Nils:
> > > As the mystic progresses he becomes increasingly immune to
> > > external influence. At w1 in the mystic philosophy the mystic
> > > no longer needs clothes and shelter for protection (modesty
> > > is anoher thing). At w2, the mystic no longer needs sleep,
> > > food or drink. At w3, the mystic stops aging.
> >
> > These numbers seem on the low side to me. I'd bump 'em up at least
> > a W, to seem more in line with the HW 'ability scale'.
>
> Hmm w3 is Hero level, isn't it?
'Hero' is such a slippery term... Orlanthi tribal champions and the like are W3. Never sleeping seems an odd thing for every W2 mystic in the world to have...
> > Also it
> > should be more school-specific. Running around nekkid would be
> > more within some mystic's Idiom than others, who might 'prefer'
> > ones with different application (like more martial ones, most
> > obviously).
>
> But you don't have to go around naked just because you
> _can_. It's more about reduced vulnerability to the
> material world.
The material world has innumerable aspects to it; it seems to me to be logical for different schools to have different 'focus' on which parts to ignore. The above seems to me to be the sort of thing the conventional harsh ascetic type would 'go for'. Martial artists are more likely to 'acquire' reduced vulnerability to the points of the material world that are pointy, and tend to be inserted into people, etc.
> > > For each w the orthodox mystic has in the mystic philosophy,
> > > all opponents receive a -1 handicap in all contests against
> > > the mystic.
> >
> > That seems a little modest, esp. at high levels.
>
> I thought so too. I was pondering a geometric scale:
> w1 = -1
> w2 = -3
> w3 = -6
> w4 = -10
> etc.
Much better. (Though that was quadratic, btw, rather than geometric: excuse my inner maths pedant.)
> > Also, I'm
> > doubious about the idea that it applies only to 'orthodox'
> > guys, with all the demarcation disputes and semantic quibbles
> > that implies...
>
> I wanted to give the orthodox guys something unique and useful...
Utility? I fear you mire yourself in the material, glasshoppah. ;-)
Seriously, though, any concession to something useful, other than surity of achieving Liberation, is ipso facto evidence of 'manifestness'.
In any case, I'm certain that the line is both blurry and wobbly. The cosmic justification of 'manifest action' is, after all, that which is necessary to achieve one's own (or another's) liberation. Whether this is NiangMao novitiates wearing a rag or two, or eating now or then, or a chop-socky Darudan beating the crappola out of everyone, is just a difference in perception, and in degree.
> > > Different schools
> > > teach different effects. This is where the eagle talons and
> > > the lightning bolt ridem fit in.
> >
> > I'd rather use the 'whitespace is your friend' approch to that
> > particular rulebook statement, I have to admit. :-/
>
> I think these are cool effects, so I'd like to see a way to
> implement them.
Cool effects for what tradition(s)?
> > > This is an extended contest of the mystic philosophy against
> > > a basic difficulty which is the same as the mystic's own
> > > mystic philosophy target number.
> >
> > Hurm. What about philosophy vs. the ability used, or the highest
> > ability used, say? Always matching one ability against itself
> > seems rather self-defeating.
>
> My thinking was that the more advanced you are in the
> mystic philosophy, the greater the fall is.
I don't see that it has that affect though, does it? Rather it just seems to make it a totally flat chance, other than due to the vagarities of the scale.
> > > If the mystic wins a minor victory or better, he is purified
> > > and can once again increase his mystic philosophy. If he
> > > suffers a major defeat or worse, he fails and loses 1 point
> > > in mystic philosophy for a major defeat, 2 points for a
> > > complete defeat. With all other results, the purification
> > > fails, but has no long-term negative effects.
> >
> > Making the 'marginal' results no effect seems problematic. If
> > your TN is 2<something> or 19<something>, you have a _very_
> > slim chance of anything other than an effective tie. At the
> > very best, you have a 1 in four chance of success here. Is
> > the lesson to be drawn here, that mystics need lots of HPs?
>
> The lesson is that I'm too lazy to do the statistics... Change
> that so that Complete defeat means -1 to the ability and so
> that Marginal victory means success.
That means the chance of success is now 50% or less (depending on how big a malus you've self-inflicted), but the chance of loss of points is miniscule.
> Another idea is that this "fall from grace" can be treated
> as a Flaw, and bought down with HPs
That would work, though it sounds _very_ expensive, at first wink...
> (if you don't want to chance the purification).
Or the purification isn't statistically sensible. ;-)
Cheers,
Alex.
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