@ganymede It's more to give people an idea of what they're working with, however we're in the process of testing out a potential power flaw that would make your power weaker/stronger depending on the level of pollution in the area. Mostly it's just there to provide helpful tips on what's typical for roleplay in an area.
Edit the first: Actually now that I think about it crime ratings and the flipside of them the new 'police presence' rating WILL effect certain powers that allow you to call in NPC assistants to help you in a scene. You can call more criminals to help you in an area with high crime, more cops to help you in an area with high police presence.
Edit The second: Here's the flaws/extra's that are effected/effect those little ranks:
Environmentally Linked (-1 to -4)
Your power is directly impacted by the environment around you. An attribute, or multiple attributes, (Crime, Wealth, Pollution, or Police Presence. Which is effected is decided at chargen, and should be noted in your description) of the room you're in directly effects how well your power functions.
At a room rating of 0 the associated power does not function at all. At a * you operate with a -3 to your dice pool for all actions associated with this power. At ** it's -2. At *** there's no effect at **** it's +2, and at ***** it's +3. If you want you can have the scale operate in reverse order but it must be noted in your powers description at chargen.
Note: When taking away dice this removes hard dice first, then regular, and finally wild dice. When adding dice it only adds regular dice. This will not allow you to roll more then 10 dice, but CAN allow you to have a dice pool higher then 10. If a power has this flaw and the Booster extra, Booster takes effect AFTER the modification is calculated.
You can take this multiple times, each time selecting a different room attribute to be effected by. If a room doesn't have any attributes listed use the attached rooms attributes, or ask the person running the scene.
Environmental Impact (+2 or +1 per rank)
When you use your power it effects the environment around you temporarily. This CAN NOT be used with Permanent or Endless (Because that would mean we'd have to alter the grid rooms every time someone used the power.), but can be used with duration. When you take this extra choose one attribute, (Crime, Wealth, Pollution, or Police Presence) for each rank you have in this your power can raise or lower (Decide which during chargen) that attribute by one * to a minimum of 0 and a max of ***** every time you use your power.
This effect wears off at the end of your turn, or the end of the current scene if you take it with duration. If it happens every time you use a power and you can't control it, the extra only costs +1 point per die.
