Special move: Philomena's Song

So stop me if you've heard this one:

Philomena's Song
8: Next time you are knocked unconscious, gain 15 hp.
10: For the rest of the battle, whenever you or an ally are knocked unconscious, you or they gain 1d10+5 hp
12: If you are killed in battle, you return to life at the end of combat with full hp.

Backup ideas:
Next time you are reduced to Defeated state, you gain 10 hp and return to combat after one full round has passed.
For the rest of the battle, you (and/or all allies) gain 1d6 regeneration.
etc, etc.

The idea behind this is very intreging... But I'm not sure it'll work.

Bronymous wrote:10: For the rest of the battle, whenever you or an ally are knocked unconscious, you or they gain 1d10+5 hp

You might as well call this one Immortality. Unless you take over 15 damage (or over 30 with Never Say Die) in a single burst, you ain't going down, and even if you do, you'll constantly be healed and will never die. Maybe change it to the next time you or an ally are knocked unconscious?

The others (and the above suggested change) are kinda weird because, unlike other Special Moves, there is no stacking element, or reason to get them more than once. Once you roll a 8 or 12, they don't really matter any more...

Paper Shadow wrote:

Bronymous wrote:10: For the rest of the battle, whenever you or an ally are knocked unconscious, you or they gain 1d10+5 hp

You might as well call this one Immortality. Unless you take over 15 damage (or over 30 with Never Say Die) in a single burst, you ain't going down, and even if you do, you'll constantly be healed and will never die. Maybe change it to the next time you or an ally are knocked unconscious?

Yeah, I see that now. So which would be better, "for the rest of the battle if you are KOd" or "the next time you or an ally are KOd (only one person gets to use it)?

The others (and the above suggested change) are kinda weird because, unlike other Special Moves, there is no stacking element, or reason to get them more than once. Once you roll a 8 or 12, they don't really matter any more...

12, true. If you roll an 8, though, and then get knocked out and get back up, then you have to roll 8 again to keep getting back up. Hence 10. But this wasn't really meant to be a Special for people who like to rely on or spam specials to win. One time use ubersafety net seems a fair trade off to me.

Hmm... Perhaps it could be done like this:

Philomena's Song
8: Deal 2d8 damage to yourself and up to two target enemies. If rendered unconscious by this, you gain 1d4 health and regeneration 1 (save ends)
10: Deal 2d10 damage to yourself and up to three target enemies. If defeated by this, you gain 1d10 health and regeneration 2 (save ends)
12: Deal 3d12 damage to yourself and up to three target enemies. If killed by this, you immediately gain 2d10 health and regeneration 3 (save ends) while adjacent allies gain 1d8 temporary HP

Sort of seems more fitting for death and rebirth but this is obviously up to you.

I'm not one to promote suicide, and the point was to keep you alive, not actively try to kill yourself. Also, by rule if you're Defeated or Killed, you're out of the fight (and, you know, dead), so the extra hp and regen don't matter unless something pulls you back in, alive and awake. But adding damage to yourself and others isn't the worst idea, probably make it more viable as a combat option.

So this:
Philomena's Song Mk II
8: The next time you or an ally are knocked unconscious in the current battle, you or they gain 1d10+5 hp and 2 Pips.
10: Deal 3d8 damage to yourself and up to two targets. The next time you are reduced to Defeated in the current battle, you may return to battle after one full round has passed with 10 hp and 2 Pips.
12: The next time you or an ally would be Killed in the current battle, the player immediately deals 3d10 damage to a target enemy, and then returns to life at the end of combat.

The numbers here are kind of rough, with the chances to retrigger, so maybe tweak those.

Here's my take on it.

Philomena's Song
8: Choose either yourself or an ally. The next time the target is knocked unconscious, the target rolls 1d6 and gains that much HP and that many pips as a reaction.

10: The next time you or an ally is knocked unconscious, the triggering creature is removed from combat as a reaction, until the start of their next turn. At the start of their next turn they may roll 1d8 and gain that much HP and pips.

12: Target a creature. That creature gains 1 use of the following combat talent:
Phoenix Rising – Interrupt Utility
Trigger: You would be reduced to 0 or fewer HP.
Remove yourself from combat until the start of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, roll 2d12 and gain that many temporary HP.

How about this?

