Here's a new knack I've approved for my campaign. This is the revised/edited version. The original was clunkier and wordier than it needed to be, and granted a secondary power that was not needed. Simply getting the speed break is good enough for 5 xp.
Signature Power
Wits Knack
The Scion has mastered one of their powers, such as a Boon or Knack. They know it inside and out, it's completely intuitive to them. This may be the result of constant practice, or just instinctual talent. You choose what pre-existing power becomes your "Signature Power" at the time you purchase this knack. You cannot chose reflexive powers (such as Damage Conversion) or those that already have a speed rating below 4 (such as Animal Aspect or the divine ability to become immaterial). The chosen power has it's activation speed reduced by one. Most commonly, this means it goes from being a Speed:5 miscellaneous action to being a Speed: 4 action.
The decision of which power to augment is permanent. Under normal circumstances, you can never change which power you chose, nor can you take this knack a second time to affect a different power - so choose wisely. However, the GM has the ability to waive this restriction under some circumstances. An example would be if the PC chose Water Control (Water 2) as their signature power, and later purchased Water Mastery (Water 6). The 6-dot boon specifically mentions that it duplicates the powers of the 2-dot boon, so the GM may let you revise which is your Signature Power. Shifting your Signature Power to the upgraded form requires permission from your story-teller, and an expenditure of 3 additional experience points. Once shifted, the lesser form is no longer their signature power, and only the advanced version benefits from this Knack.
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The version in the post has been edited. The original write-up follows:
Signature Power
Wits Knack
The Scion has mastered one of their powers, such as a Boon or Knack. They know it inside and out, it's completely intuitive to them. This may be the result of constant practice, or just instinctual talent. You choose what pre-existing power becomes your "Signature Power" at the time you purchase this knack. You may choose any power the character has, but it's best when you choose a power that requires an action, a die roll, or both. Once you've chosen a power, it is locked in. Under normal circumstances, you can never change which power you chose. Neither can you take this knack a second time to affect a different power - so choose wisely.
Your skill and experience with the power allow you to use it more easily and quickly than normal. The time required to activate the power is reduced by 1 tick. This has no effect on reflexive powers, nor any power that otherwise takes no time or action to use. This knack can not reduce the speed of an action below 3 ticks, so it's of no benefit for powers (such as Animal Aspect) that already have an activation time of 3 ticks or less. Unless otherwise specified, most powers, as miscellaneous actions, have a default speed of 5. This knack would reduce it from 5 to a 4 whenever you use that one power.
In addition, you are more adept at improvising when using your signature power. If it is a power that requires a die roll to utilize, you gain an extra bonus for stunting. Any time you are awarded stunt dice for a roll involving this power, you gain +1 bonus success on the roll in addition to the stunt dice. Effectively, this makes you immune to botches on rolls of your signature power, provided that you continually come up with good stunts. This portion of the knack has no effect if the power is diceless, or if you chose not to stunt.
As noted above, you cannot take this (nor typically any) knack more than once, and you cannot change which power it applies to once selected. However, the GM has the ability to waive this restriction under certain circumstances. Should the power you chose ever become mechanically redundant and inferior, the GM might let you switch to counting a new more advanced version of the power as signature. An example would be if the PC chose Water Control (Water 2) as their signature power, and later purchased Water Mastery (Water 6) or Tsunami (Water 10). The 6th and 10th level boons specifically mention that they duplicate the powers of the 2nd level boon. Another example might be if someone chose Body Armor to be their signature power, and later purchased the Invulnerable knack, which builds upon and modifies Body Armor. Shifting your Signature Power to the upgraded form (permanently) requires permission from your story-teller, and an expenditure of 3 additional experience points. Once shifted, the lesser form is no longer their signature power, and gains none of the benefits of this knack.
That version wasted word count on redundant examples.
It also included a secondary +1 autosuccess bonus when stunting. That had some potential to be forgotten during play, and was also unnecessary.
The ability to turn Over Order or Levin Fury into a 4-dot action is powerful enough to be worth 5xp without any bonus successes.
Am now thinking the text on upgrading what power this knack applies to is unneeded. I may cut it from the entry.
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