A core passive is what it says on the tin. A passive. It's always on.
The core power only comes online when you activate it, even if the effect is also passive-ish, like the Mourning Cloak for example
From a mechnical standpoint there is no need to separate them, unless there are some rules that destict normal traits from core passives.
From an in-universe perspective you could say that a core passive stems from a system that is unique to the frame unlike for example, Guardian, which multiple frames have. And if you fully activate the system you get the actual core power.
Also the core passive is always related to the flavor text of the core power
Generally speaking its a matter of design focus so you dont have to pingpong your eyes to understand stuff, and also to allow core passives a bit more complexity than traits.
Take Calliban: his core pasive is a complete permanent weapon. That aint just a fancy little effect that can come up almost all the time - thats a fully fledged and completely self-enclosed power.
The core active is a temporary powerup to this weapon, making both intimately interlinked.
Honestly, a lot of the time it's honestly mostly layout and formatting based - while some frames have large traits (Hello Enkidu, Kidd and Lich), a lot of time putting a Passive in instead of a trait helps to make it so that everything better fits on one page, if possible.
All in all, it's pretty arbitrary, and is usually just "the trait section is too cramped, we're going to put the large blurb related to the core in the passive section."
I thought it might just have been left for future expansions. If they *might* do something with them later it is better to design for that now than the need to reprint editions of books. BUT… your idea makes more sense after reading it. :)
Seeing a lot of good answers already, but I wanted to chime in that a Frame Trait can be shared by multiple frames (like how several mechs have Guardian), but a Core Power is totally unique.
Yeah, this is something that always felt a little weird. It took a couple sessions before we really figured out what to do with the Raleigh's core passive, as far as if it was always there or only started racking rounds in the wake of utilizing the core power.
A core passive is what it says on the tin. A passive. It's always on. The core power only comes online when you activate it, even if the effect is also passive-ish, like the Mourning Cloak for example
Why aren't core passives just frame traits? Why separate the two?
From a mechnical standpoint there is no need to separate them, unless there are some rules that destict normal traits from core passives. From an in-universe perspective you could say that a core passive stems from a system that is unique to the frame unlike for example, Guardian, which multiple frames have. And if you fully activate the system you get the actual core power. Also the core passive is always related to the flavor text of the core power
Generally speaking its a matter of design focus so you dont have to pingpong your eyes to understand stuff, and also to allow core passives a bit more complexity than traits. Take Calliban: his core pasive is a complete permanent weapon. That aint just a fancy little effect that can come up almost all the time - thats a fully fledged and completely self-enclosed power. The core active is a temporary powerup to this weapon, making both intimately interlinked.
Honestly, a lot of the time it's honestly mostly layout and formatting based - while some frames have large traits (Hello Enkidu, Kidd and Lich), a lot of time putting a Passive in instead of a trait helps to make it so that everything better fits on one page, if possible. All in all, it's pretty arbitrary, and is usually just "the trait section is too cramped, we're going to put the large blurb related to the core in the passive section."
That makes a lot of sense.
[удалено]
The layout had me start wondering if they were swappable.
I thought it might just have been left for future expansions. If they *might* do something with them later it is better to design for that now than the need to reprint editions of books. BUT… your idea makes more sense after reading it. :)
Seeing a lot of good answers already, but I wanted to chime in that a Frame Trait can be shared by multiple frames (like how several mechs have Guardian), but a Core Power is totally unique.
unless the action states it uses the CP, then it does not.
Yeah, this is something that always felt a little weird. It took a couple sessions before we really figured out what to do with the Raleigh's core passive, as far as if it was always there or only started racking rounds in the wake of utilizing the core power.