Help me with the Witch's special...

I'm working up a Witch playbook.  It's gone through a whole shit-load of revisions based on comments that I've gotten.  There are now only a couple of things that I'm unsure about and the one that I'd like to put before you now is the witch's sex/special move.  Here's how I have it currently written:

If you and another character have sex, you and they barter with bits of your souls. Roll+weird; you swap one of your moves for one of theirs.  On a 10+ you choose both moves.  On a 7-9, you and they each choose which move to give up.  On a 6- your partner chooses both moves.  If your partner is a NPC, the MC can tell you what his special moves are; if they have none, you gain +1 ongoing to one of the basic moves.  The MC will have to figure out how NPCs change with new moves and what lost basics look like.

This has prompted some commentary from the folks to whom I've shown it.

Is it too risky to ever be used?

Is it too complicated?  Like, do you see how it works?

Is it too mechanical?

Is changing another character's move permanently too powerful?

Do you, upon reading this, think the player can lose basic moves with it?  What does the possibility of losing basic moves mean to you?  

Is there a more elegant wording that leads to the same results?

Anything else?

I like it, but I automatically like all mega man mechanics.

Is it too risky to ever be used?: I wouldn't use it if I had a Witch move that made the character for me. Other than that, I'd go for it.

Is it too complicated? To me, yeah. I would remove the concept of getting/losing basic moves. For NPC's, I would say 'You get their custom move' (OF COURSE they have a custom move, hold on a second *writewritewrite*)

Is it too mechanical? Maybe!

Is changing another character's move too powerful? Yes, and that's okay.

Do I think this means you can lose basic moves? Maaaaybe. And that's too complicated and funky for me.

Is there a more elegant wording that leads to the same results? State that you swap moves that they don't have. That automatically disables basic moves, and also doubling up on moves which would be weird. Also, you want to avoid the term 'special move' because that is confused with the 'special', which is a sex move.

Also, you want to avoid the term 'special move' because that is confused with the 'special', which is a sex move.

Ha!  I totally agree and hadn't noticed that I did that.  Thanks!

The Seeker in our Nobilis hack has kind of the same deal, but a little "softer". Here is how I wrote that:

Seeker special
When you make love to someone, you may change one of your moves to another move reflecting their nature. Any move is legit if your HG thinks so. If you make love to a PC, you may together decide to exchange moves.

Man, I just don't think I'd ever have sex with a witch. I don't want other players permanently messing with my character sheet like that!

If you have sex with a PC, on a 10+ next time you advance, you may choose any of the moves from their playbook. They may choose one of your moves next time they advance. On a 7-9 only they get to do this.
On a miss you take -1 ongoing if you try to help/interfere with them.
With an NPC, on a hit you get +1 ongoing with them, on a miss it's -1.

I like it and I'd probably have exactly the opposite problem that Help Im a Bug has:
If I'd knew there was a character with that special in my group I'd probably try to make up a reason to try to have sex with them. I'd just be so curious what would happen / how the new move would change my character. I love people messing around with my character sheet.
That said: yeah, maybe it's too mechanical.
And yes, it seems risky. But also fun. Some players love risk, some players love safety.
I'd go as far as saying: maybe it would be even more interesting with a "Whenever you use the exchanged Move: mark experience"-clause but it would make things even more mechanical.
I'd would shorten the part about NPCs to what evilseanbot said. Of course every NPC has their own Move. :)

How about something similar, but a little less permanent:

When you have sex with someone, roll +Weird: on a 10+ hold 3, on a 7+ hold 1. Either person may spend hold to use a move that the other person can use.

The temporary nature means that it will be used more often and, interestingly, it also allows you to take advantage of moves associated with NPCs.

How about something similar, but a little less permanent:

When you have sex with someone, roll +Weird: on a 10+ hold 3, on a 7+ hold 1. Either person may spend hold to use a move that the other person can use.

The temporary nature means that it will be used more often and, interestingly, it also allows you to take advantage of moves associated with NPCs.

Damn, this is a spiffy idea. Do this.

Damn, this is a spiffy idea. Do this.

Yeah, that one is very good.

Yeah, that's not bad.  My original version of the move looked like this:

If you and another character have sex, each of you temporarily takes one move from the other; you each choose the one you take and your partner no longer has access to it. When either of you use the move once, you lose it and your partner gets it back as their normal move. If the *next* session ends with the move(s) unused, they revert to normal anyway.

But it felt a little soft, so it evolved into the more permanent version.

I'll think on that, thanks for the idea!