Savage Worlds Effects Help

[Mike Serfass]

Is there a way to create an effect that covers all attribute linked skills as a group?

Unfortunately not. You have to list each one.

[Driving|Piloting|Stealth +2]

etc.

This is a good candidate for Savage Worlds Idea Informer.

[icecrmman]

Unfortunately not. You have to list each one.

[Driving|Piloting|Stealth +2]

etc.

This is a good candidate for Savage Worlds Idea Informer.

Thank you, I thought I would ask before I did just that.

[Mike Serfass]

@icecrmman: There's a new effect that does this now.

[Smarts >+1]

will add a +1 bonus to Smarts and all Smarts based Skills.

If you don't want the bonus to Smarts, and just to the skills, you could do

[Smarts >+1, Smarts -1]

[icecrmman]

@icecrmman: There's a new effect that does this now.

[Smarts >+1]

will add a +1 bonus to Smarts and all Smarts based Skills.

If you don't want the bonus to Smarts, and just to the skills, you could do

[Smarts >+1, Smarts -1]

Thank you for the update it will be so helpful in my game.

[FrodoB]

I don't think it's new but instead just lacked documentation. I found it because "Encumbered" is defined as "[Pace|Run -2, Agility> -2]" (and has been for at least 9 months).

Note that it is not [Smarts >+1] but instead [Smarts> +1].

[gbhenderson]

Can you create combat effects based on weapon Groups instead of Type? Like Futuristic Attack -2, or Medieval Fighting +2.

[Mike Serfass]

I don't think it's new but instead just lacked documentation. I found it because "Encumbered" is defined as "[Pace|Run -2, Agility> -2]" (and has been for at least 9 months).

Note that it is not [Smarts >+1] but instead [Smarts> +1].

Good catch! I missed that.

[Mike Serfass]

Can you create combat effects based on weapon Groups instead of Type? Like Futuristic Attack -2, or Medieval Fighting +2.

Not directly that I'm aware of. You can do damage by keyword, like

[Fire Damage +2]

to add 2 to any attack with the Fire keyword, but that isn't +hit to a weapon group.

Out of the box there's

[Ranged +2]

to add +2 to all ranged attacks (e.g. those that use Shooting). But that's not quite what you're after.

There is a way to do what you want, however, with extra work.
How do you change the linked skill die on attacks?

In your case, create a new skill, like Futuristic Attack or Medieval Fighting. You can manually add it to an individual character, but create it in the Skills list so you can link it to an attribute and easily add it to other characters. Ideally, put it in a setting module. However you do it, you can use whatever skills you create.

After you have the weapon set up like in the above link, use

[Futuristic Attack +2]

It will give +2 to all weapons you've set to that attack type.

You can add new weapon attack types for your setting to make this all easier, but that entails writing an extension. If you want to know how to do that, this will get you started.
Is it possible to add a new weapon type?

[FrodoB]

You are going at it too complicated, Mike.

Simply write
Future Warrior [Futuristic Attack +1]

And you will get a +1 to every attack with a weapon that has the "Futuristic" keyword.

Note that this seems to only apply to Attack - neither Shooting nor Fighting seem to recognize the keyword.

[Mike Serfass]

Thanks for sharing that!

Oddly, I'm sure I tried that in the past and it didn't work. Anyway, it does now. Woot!
It's nice to have the simpler option. Many times that will be enough. It's great for on the fly or one off situations.

There are a couple of differences between the simpler approach and the more difficult one, however.
Using the incoming and Defense effects on a target in CT:

Complicated
[@Laser +1] works
[@Futuristic +1] works
[Laser Defense +1] works (it recognizes the first keyword)
[Futuristic Defense +1] doesn't work (it doesn't seem to recognize keywords after the first)

Simple
[@Laser +1] works
[@Futuristic +1] works
[Laser Defense +1] doesn't work
[Futuristic Defense +1] doesn't work

I have notes about Defense not working with keywords at all. I never tried it with the complicated approach. So that's an interesting find.

I'm sure there are other differences when you use the complicated approach, including an extension that adds attack types programmatically. So a setting that relies heavily on setting-specific attack types would benefit.

The simple approach is nice to have in your GM bag of tools. I would definitely use it for that special boss fight where a specific weapon was forged to defeat it, or only items enchanted a specific way will harm it.

This is the benefit of the forum over the wiki. We get to experiment and share and figure out these different approaches. Then Ikael will improve and add new effects, which I always look forward to.

P.S. We should bring this around to the stickied thread and continue our discoveries there.