Re: Magic vs. Non-Magic Resistance

From: Mike Holmes <homeydont_at_...>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 14:29:44 -0000


Thanks to everyone, I think this has a good solution.

Can a magical Feat of Jump Mountains 17 enable you to leap non-magic mountains with regularity(the improv issue isn't germane)?

Well, given the well thought out distinctions between magical abilities used as augments, and those used as full ability scores, I think I agree that magic is supposed to be more potent. That is, the trade off for specialization is more power. That I can buy. I liked HW's way of handling it just as well, but this is cool in a different way.

And, using the idea of augmenting with non-magical ratings, I think you solve this problem to a great extent. I really like this method, because it means that Material World considerations do have some effect. Basically 1/10th the normal effect, but still enough to make a difference in what you're attempting. That's very cool to me.

Further, I thought about how abusive the ability Jump Mountains would be in actuality. Comparing it to a Fly ability, it doesn't seem all that out of hand. If leaping takes a reasonable amount of time, then it's just flight where you have to go in a straight line, and land occasionally.

I guess it comes down to limiting the abilities available. Destroy Mountain, would, I think, be limited philosophically by rating the Mountain's Defense in terms of it's mass and density, etc. Given that it's many orders of magnitude greater than that of a human, even the augment would be so large as to make this nigh impossible, IMO. So, while I wouldn't rule out the ability entirely per se, I think that I'd probably try to keep them more "scalable" as in Destroy Stone - which could destroy a mountain if powerful enough. I think that's a good rule in general, and goes under the heading of not making absolutely named abilities (no "Decapitate Foe" described as all or nothing taking heads off).

So, I think with all that in mind, that I have enough here to proceed using the rules without problem. Thanks again for the help!

Mike

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