Five Earths, All in a Row

[Prince Charon]

It's not the skills I'm having a problem with, I couldn't get past the powers on the first read-through. I know I said 200 points was a soft limit and not a hard limit, but seriously, I'd suggest toning him down, a bit, unless you plan on putting him in a specifically superhero version of the setting (which is perfectly fair, I just wasn't expecting that). I have some characters I've been thinking of posting, but haven't because they're still incomplete, or have things I'm not sure about. Now I'm thinking maybe I should post them, anyway.

In general, most people, even fairly powerful ones, have powers like Thoughtform Talent and/or Path/Book Adept, sometimes a little Signature Gear from the spirits, and maybe one or two other minor powers and some perks. Even the ones with lots of powers have lots of weak powers. Having more than one level per power is fairly rare, though not forbidden, and usually means you've been very lucky, or have been working on building up that power. It does help that most of your powers come from Gadgets, but it still looks a bit munchkiny, even if that's not how you meant it. How much backstory do you have for the Gadgets that 'you' have, and how 'you' got them? Also, how much backstory for how a hell raven likes you enough to become your ally?

I'll put a Gadget or two that I've been working on in the next post, so as not to push this one past the character limit.

Looking through it again, at least you have the skills to make fetishes, and have kept them at a relatively low level, so I can believe that, but if you seriously want to keep all those gadgets (if any of them started out as gifts from the spirits, that's acceptable, but if so, I'd like to know which, and whether you took the time to improve it/them, or if they came that way), and don't want to drop a lot of the powers, you'll need to make note of how much time you spent working on empowering them. If this is 5Earths-you 'now', on December 10, 2013, it's more believable than if this is 5Earths-you some time in, say, February or March.

Also, what style do 'you' use, and is it an Effect Shaping or Energy Accumulating style?

In general, I'd replace

Ritual Magery (Path/Book) (3) [30]
Ritual Magery 0 [5]

with

Thoughtform Talent 3 [30]

because no-one in-setting has any form of Magery, unless they came from a world other than the Five. Thoughform Talent takes the place of Magery for this purpose (there are other Talents than can be used, but the way you've written yourself up, Thoughform Talent probably works best). Also, I'd probably drop Thoughform Talent to level one, but I'm not insisting on that.

For the Blasting Rod, I'd suggest reducing most or all ofthe powers that are above one down to one. The Wizard Hat and Wizard's Robes are fine as they are, unless you want to put a Low Ceiling limitation on Flight.

[Prince Charon]

I'm not 100% sure about this one, but I'm more sure of is than I am of the writeup I have for Power rings, which I'll post part of, below:

Magic Wand (Potterverse)

Path/Book Adept 3 (Time, Space, Material; Breakable (DR 2; SM -5 or -6) -20%*; Can Be Stolen, -30%; Must Have Thoughtform Talent 1+, -10%;, Must Be Chosen By Wand, -20%) [6]

*The Breakable limitation should actually be -30%, but that would give a total cost reduction of -90%, rather than the maximum of -80%. Remember this when adding or removing enhancements or limitations.

Notes

Some wands have other properties, based on the wood they are made of, or the core material their creator imagines or places in them, as described on the Pottermore website, and its wiki. Others are more generic, simply matching the example above. While few wand-spirits have the concept of language, much less the ability to use it, many have some form of sapience, and often have personalities of their own - though they are normally quite limited in their ability to express it. The wand-spirit as a character would normally have IQ 6 to 8, No Manipulators, No Legs (Portable), and in most cases, Slave Mentality, among other appropriate disadvantages, and might be a strange sort of Ally. A wand suitable as a PC would be especially unusual and powerful.

Many who have these wands also have some level of Wild Talent with the 'Emergencies Only,' 'Focused: Psi (Thoughtforms),' and usually 'Uncontrollable' limitations, and some wands require that advantage as well as or instead of Thoughtform Talent.

The usual Potterverse style is Effect Shaping, and the skill is Ritual Magic (Potterverse). A wand made for an Energy Accumulating version would have two levels of Time.

