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Old 10-07-2018, 02:49 PM   #21
hcobb
 
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

If 1 XP = 1 $ then Mana is five times as cost effective as a large powerstone. (Ten times as cost effective as a one point powerstone.) Best of all your Mana stat can't be stolen.
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Originally Posted by TippetsTX View Post
As far as the upfront costs, yes, but one could argue that the long-term 'expense' is heavier since it takes XP away from stat advancement and the aquisition of spells and talents.
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Old 10-07-2018, 02:57 PM   #22
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

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Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
If 1 XP = 1 $ then Mana is five times as cost effective as a large powerstone. (Ten times as cost effective as a one point powerstone.) Best of all your Mana stat can't be stolen.
Don't get me started on 'XP for dollars'. Its just wrong.
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Old 10-07-2018, 03:14 PM   #23
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

The *reverse* has made more sense in some other systems. "Waste a bunch of money and get rewarded for it with XP" is kind of a neat mechanic.

This sounds like something that's only useful if your GM is a skinflint.
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Old 10-07-2018, 03:33 PM   #24
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

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Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
If 1 XP = 1 $ then Mana is five times as cost effective as a large powerstone. (Ten times as cost effective as a one point powerstone.) Best of all your Mana stat can't be stolen.
I don't quite follow your wording and/or math. My reading is it's "if the GM permits", you can spend 1 XP for 1 gold (which is $10) if you come up with a sensible reason what happens to earn you more money. If powerstones were freely available at list price, and the GM lets you do so, then you could choose between a character-based mana stat going up by plus one (but limited by IQ) for 200 XP, or "Ed MacOrc hands me a cheque for $2000" plus "hey look you're the only one who wants these two 1-point powerstones for sale - $1000 each", which requires an obliging situation or GM, and gets you something that on the surface holds twice the ST, but works differently, and is a physical-object-based, can be used by others, etc. Again, seems sort of like apples & oranges to me, and everyone wants both but may have better things to do with their XP or silver (or not have enough $ or XP, or likely not find any powerstones for sale, etc).
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Old 10-07-2018, 04:15 PM   #25
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

So adding one point to your Mana stat is the same XP/$ cost as a 1 point powerstone.
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Old 10-07-2018, 06:52 PM   #26
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

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Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
If 1 XP = 1 $ then Mana is five times as cost effective as a large powerstone. (Ten times as cost effective as a one point powerstone.) Best of all your Mana stat can't be stolen.
OK, but if you are the one who is doing the stealing, Powerstones are great! At that point you get your wizard friend to put a point in once a week and that powerstone now has mana that anyone can use in an emergency. Including that wizard who always seems to run his staff out of power and then exhaust himself.

By the way, How do you find out how much ST is in a powerstone? Does a wizard hold it in the hand and say "That feels like 10 ST"?
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Old 10-07-2018, 07:09 PM   #27
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

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By the way, How do you find out how much ST is in a powerstone? Does a wizard hold it in the hand and say "That feels like 10 ST"?
Yes, but if he wants to know the total capacity he either has to charge and charge, or cast Analyze Magic?

BTW: A ST 4 wizard can recharge her staff, but not a powerstone (unless she Aids herself from her staff.)

Odd rule question:

Quote:
Originally Posted by ITL163
When first made, a Powerstone is uncharged. It costs a wizard 5 ST to put 1 ST into it. This requires no spell – but only a wizard can do it. A wizard cannot put more ST than his basic ST attribute into a Powerstone each day.
Example: A wizard with ST 15 can only put 15 of her ST into one or more stones adding 3 points total or does this mean that the wizard can put 75 ST into each of a dozen stones, charging each up by 15 points? This makes a big difference in the question of taking those big beefy barbarians captive or slitting their throats.
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Old 10-08-2018, 12:24 AM   #28
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

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So adding one point to your Mana stat is the same XP/$ cost as a 1 point powerstone.
Well sort of but also often no in a variety of ways.

XP and $ do not equate. They're very different things, even if new ITL suggests some GMs may let players trade XP in for gold at a 1:1 rate, that's a one-way deal and one the PC doesn't know about - only the player does.

Mana increases cost XP.
Powerstones can't be bought with XP, and if they're ever available for sale to a PC, would tend to have variable costs, but the list cost for a 1-point stone is $1000 for the enchantment plus $1380 in components... which in theory you could trade 238 XP for, a bit more than 200. In reality, there probably are no spare ones on the market, and/or you'd be in competition to buy it with most wizards at the guild hall where it's for sale, so even if you find one for sale, it'll probably cost more than that... but maybe you'll just loot one... again, apples and oranges.

So adding one point to your Mana stat costs the same ballpark as much XP as a player can theoretically trade in for a meta event that gives them the theoretical list price for a one point powerstone that's theoretically something available for them to buy someplace.

Last edited by Skarg; 10-08-2018 at 12:32 AM.
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Old 10-08-2018, 01:10 AM   #29
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

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Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
Odd rule question:

Example: A wizard with ST 15 can only put 15 of her ST into one or more stones adding 3 points total or does this mean that the wizard can put 75 ST into each of a dozen stones, charging each up by 15 points? This makes a big difference in the question of taking those big beefy barbarians captive or slitting their throats.
The way the rule is written, the wording "put [...] ST [...] into [a powerstone]" is used both in the conversion rate and the limit, which to me clearly indicates they mean the same thing.

So the ST 15 wizard can charge the powerstone by up to 15 points per day (using 75 ST to do so). He'd probably need some help to do so, however, since 75 ST takes 19 hours and 15 minutes of rest to recover. It would probably make more sense to have apprentices charge the stone themselves rather than casting Aid spells on him, unless the charging limit is also per stone.

AND, that brings up the question: Can each wizard charging a stone put ST into it equal to each of their ST attributes? I'd tend to think it would be more interesting as a limit if the stone itself were limited, so if you have a ST 9 wizard and a ST 12 wizard, the stone stops being able to receive ST when the donor wizard's basic ST is equal to the ST it has been recharged that day - otherwise, a group of wizards would tend to bypass that limit. i.e. even if a wizard rests 16 hours per day, that's 64 ST per day, plus the ST he wakes up with in the morning so call it 70 or 75, which is only enough to charge a powerstone 14 or 15 ST per day if that's all he does. But if you have even two ST 8 wizards, and they can each charge each stone up to their basic ST, if it adds, that'd be 16 ST per day, more than the "wizard's basic ST" limit.
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Old 10-08-2018, 11:06 AM   #30
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Default Re: Why bother with powerstones?

I wonder if there is some confusion here (mine or others) about charging a powerstone. A powerstone charges itself 1 point per day. Not sure why a wizard would ever charge one from his own ST.

Upgrading or increasing the maximum charge of a powerstone is another story and would require a wizard to put some of his own ST into it, IIRC.
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