Make Me a Counter Offer!

[Minuteman37]

So the Universes GM is getting kind of bored with this mundane TL8 game and wants to spice things up. So he's offering to apply a RPM Arch Mage template to my character.

Magery 10- 105pts
Ritual Adept- 40pts
Thaumatology and all path skills SL: 22- 560pts (this assumes IQ10)

Template final cost: 705pts

In this scenario you're the universes Co-GM and are trying to make me a more compelling counter offer on as many or fewer points.

All books are valid, the only rule is to try and stay away from obvious rule exploits like M.U.N.C.H.K.I.

[McAllister]

Give a hint of what you(r character) would find compelling. Even a vague suggestion would help.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by McAllister

Give a hint of what you(r character) would find compelling. Even a vague suggestion would help.

ummmm.... to help people? I guess.....

[Wavefunction]

So I'm guessing this question comes down to utility, right? It's not make a more compelling offer, but rather a more useful offer. Compelling suggests it could be something that just appeals to you more than being a wizard, regardless of utility.

Firstly I'll point out that a Path skill defaulted from Thaumatology can never exceed 12, regardless of Thaumatology skill or Magery, see RPM page 6. That's why this build isn't as broken is you possibly think.

You can create a powerful build with just about anything.

Let's start with just the magic systems. A high level of Sorcerous Empowerment coupled with high Will and/or Thaumatology, a high-level Recover Energy spell (Extreme Regeneration), and Accelerated Casting (from Pyramid #3/82) makes for a character that can almost constantly use Hardcore Improvisation, only stopping very occasionally to switch to Recover Energy and regenerate some FP.

For the standard magic system try Magery 9, Cosmic Modular Abilities (Reduced Time 1, +20%; Spells Only, -20%), and Wild Mana Generator (from Thaumatology, page 61), and Luck (Aspected, Spells, -20%). You can cast any spell, for free, and with Luck you should be able to reroll the rare 17 or 18 that makes things go wrong for you.

The syntactic magic systems from Thaumatology are arguable even easier to exploit without going outright Munchkin.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

So I'm guessing this question comes down to utility, right? It's not make a more compelling offer, but rather a more useful offer. Compelling suggests it could be something that just appeals to you more than being a wizard, regardless of utility.

Utility and scope I suppose, ST +10 and ST +20 (only during the day) would be a tough decision.

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Firstly I'll point out that a Path skill defaulted from Thaumatology can never exceed 12, regardless of Thaumatology skill or Magery, see RPM page 6. That's why this build isn't as broken is you possibly think.

Ah, I knew that build seemed too ease, I'll go correct that.

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

You can create a powerful build with just about anything.

The (intended) difficult part is doing it on the same or a lesser point budget.

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

The syntactic magic systems from Thaumatology are arguable even easier to exploit without going outright Munchkin.

I'm surprised I don't here more people talk about the syntactic and symbol based magic systems around these forums, I like them a lot.

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Minuteman37

The (intended) difficult part is doing it on the same or a lesser point budget.

Okay, here's the Sorcery build:

Accelerated Casting [10]
Sorcerous Empowerment 11 [120]
Thaumatology SL: 25 [68] (Assuming IQ 10)

Recover Energy: Regeneration (Extreme; FP Only, -0%; Limited, FP Lost to Spellcasting Only, -10%; Magical, -10%; Alternate Ability, x1/5th) [24]

That's 222 points. Let's assume you're Hardcore Improvising, you spend 3 FP to do it, 1 FP for a +1 to skill putting your effective skill at 26 before penalties, and 1 FP for the spell itself. This lets you cast a 120 point spell two turns in a row with effective skill 16, then switch to Recover Energy, regain 10 FP, switch back, and repeat.

