Advantages Are Not Utility Priced

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

Also, this is what is at least implied in Characters. A character's point total is referred to as their "power level." If character points aren't at least to some degree intended to represent usefulness (which I would say is synonymous with power), then why is that phrasing used? Why not call a character's point total their "assumed commonality?"

Because that would sound like bureaucratic gibberish. Characters with more points do in fact tend to end up more powerful, though.

And I have never, ever seen anyone new to the game expect those point costs to represent anything other than usefulness.

Heh. Suckers.

It doesn't make any sense to me to offer character creation tradeoffs for commonality instead of usefulness. You'll get vastly different power levels for the same point total.

You know, I can't count the number of newbies who I have warned off of thinking a 200 point character is going to be evenly matched in a fight with another 200 point character. It ain't true. You know that perfectly well.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Heh. Suckers.

Uh-huh.

You know, I can't count the number of newbies who I have warned off of thinking a 200 point character is going to be evenly matched in a fight with another 200 point character. It ain't true. You know that perfectly well.

You're conflating 'usefulness' with 'ability to win fights.' That's not the case. You know that perfectly well.

[Vaevictis Asmadi]

The OP is at least correct where Unaging and Very Rapid Healing are concerned. Their costs make no sense for usefulness.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi

The OP is at least correct where Unaging and Very Rapid Healing are concerned. Their costs make no sense for usefulness.

There was a time when Unaging cost 40... however, unaging can easily be worth a lot of points, it just requires a campaign that lasts for long enough that aging rolls matter.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

Uh-huh.



You're conflating 'usefulness' with 'ability to win fights.' That's not the case. You know that perfectly well.

In the right situation, they are the same. Said situation is of course "a fight"

Of course the thing is, it's well known that rarity does add value to anything that possesses value in the first place. A rare power is one that will rarely be duplicated by opponents or even team-mate, and will only occasionally be defended against. Which is why "unusual origin" exists.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

it's well known that rarity does add value to anything that possesses value in the first place

As it was once well known that women have fewer teeth than men. Aristotle said so.

You're treating value as a quality something possesses rather than as a verb, which is what it is. People value. Things don't have value. If you're going to treat 'value' as a quality of a trait, then you're not going to ever be able to make any sense of the resulting mess. How do you measure this quality to make the sorts of comparisons your claim assumes possible?

Besides, I think Immunity to Polio is more valuable the more people have it. Herd immunity.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

As it was once well known that women have fewer teeth than men. Aristotle said so.

You're treating value as a quality something possesses rather than as a verb, which is what it is. People value. Things don't have value. If you're going to treat 'value' as a quality of a trait, then you're not going to ever be able to make any sense of the resulting mess. How do you measure this quality to make the sorts of comparisons your claim assumes possible?

Besides, I think Immunity to Polio is more valuable the more people have it. Herd immunity.

<shrug> You're wrong. Herd immunity means that each individual person's immunity to polio matters less because they are less likely to encounter it. It's only when immunity is a relatively rare commodity that it becomes precious.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

<shrug> You're wrong. Herd immunity means that each individual person's immunity to polio matters less because they are less likely to encounter it. It's only when immunity is a relatively rare commodity that it becomes precious.

The more people who have High TL 1, the more valuable it is.

You're being imprecise with your language, so I can make things up and there's no way to know whether they're right or wrong.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

The more people who have High TL 1, the more valuable it is.

The more people who have High TL 1 the closer the setting is to being one TL higher, making that High TL meaningless.

[hal]

For what it is worth, my wife was given a chance to take an ability that was built using the Advantages section of GURPS 4e. It had to do with dealing with the dead, and she looked at the price of it, and said "too expensive, I can buy better things with the points than that"

That's all ANYTHING in GURPS really is - a "thing" that has a cost. If the cost is acceptable to the buyer, they buy it. If the cost is too expensive, they either buy it and feel cheated, or they don't buy it and make do with what they have. To this day, I think that GURPS PSIONICS for 4e just plain STINKS (I'd use other stronger language, but I'm refraining for now).

Truth be told, you won't see me dispose of my GURPS 3e rules simply because I'm not convinced that GURPS 4e in its entirety, went a better direction. That's my 2 cents worth.