09-23-2016, 03:08 PM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New Hampshire, USA
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Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
I'm wondering what modifications would have to be made to certain preexisting effects to make them line up, more or less, in terms of value, with the most standard Unlimited Mana system found in Thaumatology. I'm really open to other alternatives, but the three things I've thought of so far:
1. replace the calamity table with the Fright Check Table, Awe Check table, or Confusion Check Table to represent gradually driving yourself mad by straining your mind to cast the spell or use the abilities. Issue: in a game that also uses the Stress and Derangement rules from Horror it seems like you should have spells cost Stress for this, right? 2. Casting spells costs years of your life, artificially aging you, instead of costing fatigue, energy, or racking up tally. Issue: typically 1 HP of injury = 1 month of life (according to leach). This gives a much much larger initial pool of "energy" than unlimited mana would, but that "energy" is single use. Extended Lifespan, Longevity, and Unaging become much more valuable. Assuming Unaging doesn't just make all spells free is obvious, maybe instead it let's you "heal" age loss at a rate of say... 8 months per day back to whatever your "normal" age would be. Maybe you can then stack it with extended lifespan and longetivity to increase the size of your energy pool. Haven't done the math on how much energy that gives you to work with, whether the penalties that inflicts line up with the penalties that you get from calamities in a roughly equal way, etc. 2. Casting spells racks up radiation. Issue: actually radiation is already roughly equivalent to HP and builds in a way that nicely mimics unlimited mana so this seems like it should b a pretty good candidate. Haven't worked the numbers. Any thoughts anyone has on any of these three ideas or any other systems that might align with this I'd be very interested in hearing them, even if they aren't thoroughly worked out! |
09-23-2016, 03:41 PM | #2 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Wait, would corruption work? you'd need to find the right "exchange rate", but I suspect its a good currency for unlimited mana.
I'd personally give mages the ability to work corruption away, but that's just one knob on this switchboard.
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09-23-2016, 03:46 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Options 2 and 3 aren't really equivalent to umana, they're more equivalent to spells costing character points to cast, and they run into a problem of effectiveness scaling heavily with campaign duration (in a one-shot game, who cares if my character ages five years during the game? In a game that runs a hundred sessions, on the other hand...).
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09-23-2016, 03:47 PM | #4 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Most canon versions of Spirit Contracts and Corruption are overly harsh and not very suitable to PC magic users, in my opinion.
A slightly more practical if not much easier method of shedding the bad juju or a more favorable conversion rate would go a long way to making it less "You're a mage? Oh, we're going to have to put down the monster you become by next issue." And more akin to how many of us think of weasely defend anyone, no matter how guilty, lawyers. We loathe them until we need them, then want the most weasely, most morally bankrupt one we can find.
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09-23-2016, 04:01 PM | #5 |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
1. For this, the strain comes from every failed spell cast, with a modifier on the table equal to the margin of failure. Critical failures are 3 rolls on the table, rather than the spell backfiring in a horrible manner. With a modifier of 10, of course.
2. Steal Youth becomes a VERY popular spell, especially among the less-than-good mage types. 3. Resist Radiation either doesn't exist, or, it becomes the best spell ever. |
09-23-2016, 04:15 PM | #6 | |
World's Worst Detective
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Columbus, Ohio
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Quote:
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09-23-2016, 04:18 PM | #7 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Magical radiation is of a warping variety not mundane EM/beta/alpha/neutron types.
Carefully travel enough banestorms and eventually you'll age backwards. Woot! Free "time" for magic use. ;)
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04-05-2017, 09:50 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New Hampshire, USA
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Quote:
Also, I'm very curious at other options. And finally, anyone have any idea how much having access to an "alternative" energy pool to cast from should generally be worth? |
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04-05-2017, 11:03 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
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04-07-2017, 01:48 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New Hampshire, USA
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Re: Alternatives to Unlimited Mana
Quote:
Ghostdancer once pointed out that corruption isn't very enticing at it's current ratio except to really desperate characters. In a short run game it's fine, but in a long run game there's little point to use it if you've got another option. To deal with that problem I give players advantages of my design equal in power to any disadvantages they accumulate. The disads are all supernatural weaknesses of various types (like weakness, vulnerability, dread, dependency, etc) and the advantages are all themed, so as they draw on more corruption they gradually turn into vampires, werewolves, demons, etc! That actually feels pretty balanced in play. The corruption results in a change of your character into something that is less and less your character and less and less under your control, with more distinct and glaring weaknesses that enemies will take advantage of if they find out. Not necessarily weaker, per say, just... inhuman, evil, uncontrollable... one of the monsters you hunt. Last edited by oneofmanynameless; 04-07-2017 at 01:52 PM. |
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