The Paths of Potterverse magic are:

Path of Charms
Path of Transfiguration
Path of Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses
Path of Potions
Path of Items

Rituals on the Path of Transfiguration often have prohibitively harsh penalties, much to the frustration of many casters. Even First Year transfigurations are likely to have penalties in excess of -10, especially if warping space is involved. Transfigurations that don't require warping space will mostly be easier - illusions may fall under Transfiguration or Charms, depending on how the creator of the ritual thinks of them. Rituals in the other Paths will mostly have defaults based on the year the novels say it should be learned, unless noted otherwise:

Year 1: 0 or -1
Year 2: -1 or -2
Year 3: -2 or -3
Year 4: -3 or -4
Year 5: -4 to -6
Year 6: -6 to -8
Year 7: -8 or worse

If the logic of the setting suggests that a spell should have a higher or lower default penalty than its usual year of introduction (or apparent difficulty in the books, if no year is given), the GM should feel free to adjust it. The years given are only important because they affect how hard practitioners of the style think the spell should be.

Rituals on the Paths of Potions and Items do not involve wand use, and do not seem to benefit from it. While there was no 'Magic Item Creation' class in the novels, AFAICT, there clearly were magic items, and some way of producing them in large numbers. Since neither Harry, Hermione, nor Ron attended Hogwarts in Book Seven, placing a class on the creation of permanent, reusable magic items in Seventh Year would be plausible, and fit the fact that Fetish has a default penalty of -8 (placing it in Sixth Year or earlier would also work, as Harry just might not have noticed the class, since he wasn't taking it). Single-use items fall under the concept of charms (Thaumatology p139, rather than the Path of Charms), as do potions.

Popular belief among many fans has it that Ancient Runes and/or Arithmancy are involved in the creation of magic items, the invention of new spells, or both, and thus Symbol Drawing (any alphabet) and Fortune-Telling (Numerology) are Complementary skills for Ritual Magic (Potterverse), and the Paths derived from it - the Path of Items, especially. Because so many fans don't know that Arithmancy is supposed to be a class in numerology, Mathematics is also a Complementary skill, and because Astronomy (probably Observational) is a core class, both it and Fortune-Telling (Astrology) may serve as Complementary skills. Potter-style casters may take advantage of the Decanic modifiers (GURPS Thaumatology pp83-86 & 248-252), if they are aware of them.



Power Ring (Common)

Advantages

Path/Book Adept 4 (Time 2, Space, Material; Nuisance Effect (Obvious: Green Glow), -5%) [38]

(May need to change this, per discussion here, despite this not being a RPM system.)

Perks

Active Thoughtform Creation [1]

The Gadget Limitations vary from ring to ring (some are more destructible than others, for example), as do the skills, if any, programmed into it. Unless the skills are covered under Modular Abilities, no other advantages are absolutely required, apart from possibly a limited form of Altered Time Rate, for faster casting (probably not going there).

[Pomphis]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Path/Book Adept 3 (Time, Space, Material; Breakable (DR 2; SM -5 or -6) -20%*; Can Be Stolen, -30%; Must Have Thoughtform Talent 1+, -10%;, Must Be Chosen By Wand, -20%) [6]

I have a problem with the last one. If a PC has a wand he is Chosen, and therefore this does not limit it´s utility for him at all. "May not be used by other party members" may be a valid limitation, but IMO is not worth -20%. Allies or familiars do not get such a limitation.

And Can Be Stolen should be -15%. B117: "Halve the value of the limitation if
the gadget will not immediately work for the thief" which IMO follows from Must Be Chosen By Wand.

[nick012000]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

It's not the skills I'm having a problem with, I couldn't get past the powers on the first read-through. I know I said 200 points was a soft limit and not a hard limit, but seriously, I'd suggest toning him down, a bit, unless you plan on putting him in a specifically superhero version of the setting (which is perfectly fair, I just wasn't expecting that). I have some characters I've been thinking of posting, but haven't because they're still incomplete, or have things I'm not sure about. Now I'm thinking maybe I should post them, anyway.

Hmm. He's certainly well into Cinematic territory, though I dunno if I'd call him a Superhero.

In general, most people, even fairly powerful ones, have powers like Thoughtform Talent and/or Path/Book Adept, sometimes a little Signature Gear from the spirits, and maybe one or two other minor powers and some perks. Even the ones with lots of powers have lots of weak powers. Having more than one level per power is fairly rare, though not forbidden, and usually means you've been very lucky, or have been working on building up that power.

Uhh, I take it you don't have much experience with GURPS, then? In order to achieve the power scales you talked about in the fluff posts, multiple levels are pretty much required if you want something more potent than being able to punch someone from across the room, because of how the damage system works.

