Equipment for Iconic Characters and William Headley's Powerstone-enchanting potential

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Absolutely not. You can find a thing but if you don't spend pts to turn it into Sig Gear it remains just a thing on your equipment sheet.

I was thinking along the lines of like how you would change your sheet if you got a bionic arm, even if you purchased it with cash so you wouldn't need to spend character points on it.

Or for example, if you happen to find a dragon's horde of treasure, do you need to spend character points to increase your Wealth advantage to get to keep the treasure? Or do you just increase it even if you have no unspent points?

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Plane

B311: Dai is skilled in knife/shortsword, even with disad wealth: poor he could probably afford a cheap weapon, do we assume he carries one around?

Dai's TL is 8. Starting Wealth for TL 8 is $20k . Dai's Wealth level gives him 1/5th of that is $4k.

FWIW none of them has a lower TL than 7.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by Plane

I was thinking along the lines of like how you would change your sheet if you got a bionic arm, even if you purchased it with cash so you wouldn't need to spend character points on it.

Or for example, if you happen to find a dragon's horde of treasure, do you need to spend character points to increase your Wealth advantage to get to keep the treasure? Or do you just increase it even if you have no unspent points?

It depends on the GM and the campaign.

For the first, if bionic arm are available for cash, you just add the relevant entry on the character sheet.
No need to spend cp.
It would be different if you had the "one arm" disadvantage at creation. In that case, most GM would require you to buy it off first.

For the mountain of cash, if you play in a typical "murder hobo" campaign, the social aspect of wealth are not in play, so no need to buy it up when you get an infusion of cash.
If you play in a social-oriented campaign where wealth matter past starting cash then some GM would require you to buy it up to gain the benefit of the increased social advantages tied to cash.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Plane

I was thinking along the lines of like how you would change your sheet if you got a bionic arm, even if you purchased it with cash so you wouldn't need to spend character points on it.

If the GM allows you to buy bionic upgrades with cash, then you pay the cash, write the new trait on your character sheet, and increase your character point total accordingly. If the GM requires that you pay character points to receive bionic upgrades, pay the cash AND the character points and add the trait to your character sheet.

See chapter 9 of the Basic Set, especially the section on Body Modifications.

Or for example, if you happen to find a dragon's horde of treasure, do you need to spend character points to increase your Wealth advantage to get to keep the treasure? Or do you just increase it even if you have no unspent points?

You don't need a certain level of Wealth to possess a given amount of money. If you're Dead Broke and find a dragon's hoard, you're a Dead Broke character with a dragon's hoard. Wealth levels represent your economic connections in society — what kind of job you can find, what kind of income and debt you can have — not how much money you have. If you find enough treasure to meet the starting wealth amount of another Wealth level — you're rich now, so you can get good jobs and invest for good income or get big loans — then the GM may allow you to pay the character points needed for that higher level of Wealth. If your GM is generous, finding a dragon's hoard might lead to higher Wealth as a specific reward given freely by the GM as a Trait Gained in Play: you increase your Wealth level and your point total for free. But you might also refuse to improve your Wealth level and just spend the treasure. There's no single answer: it depends on the player's desire and the GM's ruling.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Plane

I was thinking along the lines of like how you would change your sheet if you got a bionic arm, even if you purchased it with cash so you wouldn't need to spend character points on it.

Or for example, if you happen to find a dragon's horde of treasure, do you need to spend character points to increase your Wealth advantage to get to keep the treasure? Or do you just increase it even if you have no unspent points?

There's a write-up of a bionic arm in UT that costs a net 5 cp and $12,000. Which of those you pay depends on the GM and possibly when you acquire it.

At character creation and it's usually cp only. It's an advantage and PCs who acquire Advantages spend cp for them.

During play and you almost certainly have to pay $ for the arm. Soem GMs would make you go into pt debt and require you to spend the first 5 cp you get after that to pay for the arm. Others would say that the arm was simply mundane tech and require only the $.

For the dragon's horde it would also depend. For example, in Dungeon Fantasy no PCs buy or use Wealth and found is found and lost is lost. In other games it again might depend on the GM.

Wealth is a Social advantage and does finding a lot of money change you relation to Society in his game? The normal effects of Wealth after play starts are increased pay if the optional Jobs system is being used, increased income if soemone has the Independent Income Advantage and "free" Status at certain levels of Wealth.

