Wild Card Destiny and Enchanting

Mistofshadows · 09-30-2018, 11:22 AM

What do you do with destiny points from wild cards when you're not able to use the destiny point because it's basically luck and the gm is going with Kromm's ruling on the luck advantage not effecting Spells as Skills enchanting?

Basically wild card college magic enchanting... means my character has a destiny point... that he can't use...

Kelly Pedersen · 09-30-2018, 12:17 PM

I'd agree about not allowing the destiny point as Luck. However, there are other uses for such points - have you considered simply using it as 25 energy points, as suggested by Power-Ups: Impulse Buys (Points for Energy, pp. 12-13)? Personally, I'd allow such a point expenditure, from an Enchantment wildcard, to fuel either a Quick and Dirty or Slow and Sure enchantment. Note, I'd only allow one use of destiny points per enchantment this way - if you're doing Slow and Sure, you'd be effectively reducing the total energy cost to create the item by (25 X points spent), but you couldn't keep doing it every day as your points refreshed.

Other possible uses of destiny points from Enchantment that don't involve Luck:

Use Player Guidance to conveniently have the material components you need for an enchantment on hand ("as a matter of fact, I do happen to have a ruby worth $400 right here!"), or to declare that something you just found is an acceptable substitute ("It's well known that a salamander's heart, when properly preserved, can be used as the focus for a Fireball wand.").
Trade points for money by declaring someone is giving you some cash for an item you made off-screen for them.
Get a Favor from an NPC for the same reasons - you made them a magic item before, now they owe you one.
Justify Flesh Wounds by claiming to have a one-shot "protection charm". With enough destiny points, this could justify Deflecting Disadvantages, or even Miraculous Recoveries.
If you have appropriate non-Enchantment spells, you can justify a lot of Opt-In Options, again as one-shot enchanted items you've conveniently produced. Most of the combat stuff could be Body or Movement College spells, while the spell options would be Meta-College spells.

One other suggestion, which is further from the rules-as-written, but I don't think is terribly unreasonable, is to use the Changing the World option to effectively extend the duration of spells you cast. It would effectively change the duration of the spell to Permanent (so it would still be subject to being dispelled), and would cost destiny points based on a combination of the area affected and how much the duration was changed. I'd price it as a base cost of either the number of targets affected, or the radius of an area effect, and then multiply that by 2 if the duration was measured in minutes, by 3 for tens of seconds, or by 5 if it was originally measured in just seconds.

Mistofshadows · 09-30-2018, 02:27 PM

Thank you, I'd forgotten about the 25 point energy bit... it's usually not needed but might help for a couple things. Some of the bullet points would probably help as well.

09-30-2018, 11:22 AM	#1
Mistofshadows Join Date: Aug 2015	Wild Card Destiny and Enchanting What do you do with destiny points from wild cards when you're not able to use the destiny point because it's basically luck and the gm is going with Kromm's ruling on the luck advantage not effecting Spells as Skills enchanting? Basically wild card college magic enchanting... means my character has a destiny point... that he can't use...

09-30-2018, 12:17 PM	#2
Kelly Pedersen Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada	Re: Wild Card Destiny and Enchanting I'd agree about not allowing the destiny point as Luck. However, there are other uses for such points - have you considered simply using it as 25 energy points, as suggested by Power-Ups: Impulse Buys (Points for Energy, pp. 12-13)? Personally, I'd allow such a point expenditure, from an Enchantment wildcard, to fuel either a Quick and Dirty or Slow and Sure enchantment. Note, I'd only allow one use of destiny points per enchantment this way - if you're doing Slow and Sure, you'd be effectively reducing the total energy cost to create the item by (25 X points spent), but you couldn't keep doing it every day as your points refreshed. Other possible uses of destiny points from Enchantment that don't involve Luck: Use Player Guidance to conveniently have the material components you need for an enchantment on hand ("as a matter of fact, I do happen to have a ruby worth $400 right here!"), or to declare that something you just found is an acceptable substitute ("It's well known that a salamander's heart, when properly preserved, can be used as the focus for a Fireball wand."). Trade points for money by declaring someone is giving you some cash for an item you made off-screen for them. Get a Favor from an NPC for the same reasons - you made them a magic item before, now they owe you one. Justify Flesh Wounds by claiming to have a one-shot "protection charm". With enough destiny points, this could justify Deflecting Disadvantages, or even Miraculous Recoveries. If you have appropriate non-Enchantment spells, you can justify a lot of Opt-In Options, again as one-shot enchanted items you've conveniently produced. Most of the combat stuff could be Body or Movement College spells, while the spell options would be Meta-College spells. One other suggestion, which is further from the rules-as-written, but I don't think is terribly unreasonable, is to use the Changing the World option to effectively extend the duration of spells you cast. It would effectively change the duration of the spell to Permanent (so it would still be subject to being dispelled), and would cost destiny points based on a combination of the area affected and how much the duration was changed. I'd price it as a base cost of either the number of targets affected, or the radius of an area effect, and then multiply that by 2 if the duration was measured in minutes, by 3 for tens of seconds, or by 5 if it was originally measured in just seconds.

09-30-2018, 02:27 PM	#3
Mistofshadows Join Date: Aug 2015	Re: Wild Card Destiny and Enchanting Thank you, I'd forgotten about the 25 point energy bit... it's usually not needed but might help for a couple things. Some of the bullet points would probably help as well.