It does help that most of your powers come from Gadgets, but it still looks a bit munchkiny, even if that's not how you meant it. How much backstory do you have for the Gadgets that 'you' have, and how 'you' got them?

He sat down, researched runes, kaballah, taoist magic, and the like, and started enchanting them while he sat at a local shopping mall for two hours everyday waiting for his dad to pick him up after he finished training (and his dad finished work).

Also, how much backstory for how a hell raven likes you enough to become your ally?

Basically, once he realised he had magical powers, he decided to try a demon-summoning ritual, drew a Seal of Solomon inside a pentagram, and decided she'd be the ideal spirit to try to summon (because she's not really malevolent, and he though she was pretty cool). After a little bit going "Holy ****, that actually worked" and talking to her about things like nuclear power, he decided to ask her out on a date, and romance ensued.

Looking through it again, at least you have the skills to make fetishes, and have kept them at a relatively low level, so I can believe that, but if you seriously want to keep all those gadgets (if any of them started out as gifts from the spirits, that's acceptable, but if so, I'd like to know which, and whether you took the time to improve it/them, or if they came that way), and don't want to drop a lot of the powers, you'll need to make note of how much time you spent working on empowering them.

All the magic items in this setting are fetishes, right? The spirits in them are thought-forms he conjured up out of the ether during the enchantment process.

If this is 5Earths-you 'now', on December 10, 2013, it's more believable than if this is 5Earths-you some time in, say, February or March.

Well, early November, because that's where the timeline's at so far, but yeah, pretty much.

Also, what style do 'you' use, and is it an Effect Shaping or Energy Accumulating style?

I dunno? *looks it up* Hmm, Energy Accumulating's more appropriate, I think, though it'd mean I'd need to change my sheet to remove the points spent on ritual-techniques.

In general, I'd replace

Ritual Magery (Path/Book) (3) [30]
Ritual Magery 0 [5]

with

Thoughtform Talent 3 [30]

because no-one in-setting has any form of Magery, unless they came from a world other than the Five. Thoughform Talent takes the place of Magery for this purpose (there are other Talents than can be used, but the way you've written yourself up, Thoughform Talent probably works best). Also, I'd probably drop Thoughform Talent to level one, but I'm not insisting on that.

Yeah, okay. Without the penalties from the ritual techniques (if I've understood how Energy Gathering works correctly), losing a few extra points isn't really that critical. I can probably put them back into buying up Energy Reserve anyway.

For the Blasting Rod, I'd suggest reducing most or all ofthe powers that are above one down to one. The Wizard Hat and Wizard's Robes are fine as they are, unless you want to put a Low Ceiling limitation on Flight.

That sort of contradicts the idea that the Lantern Corps members have "machine gun"-level power in their rings; as his is statted up right now, his Blasting Rod is basically an SMG in its default mode, with its alternate modes being basically a hunting rifle and a cluster-bomb grenade launcher.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Pomphis

I have a problem with the last one. If a PC has a wand he is Chosen, and therefore this does not limit it´s utility for him at all. "May not be used by other party members" may be a valid limitation, but IMO is not worth -20%. Allies or familiars do not get such a limitation.

And Can Be Stolen should be -15%. B117: "Halve the value of the limitation if
the gadget will not immediately work for the thief" which IMO follows from Must Be Chosen By Wand.

Both good points, and really, all Gadgets that are gifts from spirits, rather than being enchanted, should have that version of Can Be Stolen (unless that can't, in fact, be stolen), due to the spirits nearly always making them that way.

Originally Posted by nick012000

Hmm. He's certainly well into Cinematic territory, though I dunno if I'd call him a Superhero.


Uhh, I take it you don't have much experience with GURPS, then? In order to achieve the power scales you talked about in the fluff posts, multiple levels are pretty much required if you want something more potent than being able to punch someone from across the room, because of how the damage system works.

No, I have a lot of experience with GURPS, the intention was that people starting out with multiple levels of powers are rare (Cinematic), and starting out with multiple levels of powers other than Thoughtform Talent and Path/Book Adept are even more rare (Superhero, especially if the point level is that much past 200).

