Re: Magical Augments - A little extreme?

From: David Cake <dave_at_...>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 01:24:57 +0800

At 11:43 AM +0000 11/4/02, nichughes2001 scribbled:
>>
>> The problem is that it stresses the single minded (at
>> loophole exploitation) over the actually powerful.
>> In other words, a powerful single minded magic hero should be
>> powerful because they have a high ability value, not due to a quirk
>> of the game system and a set of feats with a great deal of overlap.
>
>Those feats overlap because the god is single-minded. At the levels
>we are talking about here the hero is beginning to embody the god
>when they do this much augmentation, so embodying a god with a single-
>minded dedication to death and combat should be different to
>embodying one with a whole range of powers and interests (and fewer
>overlapping feats).

        We have rules for embodying your god, etc. They are far less effective that this particular tactic can be.

        And its not the god, its the character - remember, people can make up their own feats from improvisation.

>
>>
>> Put it this way - when heroes clash, do you really think the
>> contest should be determined by which one gets an extra round of
>> augmentation?
>>
>
>One extra round of augmentation would probably only be about +10
>which might tip the balance but is not overwhelming given the cost of
>getting affinities that high.

        This shows a bit of a misunderstanding - +10 is just as important a difference, no matter HOW high the abilities are.

>When heroes clash I think the one who best embodies their god through
>their magic should probably win, which in terms of game mechanics may
>mean the one with the most augments but in narrative terms means the
>one who has performed the better Arming of $DEITY ritual.

        No, in narrative terms the Arming of $DEITY ritual is represented by the Arming of $DEITY ritual. I know this seems like a banal observation, but its not - the effect you are talking about IS already in the game system, and it works very differently.

> All other
>things being equal then the one who embodies the most warlike god
should have the decisive advantage in a straight clash of arms

        HW isn't always a straight clash of arms. The rules need to work for all situations.

>At these levels the magic is becoming more important than the mundane
>skill, given the number of HP spent (or heroquests performed) to have
>access to that magic I don't happen to think that this is unbalancing.

        The problem is that the result is out of line from the number of HPs spent - in particular, it depends as much as rounds of preparation.

        I want the value of an ability to be based on the level of an ability. Is that so shocking?

	Cheers
		David