[RPM] High Energy Cost spells (Example Body of Shadow)

[dataweaver]

Also note that transformations between Paths are inherently pricy: 16 energy for the base Effects alone, before bringing anything else into the mix. If it’s a Greater Transform, that’s good for a ×5 multiplier right there, for a minimum cost of 80 energy. On top of that, Transforms usually involve bestowing or removing a meta-trait, which ups the cost further.

Some possible house rules to bring the cost down, some of which can be used in concert:

• No matter what the Transformation is, never count more than one of the pair of Effects as a Greater Effect. This could drop the aforementioned 80 points to 48 points.
• Make Transformations a special case: they always count as a single Effect; but it costs an extra (guessing) 2 energy if that single Effect uses two Paths. So a “Transform Body to Energy” Effect would cost 10 energy instead of 8. Instead of 80 points base for a Greater Transform, it would only be 30 points.
• Or just have it count as a single Effect, with no price inflation; if you’re highly skilled with both Body and Energy, transforming between them is no harder than converting light into sound or a man into a pig. The 80-point Greater Transform would only be 24 points.

• Sometimes, Altered Traits is pricy because the Advantages involved are arguably overpriced. I personally don’t consider Insubstantiality to be worth its price, and generally tweak it so that it costs half as much. If you’ve got some sort of energy form, this could reduce your energy cost significantly.
• Consider dropping the cost of Altered Traits to 1 energy per point, regardless of whether it’s an Advantage or a Disadvantage that you’re granting; all that matters is the magnitude of price or value. The rationale is that you can often get a similar result without altering any traits at all; that is, much of the energy cost for the altered trait is already incorporated into the basic cost of the Effect.
• Or be extremely conservative about using Altered Traits, reserving it for cases where you can’t justify the underlying Effect doing what you want.
• Never itemize the individual traits granted; just come up with a single lump-sum total of all traits granted, both positive and negative, and base the Altered Traits energy cost on that. So if the Advantages and Disadvantages being added balance out, the total cost of Altered Traits is zero. This only helps if there’s a mixture of advantages and disadvantages involved. (This also may not be a house rule so much as a clarification.)