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Old 11-10-2020, 08:12 AM   #1
roguebfl
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
Default [Magic] New Disadvantage: The Hunger

The show Ascendance of A Bookworm has an interesting disorder called The Devouring. Now in the setting, the Nobles consider magic their exclusive domain (saving for a few magical items they let the merchant guild use to do things like magically binding contracts) so as of season 2 we've seen very little of the nobles so far so I can not definitely say if this disorder is something that all mages have to deal with, or if there are mages that are born that don't have it.

What the Devouring is if you have ER (magical) and it stays full for a prolonged period it turns on the mage and acts like a degenerative fever if the isn't relieved. Such relief comes from casting spells or using magical items (or even just recharging an item that can be charged)

But commoners with the devouring typically don't have access to any means to achieve such a release so typical die between the ages of 6 and 10. And given nobles generally don't want to acknowledge that mage born commons exists, and magery and ER is part of what determines a noble's pecking order, that number skews heavily to the low end of the range, as the commoners don't even know the cause let alone possible mitigating treatments save for a few wealthy families the have regular dealing with the nobles. They do not know it exists nor that the willful pursuit of a passion helps slow down the effect but depression accelerates it. But eventually that is not enough and the only option is to enter into an agreement with a noble who will supply the child with quirked, or otherwise defective, magical items that lets the child spend their ER, often overloaded the magical item to its destruction. (the only other character other than the protagonist that is known to have the devouring is the granddaughter of the Guildmaster of the merchant guild whose agreement is when she comes of age she will become the noble's concubine)

Game Mechanics:

I'm thinking for every time period divided by magery level that character ER (Magical) remains full, they need to make HT check or have a fever bout that permanently reduces the character HT Stat by 1.

Cost would be Base Cost * (Magery/2) with either and -80% mitigator for knowing a spell that has an ER (magical) cost. Or a -60% mitigator for having access to a magical item that costs ER (magical) to use
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Last edited by roguebfl; 03-19-2021 at 03:53 PM. Reason: spelling and correction of The Hunger to The Devouring
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Old 11-10-2020, 10:38 AM   #2
oneofmanynameless
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New Hampshire, USA
Default Re: [Magic] New Disadvantage: The Hunger

Interesting idea, although have you considered Dependency (expending energy, common, [appropriate period] xX, fatigue* -50%, Only while above Y percent of energy -Z%.)?

*: stolen from weakness. Naturally I'd treat this fatigue loss as "hazard" so it couldn't be recovered until the condition was met.

Not sure the values for X, Y, or Z off the top of my head: X and Y you'll have to decide on based on in-world conditions and Z will be based on Y and how easy it is to get yourself below Y energy. But you could potentially figure out a way to work up having the time you can go between expenditures vary based on the percent of energy by setting accessibility values for different ER levels and then using the process for determining the variable ER cost limitation value (in Powers, pg. 101.)
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Old 11-10-2020, 10:56 AM   #3
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: [Magic] New Disadvantage: The Hunger

I'm not familiar with the series, but from your description it sounds like Terminally Ill (1 year, maybe?) with a Mitigator of "Expending Energy." For mages, this is probably -80%, and in fact it may be more appropriate to call the Hunger a Quirk for such characters. For those who need an expensive magic item (maybe even need them every so often, as with those that break), it's a more standard Mitigator. It may often be associated with social Disadvantages, however, such as Duty, Enemy, Secret etc, depending on how the character has staved off the Hunger up until the start of the campaign. Of course, there can also be social Advantages that justify the Mitigator, such as Patron, Ally, Rank/Status, etc.
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Old 11-10-2020, 12:09 PM   #4
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: [Magic] New Disadvantage: The Hunger

Since it takes more than two years to kill them, it would likely not be Terminally Ill (anyway, Mitigator has a minimum value of -70% for a monthly mitigator). A possibly better option would be to take Chronic Pain with Mitigator, with it progressing in strength the older the individual is, to the point where the Chronic Pain can potentially kill them. For example, Chronic Pain (Agonizing, 8 hours, 15-; Mitigator, Daily, -60%) [-36] would represent the horrific pain that would lead to an early death (the associated penalty to IQ and DX would make an early death highly likely).
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