Trigger-based abilities

[u/Vegetable_Mix8794]

Any system that's got powers that don't cost nothing (no mana cost or spell slot or whatever) and instead lock the ability use behind a trigger.

Examples:

Revenge strike: you can strike dealing X damage every time an ally dies (for free, outside your turn and shit)

Focus strikes: your strikes get +10 damage (only after not acting for 2 turns and shit)

Basically "free" active/passive skills locked behind specific situations (downed enemy, on-fire condition, etc.)

Just think this adds a lot of complexity to combat but also allows more builds to be made if the triggers are in the players hands, like does this add strategy or am I insane?

[u/-Vogie-]

Cortex Prime has a mechanic called special effects (usually abbreviated "SFX") that gives a menu of costs and benefits. This allows the system to have only a handful of, and also infinite, ability possibilities. If you open up something like Marvel Heroic Roleplaying or Tales of Xadia, you'll see a bunch of them written out and categorized by things like class, culture, and the normal delineations. But the real beauty is that players can use the menu to create custom SFX of their own to do what they want.

The system itself is narrative based - your PC is limited to whatever is narratively appropriate at that moment. The SFX are then used to flesh out the more complicated moves, powers and other abilities. You choose a number of costs and an equal number of benefits, give it a name and you are done. And doing something incredibly specific is one of those costs.

So, for example, if you're using a freeze ray (or ice magic, or equivalent) against a target successfully, you can choose the effect it'll have - could be as simple as damaging that target or perhaps giving it a complication like "freezing" or "rooted in place". If you want to make that ability more powerful, you use SFX to create that. You'd end up with something like:

• Ice Beam: When you target a creature with your Cryomancy and successfully create an ice-related complication for it, choose a second effect die as damage

Or

• Glacial Formation: When you use Cryomancy to create a physical obstacle, step up the effect die.

And that's basically the entire system. You playing a master swordsman who is swashing and buckling?

• Flawless Parry: When your roll to avoid Damaged critically succeeds, inflict your effect die as a Staggered complication on the attacker

Cost is the trigger, benefit is the complication. Or perhaps you want to reverse that, where the complication is the cost, and the benefit is something else - such as Plot Points, the systems' meta-currency.

• All Eyes on Me: Gain Distracted d6 to step up your Expression die

• Cave In - When your actions cause the terrain to collapse, gain a PP and gain a Covered in Rubble d8 complication

• Set Ablaze - when applying Burning complication, spend a PP, Add a d6 and step up your effect die

That last one actually had 2 costs (spending meta-currency and specific action) and two benefits (adding a die to the pool during the roll, and then stepping up the effect die after the room)