So, I got the urge to go through and analyze curses in the conflict system, given their relevance to law enforcement in setting. One thing that comes to mind… what kind of professions can be used to resist curses? I can think of four candidates. Criminal, Healer, Samaritan, and Soldier. As for professions relevant to the administration of curses, I can see Soldier, Criminal, and Magistrate.
Page 83 of the sixth alpha distribution says this:
[quote]
Within that broad guideline, however, curses can achieve nearly any baleful effect . A general
wish of "bad luck" is fine if you're not feeling inventive. If you want to get creative, anything
that fits the level of the Complication is appropriate
[/quote]
I'm using pages 44 and 45 of the 2nd edition of Sufficiently Advanced as my reference point for what constitutes what level of complication and to inform my questions below this point:
Can Moderate and Higher level curses lock down an enemy's access to entire natures of Magic? What about draining a sizable chunk of somebody's stored mana? Would a curse disabling access to self magic nullify immortality? The nature of the setting and everything I've seen suggests otherwise for the immortality angle but it may be worth spelling out. Depending on what curses can do law enforcement may be somewhat less of a clusterfark than I originally imagined it. On the other hand easy access to curses like that turns fights into a game of curse rocket tag I'm suspecting.
Example curses for different complication levels:
Critical Curse(Second long time loop capable of going on indefinitely, this is Worm-induced bias because Gray Boy induced time loops are very much a fate worse than death due to the mind not resetting across the loops.)
Major(Curse of Ostracism/Turning a target's allies against them)
Moderate(Hidden Curtain Curse/Prevents them from noticing an adversary until they strike)
Minor(Butterfoot Curse/Makes them slip and fall at painful moments)
Trivial(Curse of the Invisible Ants/Itching)
Power Levels and Law:
On another note, I reviewed the mechanics for infrastructure and realized infrastructure ratings don't make you a 1 man army. If you're outnumbered, you don't get a +4 teamwork bonus or complication reduction. You need war 5, a CV of 5, a combat profession at 5, and competitive advantage in war or your profession to be a single person too ridiculous for a legal system to deal with and need a military response given what I tried spreadsheeting. I managed to reach a conflict weight of 75 via (Profession 5+CV 5+Competitive Advantage 1+Teamwork Bonus 4)*War 5. If you assume this is the limit of power and don't mess around with GM discretion bonuses, you can become immune to major consequences like ostracism curses completely if you've got War 5, Self 5, a CV at 5, a profession at 5, and competitive advantage in the relevant category(Ideally self or your profession though war can work if you know it's happening).
General Notes I got from my spreadsheeting if this helps anything below this point:
War requirements for conflict Weights:
War 2 is required to get a conflict weight exceeding 15
War 3 is required to get a conflict weight exceeding 30
War 4 is required to get a conflict weight exceeding 45
War 5 is required to get a conflict weight exceeding 60
Conflict Effects as normal person against normal adversary:
Triple Conflict Weight deals critical complication to adversary without being harmed(Immunity to being roflstomped comes at conflict weight 26)
Double Conflict Weight deals critical complication to adversary at the cost of a trivial complication(Immunity to critical complications comese at conflict weight 39)
1.5x Conflict weight advantage is enough to inflict a major complication at the cost of a minor complication(Immunity to major complications comes at conflict weight 52)
A conflict weight advantage between 1.1x and 1.5x is enough to inflict a moderate complication at the cost of a minor complication(Immunity to moderate complications comes at conflict weight 69)
A tie or conflict weight advantage of less that 1.1x inflicts minor complications on both participants
Conflict Weight Ranges:
War 1 conflict weight ranges from 0 to 15(1 to 15 excluding cases with a result of 0), 12-15 needs a teamwork bonus or an infrastructure rating
War 2 conflict weight ranges from 0 to 30(2 to 30 excluding cases with a result of 0), 23-30 needs a teamwork bonus or an infrastructure rating
War 3 conflict weight ranges from 0 to 45(3 to 45 excluding cases with a result of 0), 34-45 needs a teamwork bonus or an infrastructure rating
War 4 conflict weight ranges from 0 to 60(4 to 60 excluding cases with a result of 0), 45-60 needs a teamwork bonus or an infrastructure rating
War 5 conflict weight ranges from 0 to 75(5 to 75 excluding cases with a result of 0), 56-75 needs a teamwork bonus or an infrastructure rating
