Affliction: Energy Reserve

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Taneli

Selectivity at +10% allows you to change off or on all of the various enhancements of the ability.

Makes me wonder if you took it as an Alternative Enhancement (only +2%) to something else worth +10% or more which you didn't want to switch off.

[Taneli]

With the mechanics in the my previous post, the Energy Share build posteb by zoncxs's (above), would come down to something like this:

Energy Share 1: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Energy Reserve 1 (no recharge, -70%), +10%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Reduced Duration 1/3, -10%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; Reduced Range 1/10, -30%; PM, ‑10%; Cost ER 1, -5%; Net -30%) [7]

Energy Share 2 would change the Affliction payload to Energy Reserve 2 (no recharge, -70%), +20%, and include Variable Affliction payload enhancement, +5%, and Variable Cost ER of (2+1)/2=1.5 = 1, for -5% instead of Cost ER 1; for a net -15% and cost of [8].

ES 3 would have Affliction payload of Energy Reserve (No recharge, -70%) 3, +30% and Variable Cost ER of (3+1)/2 = 2 for -10%; for a net modifier of -10%, and a cost of [9].

ES 4 payload modifier of +40% and Variable Cost ER level of (4+1)/2 = 2.5 ~ 2 for a modifier of -10% and net modifier of -0% for a cost of [10].

From this we can see that for an even level the net modifier goes up by +10% and for an on odd level it goes up by -5%. There's a caveat at every 10 levels or so, due to the payload Advantage's actual cost of 0.9 points per level, where level 9 and 10 both cost 9 points (and the Affliction's payload modifier is +90%)).

Here are the net modifiers and total costs up to level 11:

ES 5, +5%, [11]
ES 6, +15%, [12]
ES 7, +20%, [12]
ES 8, +30%, [13]
ES 9, +35%, [14]
ES 10, +35%, [14]
ES 11, +40% [14]

Remember this is not an AA build, so each line is the total cost for the variable Affliction up to that level.

Due to the low cost of the underlying Affliction payload advantage, we get this funny cost progression where every few levels we have the same cost for two or three levels in a row.

For Energy Share 11, this build costs about half of the Alternate Advantage route, but I feel like it more accurately reflects the slight added utility of being able to adjust the severity of your Affliction, and the cost of using the said Affliction.

[oneofmanynameless]

I had never considered the idea of "Variable Affliction Payload" as a +5%. I've been doing variable enhancement strength based on variable er for ages.

If it costs as much ER as it gives and the given ER is single use, then the main balance question is of whether you can recover the ER you spent on it before the duration of the granted ER expires with enough time to meaningfully use the excess. As long as exchanging energy is a zero sum game it's not that major of a balance consideration. Especially since, with this build, two different wizards can't both grant energy to the same person at the same time (due to stacking afflictions rule.) Commulative +400% would change that, but even then it's not that big of a deal: you have to keep an eye on a party of wizards pooling all their resources for a big working. But if you are using ceremonial magic rules, or the linking up rules for powers, they can already do that. And that's never been a problem in my games.

On the other hand, if the energy lasts meaningfully longer than it takes wizards to recover their energy (taking into account things that increase recovery rate like fit and breath control for FP based casters) then it becomes a positive sum game. Without Commulative it's still not necessarily that big of a deal, balance wise: the ability for a couple of wizards to take a few seconds creating an energy loop that gives each of them a couple extra energy is a neat trick, but not game breaking. With Commulative you'd want to do some math to figure out what the realistic upper limit of ramped power is and balance around that, because ramping power is now a major game mechanic.

Although even that can be balanced out pretty easily if you apply additional limiters to the use of the ability: I have a harvest witch (built using magic as powers) who can consume produce (rot it) to fill a gourd with magical energies. The ability is built like a very long duration commulative version of this, except that she can use it on herself and the energy reserve has gadget limitations as well. however, the amount of energy produced is based on the amount of produce consumed (since the ability can also be used to spoil food stores it also has a destroy food linked effect). Thus, if she can find enough food to harvest she can produce tons of energy. She's not very popular with the local villagers, but realistic economics make her theoretically infinite amount of energy quite limited and controllable.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Taneli

With the mechanics in the my previous post, the Energy Share build posteb by zoncxs's (above), would come down to something like this:

Energy Share 1: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Energy Reserve 1 (no recharge, -70%), +10%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Reduced Duration 1/3, -10%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; Reduced Range 1/10, -30%; PM, ‑10%; Cost ER 1, -5%; Net -30%) [7]

Costs FP 1 is -5%, you're forgetting the extra -5% for "ER only not FP" or whatever we call it