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There was an underlying issue nagging at us we finally realized. Players were spending a disproportionate number of Bennies to simply act as opposed to spending them to do cool stuff.

 

Changing this one rule fixed all those issues and made the game even better in other ways as well such as the faster resolution of Shaken results for every single character in any combat. (Source)

 

It may not seem like much, but with only two results for recovering from Shaken instead of three, resolution is sped up dramatically. And by making recovery with actions easier, players don't have to spend as many Bennies just to take an action and can instead spend them to make those actions awesome! Finally, we realized the three conditions for Extras, Up, Down, and Off the Board, had really been four with the inclusion of "Up... but recovered without a raise and can't act." It's a temporary condition to be sure, but one that occurs regularly. GMs never have to worry about that "floating" condition again. Extras who are Shaken can't act, and those who are not Shaken can–there's no middle ground. (Source)

Well, in one way it really can't "diminish" it's effect since it affects all characters equally. What it can do is change the dynamic, but even then, really not so much as it may appear [...]

 

I think the disconnect here is the belief that the major benefit of Shaken is to prevent characters from taking actions.

 

Think about that for a moment. That would mean that the primary point of the mechanic was specifically to extend and drag out combat by negating actions on both sides of a conflict.

 

I can tell you that was never the ultimate goal of the Shaken mechanic.

 

But that is what happened, so it's no surprise folks think that.

 

Yeah, it will change the dynamic somewhat but we think you'll discover the change is dynamic itself. (Source) (Emphasis mine)

As far as characters with a "niche" of only causing Shaken, most of their effects didn't change as making a target easier to wound through Shaken is completely unaffected by the rule, which really is where timing and coordinating come in. [...]

 

With Tricks and Tests of Will, the effect was actually even less since the primary effect of each from a success, -2 Parry or +2 to the next action, is also completely unaffected by the rule. It takes rolling 4 points higher than the target (which a d10 Wild Card only does 50% of the time over a d4 Extra) to cause a Shaken and it would only really come up against a foe who can't be targeted to benefit from the damage effect of Shaken.

 

That of course means Tricks were even farther down on the affected scale than Tests of Will since their primary effect is only useful if the foe can be targeted, so the idea of using a Trick where it had to get a raise to be effective at all almost never came up, much less as a repeated tactic or niche of any character. (Source)

The worry is this makes a +2 to recover from Shaken more powerful because the chance of recovery is so high.

 

The misconception there is comparing the old odds of acting to the new odds where to truly determine the change in power, the comparison should be from the old effectiveness of the ability vs. the new.

 

For example, a d4 Spirit Extra without +2 had a 6.25% chance of recovering with an action by the old rule and a 25% chance with the new one. With the +2, they had an 18.75% chance and now a 75% chance. Both of those increase success by exactly the same amount, three times.

 

So the effectiveness of the ability is exactly the same. It triples the chance of recovering for a d4 Spirit Extra.

 

But get to a d8 Spirit Extra. The odds without +2 are 12.5% and 62.5% respectively. With the +2, the odds are 37.5% and 87.5%. Meaning the old rule also tripled the chance of recovery for a d8, but the new rule increases the chance of recover by only 1.4x.

 

So by the new rule, that +2 to recover is actually less than half as effective as it was using the old rule. It makes it less powerful not more. (Source)

One of the concerns noted is the belief this change favors Extras, particularly those with Undead or some other ability granting a bonus to recover from Shaken.

 

I know it's hard to simply accept our word that doesn't happen, so I thought perhaps some evidence from an unbiased source... Zadmar's combat simulator.

 

[Lots of numbers get thrown out from the simulation]

 

While not quite as big a difference as with the living goblins, the Wild Card once again won significantly more fights on average under the new rule than the Extras, even though they now have Undead with +2 to recover from Shaken. (Source)

We've been playtesting this for a while specifically because it felt like it could have serious repercussions but the results came back overwhelmingly positive. We can only say the same thing we've said about other aspects of the system, "Try it out for a while."

 

And if it still doesn't work for a particular group, then they can always use the old rule. There are still folks who use +2 damage per raise [last seen in Savage Worlds Revised] and we haven't broken down their doors to take away their dice...yet. ;) (Source)

There was an underlying issue nagging at us we finally realized. Players were spending a disproportionate number of Bennies to simply act as opposed to spending them to do cool stuff.

Changing this one rule fixed all those issues and made the game even better in other ways as well such as the faster resolution of Shaken results for every single character in any combat. (Source)

It may not seem like much, but with only two results for recovering from Shaken instead of three, resolution is sped up dramatically. And by making recovery with actions easier, players don't have to spend as many Bennies just to take an action and can instead spend them to make those actions awesome! Finally, we realized the three conditions for Extras, Up, Down, and Off the Board, had really been four with the inclusion of "Up... but recovered without a raise and can't act." It's a temporary condition to be sure, but one that occurs regularly. GMs never have to worry about that "floating" condition again. Extras who are Shaken can't act, and those who are not Shaken can–there's no middle ground. (Source)

Well, in one way it really can't "diminish" it's effect since it affects all characters equally. What it can do is change the dynamic, but even then, really not so much as it may appear [...]

