Whisperings

So I'm making an Elderborn character (half human, half giant space octopus) for a Living Legends campaign and I wanted to give her an appropriate racial trait. Figured I'd post it here so it could potentially end up in the genetic engineering doc

Code:

Whisperings (3) - 3/Day
Preperation Time: Instant
Close your eyes and focus on the whispers of secrets that flow through the multiverse
The GM secretely rolls a d4

1: You are told something misleading, but not outright false. A red herring.
2: You are told something factual but not necessarilly important about the current situation
3: You are told something important, but not necessarily relevant to the current situation
4: You are told something important about the current situation
This ability can only be used once per situation.


To clarify, a situation is mostly like, a single scene. Such as a battle, or a conversation with a noble, or running away from a chase. As soon as the situation 'ends', you can use Whisperings again.

I think that might work better as 1 point but, only 1/day. Certainly a neat idea.

TT: Have you ever looked into the sky without your shades?

I like this idea a lot, actually. I do agree with Ramsus that it should be either 1/day, but for different reasons as I think the wording around "scenario" should be replaced with something clearer. I mean, I know what you mean, but it isn't intrinsically obvious and is just begging for rules lawyers to say "oh yeah, that fight scene was a situation, and now this problem that cropped up two minutes later is a new situation, obviously!"

That actually would be a change of situation, I think.
I also think it should be 3/day (but cost 3) because the information isn't always useful. If it was 1/day but cost 1, the ability wouldn't be as relevant.

Then apparently you have picked exactly the right word and I had no idea what you meant

go me

The reason for my suggested change is because 1) 3 points is actually a rather high price to pay for such an ability. Compare it to things like Best of the Breed or A Thousand Faces. 2) If days pass by quickly for some reason (you're just traveling from one place to the next) the amount of questions there can quickly exhaust the GM's ability to keep information hidden from the players. Especially since nothing prevents you from asking the same questions repeatedly.

The user doesn't ask a question, they just get an answer

But yeah, I suppose there could be a version that's just 1/day (1), and the other can be used with GM approval.

I do like the idea of such a racial trait. (I don't really have anything constructive to add, however...)

I love these kinds of abilities. It's also a more feasible way to implement one of my favorite early talents. We used to have a talent in the system called "Insight" - which you could use twice a day to learn a secret about an NPC. However, it was a noticeable tax on DMs - because DMs had to be able to come up with secrets for any NPC at a given momet that would feel worth using a utility talent on but not so powerful as to be OP. That kind of subjective balance and demands on the DM's time prevented it from being feasible.

However, the added specificity of something like this trait might make it possible to have a talent like that in without as many problems - and I really like that idea.