Impulse Buys as a Magic System

[Kromm]

I think it would be quite workable!

Destiny becomes the "gateway" or "enabling" advantage, similar to Magery in the standard magic system or Trained by a Master for cinematic martial-arts skills. In this case, magic-workers neither are born with an attunement to magical forces nor study arcane lore; they're blessed by the gods or chosen by Fate, possibly as a consequence of great deeds, or perhaps they're The One or a Messiah. Their Destiny grants Destiny Points (DP), as defined on p. 5 of GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, at a rate of 1 DP per 5 points in the advantage. The GM who desires more powerful heroes can extend Destiny past the 15-point level.

As usual, DP refresh at a rate of 1 DP per game session, to a maximum of the original DP. As proposed on p. 18 of Impulse Buys, an improved rate is available for 10 points per +1 DP regenerated per session; call this something cool like "Renewal," "Flux," or "Wellspring." For instance, someone with Destiny [15] would have 3 DP and regenerate 1 DP/session; with Renewal 2 [20], that person would have 3 DP to spend every game session.

What's possible? Any feat in Impulse Buys the GM allows; see p. 23 of the supplement for a cheat sheet. The possibilities would be impressive at high levels of Destiny; I said "The One" earlier for a reason (see Bullet Time, Impulse Buys, p. 15). Suitable feats would include buying success (which is a lot like a Wish spell), including cursing mooks; player guidance, especially the basic form and divine intervention; all forms of survival; and any amazing feats the GM is comfortable with. Heroes who opt to study actual book-learned magic can trade 1 DP for 25 FP, while those with other powers can use Changing the World (Impulse Buys, pp. 13-15)!

When "extra effort" is needed, those with Destiny can burn unspent character points – bonus points or reserved starting points – permanently. They can also sacrifice points in existing abilities, as noted on p. 5 of Impulse Buys. Neither should happen often, but this gives magic-workers the option to heroically "give of themselves" in dire straits.

To make this special to heroes with Destiny, nobody else in the campaign can spend points this way. Everything in Impulse Buys becomes a special feat for heroes with Destiny. However, it would be reasonable to let those with Destiny lead rituals with willing friends, who would sacrifice unspent points as explained on p. 5 of Impulse Buys. This is especially suitable when the Chosen One is the agent of a deity who responds well to worship, or when the feat would save the life of the friend spending the points.

[A Ladder]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I think it would be quite workable!

Destiny becomes the "gateway" or "enabling" advantage, similar to Magery in the standard magic system or Trained by a Master for cinematic martial-arts skills. In this case, magic-workers neither are born with an attunement to magical forces nor study arcane lore; they're blessed by the gods or chosen by Fate, possibly as a consequence of great deeds, or perhaps they're The One or a Messiah. Their Destiny grants Destiny Points (DP), as defined on p. 5 of GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, at a rate of 1 DP per 5 points in the advantage. The GM who desires more powerful heroes can extend Destiny past the 15-point level.

As usual, DP refresh at a rate of 1 DP per game session, to a maximum of the original DP. As proposed on p. 18 of Impulse Buys, an improved rate is available for 10 points per +1 DP regenerated per session; call this something cool like "Renewal," "Flux," or "Wellspring." For instance, someone with Destiny [15] would have 3 DP and regenerate 1 DP/session; with Renewal 2 [20], that person would have 3 DP to spend every game session.

What's possible? Any feat in Impulse Buys the GM allows; see p. 23 of the supplement for a cheat sheet. The possibilities would be impressive at high levels of Destiny; I said "The One" earlier for a reason (see Bullet Time, Impulse Buys, p. 15). Suitable feats would include buying success (which is a lot like a Wish spell), including cursing mooks; player guidance, especially the basic form and divine intervention; all forms of survival; and any amazing feats the GM is comfortable with. Heroes who opt to study actual book-learned magic can trade 1 DP for 25 FP, while those with other powers can use Changing the World (Impulse Buys, pp. 13-15)!

When "extra effort" is needed, those with Destiny can burn unspent character points – bonus points or reserved starting points – permanently. They can also sacrifice points in existing abilities, as noted on p. 5 of Impulse Buys. Neither should happen often, but this gives magic-workers the option to heroically "give of themselves" in dire straits.

To make this special to heroes with Destiny, nobody else in the campaign can spend points this way. Everything in Impulse Buys becomes a special feat for heroes with Destiny. However, it would be reasonable to let those with Destiny lead rituals with willing friends, who would sacrifice unspent points as explained on p. 5 of Impulse Buys. This is especially suitable when the Chosen One is the agent of a deity who responds well to worship, or when the feat would save the life of the friend spending the points.