I think the disconnect here is the belief that the major benefit of Shaken is to prevent characters from taking actions.

Think about that for a moment. That would mean that the primary point of the mechanic was specifically to extend and drag out combat by negating actions on both sides of a conflict.

I can tell you that was never the ultimate goal of the Shaken mechanic.

But that is what happened, so it's no surprise folks think that.

Yeah, it will change the dynamic somewhat but we think you'll discover the change is dynamic itself. (Source) (Emphasis mine)

As far as characters with a "niche" of only causing Shaken, most of their effects didn't change as making a target easier to wound through Shaken is completely unaffected by the rule, which really is where timing and coordinating come in. [...]

With Tricks and Tests of Will, the effect was actually even less since the primary effect of each from a success, -2 Parry or +2 to the next action, is also completely unaffected by the rule. It takes rolling 4 points higher than the target (which a d10 Wild Card only does 50% of the time over a d4 Extra) to cause a Shaken and it would only really come up against a foe who can't be targeted to benefit from the damage effect of Shaken.

That of course means Tricks were even farther down on the affected scale than Tests of Will since their primary effect is only useful if the foe can be targeted, so the idea of using a Trick where it had to get a raise to be effective at all almost never came up, much less as a repeated tactic or niche of any character. (Source)

The worry is this makes a +2 to recover from Shaken more powerful because the chance of recovery is so high.

The misconception there is comparing the old odds of acting to the new odds where to truly determine the change in power, the comparison should be from the old effectiveness of the ability vs. the new.

For example, a d4 Spirit Extra without +2 had a 6.25% chance of recovering with an action by the old rule and a 25% chance with the new one. With the +2, they had an 18.75% chance and now a 75% chance. Both of those increase success by exactly the same amount, three times.

So the effectiveness of the ability is exactly the same. It triples the chance of recovering for a d4 Spirit Extra.

But get to a d8 Spirit Extra. The odds without +2 are 12.5% and 62.5% respectively. With the +2, the odds are 37.5% and 87.5%. Meaning the old rule also tripled the chance of recovery for a d8, but the new rule increases the chance of recover by only 1.4x.

So by the new rule, that +2 to recover is actually less than half as effective as it was using the old rule. It makes it less powerful not more. (Source)

One of the concerns noted is the belief this change favors Extras, particularly those with Undead or some other ability granting a bonus to recover from Shaken.

I know it's hard to simply accept our word that doesn't happen, so I thought perhaps some evidence from an unbiased source... Zadmar's combat simulator.

[Lots of numbers get thrown out from the simulation]

While not quite as big a difference as with the living goblins, the Wild Card once again won significantly more fights on average under the new rule than the Extras, even though they now have Undead with +2 to recover from Shaken. (Source)

We've been playtesting this for a while specifically because it felt like it could have serious repercussions but the results came back overwhelmingly positive. We can only say the same thing we've said about other aspects of the system, "Try it out for a while."

And if it still doesn't work for a particular group, then they can always use the old rule. There are still folks who use +2 damage per raise [last seen in Savage Worlds Revised] and we haven't broken down their doors to take away their dice...yet. ;) (Source)

Short Answer: It makes the "stunlock" of Shaken far less likely, which only served to drag out the game and was never the ultimate goal of the Shaken mechanic. This has been one of the major criticisms of Savage Worlds in the past and the designers see this change as a desirable improvement that takes away unintended consequences.

Short Answer: It reduces the likelihood of a "stunlock" from Shaken, which was never meant to be the major benefit of the Shaken mechanic in the first place. The designers see this new rule change as a desirable improvement that takes away unintended consequences.

There was concern that it weakened Tricks, Tests of Wills, and Shaken-dealing powers (e.g. Stun), but really what this meant was that the players had to improve their tactics because they could no longer rely on an enemy being out of commission for at least a turn (or spending a Benny). Interestingly, players have been more likely to use Tests of Will and such in order to make it more likely that their teammates will roll well in order to get the wound.

There was concern that it weakened Tricks, Tests of Wills, and Shaken-dealing powers (e.g. Stun), but really what this meant was that the players had to improve their tactics and actually work together because they could no longer rely on a single PC taking an enemy out of commission for at least a turn (or forcing them to spend a Benny). Interestingly, players have been more likely to use Tests of Will and such in order to make it more likely that their teammates will roll well in order to get the wound.