me:
> > Shouldn't that limitation apply to all other "natural" abilities then?
> If
> >a character has "Strong," "Clever," "Good Looking," "Burly," etc., at
> what
> >point do you say "You can't get anymore Burly, spend your HP
> elsewhere?" Is
> >Large a special case and, if so, why?
>
> Good point, well made.
Well, thanks. Wulf (I think it was Wulf) pointed out that there is a difference between Good Looking and Large, which I'll grant. I do wonder, however, how high any ability can be raised without magic being a factor. Once an ability gets to 3 Masteries, non-masters are going to have virtually no chance against them. A person with, say, 15 in an ability is not a nephyte, they are a competent (although not spectacular) example of that skill or trait. So maybe any ability at the 2 Masteries level should be considered slightly magical -- certainly the characters admirers would describe them as "blessed." I don't think there should be a "magical explaination" required to raise an ability that high, but the character might be seen as somewhat supernatural. "We'd like to report that through his piety and practice Harmast has become Heroic in pottery...."
> Perhaps I should say that players can spend their hero points anyway
> they like, so long as they can explain it to everybody else. A variant
> on the 2x points for HP going into something non-session related.
That's a pretty good answer. Another possibility is using them as occasional flaws. Good Looking 10W2 is really handy, but your enemies could use it against you at a moot. Getting saddled with "Hrothgar the Pretty" or "Primping Hrut" (although Heortling men do primp after their fashion, I suppose) might annoy some characters and prove a liability in a court case. Large 10W3 could be used endlessly to stand in for Strong, Tough, Intimidating, but it can also be used to augment guard's Spot Intruder ability, it might lead to the character being targeted by archers ("See the Big Guy? Feather him."), it might lead to strangers mistrusting the character ("She's too big to be a natural woman, she must be a Bison Rider!").... I'm sure any GM who feels players are abusing abilities could make them regret it. If you're dubious, though, charge them a little more, especially if the ability is being used a lot in many different ways. Or tell them they need to improvise all the time because the skill is too general.
Peter Larsen
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