Instead of using the maximum pool and Renewal options of Destiny would it be balanced to instead use Destiny to gain and renew a DP each session for each level of Destiny, but you can only use DP on feats that help you achieve said Destiny?

Destiny would then have a defined scope as per Obsession, p. B146, based on if the Destiny is short term or long term and how many actions can be considered as attempts to reach said destiny. A [5] point Destiny has a narrow scope for a short term “goal”, while the [15] point Destiny has a large, campaign sweeping, scope for a long term “goal”.

Example: Destiny (Assassinate [Insert Important NPC]) [5]. You get DP equal to your level of Destiny that renews each game session. You can only use this DP for Buying Success, Player Guidance, or other feats that are specifically for helping you achieve the assassination of a particular target (determined when the Destiny is bought). Once the target is assassinated your GM may allow you to choose another one. Targets cannot be “mooks” or low importance NPCs.
Destiny (Becoming god-Emperor of the World) [15]. You get DP equal to your level of Destiny that renews each game session. You can only use this DP for Buying Success, Player Guidance, or other feats that are specifically for helping you achieve Becoming Emperor: the aligning of all countries in your game world (politically or otherwise), surviving assassination attempts or political faux pas, for fulfilling prophecy, fueling god-levels of magic, etc.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I think it would be quite workable!

Destiny becomes the "gateway" or "enabling" advantage, similar to Magery in the standard magic system or Trained by a Master for cinematic martial-arts skills. In this case, magic-workers neither are born with an attunement to magical forces nor study arcane lore; they're blessed by the gods or chosen by Fate, possibly as a consequence of great deeds, or perhaps they're The One or a Messiah. Their Destiny grants Destiny Points (DP), as defined on p. 5 of GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, at a rate of 1 DP per 5 points in the advantage. The GM who desires more powerful heroes can extend Destiny past the 15-point level.

As A Ladder points out, Destiny carries an implication that your life is being guided toward a particular end. That may be what the player and GM want, in which case requiring that DP expenditures be used in service of that destiny would in fact be appropriate. After all, Destiny can be thought of as “God has a plan for you”.

But if not, you might want to rename it as something like “Piety” and replace the push toward a specific goal with something more like the “good behavior” requirement of various “holiness” Advantages in the game.

Originally Posted by Kromm

As usual, DP refresh at a rate of 1 DP per game session, to a maximum of the original DP. As proposed on p. 18 of Impulse Buys, an improved rate is available for 10 points per +1 DP regenerated per session; call this something cool like "Renewal," "Flux," or "Wellspring." For instance, someone with Destiny [15] would have 3 DP and regenerate 1 DP/session; with Renewal 2 [20], that person would have 3 DP to spend every game session.

Conveniently, Power Investiture costs 10 points per level. Its stated mechanics are very different; but just like Magery had frequently been reskinned by various magic systems to provide benefits other than a +1 to spell-casting, so too could Power Investiture be recast as a source of faster refresh of Impulse Points rather than as a bonus to casting rolls. Though if you're using the Divine Intervention rules on p.9 of the supplement, Power Investiture's cost of 10 points per level means that it would provide a +1 per level bonus to Divine Intervention rolls anyway.

Originally Posted by Kromm

What's possible? Any feat in Impulse Buys the GM allows; see p. 23 of the supplement for a cheat sheet. The possibilities would be impressive at high levels of Destiny; I said "The One" earlier for a reason (see Bullet Time, Impulse Buys, p. 15). Suitable feats would include buying success (which is a lot like a Wish spell), including cursing mooks; player guidance, especially the basic form and divine intervention; all forms of survival; and any amazing feats the GM is comfortable with. Heroes who opt to study actual book-learned magic can trade 1 DP for 25 FP, while those with other powers can use Changing the World (Impulse Buys, pp. 13-15)!

I'd be leery about using this alongside book-learning magic: first, book-learning magic is fueled by a much more common resource (FP rather than Impulse Points) and would tend to dominate; Impulse Buys works as a magic system when magic is supposed to be used rarely. Second, spending Impulse Points for additional spell-casting energy only exacerbates this discrepancy.

Originally Posted by Kromm

When "extra effort" is needed, those with Destiny can burn unspent character points – bonus points or reserved starting points – permanently. They can also sacrifice points in existing abilities, as noted on p. 5 of Impulse Buys. Neither should happen often, but this gives magic-workers the option to heroically "give of themselves" in dire straits.

…and something like Meditative Magic could be used to replenish or build up the “extra effort” reserve. This amounts to dedicating points earned through the Study system for use in the Impulse Buys magic system.

