Re: Pointless abilities

From: moonbroth <Nick_at_...>
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 10:47:24 -0000

Maybe we need some informal guidelines (like those that appeared in GURPS and Champions and other point-based ability-purchase systems):

Ability rating + "pointlessness bonus" = effective ability rating

Where the "pointlessness bonus" is assigned by the Narrator on the fly, according to how unlikely it seems that this ability will ever be of any use whatsoever. Give it a maximum of +20, say (for utterly insane once-in-a-lifetime abilities): that's effectively a free hero point, just for adding a little joy to everyone's lives by cluttering your character sheet with nonsense. (And, of course, you can still spend a *real* HP to bump up your result -- maybe that's how Inigo gets away with it?).

Naturally, your bonus will drop away to zero if that "pointless" ability turns out to be quite useful after all.

Food for thought?

Cheers, Nick