>But surely you would police this to some extent. Having a character
>just announce that they now have a dragon slaying sword out of this
>air for 2HP is very dangerous because then everyone will want one.
A "Dragon Slaying Sword 13" is not too likely to unbalance a game, I think. Even a starting score or 5W is not going to take you very far against even a Dream Dragon, which will resist a direct use of the power with several Masteries.
>Granted. But what about feats such as "Mile Long Javelin throw", this
>is definitely something I would not allow as an ability without a
>very good character write up. And what about cult secrets in magic
>items. Would you allow these to starting characters?
[snip]
>Anyway my original point was that part of the fun of the game is
>adventuring to find these items or to gain the friendship of other
>cults. Allowing this sort of starting point for new characters IMHO
>detracts a lot from the gameplay, certainly in a mid level game. If I
>was to run a high level game then I would probably allow more items
>for starting characters, just not at mid level.
Certainly there's a precident in fantasy literature of the relatively raw hero who gets ahold of the Amazingly Powerful Plot Device from the Ancients and slowly learns to use its terrible powers. Or, if you prefer, the Bumpkin born with Terrible Powers and Destiny (for feats). The problem with this, of course, is if everyone wants to play such a character, the tula will be so packed with Destiny, it will be hard to get anything done. Like in the old days of Champions, where everyone had 2-3 Hunted by: and a Dependent NPC or two -- scenarios could get lost in the character book-keeping. I would tend to rule based on how much these details will clutter up the plot instead of worrying that they will unbalance the game. A score of 13 is unlikely to unbalance anything.
Peter Larsen
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