[Glorantha] The POW characteristic

[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.

[Anders]

I'll probably do that, but I wanted to know if someone had any bright ideas.

I'll go with a disparate collection of advantages. The way Sean Punch intended it to be. :)

[Anthony]

There are two key things about Pow in RQ, which I would argue are key to the setting, but don't necessarily have to be modeled exactly in GURPS. The are:

• It's not linked to IQ.
• Everyone has it.

In any case, unless you're planning on making RQ characters portable to other settings, you can just invent a new advantage. However, if you want to go with a disparate collection, it's Willpower, Talent (Runequest Magic), and an energy reserve.

[Anders]

I've divorced Will and Perception from IQ, and I use RPM which downplays the importance of a high IQ (and I use Will as basis for the Paths). And the world is high-mana.

[David Johnston2]

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.

Yeah, I don't agree even a little bit.