Not sure what to do about Counters. Philosophy and the orthodox Refute are the same thing now, so that may be applicable for manifest Counters as well.
> Doesn't this create at least a small chicken and
> egg situation?
Not quite sure what you mean.
> > The mental discipline gives the mystic superb concentration
> > and focus. This can be used to augment _any_ other ability.
>
> Including 'passions', relationships, 'misapplied' worship numbers,
> etc? Not sure how sensible this necessarily is.
Oops, not very. Change that to "any physical, mental or magical ability".
> > Time Max. augment
> >
> > 1 minute +1
> > 1 hour +2
> > 1 day +3
> > 1 week +4
>
> Pretty stiff restriction. Esp. given what a loudy deal augments
> already are...
I'm thinking on making similar restrictions for all use of augments and scrap the penalty if you fail (unless you fail really miserably). The table could probably be adjusted though.
> > As the mystic progresses he becomes increasingly immune to
> > external influence. At w1 in the mystic philosophy the mystic
> > no longer needs clothes and shelter for protection (modesty
> > is anoher thing). At w2, the mystic no longer needs sleep,
> > food or drink. At w3, the mystic stops aging.
>
> These numbers seem on the low side to me. I'd bump 'em up at least
> a W, to seem more in line with the HW 'ability scale'.
Hmm w3 is Hero level, isn't it?
> Also it
> should be more school-specific. Running around nekkid would be
> more within some mystic's Idiom than others, who might 'prefer'
> ones with different application (like more martial ones, most
> obviously).
But you don't have to go around naked just because you _can_. It's more about reduced vulnerability to the material world. I don't see that wide a range of invulnerabilities that you can tailor them to particular schools. Ideas are happily accepted though.
> > For each w the orthodox mystic has in the mystic philosophy,
> > all opponents receive a -1 handicap in all contests against
> > the mystic.
>
> That seems a little modest, esp. at high levels.
I thought so too. I was pondering a geometric scale:
w1 = -1 w2 = -3 w3 = -6 w4 = -10
> Also, I'm
> doubious about the idea that it applies only to 'orthodox'
> guys, with all the demarcation disputes and semantic quibbles
> that implies...
I wanted to give the orthodox guys something unique and useful...
> > Different schools
> > teach different effects. This is where the eagle talons and
> > the lightning bolt ridem fit in.
>
> I'd rather use the 'whitespace is your friend' approch to that
> particular rulebook statement, I have to admit. :-/
I think these are cool effects, so I'd like to see a way to implement them.
> > This is an extended contest of the mystic philosophy against
> > a basic difficulty which is the same as the mystic's own
> > mystic philosophy target number.
>
> Hurm. What about philosophy vs. the ability used, or the highest
> ability used, say? Always matching one ability against itself
> seems rather self-defeating.
My thinking was that the more advanced you are in the mystic philosophy, the greater the fall is.
> > If the mystic wins a minor victory or better, he is purified
> > and can once again increase his mystic philosophy. If he
> > suffers a major defeat or worse, he fails and loses 1 point
> > in mystic philosophy for a major defeat, 2 points for a
> > complete defeat. With all other results, the purification
> > fails, but has no long-term negative effects.
>
> Making the 'marginal' results no effect seems problematic. If
> your TN is 2<something> or 19<something>, you have a _very_
> slim chance of anything other than an effective tie. At the
> very best, you have a 1 in four chance of success here. Is
> the lesson to be drawn here, that mystics need lots of HPs?
The lesson is that I'm too lazy to do the statistics... Change that so that Complete defeat means -1 to the ability and so that Marginal victory means success.
Another idea is that this "fall from grace" can be treated as a Flaw, and bought down with HPs (if you don't want to chance the purification).
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