If none of those apply in the game in question just what would you be charging the player cp for?

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

For the first, if bionic arm are available for cash, you just add the relevant entry on the character sheet.
No need to spend cp.
It would be different if you had the "one arm" disadvantage at creation. In that case, most GM would require you to buy it off first.

There really isn't a difference between replacing a perfectly good arm with a bionic arm and buying off One Arm with a bionic arm.

It's the GM's decision whether to allow characters to buy body-modifying upgrades just for cash or whether they also have to pay character points. If you can just buy upgrade with cash, then you can buy off One Arm with just cash. If the GM requires character points to be spent, then buying a bionic arm to replace a good arm will also require spending character points. As a player, if the GM allowed one character to buy an upgraded arm for cash but didn't allow me to buy off One Arm for just cash, I'd be pretty miffed.

[Plane]

I just discovered another problem with my earlier speculation about Headley creating his own powerstone: I forgot Magery 2 was a prereq for Enchant... checking prereqs wasn't on my mind since he had Ritual Magery but that only applies to spells not magery...

I guess it's possible he might've previously had higher magery then lost it (M127 crit-failing Drain Mana, M130 crit-failing twice w/ Suspend Magery, M130 failing save against Drain Magery, or crit-failing it against another)

Or maybe he could just temporarily get Magery 2 for using Trading Fatigue for Effect (P160) or Using Abilities at Default (P173) but that would cost crazy FP to keep it active for the hours/days it would take to enchant an item (it charges per minute) so it's probably only feasible if he's in a Very High Mana area and regularly getting the FP output reimbursed to him a second later (or in Wild Mana where all success is crit success and costs are zero)

Based on 1 point of signature gear being worth 25 energy to enchant under GURPS Fantasy guidelines it weirdly seems like he can't have the staff enchantment on his "magic staff" (M70, costs 30 energy) meaning if the gem is a powerstone, to call upon it he would need to touch the gem itself. Which makes sense conceptually since he uses it as a "walking stick" and it seems like the gem is the handle.

Since powerstone costs 20 energy, it makes me wonder what the other 5 points might be. The only thing that comes to mind is manastone...

Would anyone see a problem with allowing manastone+powerstone to be cast on the same gem? I figure so long as the disadvantages stack (ie if you crit-fail either spell, the gem is destroyed and you lose the previous ones) it would be okay. So Headley would probably draw upon the powerstone in most cases (since it recharges) and save the one-time-use manastone for an extreme emergency.

Originally Posted by Gumby Bush

If a character finds a thing, there's no point cost (typically).

If they want plot protection for it, then they can spend points on Signature Gear for it, otherwise the canny thieves guild might try to steal it, or when they drop it down a crevasse it is lost...

Although I realize disadvantages are meant to be unlosable without buying them off (ie if you kill an Enemy, you automatically get a new enemy or some other disadvantage of equivalent value) but do advantages work that way too?

If you have 'Extra Arm' you can have it cut off for example, or lose a gadget, so is Sig Gear necessarily unlosable stufff?

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Plane

If you have 'Extra Arm' you can have it cut off for example, or lose a gadget, so is Sig Gear necessarily unlosable stufff?

Plot Protection is literally what making something Sig Gear is for.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Plot Protection is literally what making something Sig Gear is for.

*rereads B85*

If you misplace Signature Gear or sell it unwillingly, or an NPC steals or
confiscates it, the GM must give you an opportunity to recover it in the
course of the adventure.

If it is truly lost forever through no fault of your own, the GM will give you back your points (or replace the item with another of equal value).

However, should you sell or give away your Signature Gear of your own free will, it is gone, along with the points spent on it!

Yeah you're right, I should've consulted Basic Set before disagreeing.

I wonder how that works though... "opportunity to recover" isn't guarantee for example...

If you have that singular ("an") opportunity and fail it (ie Headley finds the thief who stole his staff, but thief escapes) does that count as "fault of your own" (you shouldn't outsmarted that thief!) and you don't get the points back?

On the other hand that's not selling or giving it away, so you wouldn't lose the points on it... it's gone but maybe you need to wait until the next "adventure" to get another opportunity to get it back?

Or perhaps rather than just dropping a replacement in your lap the GM gives you an opportunity to get the replacement and not pay points/cash for it?