Originally Posted by nick012000

He sat down, researched runes, kaballah, taoist magic, and the like, and started enchanting them while he sat at a local shopping mall for two hours everyday waiting for his dad to pick him up after he finished training (and his dad finished work).

I'll have to think about that, but a composite style is appropriate to this eccentric setting, and having Path/Book Adept 2 (I assume you're excluding both Time and Ritual Space, but you should really record it on your character sheet) would allow you to accomplish that... maybe.

Originally Posted by nick012000

Basically, once he realised he had magical powers, he decided to try a demon-summoning ritual, drew a Seal of Solomon inside a pentagram, and decided she'd be the ideal spirit to try to summon (because she's not really malevolent, and he though she was pretty cool). After a little bit going "Holy ****, that actually worked" and talking to her about things like nuclear power, he decided to ask her out on a date, and romance ensued.

I'm allowing that mostly because you made me laugh. Never underestimate the power and importance of humour in a character backstory.

Originally Posted by nick012000

All the magic items in this setting are fetishes, right? The spirits in them are thought-forms he conjured up out of the ether during the enchantment process.

As opposed to spirits binding themselves, or other spirits, to them, which is what I meant by 'gifts from the spirits'. He probably spent more time building up the thoughtforms, than he did binding them to their fetishes.

Originally Posted by nick012000

Well, early November, because that's where the timeline's at so far, but yeah, pretty much.

OK.

Originally Posted by nick012000

I dunno? *looks it up* Hmm, Energy Accumulating's more appropriate, I think, though it'd mean I'd need to change my sheet to remove the points spent on ritual-techniques.


Yeah, okay. Without the penalties from the ritual techniques (if I've understood how Energy Gathering works correctly), losing a few extra points isn't really that critical. I can probably put them back into buying up Energy Reserve anyway.

Before you finalize that, have a look here, plug 'your' skill in, and test various energy levels. One of the limitations of Energy Accumulating magic, at least the way RPM is set up, which is the most clearly defined Energy Accumulating style I've seen so far, is that higher levels of energy are hard to obtain. You may be leaning hard on your energy reserve, whenever you try to cast or enchant anything significant.

Originally Posted by nick012000

That sort of contradicts the idea that the Lantern Corps members have "machine gun"-level power in their rings; as his is statted up right now, his Blasting Rod is basically an SMG in its default mode, with its alternate modes being basically a hunting rifle and a cluster-bomb grenade launcher.

See the power ring partial writeup in the post Pomphis replied to - they're basically fast spell-casters. Also, recall that superhero type characters are rare (sure, there are lots of them, but there are lots and lots of people in the world). If you want to be at that level, I'm not objecting, I just want to make sure you know that you are effectively operating in that part/aspect of the setting, even if you're at the lower end of it.

Having lots of powers, lots of levels, or both, is going to attract attention, as is having a Hell-raven girlfriend - speaking of whom, do you have a character sheet for her? Power attracts adventure, because the spirits want people to act in-genre (not that they all agree on what the genre is), and if you have that many points worth of powers (as opposed to point in skills, mundane advantages, or Luck - which you may want to take), they're paying more attention to you, than they are to most other people. Weirdness Magnet (or variants thereof, like the Murder Magnet disad that I though was in GURPS Mysteries, but apparently isn't - it's the disad that defines amateur detectives like Jessica Fletcher) is not uncommon, among those with a lot of points in powers, or especially high magical skills.

The majority, the 20 to 50 point NPCs with only 2 - 5 points of powers, will be mostly ignored unless they go out of there way to gain more power, either directly, or through training up their mystical skills. Some do, some just go back to talking on forums, and only engaging in 'safe' experiments with what little power they have. 'You', on the other hand, set out to make yourself particularly interesting.

If I wanted to say anything else, I've forgotten between all the distractions of living with other people, and strange automated phone calls at eleven in the bloody evening, while I'm trying to type this reply.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

(SNIP)

The majority, the 20 to 50 point NPCs with only 2 - 5 points of powers, will be mostly ignored unless they go out of there way to gain more power, either directly, or through training up their mystical skills. Some do, some just go back to talking on forums, and only engaging in 'safe' experiments with what little power they have. 'You', on the other hand, set out to make yourself particularly interesting.

(SNIP)

I guess we know whose employer or favorite restaurant gets a job application from Sybil Dancer, Real Soon Now(tm).

