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Old 12-03-2014, 04:27 PM   #41
Peter Knutsen
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Default Re: Control vs Telekinesis

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Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
Cosmic MA requires somebody with a good imagination, and a tendency to think on the fly. So yeah, it's usually better to go with a cheaper MA, or just stack up the AAs.
Sure. I'm not saying Cosmic MA isn't worth its cost if you really utilize it to the max. But in many, many cases, a non-Cosmic version gives you all that you desire. Or a stack of Alternate Abilities.
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Old 12-03-2014, 09:24 PM   #42
Leynok
 
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Default Re: Control vs Telekinesis

I've always considered using Wildcard Powers of Control if I were to run an Avatar game.
Fire benders would normally need create fire as well, but I've gotten the impression from the lore that fire bending is bending life and energy, thus they're moving the "fire" from within them and out into the form of fire, so I would ignore needing to give them Create.
This way you get all your perks, innate attacks and so on and you can still improvise heavily.
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Old 12-04-2014, 02:33 AM   #43
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Default Re: Control vs Telekinesis

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Originally Posted by Leynok View Post
I've always considered using Wildcard Powers of Control if I were to run an Avatar game.
Fire benders would normally need create fire as well, but I've gotten the impression from the lore that fire bending is bending life and energy, thus they're moving the "fire" from within them and out into the form of fire, so I would ignore needing to give them Create.
This way you get all your perks, innate attacks and so on and you can still improvise heavily.
I'd still require create and destroy, but as alternate abilities which make them only 1/5th the cost.

In GURPS you buy each effect, no matter what the fluff text says.
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Old 12-04-2014, 03:05 AM   #44
Peter Knutsen
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Default Re: Control vs Telekinesis

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Originally Posted by Leynok View Post
I've always considered using Wildcard Powers of Control if I were to run an Avatar game.
Fire benders would normally need create fire as well, but I've gotten the impression from the lore that fire bending is bending life and energy, thus they're moving the "fire" from within them and out into the form of fire, so I would ignore needing to give them Create.
This way you get all your perks, innate attacks and so on and you can still improvise heavily.
I haven't watched more than the first 7 or 9 episodes of the first season of "Avatar", but my impression is that many of the benders, within each element, were differentiated in how they could use their powers. They were good at different things, and many had special moves, things they had trained themselves to do that were very rare, or possibly even bordering on unique in world demographics terms.

I also happen to very much like that approach to powers (e.g. to psionics), and so it seems to me that Cosmic MA and the like, and presumably also Wildcard Powers, are a very bad idea, since that removes the potential for differentiation within each element, and instead enables, e.g., all Earth Benders to do exactly the same things.
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Old 12-04-2014, 04:40 AM   #45
Leynok
 
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Default Re: Control vs Telekinesis

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Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen View Post
I haven't watched more than the first 7 or 9 episodes of the first season of "Avatar", but my impression is that many of the benders, within each element, were differentiated in how they could use their powers. They were good at different things, and many had special moves, things they had trained themselves to do that were very rare, or possibly even bordering on unique in world demographics terms.

I also happen to very much like that approach to powers (e.g. to psionics), and so it seems to me that Cosmic MA and the like, and presumably also Wildcard Powers, are a very bad idea, since that removes the potential for differentiation within each element, and instead enables, e.g., all Earth Benders to do exactly the same things.
Those were just my surface thoughts on the matter, since I had never seriously considered it. However, it's quite clear (From my prospective, having seen The Last Air Bender series many times and the first two Korra series once) that the average Bender can manipulate their element just like any other, in most cases it's the way that they've been taught to use it that matters. Earth Benders in the desert learn to bend sand, using it more similar to water and air styles than earth, but that doesn't stop Toph from being able to do it if she practices. There are special cases naturally, I'm fairly confident that not all water benders can heal (Some statements have implied that, though it doesn't seem all that rare of an ability for water benders), but in that case, you just buy the other ability, in this case, healing.
It might be appropriate to give them skill rolls and build talents off them, to represent the training needed to perform those acts reliably, and Unusual Backgrounds to allow things that the average Bender can't do.
Of course, it might just be better to have Control as the most expensive of a set of Alternate Abilities, and have them buy each power they've been taught or develop. Admittedly, I do just love Wildcard Powers =3
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Old 12-04-2014, 11:55 AM   #46
theotherscott
 
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Default Re: Control vs Telekinesis

I agree with DangerousThing that firebenders should really have Create (Fire). It just makes sense for them, and a good advantage to buy in lieu of Special Background (Bender). Destroy is unnecessary, imo, since since according to Powers what you create is unstable and disappears quickly anyway (which is what you see in the show; fire is created then dissipates).

In the show some benders are clearly more differentiated than others. It's mentioned once that something like 1 in 100 earthbenders can move metal, and lightning bending is also something master firebenders can do. That's why I tend to prefer buying separate abilities with the exception of perks/cantrips.
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