Here's the Standard build:

Magery 9 [95]
Cosmic Modular Abilities 1 (Magical, -10%; Reduced Time 1, +20%; Spells Only, -20%) [9]
Wild Mana Generator [100]
Extraordinary Luck (Aspected, Spells, -20%; Magical, -10%) [21]

That's 225 points, and I actually managed to squeeze in Extraordinary Luck, not ordinary Luck. This lets you cast even Very Hard spells at effective skill 16 (IQ 10 + Magery 9 - 3 for only a point in a Very Hard skill = 16), if you succeed it's an auto-crit thanks to Wild Mana Generator, if you fail, then you reroll it.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Okay, here's the Sorcery build:

Accelerated Casting [10]
Sorcerous Empowerment 11 [120]
Thaumatology SL: 25 [68] (Assuming IQ 10)

Recover Energy: Regeneration (Extreme; FP Only, -0%; Limited, FP Lost to Spellcasting Only, -10%; Magical, -10%; Alternate Ability, x1/5th) [24]

That's 222 points. Let's assume you're Hardcore Improvising, you spend 3 FP to do it, 1 FP for a +1 to skill putting your effective skill at 26 before penalties, and 1 FP for the spell itself. This lets you cast a 120 point spell two turns in a row with effective skill 16, then switch to Recover Energy, regain 10 FP, switch back, and repeat.

Here's the Standard build:

Magery 9 [95]
Cosmic Modular Abilities 1 (Magical, -10%; Reduced Time 1, +20%; Spells Only, -20%) [9]
Wild Mana Generator [100]
Extraordinary Luck (Aspected, Spells, -20%; Magical, -10%) [21]

That's 225 points, and I actually managed to squeeze in Extraordinary Luck, not ordinary Luck. This lets you cast even Very Hard spells at effective skill 16 (IQ 10 + Magery 9 - 3 for only a point in a Very Hard skill = 16), if you succeed it's an auto-crit thanks to Wild Mana Generator, if you fail, then you reroll it.

I love how this is going to turn out now that the point limit has been bumped up to 705pts.

[McAllister]

Possession (Assimilation, +10%; Full Memory Access, +10%; Mind Swap, +10%; Reliable 10, +50%; Selectivity, +10%; Telecontrol, +50%; Humans Only, -40%) [144]

Mind Reading (Reliable 10, +50%) [45]
Mind Probe (Reliable 10, +50%) [30]

Shapeshifting (Morph; Cosmetic, -50%) [50]

Wealth (Multimillionaire 2) [100]
Independent Income 20 [20]
[Any] Rank 8 [40]
Status 2 [10]
Charisma 6 [30]
IQ +10 [200]
Jack of all Trades 3 [30]

That's about 700 points. You can look like anyone, control anyone, know anything that anyone knows, you have uncountable wealth and hundreds of thousands of people answer to your authority, and there's no IQ-based task you're not already an expert at. If the only thing in the world you want is to "help people," you should be able to take over every government on Earth and rule as a benevolent dictator until Sol burns out (because you're hopping into new bodies when necessary, natch).

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by McAllister

You can... control anyone, know anything that anyone knows

You'll need some more Enhancements on those abilities before that's really true. Range penalties, of course, but also practical in-game requirements such as knowledge of who the subjects ought to be (you can't target Mind Probe by trying to Mind Read "whatever guy somewhere knows the Illuminati password"), as well as having enough access to the subjects to be able to wield your powers. Pull some points out of IQ and buff the mind powers.

There's also the logistical problems. You can argue that you can get a chance to "see" the US President in some public appearance, but when you have to monitor the heads of state of the EU or the G20, you're going to be quite busy just travelling to get to those appearances. At some point you don't also have time to Mind Probe every researcher, scholar, and cop and criminal to know anything that anyone knows.

[Minuteman37]

Originally Posted by McAllister

Possession (Assimilation, +10%; Full Memory Access, +10%; Mind Swap, +10%; Reliable 10, +50%; Selectivity, +10%; Telecontrol, +50%; Humans Only, -40%) [144]

Mind Reading (Reliable 10, +50%) [45]
Mind Probe (Reliable 10, +50%) [30]

Shapeshifting (Morph; Cosmetic, -50%) [50]

Wealth (Multimillionaire 2) [100]
Independent Income 20 [20]
[Any] Rank 8 [40]
Status 2 [10]
Charisma 6 [30]
IQ +10 [200]
Jack of all Trades 3 [30]

That's about 700 points. You can look like anyone, control anyone, know anything that anyone knows, you have uncountable wealth and hundreds of thousands of people answer to your authority, and there's no IQ-based task you're not already an expert at. If the only thing in the world you want is to "help people," you should be able to take over every government on Earth and rule as a benevolent dictator until Sol burns out (because you're hopping into new bodies when necessary, natch).

Bonus points for creativity and theme. I'm really digging the whole fluid consciousness drifting from person to person thing. It's not strait up as powerful as some possible potions, but I guess it doesn't need to be.