8: You may revive target unconscious creature once, as a free action, which regain 1d10+5 hp and 5 Pips.

10: You may simultaneously revive up to two target unconscious creatures once, as a free action, which regain 3d8 hp, and you deal an equal amount of damage to a target enemy.

12: Pick an effect from either the d8, or the d10 special. In addition, the next time entire party gets knocked out, defeated, or killed, toss a coin. If heads, the entire party immediately recovers, regaining 3d12 hp, and you deal an equal amount of damage to up to six enemies. Triggering this special multiple times grants extra coin tosses. This effect can only trigger once per encounter.

SilentBelle wrote:Here's my take on it.

Philomena's Song
8: Choose either yourself or an ally. The next time the target is knocked unconscious, the target rolls 1d6 and gains that much HP and that many pips as a reaction.

10: The next time you or an ally is knocked unconscious, the triggering creature is removed from combat as a reaction, until the start of their next turn. At the start of their next turn they may roll 1d8 and gain that much HP and pips.

12: Target a creature. That creature gains 1 use of the following combat talent:
Phoenix Rising – Interrupt Utility
Trigger: You would be reduced to 0 or fewer HP.
Remove yourself from combat until the start of your next turn. At the start of your next turn, roll 2d12 and gain that many temporary HP.

Problem with this is the strength of it. On the one side (for the , 1d6 health back is not a lot, and at least half the time they'll just end up KO'd again immediately. On the other, a high roll gives them a lot of pips, relatively (which I guess isn't too bad, considering). Same thing for 10, but I like that one the best.

The issue with 12 is that you have to prematurely select a target to use it, so if you pick that guy who looks close to ko, and then everyone else ko's first, you've pretty much wasted it.

How about this?

8: You may revive target unconscious creature once, as a free action, which regain 1d10+5 hp and 5 Pips.

10: You may simultaneously revive up to two target unconscious creatures once, as a free action, which regain 3d8 hp, and you deal an equal amount of damage to a target enemy.

12: Pick an effect from either the d8, or the d10 special. In addition, the next time entire party gets knocked out, defeated, or killed, toss a coin. If heads, the entire party immediately recovers, regaining 3d12 hp, and you deal an equal amount of damage to up to six enemies. Triggering this special multiple times grants extra coin tosses. This effect can only trigger once per encounter.

Your 8 and 10 seem to have an opposite issue of his 12. They rely on you targeting at the time it happens, but if you're the one knocked out, then you can't target anyone, including yourself. In order to do this you;d have to make it first interrupt the damage so you can target, and then let it hit, and then as a reaction the target gets revived. This is why I like "the next time you or an ally", because then it just happens automatically, and you don't either waste it on someone who doesn't go down, or get screwed out of using it altogether.

Also, this part:

Triggering this special multiple times grants extra coin tosses. This effect can only trigger once per encounter.

Clarify?

Bronymous wrote:Your 8 and 10 seem to have an opposite issue of his 12. They rely on you targeting at the time it happens, but if you're the one knocked out, then you can't target anyone, including yourself. In order to do this you;d have to make it first interrupt the damage so you can target, and then let it hit, and then as a reaction the target gets revived. This is why I like "the next time you or an ally", because then it just happens automatically, and you don't either waste it on someone who doesn't go down, or get screwed out of using it altogether.

Also, this part:

Triggering this special multiple times grants extra coin tosses. This effect can only trigger once per encounter.

Clarify?

Yeah, the wording is a bit off - it's meant to let you get what might be called a "revival charge" or something. I noted that you can use it once and as a free action, so that should allow you to use it "later" (as opposed to "use now or lose it"), but yeah, it doesn't allow a self-revive with that wording.

As for the "multiple times" - if you get, say, three d12 crits, and then you all get knocked out, that means you get a total of three coin tosses to try triggering the uber-revive (in other words, a exponentially bigger chance of preventing the party wipe-out, in case the first coin toss fails you, or you don't have coin-toss traits).

The "once per encounter" is for when you manage to actually trigger the uber-revive effect, so once you "uber-revive" happens, that's it for that encounter. This is because the talent would be stupidly unbalanced otherwise (imagine a fight where the whole party recovers from a mass-KO multiple times - certainly takes the challenge out of a boss or such), and because the fights would become INCREDIBLY long as a result. It's similar to "Be Prepared" special in that regard, effect-restriction-wise.