>
> Sure, you would not want some simple Carl to cement Excalibur for 1
> HP.
Under what circumstances do you see this happening? In order to cement Excalibur for 1 HP, first of all he has to get his hands on Excalibur during the game, and secondly he has to end the session still in posession of of it. If this were Pendragon (since we are discussing Excalibur) then a squire in the same situation would pay nothing at all to be able to write "Excalibur" onto his character sheet. (And if it was D&D, not only would your 1st level character get to write it on his character sheet, but he would get experience for doing so!)
> But HW is meant to be scalable. You might not object to Argrath
> cementing Excalibur for 1 HP. And that is the core of my concern:
> allowing cementing of any item for 1 HP breaks when low power
> characters cement powerful items (goodbye game balance),
Only if the GM is in the habit of giving out game balance breaking powerful items... If you don't have it you can't cement it
> but
> cementing with a rating of 12 for 1 HP breaks when high power
> characters want to cement items (why bother).
>
Which is why cementing an item costs 1HP...
> And please, no 'Narattor decides' responses. A Carl cementing
> Excalibur (or Stormbringer) is an extreme example that starkly
> illuminates the problem. The problem is just as present with milder
> examples.
I don't really see how this can be anything but a "Narrator decides" decision. It is the same decision any GM faces when putting "powerful" items into a scenario - "will it 'break' the game if the players end up with it, and if so, how do I ensure they don't"
If the GM has "pre-defined" an item (Excalibur, Stormbringer, the Warbanner of the True Golden Horde, Lord Death on a Horse's saddle...) then the cost of cementing it is 1HP. By making them available, the GM is accepting that they are not "game breaking".
If the Player decides to cement an item that has no "pre-defined" powers, but feels might be useful later (Old Wyrmic Scrolls, Lead Amulet, Copper Broadsword, Large Cube of Gold...) then it starts at the default score of 12, and can be improved in the normal manner and its effects will be defined just like any starting "ambiguous" abililty.
Of course a GM could always change these rates - charge more than 1 HP for a powerful item, or allow multi-mastery characters to start new abilities or items at a higher default if they felt it appropriate to their game.
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