It's already been decided that the disparity between weapon- and packet-based Fumbles is a problem. To address this, we'll be adding a higher-intensity version of Fumble called "Fumble All." As you might expect, this forces the affected character to drop all held items, rather than just one.
That part's already established. What I'm running into a problem with is how a Fumble All can be countered. Obviously, a Fumble All can counter another Fumble All. However, can you use a Fumble to counter a Fumble All? There are a few ways of going about doing this:
- Ordinary Fumbles can counter Fumble Alls. I'm not a fan of allowing lower-level effects to counter higher-level effects unless that's the only thing they're designed to do (e.g., Rouse, Release, etc.). This makes Fumble All a bit less powerful, but it does have the advantage of being simple.
- Ordinary Fumbles can partially counter Fumble Alls. Essentially, if you're hit with a Fumble All, you can use an ordinary Fumble to hold onto one item, or two to hold onto both. This one's probably too complicated.
- Only a Fumble All can counter a Fumble All. Harsh, but also simple and fair. This would make ordinary Fumbles useless against Fumble Alls. They'd essentially be two different taglines. There is precedent for this, as well, when you consider Repel effects (i.e., only a Repel of equal or higher strength can counter another Repel), although I wonder if both could be done better.
Thoughts?