thought the Winter Knight, the dude who had
murdered genocided the Red Court in their place of power, was alive and active, most of the post-Changes events leading up to Peace Talks and Battlegrounds would not have happened.
If that perceived weakness does not exist, they will be significantly more circumspect.
If there is a Demon Empress-in-waiting with a godslaying sword and ancient Sorcery in Chicago doing the next best thing to a Superman impression, your Titan and the people pulling her strings are likely to pursue other strategies than YOLOing into the city in a headon assault after dropping a challenge to every signatory of the Accords.
Because thats a quick way, not to imprisonment, but to Final Death and getting rendered down for magical reagents without achieving anything.
