Tresondros Ecstuffuan
It very well can be.
People don't respect fire in Role play usually. Which has its positives and negatives. Fire is very deadly.
A fire mage shooting fire can be a good or a bad thing depending on how it is done.
The same can be said for many abilities. Electricity, ice/freezing, etc.
I like to base my metric of power/efficacy on effort. Does it take any real strategy or effort to perform the ability? Not simply cost, as in a building passive charge, mana pool, whatever. It's still something to consider, but what should really determine power is the effort it takes for the ability to be effective.
Easy example: Guns. Guns aren't allowed. Why? Effort is literally to point and shoot. Let's take it as an ability. The ability is nearly instantaneous. The ability can hit at range. The ability is high damage--lethal to the average human. Depending on caliber, the ability cannot be blocked by anything but armor. The ability cannot really be dodged. All it takes is pulling a little metal trigger with your finger. You can take ammo into consideration, but by this point it's already so stupidly OP for a tournament of HoH/GTB level that it doesn't even enter into the argument.
An axe strike is equally as devastating as a handgun, if not more so. But it takes considerably more effort. You have to be up close, you have to make a swing that is to some extent telegraphed to have any power in your strike. You can't simply go right up to an opponent who is supposed to be a skilled combatant as well and go "swing, swing, swing" and expect a solid hit. So it also takes an effort of positioning, timing, and strategy to really argue that you landed a solid hit. Feints, a set-up, a smart counter, etc.
So, yeah, I also don't begrudge someone for not simply standing there and taking a frontal swing from an axe, especially if they are unarmed.
Reply