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

I guess we know whose employer or favorite restaurant gets a job application from Sybil Dancer, Real Soon Now(tm).

That's a distinct possibility. Of course, his girlfriend would object, but Sybil has no reason to know that his girlfriend is that big of a threat. BTW, Nick, would you define the area where you live as high-population density, middle population density, or low (rural) population density. The mention of the mall makes me think of the first two, more than the third, and that effects the number of people with powers who might be around.

On another note, I've been thinking about Energy Accumulating styles, and how Ritual Path Magic might differ from other EA styles. RPM is an improvisational style, like Symbol-Drawing styles are. You can do anything you can think of, as long as you have the power and the right Paths (or Symbols, or Words, or Realms, or...), and you don't take a skill penalty for doing it. I'm not even sure you can spend points on RPM rituals, or if there'd be any point.

I've also been thinking of the difference between improvisational and non-improvisational styles, and whether all EA styles are improvisational, or not. The question is important, because I've been thinking about whether to charge an Unusual Background for improvisational styles, or not, and how much it should be, or if I should just declare all styles to be improvisational, since all rituals in a Path default to that Path, in an Effect Shaping style.

One thought I had, is that if you don't have a ritual noted on your character sheet, and use a non-improvisational style, you need to roll against the appropriate Path to see if you remember how it goes, with a penalty one worse than the Effect Shaping penalty for the ritual (so, for example, if you've never used Fetish, and are trying to recall how it goes, the penalty to remember all the details well enough to cast it is -9, but you only have to think about it for a few seconds to know what to do, not the hour it usually takes to perform the ritual), while in an improvisational style, you just set it up and go. Possibly, in a non-improvisational EA style, you spend a Perk to get eight of them, like Dabbler.

This seems a bit clumsy. I could say that all styles are improvisational, or that all EA styles are improvisational (in which case I really need to define that UB cost), but I don't really like that.

Thoughts?

[VulpesFulva]

Well, with RPM, there *is* a perk to improve spell casting in a *specific* type of ritual. Like, a set Path Effect for a given spell effect.

It's in the e-Splat for RPM, and Likely (?) in Monster Hunters as well...

And really, RPM includes a set of rules to *price* Energy Accumulation magic.

As a GM, one is well within their rights to alter the Paths to suit their campaign.

Given the free-wheeling nature of "magic" as Infopunk earth settles, however...

Like, my good friend "Groggy" Oxnard may well have RPM as written in the e-Splat.

Our Brony working up the "real" Thaumatology skill in-setting may well personally cast with Paths based on the Elements of Harmony, but he's working on being able to identify and perhaps reverse engineer someone else's "ZOMG REEL MAGICK FROM A BOOK AT THE MALL."

From chats with Bob Schroeck, the homebrew campaign that became GURPS Supers had a "Grand Unified Theory of Magic." This would be similar.

So, imagine, if you will, that the extant different flavors of magic are merely how each different character can best use their magic.

The "classic" spell casters like rotes that they can just rattle off to get magic to work.

The "Powers as Magic" types are either proper psis, given the setting's stated underpinnings, or folks who "Just use" their minor abilities.

Presumably, if anyone from the Five Earths go into the wider IW cosmology, they may well have to "rebuy" their magic to include the "Psi" Power source modifier instead of RAW's "Magic."

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by VulpesFulva

Presumably, if anyone from the Five Earths go into the wider IW cosmology, they may well have to "rebuy" their magic to include the "Psi" Power source modifier instead of RAW's "Magic."

Too tired to get much from the rest of it, but this is the reason I decided to call the in-setting Magery-equivalent 'Thoughtform Talent', instead of 'Ritual Magery', or 'Magery (Psi)'.

EDIT: I suppose I could give it a -5% to -10% 'Psi' or 'Meta-Psi' limitation, but then again, Magery doesn't have a 'Magic, -10%' limitation, either.

[VulpesFulva]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Too tired to get much from the rest of it, but this is the reason I decided to call the in-setting Magery-equivalent 'Thoughtform Talent', instead of 'Ritual Magery', or 'Magery (Psi)'.

EDIT: I suppose I could give it a -5% to -10% 'Psi' or 'Meta-Psi' limitation, but then again, Magery doesn't have a 'Magic, -10%' limitation, either.

Well, effectively, Magery already has a virtual "power source" disad for Magic.

Changing it to Psi would be a net +0% change