- In HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com, "Mike Holmes"
<homeydont_at_h...> wrote:
> >From: "Roderick and Ellen Robertson" <rjremr_at_s...>
>
> >On the other hand, a +20 boost to a skill (even without the
attendent AP)
> >is
> >still pretty darn good for a simple invocation
>
> I have to agree with this. I've got a animist in my game right now
that has
> a spirit with a 10W2 rating. When invoked that's a +50 to his
ability
> rating. What, precisely, is weak about that?
>
> Let's consider a very experienced animist with such a thing. He'll
likely
> have the related ability at, say, 5W2 himself. Altogether, when he
unleashes
> such a spirit, he'll be 15W4. Given a theist with a similar 5W2
ability,
> what will he have that can compete with that? Heck, what will he
have that
> can compete with the +5 augment that the thing provides as a
charm? I mean,
> basically, an animist can pick up abilties at a similar level to
his
> practice rating just by binding more spirits at a fraction of the
cost of
> building up such abilities from scratch.
>
> Seems to me that this is rather more powerful than the other
religions, not
> less. Yes, spirits can only be released once, and then they take a
while to
> come back. But that means that comparing characters, that the
animist comes
> out on top for one conflict - which is all he'll need.
>
> Animists are actually pretty worrying to me in terms of power.
>
> Mike
>
>
You are failig to apply the min-maxer theory of maximum
efficiencies...
To get a fetish costs a LOT of HPs, especially one that powerful.
You then have to buy the relationship up to be sure it works
(because as min-maxers your GM is a bastid roleplayer who always
puts hurdles in the way of your stumping the living crap out of
everything that stands reasonably near you). Those HPs could be
used to good value, like improving my single combat ability... plus
that boost is only good once per (defined period), whereas my
properly invested HPs are always available. It also means you had
to save them up over 3 or 4 sessions, OMG!!! not spend HPs as fast
(or faster) than they come in!!!
Me personally, I like animists and would play one. I love being
versatile.
But this is all away from my reason for posting, which was to get an
idea of how common higher level spirits are, those above the values
listed in the books, which I assume are the common ones. How rare is
a 10w2 spirit?