More things to spend XP on.

[Rick_Smith]

Hi all,
This was a variant rule buried deep in another thread.

One thing is that Wizards get a place to spend XP, (their staffs), but heroes don't get anything similar.

***

One way to look at the wizard's staff mana bank is it is an advantage in GURPS terms. It is like gradually buying the Extra Fatigue Points advantage. I do not see why a handful of similar advantages could be created. Each character can pick one at character creation.

All of these have the same cost to improve. So if it is decided that putting more points of mana into your staff costs progressively more experience, the following advantages would also pay at the same rate.


Wizards would commonly pick the Staff Advantage. But others are possible:

Weapon Speed. The character spends XP and gradually increases their speed with a single type of weapon. This improves their DX for orders of attack but does not improve their chances to hit. (So if you have a +5 speed and a 12 DX, you would attack with the 17 DX figures, but you would still need a 12 or less to hit. This is not an improvement to a particular weapon, but rather a mystic understanding of how to wield a weapon fast. If you lose your favourite sword, you can replace it with another sword and still keep this bonus. The maximum weapon speed bonus is equal to your DX.

Spell Speed. As above, but it allows wizards to cast spells faster.

Jack of all Trades. You learn many skills and languages quickly and easily. Each point of this advantage bought decreases by one the total of the difficulty of the spells, talents and languages. (So if you had 12 points of talents, and put 3 points into Jack of all Trades, your XP cost to learn a new talent would be based on 12-3 = 9 points.) The maximum number of points that may be bought of this advantage is equal to your IQ.

Mystic Strength. You have a mystic understanding of great ST. Each point put into this advantage allows you to increase your ST by one, but only for the following purposes. The Advantages of Great ST rules on page 8 of ItL, Lifting, pushing or dragging heavy objects, saving throw against ST which are caused by magic spells and effects, and, finally, spells that are affected by your ST. So if you had a ST 14 and 7 points of Mystic Strength, you ST if effectively 21 vs magic and a Sleep spell would not effect you. This bonus ST can NOT be used to help you wield heavier weapons nor may it be used to meet the ST prerequisite to talents. The maximum number of points that may be bought on Mystic ST is equal to your basic ST.

Etcetera. A few more of these could easily be invented.

***
Most wizards would choose to take the Staff Advantage, but some wizards might think Spell Speed would be important (they like casting their spells early in the fight). A few of these advantages would add more variety to characters.

Warm regards, Rick.

[Wayne]

A MA boost is something that most players would spend XP on.

[Rick_Smith]

Originally Posted by Wayne

A MA boost is something that most players would spend XP on.

Hi Wayne,
Very clever idea. You are right, that would tempt me. How does this sound:

Mystic Speed 1: Each four levels of this will give you +1 MA. (No rounding up, you need the full 4 levels to gain the bonus.)

-- OR --

Mystic Speed 2: Three points added to this ability on this give you +1 MA. After that 4 points give an additional +1 MA. 5 more points spent give an additional +1 MA. And a final 6 points gives a final +1 MA. (So you gain +4 MA for 18 levels of this advantage.)

The second level is more complex, but MA is so important I like having the feeling of diminishing returns. On the other hand, the Staff ability is linear, so likely the simpler version would be better.

Warm regards, Rick.

[Wayne]

I like the idea of diminishing returns as well. If anything I'd make it worse than what you suggest.
I'm not quite sure about the XP costs you're suggesting but how I'd envisage it would be:

+1 MA : ' n' XP
+2 MA : '2n' XP
+3 MA : '4n' XP
+4 MA : '8n' XP

So, you want to go up 5 MA? Feel free, it's going to be expensive…

[Nils_Lindeberg]

A very good idea overall Rick.

Extend it to many advantages. And there shouldn't really be a need to limit it to just one.

I would like options for other kinds of rewards like status, influence, wealth, home base, followers, reputation, ancestor heirloom weapons, family, contacts, trading house, guild, relationships with a god or religion, membership or titles, etc.

It will be a way for players to signal the GM what they want for character advances. Sure some of them might require you to get a trainer, sponsor or another benefactor to help you. And that part might be an adventure in itself. But you need to find that too if you are to learn more advanced talents or spells.

[Anomylous]

I've played with the idea of adding Feats as things you can buy with XP. Example ideas, not fully worked out:

Quick Draw: attack on the same turn you readied your weapon

Snap Rise: stand up from kneeling/prone and attack on the same turn

Deadeye: for missile weapon users, increases chance of a critical hit like Fencing does for swordsmen. (Should be expensive!)

Shield Wall: combine the "hits stopped" of your shield with those of up to two adjacent figures who also have this feat

Shield Defense: use your shield to defend, forcing your opponent to roll 4 dice to hit you. You may still attack with your weapon, but at -4 adjDX.

Power Attack: spend Fatigue to do extra damage on one attack (which rolls to hit per normal).

Whack-em-All: spend Fatigue to make an extra attack (at -4 DX penalty, or -6 if you already used Two Weapons to make a second attack at -4)

The Spartan Way: spend Fatigue to move full MA and still attack


I had some ideas for wizards as well, but the new staff rules render a lot of them obsolete. A few that stay relevant-ish:

Blood Magic: Allows wizard to cast from hit points, taking damage instead of fatigue - each point of damage gives 2 fST towards the spell (maybe more - taking actual damage is a pretty severe penalty)

Point & Shoot: Staff gives -2 effective range on all Thrown spells

Stored Spell: ability to pre-cast one spell and "store" it in some manner, presumably in the staff or another device, to be used later. Can be taken multiple times; each time gives you the ability to store one more spell. There should be some limit on this, maybe that the total ST cost of stored spells can't equal more than the wizard's IQ.

Not Quite Napalm: Fireballs have a 50% chance of setting anything they hit on fire.

[zot]

Rick, I love this idea! (and I'm planning to use it in my theurgy system)

[KevinJ]

I like the idea of XP sinks that give a small, but distinct bonus. Not all Talents have to be rambling paragraphs.

[David L Pulver]

Instead of just XP things you buy during play, how about adding a category of minor talents that simply cost 1/2 talent point, i.e., are priced two for one?

[zot]

Originally Posted by David L Pulver

Instead of just XP things you buy during play, how about adding a category of minor talents that simply cost 1/2 talent point, i.e., are priced two for one?

That's a good name. If I remember correctly, the latest XP draft Steve posted had talent points at 500 XP and staff mana at 200 XP, making a staff mana point a "minor talent". So, 2/5 of a talent :).