>From: "Darren Hill" <rpglists_at_...>
>
>Isn't it the case that those clan chiefs w3 abilities aren't actually true
>keywords, but are shorthand ratings for their favourite abilities out of
>their keyword (and so, includes their 'game' experience as well)? If so,
>the saga advancement system doesn't have to produce their stats.
Well, this has been said, but I empathize with Jane here. She's not saying that she needs the system to produce these folks, but that if the players use it, that the characters will come out at about the right ability levels when they are complete.
Looked at that way, coming out in the 2 mastery range isn't outrageous, but that's only for one keyword (the others would be still at 17). I agree with her that more is merited for "interesting times." Heck, these are the "Heroes", they ought to get some consideration.
There are some interesting ramifications of what happens if a player wants to pick up a new ability, and what happens to abilities that are elevated from keyword base, BTW. Nothing one can't figure out, however.
>On the subject of raining keywords, one thing that bothers me is rating
>escalation.
>Let's say you have a starting character with 7w in his main ability, and
>in some contest he manages to get 5 of his 17 ratings to apply, giving him
>+10 (half a mastery) for a rating of 17w.
>If that same character had a keyword of 17w3 and a main ability of 7w4,
>he'd get 5x+8, or two whole masteries added to his main rating, for 7w6.
>Since I'm considering running a high-ish power game (where double or
>triple masteries in keywords is standard for pcs), this worries me. Should
>I be worried?
I don't think so. Put this hero (for that's what he is with those ratings) up against a Shadow Dragon, and see how he fares. I think 6 masteries is about where a hero should be with augments. Just remember that the 6 mastery demigod will wipe the floor with him with his augments.
The problem with the argument that the ratings in the book represent an augmented character is that they don't seem to fit the scale then. If you say these are just base abilities, it all comes back into scope, I find.
I've been planning on some titanic battles lately. :-)
Mike
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