Stopping short?

[lemmiwinks]

It sais the defender's TN is 7 plus the number of dice the attacker spent using the maneuver.  What's to stop the attacker from using 3+ dice raising the TN to more than 10?  It seems like this move has a very favorable advantage for the attacker and perhaps the easiest way to get the defender to lose his CP, I think 7+ dice compared to the attacker's contest against Perception is a little uneven?  Any debate on this already?

[DaGreatJL]

True, spend 3 dice, and the attacker will likely win in the exchange, assuming that the attributes involved (WP, Reflex, and Per) are around the same for both. However, and the roll the attacker makes is based on an attribute, as opposed to dice spent from the CP, the amount you could cost your opponent is limited; even if your WP is a 6 or 7, and your opponents's Per is only 4 or 5, and they don't get any successes on their role, you'll still probably only cost them on average 3 or 4 dice, which is about equal to what you spent on it anyway. Or so it seems to me. Also, your opponent doesn't have to spend any dice to defend against Stop Short, and it counts as an attack. Therfore, when the attacker declares that they are using Stop Short (assuming I understand the rules) the defender could turn around, buy initiative, and strike while you have no defense.

[Ben Lehman]

Stopping short is one of the better maneuvers in the game...  I, personally, think it's most effective without any "boosting" of the opponent's difficult, or at most 2 dice to 9.

BUT -- it is important to remember that it becomes more "expensive" after the first use, and it is only good if you have initiative at the beginning of an Exchange.  After the first one, it's really good to move on to other tricks.

yrs--
--Ben