Thoughts on Penalties

As it stands, penalties in Omnia affect a character's Ability by reducing the number of randomizers used in a test. (Example: A City Guard 3 with a Condition of Sleep Deprivation −1 would roll two binary dice instead of three to notice the thief.) In a previous draft of the rules, penalties were negative randomizers that could potentially cancel an Ability's positive randomizers. (Example: The City Guard 3 with a Condition of Sleep Deprivation −1 would roll three positive binary dice and one negative binary die to notice the thief. If the negative die result is 1, it cancels out a single positive die result of 1.) This requires much more dice-rolling to determine whether a penalty has any effect whatsoever. Another method has just occurred to me, though. Suppose instead of reducing Ability randomizers or incurring negative randomizers, a penalty simply raises the Difficulty. (Example: The City Guard 3 with a Condition of Sleep Deprivation I needs to notice the thief, which is ordinarily a Difficulty of II. The City Guard would roll three binary dice versus the modified Difficulty of III.) This would make penalties much more punishing and feel less tangible. Gaining or losing randomizers as bonuses or penalties respectively makes the process more concrete. Conversely, raising and lowering the Difficulty depending on the bonuses and penalties affecting the character makes it seem more abstract. I think I shall continue using penalties for randomizer reduction.