Stacking Magic - and mundane abilities?

From: Kevin P. McDonald <paul_mcdonald_at_...>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 10:36:58 -0500


Roderick wrote:

>This rule is intended for magic stacking before a contest begins - "If he has warning of a contest..." Normally you can only claim your "First Magic" at the start of a contest. Note that the Stacking magic section is a subsection of First Magic.
>
>

A related problem that came up in my game last night involved "mundane" abilities. My players abide by the three magical augments rule faithfully, but layer on the mundane augments like crazy. "So, I am Strong, have a Hatred for the enemy, am Loyal to House (improvised), Determined (improvised) ..." Between the magic and mundane augments it is not uncommon for them to have six augments going. Mundane abilities are not subject to First Magic, either. If you are Strong, Hate the enemy, and are Loyal and Determined then you pretty much just get the benefit without having to prepare. In Hero Wars you couldn't augment with more than one mundane ability, but HeroQuest doesn't seem to have this limitation. It is one area where mundane abilities have an advantage over magic. (except Blessings, which are always on)

Now this isn't such a terrible problem - I adjust the villains as needed. My problem is that the story comes to a screeching halt while they scour their character sheets looking for another +1 augment. I may need to become a bit more discriminating about what abilities I allow as "always on" auto-augments.

>The SWAT Team are augmenting *during* a contest, so can throw as much magic as they want on their guy (with the proviso that each magical ability (Affinity, etc) is only used once). Basically, they are trading their chance to hit the opponent for the possibly useless action of augmenting their buddy. Meanwhile, they are getting whittled down by Big Bad.
>
>

This is an excellent point! Our SWAT team contests usually involve a crowd of heroes augmenting their champion with everything they have, magical and mundane, before the contest begins. Prep time lasts fifteen minutes for a five minute contest. This raises tedium to the level of Olympic sport. <laugh>

~Kevin McD

Powered by hypermail