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Anaraxes · 05-06-2017, 03:20 PM

I found the premise a little hard to follow. Breadth of ability isn't the only factor in slot cost.

In fact, it's not even the main cost. Ease of switching abilities is important -- compare the difference between the Cosmic slot (just wish new abilities into being) compared to Super-Memorization (1 sec per CP of ability) or chip slots (in addition to the 3s time, there's also the physical item, the "chip", to obtain with in-game resources, carry about, and protect). And the few points for a slot are rapidly outweighed by the point multipler for the size of the ability the slot holds.

The Physical Enhancement is really an inverse sort of Limited. MA is one of those cases where the base form of the ability given in Characters is neither the least limited nor most limited form. So there are both Enhancements and Limitations that affect the breadth of the ability. Still, that does give some basis for comparison for other sorts of scope limitations.

Powers p63 spells out the guidelines for slot costs, from 4 for a "short list" to 7 for "anything". (That page also makes rearrangement time a factor for point multiplier, but not the fixed slot cost.) Rounding on such small integers means the numbers aren't quite compatible with the values for Physical, but they're close. (If "Mental and Skills" are base 4, then +50% Physical Only applied to the base slot cost would be 6, and "Mental or Physical" (+100%) would be 8.)

There is little point in having an MA that's limited to very few abilities. It's actually somewhat difficult for MAs to be cost-effective compared to a collection of abilities in an Alternate Abilities set. The main advantage of MA lies precisely in its open-endedness, able to meet any situation that comes to hand, including the potential for a wide variety of abilities (at least 11 to beat an AA; possibly as many as 46 to match the multiplier for a Cosmic slot).

05-06-2017, 03:20 PM	#5
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Custom Modular Abilities I found the premise a little hard to follow. Breadth of ability isn't the only factor in slot cost. In fact, it's not even the main cost. Ease of switching abilities is important -- compare the difference between the Cosmic slot (just wish new abilities into being) compared to Super-Memorization (1 sec per CP of ability) or chip slots (in addition to the 3s time, there's also the physical item, the "chip", to obtain with in-game resources, carry about, and protect). And the few points for a slot are rapidly outweighed by the point multipler for the size of the ability the slot holds. The Physical Enhancement is really an inverse sort of Limited. MA is one of those cases where the base form of the ability given in Characters is neither the least limited nor most limited form. So there are both Enhancements and Limitations that affect the breadth of the ability. Still, that does give some basis for comparison for other sorts of scope limitations. Powers p63 spells out the guidelines for slot costs, from 4 for a "short list" to 7 for "anything". (That page also makes rearrangement time a factor for point multiplier, but not the fixed slot cost.) Rounding on such small integers means the numbers aren't quite compatible with the values for Physical, but they're close. (If "Mental and Skills" are base 4, then +50% Physical Only applied to the base slot cost would be 6, and "Mental or Physical" (+100%) would be 8.) There is little point in having an MA that's limited to very few abilities. It's actually somewhat difficult for MAs to be cost-effective compared to a collection of abilities in an Alternate Abilities set. The main advantage of MA lies precisely in its open-endedness, able to meet any situation that comes to hand, including the potential for a wide variety of abilities (at least 11 to beat an AA; possibly as many as 46 to match the multiplier for a Cosmic slot).