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Old 09-21-2019, 09:50 PM   #1
Refplace
 
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Default Strategic ER

So I have wanted to build an Energy Reserve that acts more like Threshold Magery in that it has a good sized cap but recovers slower. The limitations for recovering 1/day or 1/hour did not get me the feel I was looking for.

Strategic ER
50 points
You have an Energy Reserve that has a high capacity but recovers much slower than the standard Energy Reserve. The ER holds 30 energy and recovers 8 per day.
New Enhancements: Increased Cap +6, +10%; and Increased Recovery 2, +10%.
New Limitations: Reduced Cap -6, -10% (Max 5 levels); and Reduced Recovery -2, -10% (Max 5 levels).
Other optional modifiers: From GURPS Horror Corrupting, -20%; from GURPS Power (p. 119) Abilities only, -10%; One Power, -50%; and Stunts only, -10%. Also Backlash
Note: The new limitation values mach up with the suggested version for Magery under Threshold Magic!

EDIT: To be clear, this ability does not allow the borrowing of energy such as can be done with Threshold Magery. I am considering that option as a +300% enhancement, similar to Super Effort and the highest level of Cosmic.
The above ability is just an ER but has different scaling in how it recovers energy.
I go over some of my math in my blog post here. Scroll down to the heading "The Strategic Option" in that post to see it.


Examples of customization...
Demonic Reserve that can be accessed anywhere but only recharges in hell, and even then it takes awhile.
Statistics: Strategic ER (Reduced Recovery -8, -50%; Increased Recovery +2 (Only in Hell, -50%) +5%) [18].
My math might be off on that Accessibility that partially limits the enhancement, its late but I wanted to offer an example of some things this might do better than a standard Energy Reserve. ER would have to have the Accessibility on slow Recovery to be similar.
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Last edited by Refplace; 09-24-2019 at 12:57 AM.
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Old 09-23-2019, 01:16 PM   #2
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Default Re: Strategic ER

So a bunch of views but no comments. Is this too complicated? Not the kind o thing people are interested in? Or so perfect that it requires no feedback (I doubt the latter)?
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Old 09-23-2019, 01:24 PM   #3
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Default Re: Strategic ER

The way you've written it up is a bit confusing. This provides the tally system, but not Magery AFAICS, yet it talks about Magery.
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Old 09-23-2019, 01:52 PM   #4
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
The way you've written it up is a bit confusing. This provides the tally system, but not Magery AFAICS, yet it talks about Magery.
Yes, thats the intent. Its the Tally system not Magery. And would work with Powers as magic which does not use Magery anyhow. With certain limitations it can represent other things too.
Aftermath for physical stress, Backlash, Corruption and Attracts threats for other sources - like Horror campaigns.
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Old 09-23-2019, 03:51 PM   #5
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
So I have wanted to build Threshold Magery as an advantage and alternative to standard ER. I just posted it on my blog but want to share it here for feedback.

Strategic ER
50 points
You have an Energy Reserve that has a high capacity but recovers much slower than the standard Energy Reserve. The ER holds 30 energy and recovers 8 per day.
New Enhancements: Increased Cap +6, +10%; and Increased Recovery 2, +10%.
New Limitations: Reduced Cap -6, -10% (Max 5 levels); and Reduced Recovery -2, -10% (Max 5 levels).
Other optional modifiers: From GURPS Horror Corrupting, -20%; from GURPS Power (p. 119) Abilities only, -10%; One Power, -50%; and Stunts only, -10%. Also Backlash
Note: The new limitation values mach up with the suggested version for Magery under Threshold Magic!
My first instinct is to say "Variable Energy Access in the appropriate section of Thaumatology is [50], and this is in line with that, go for it!"

My second is to ask "can we build this using modified vanilla ER instead of a block advantage, for double-checking?".

ER 30 is [90]. Now normally, ER recovers vastly faster than a threshold; the default of "8 per day" can also be viewed as "1 per 3 hours" with an adjusted schedule. Looking at p. 119 of GURPS Powers, we have "Slow Recharge" at -20% for "1 per hour", or -60% for "1 per 24 hours". That suggests that recovering 8 ER per day should be around a -25% or -30% limitation, for a cost of around [65] — [50] is a bit cheap.

However, that ignores the benefits and drawbacks of being able to exceed your threshold! I would say that the benefits at their worst break even with the drawbacks; with that, [50] is definitely too cheap.

For my own games, I might initially price it the same as regular ER per level and give it a default recovery equal to 25% the threshold; buy that up or down as a ±20% modifier on ER per ±25% to the recovery rate — but I'd want to playtest the heck out of that.
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Old 09-23-2019, 04:40 PM   #6
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celti View Post

However, that ignores the benefits and drawbacks of being able to exceed your threshold! I would say that the benefits at their worst break even with the drawbacks; with that, [50] is definitely too cheap.
Note that I didnt address the ability to go over Tally. This is a more generic idea as a starting point. I have some ideas but not settled on anything for that option.
In this blog post I go over various ways I looked at the math (near the bottom).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celti View Post
For my own games, I might initially price it the same as regular ER per level and give it a default recovery equal to 25% the threshold; buy that up or down as a ±20% modifier on ER per ±25% to the recovery rate — but I'd want to playtest the heck out of that.
That would not be something a PC would buy.
Unless your building in the ability to go over Tally it gives far less available energy for the same cost since normal Recovery is 1 per 10 minutes.
ER 144 recovers fully each day so you would need four times that (ER 576) before normal ER is better.


Thanks guys, now were having a conversation and evaluating it which is what I wanted.
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Old 09-23-2019, 08:15 PM   #7
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
Unless your building in the ability to go over Tally
I assumed that the ability for your Tally to exceed your Threshold is inherent to the ability. If it's not, then it's no different from an Energy Reserve with an intermediate, batched Slow Recharge, and should be priced accordingly — call it -35%, since the "lump-sum" recovery can be strategically limiting and also because you can also just call it [2/level].
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Old 09-24-2019, 12:02 AM   #8
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Is there some more unique name to use for this so it's clear it's using Threshold? Like "Threshold Reserve" or "Tally Reserve" ?

Balance-wise I'm kind of wondering how we might perhaps need to change the Tally system (balance-wise) if we were to used the slow-FP-recovery rules Doug Cole made in Last Gasp.
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Old 09-24-2019, 12:28 AM   #9
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Quote:
Originally Posted by Plane View Post
Is there some more unique name to use for this so it's clear it's using Threshold? Like "Threshold Reserve" or "Tally Reserve" ?

Balance-wise I'm kind of wondering how we might perhaps need to change the Tally system (balance-wise) if we were to used the slow-FP-recovery rules Doug Cole made in Last Gasp.
This was inspired by Threshold Magery but its not the same. There is no Tally that can be exceeded. Its a variant Energy Reserve that has a much slower Recovery but a higher reserve.
The 50 point base cost can be tweaked with several modifiers to customize it.
My goal wasn't just to put a point total on Threshold Magery but to come up with a more generic advantage that could model a variety of concepts.

I think adding the ability to borrow FP like Threshold Magery would be with a high level enhancement. Say +300% Cosmic.
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Old 09-24-2019, 09:21 AM   #10
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Default Re: Strategic ER

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
I think adding the ability to borrow FP like Threshold Magery would be with a high level enhancement. Say +300% Cosmic.
Why so expensive? Just because?

On the other hand, I would limit the recharge trough accessibility to make the advantage even cheaper.
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