> The only other sticky area was they kept wanting to use common
magic
> as an ability and not just as an augment and wondered why it was
> this way.
It's pretty much true of any unconcentrated /"entry level" magic - Spiritists (is that really a word?) only get charms and initiates only get affinities not feats. Concentrating your magic usually lets you use the appropriate style of common magic as an active ability though (So an animist who has concentrated his magic can use common magic charms as active abilities).
Since Common Magic abilites can be pretty much anything, allowing them to be active abilities as well would lead you to wonder why people bothered with theism/animism/wizardry...
Mind you this could end up back at the Common Magic/Natural ability argument of the Puma People if you are not careful. If I want a character who can Breath Fire, can I take it as Common Magic?
>
> The other common comment they made was they found it odd that there
> was not any way for a person to replenish APs during an group
> extended contest (and even during a standard extended contest)
while
> he has postive APs. They felt that there should have been a way to
> take an unrelated action and gain some back. They found it odd
that
> you had to wait till you were defeated (and perform a final action)
> before you could personally get AP points back. This was
especially
> true of the hero that was using his archery skill and
> augmenting/passing APs to others in the group contest. He was not
> being directly confronted, was down to 3 AP, and had no way
> to 'heal' himself. At least I couldn't find any way in the rules
> where a person could replenish his own APs in some way. So he bid
a
> few points in hopes he would lose the positive APs he had in order
> to perform a final action. Has anyone else run into this and
> thought of a solution? Or have I missed something in the rules?
Is
> there an explanation for why you can't get APs back?
>
Taking the last point first - as others have pointed out, you generally can't refresh AP's since one side has to run out for the contest to end, so unlimited, or "easy" replenishing of the AP pool would lead to unending contests. (For an old RQ group, think of it like a Spirit combat - if you were running low on Pow, there was (generally) no way of "topping yourself up" mid contest..)
Also bear in mind that if you are running low on AP's it means that you are loosing ground in the contest. As a PC you can always bid up to your starting AP total, of course, so being on 3AP is only a problem if you are going to lose another round (and if you can "guarantee" a crit then bidding the maximum and getting a transfer may be a good way of replenishing AP totals).
That said, the GM always has the option to allow individuals or the
group to reset AP totals if circumstances so dictate. For an
individual taking part in a group extended contest, I'd look for the
following things
1) Must take an "unrelated action" (ie can't reset AP's in the same
round that he also takes part in the contest)
2) Must be unaffected by the actions of the opposition in that round
3) Must be able to describe what they are doing, and how that will
improve their position in relation to the contest (not just "I'll do
nothing this round and reset my AP's)
4) Possibly require some sort of simple contest to achieve the
desired results - Marginal success means only partial refresh,
complete failure reduces current pool even further.
Powered by hypermail