On 21 May 2004 at 19:21, bethexton_at_... wrote:
> There is definately an issue of how to 'give' a powerful magic item.
> By the rules it would start at 13, which just doesn't always make
> sense. I think it is fair, however, for the narrator to give more
> powerful items as he/she feels fit, and just have the hero cement it
> with a key word. That is if during a scenario you obtain the Sword
> of Seven Winds, and it has "summon howling gale" 15W2, "blow away
> missiles" 5W, and "disrupt water" 15W, at the end of the session if
> the narrator wants the characters to be able to keep the sword, there
> is no reason you couldn't be allowed to cement it with a hero point
> and keep the abilities as such. Just like it takes one hero point to
> cement a mundane item of note, be it a nice gold ring or the Grand
> Blood Diamond of the Lost King.
Or make them cement it like a Fetish. Like a Fetish it has multiple powers, all of which can be used as active abilities. It isn't quite the same, but its close enough to ballpark it around the same cost, somewhere between 10 and 20 points depending on what you think of it being concentrated magic and the relative advantages of it vis a vis a Fetish.
Come to think of it, the "Gain new Charms and Fetishes" table is nice, but since Fetishes are supposed to have more than one ability, do you just use the highest to price it?
> I'm not advocating routinely giving powerful items away, and most
> should probably have at least some compensating cost--you get a
> repuation, someone else wants it, it marks you as a rebel, etc.
As in all cases, Narrators are free to choose how they want to run their games, I'm just trying to get some guidelines based within the rules.
> A note about augments, however. A +1 augment is actually just as
> valid at high levels as low ones. Without going into mathematical
> philosophy, just think about it this way:
Yeah, I realize that. I was thinking more on the lines of starting a powerful magic item at 13 when storyline wise, it has already been established as being more powerful than that.
> How I think you could compensate "passive" abilities like "sharpness
> 18" is by making them automatic, always happening. So the sword
> with "lightning blade" 18 can be used as a hand held lightning bolt,
> or after an action give a +2 augment. The sword with "Sharp" 18
> can't really be used actively, but it always has that extra +2
> augment, which is handy when you don't have all the time in the world
> for augmenting.
That's cute.
Here's another aspect I'm curious about with this. When to use the "14 is natural magic resistance" aspect of these things? It would certainly be one way in which a magic item having a seemingly low rating wouldn't be as big a deal. If I have a Love Potion 2W, should the person I use it on get to resist with their hatred of me, or Icy Cool, or Strong Will, or is the fact that it IS magic more important, and they roll against 14?
Would that apply to other items? (your wind blowing sword?)
Or would you just decide the target could resist with those, but use a situational modifier for resisting in this case. I know the rules say you can resist with any appropriate mundane ability, I'm just not sure how appropriate I would consider these in this case.
(Maybe keep the 14 but let them use any other relevant ability as augments?)
Anyone got suggestions?
LC
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