[Glorantha] The POW characteristic

[Anders]

The problem with the POW characteristic is that it ends up being impossibly complicated and/or expensive. For instance, it gives ability in three different domains of magic, willpower and Destiny/Fate/Luck Points. That's three power talents (10/level each), Will (5/level) and Destiny Points (5/level). So... 40 points per level. That might work in a 400-point supers campaign, but in a more ordinary fantasy campaign (100-300 points), it's just too expensive.

The other way to go the GURPS Voodoo route, and build a complicated hierarchy of powers. That might work, but I don't know where to start.

[Dustin]

You may be able to simplify it by making some aspects of POW into campaign features.

I would make Power its own stat at 20/level, with Will deriving from it, and the following as campaign features:

• Magic uses ER instead of Fatigue, with starting ER equal to your POW.
• Resisted spells are typically contests of POW vs POW or even current ER vs ER.
• Some magical skills use the POW stat as a base.
• The GM may use POW as a measure of the character's luck.

Destiny/Fate/Luck Points could be limited by POW as some sort of prerequisite, but I don't think I'd bother.

[Not another shrubbery]

I don't have anything to post right now regarding Power, as my old RuneQuest stuff is all stored away, and I haven't bought any edition of the game since the 3rd. Just as a friendly note, you might want to add a [RuneQuest] tag to the titles of threads regarding such game-mechanical issues, since POW is not a uniquely Gloranthan concept.

Which edition are you working from?

[The Colonel]

I also recall POW giving penalties to things like hiding and disguise ... it's a really wierd, complex stat. Sort of reminds me of the original idea of mana.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

I don't have anything to post right now regarding Power, as my old RuneQuest stuff is all stored away, and I haven't bought any edition of the game since the 3rd. Just as a friendly note, you might want to add a [RuneQuest] tag to the titles of threads regarding such game-mechanical issues, since POW is not a uniquely Gloranthan concept.

Which edition are you working from?

6th edition. The Essentials are available as a free download here. (completely legal, I'm not that stupid).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Anders

The problem with the POW characteristic is that it ends up being impossibly complicated and/or expensive. For instance, it gives ability in three different domains of magic, willpower and Destiny/Fate/Luck Points. That's three power talents (10/level each), Will (5/level) and Destiny Points (5/level). So... 40 points per level. That might work in a 400-point supers campaign, but in a more ordinary fantasy campaign (100-300 points), it's just too expensive.

First off, you don't necessarily have to stick with the RuneQuest POW mechanics - you could easily separate Will, magical potential (Magery), and luck (Destiny or Luck) instead of bundling them all together. Secondly, for the bit about there being 3 domains of magic, you've got two ways to handle this. The first is to indeed treat each domain as its own thing (kind of like how Magery, Power Investiture, and Imbuement are each their own thing) but allow characters to specialize which domain(s) they actually grab the Power Talent for (and one can easily argue that such Talents should be [5]/level rather than [10]/level). The second is to simply have a single Power Talent that applies to all three domains.

[Canology]

I have recently been converting some NPC's (my dimension-hopping game is going to have to explore the Rainbow Mounds) so this is rather timely.

I decided to just make POW an ER (magic only) and really just ignore the other elements of the stat. I guess it wouldn't hurt to give a character who has a high POW in RQ Luck at some level (or Unluckiness for low POW).

I am going from classic 2nd edition RQ and haven't really read through 6th edition very closely.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Anders

The problem with the POW characteristic is that it ends up being impossibly complicated and/or expensive. .

Uh-hunh. What are you actually trying to do with it?

[Anders]

This is a spin-off from this, which I forgot to link to. Purple Haze argued vigorously for the unity of POW in Glorantha.

Edit: PH argued that the unity of POW was essential to the setting.

[trechriron]

Originally Posted by Anders

This is a spin-off from this, which I forgot to link to. Purple Haze argued vigorously for the unity of POW in Glorantha.

Edit: PH argued that the unity of POW was essential to the setting.

Which I disagree with. You should build character templates for those where POW would be important, and include the various GURPS components that comprise all the things in RQ that make up POW to encourage someone building a "high POW" character in GURPS to spend points in suggested areas.

You can go with the RQ POW idea and essentially create the "Wild Card magic attribute", but the point cost needs to take that into consideration. However, there's no reason you can't follow the GURPS baseline of granularity.

If in RQ someone with a higher POW can be detected by spells or a POW sense or skill, then you could just have a reference stat that combines the various elements into a "score" used specifically for that purpose. Just like figuring out combat stats before play. Maybe come up with penalties or bonuses based on the range of scores. Of course, you should determine what spells or skills allow this.