And there's always the possibility of inverting “Trading Points for Money” as another kind of sacrifice, though this might take the form of charity rather than destruction of wealth: spending 10% of your starting wealth on a worthy cause (sometimes called “tithing”) gets one Impulse Point worth of miracles. Wealth would affect this: the richer you are, the more you need to give. (Dead Broke would count as a tenth of the setting's average starting wealth for this purpose.)

Originally Posted by Kromm

To make this special to heroes with Destiny, nobody else in the campaign can spend points this way. Everything in Impulse Buys becomes a special feat for heroes with Destiny. However, it would be reasonable to let those with Destiny lead rituals with willing friends, who would sacrifice unspent points as explained on p. 5 of Impulse Buys. This is especially suitable when the Chosen One is the agent of a deity who responds well to worship, or when the feat would save the life of the friend spending the points.

I wouldn't worry about it: if the only alternatives to spending Destiny Points are either setting points aside in advance or making a suitable sacrifice, then heroes without a Destiny aren't likely to pursue the option all that much. If you think it will be a problem, impose the Divine Intervention rules from p.9 on all Impulse Buys, but waive the base -10 penalty for heroes with Destiny.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Just as a side thought - Destiny may be a way to model MtA's Arete level with each level giving points, acting as a limiter on spheres, etc.

[dataweaver]

Magery already does that.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Magery already does that.

Gah, I apparently didn't finish my thought. I'm talking about jut bundling them together. Would be an interesting approach much like how RPM does it - Magery is energy and skill limiter.

[dataweaver]

Perhaps. But wouldn't this be more appropriate to discuss in the thread about Alternative Realm Magic? It really doesn't have much too do with Impulse Buys as a magic system.

[Kromm]

Destiny can be vague. The advantage text states, "this might not always be clear," and goes on to explain that Destiny is usually secret, unlikely to be known in full, and possibly mutable. Nothing in the write-up says it has to be couched in terms of specific acts and outcomes, with clear answers to the five Ws.

Thus, a character with an advantageous Destiny might be fated to be simply "fortunate," "great," "heroic," "inspiring," "powerful," or a thousand other positive things. I can easily imagine a fortuneteller saying, "You'll inspire generations!", or, "You're going to be a great hero!", and leaving it at that. This kind of generic Destiny could be relatively common – perhaps as common as Magery is among standard magic-users.

As for whether Destiny magic could coexist alongside standard magic . . . sure, why not? A pure Destiny user will still be quite spectacular if you use some of the crazier options in Impulse Buys, especially when you consider that it's just 15 points to regularly cheat Fate and even stop time. A wizard with high IQ and Magery would be investing a whole lot more for more-frequent but less-impressive results.

And if a Destiny user invests in IQ, Magery, and spells, the effective comparison becomes, "What's better: Energy Reserve 5 [15] for +5 FP to spend repeatedly during the game session, or Destiny [15], for 3 DP that – among other things – could be exchanged for +75 FP to spend with a longer recovery time?" There's no right answer, but Drain Magery, Enslave, Great Geas, Instant Restoration, Instant Regeneration, Permanent Possession, Summon Shade, etc. certainly have their charms.

To me it just stands to reason that if a small subset of people are destined for greatness, then that should include wizards if wizards exist.

[dataweaver]

The catch is that Destiny magic can only be used reliably once per session; that doesn't let you “regularly” do anything. The exception is if you've invested points in a faster recovery rate; and even then, you'll have to spend a fortune if you want to cheat Fate more than a handful of times per session. And 75 energy sounds impressive, until you realize that you're going to have to go through three game sessions before you can do that again. And then only if you don't use your Fortune Points for anything else.

This is what I mean about the system being best suited for games where magic is rare. Not “rare” in the sense of “hard to find”; “rare” in the sense of “not used very often”.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

The catch is that Destiny magic can only be used reliably once per session

Not so. You can spend DP individually or in bulk lots – there's no requirement at all to use all your DP at once. If you have enough DP, you could use this magic once per DP, as long as you were happy with modest effects. If you reread my suggestion, you'll see "The GM who desires more powerful heroes can extend Destiny past the 15-point level." So in a campaign where the GM allows Magery 3 [35], somebody could have Destiny [35] and 7 DP, and spend 1 DP seven times, or 2 DP three times and 1 DP after that, or any other combination. Yes, it's a limited asset, but it isn't quite true that it's one big blaze of glory followed by boredom.

But I think you underestimate the impact of huge FP expenditures, too. That hero with 7 DP also has access to +175 FP all at once. Yes, it could take seven game sessions to recover from . . . but for some players, being able to cast one spell that big is worth the trouble.