Powerstone Quirks Suggestions

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Whitewings

I’m drawing up a list of Powerstone quirks, and I’d like to get both commentary on the ones I have and suggestions for more; I want to have at least three for each type and severity.

Recharge Limit
Minor
Must be in a rose silk or rose silk lined bag
Only recharges while on a mage’s person
Only recharges outside or with a clear view of the outside

Moderate
Will not recharge within 3m of a living vertebrate
Will only recharge if it spends the night under (or at least visually exposed to) the dome of the sky.
Only recharges in the presence of orchestral music

Major
Only recharges in an inductive charging cradle.
Only recharges while moving
Only recharges when immersed in salt water

Severe
Only recharges while immersed in boiling water.
Only recharges when below sea level
Only recharges while on a moving creature.

Usage Limit
Minor
Not usable by a virgin

Usable only by a virgin.
Usable only by somone who has (or has not) had children.
Usable only by married people.
Usable only by widowed people.

Not usable by non-bottle blondes

Moderate
Only usable by a virgin
Only usable by women

Alternates. After male uses it, only a female can use it. After she uses it, only a male can use it.

[hal]

While recharging, the owner of the stone suffers the disadvantage "unfit".

I'll see if I can come up with others based upon the laws of magic. For example, if the day the enchantment quirks is a day where the influence is largely Saturn, then any opposing influences would inhibit the powerstone. Since the " power" or skill level of the enchantment needs to be 15+, even a minor "power" penalty means the enchantment doesn't work.

I will see if it is possible to build "powers" that afflict owners of power stones with affliction, can't better be described as point based disadvantages. For example, a -1 DX, as an affliction power costs how much?

Using a D&D approach, maybe quicker power stones are ego afflicted magic items? Instead of a "affects user" kind of affair, the user is afflicted by a given problem if the user fails a saving roll.

I'll give some thought to this later...

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Usable only by a virgin.
Usable only by somone who has (or has not) had children.
Usable only by married people.
Usable only by widowed people.

Alternates. After male uses it, only a female can use it. After she uses it, only a male can use it.

I have never been a fan of the idea that magic can tell something subjective about its target.

Usable by a Virgin or someone that hasn't had children. If a routine medical exam can't determine it, I don't let magic do it either (unless its specifically a divination magic revealing the answer to a question). By routine I mean an ER doc assessing a patient for triage, not a GP that has been asked to put a daughter on the Pill.

Definitely not the married or widowed... those are conditions that aren't real, they are only societal conventions.

I have this same problem with the general idea of the Watchdog spell where it alert if something means to harm you... immediately? at some point in the future? Without even knowing you're there?

Don't mean to tangent, Powerstone quirks have always been hard to come up with, and I do like the alternating man and woman idea (without even considering opening any DEI discussions).

[ajardoor]

Using the power stone causes the user to suffer reaction penalties - how bad the penalty and for how long depends on the severity of the quirk.

[KarlKost]

Only recharges under current water

Only recharges on holy/unholy places

[Johnny1A.2]

Powerstone gains triple power at the stroke of noon and at midnight, lasting one minute, but if you use that extra power the stones shatters.

Powerstone will only recharge inside your body. The easiest way is to swallow it (obviously this is only for small smooth stones). The stone will recharge completely with a single pass through the digestive tract. Subquirks: only the person who swallowed it to recharge it can use it/anyone except that person can use it.

Powerstone can be recharged at double speed by submerging it in a bowl of one's own blood. Triple-speed recharge if you use someone else's blood, but it has to be from a sapient being.

Powerstone turns red-hot when used. It slowly cools off at the normal pace for a crystal of its composition and size. Alternatively, the Powerstone turns so cold that it inflicts frostbite when touched with bare skin.

When fully discharged, the Powerstone begins to drain first ST and then HT to fast-recharge as long as it is in contact with bare flesh. Out of contact it recharges normally. The fast recharge works only on sapients. (This could actually be useful, if one was in an emergency situation and needed to recharge it fast, and could risk sparing some ST and HT. But you'd want to be really careful with it. Of course an unscrupulous user could use any prisoner he had no other use for...)

The Powerstone behaves normally until it charges up to 50% power. At 60% roll 1d, on a '6' it explodes. At 70% roll 1d, on a '5' or a '6' it explodes. At 80% of full charge it explodes on a 4, 5, or 6. At 90% it explodes unless you roll a 1 or a 2. When it hits 100%, it explodes on anything but a '1'. Once you start discharging it, it's perfectly safe until the next time it recharges past 50%. (That is, say you let it reach 80% and it didn't blow. Now you can use it normally and safely. But if you take it down to 70% and then let it start recharging, at 80% there's another 2/3 chance of a boom.)

If you know about this quirk, you can use the stone perfectly safely as long as you stop the recharge at 50%. But if you think you might really need extra power, do y you risk it?

[Fred Brackin]

[QUOTE=Johnny1A.2;2524614
If you know about this quirk, you can use the stone perfectly safely as long as you stop the recharge at 50%. ?[/QUOTE]

How do you stop a Powerstone from recharging? I know of no way to hit "pause" on a Powerstone.

You can _use_ the energy when it hits 50% but that'll be whether you need it then or not.

If it was a large/valuable stone or it it already had many useful levels of Powerstone a Quirk this bad would be hit with Remove Enchantment but if it was a small and lightly Enchnted stone it'd probably just be thrown away. Buried and left to explode seems likely.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

How do you stop a Powerstone from recharging? I know of no way to hit "pause" on a Powerstone.

Magical version of a Faraday Cage, maybe (the webcomic Grrl Power suggests an "orichalcum tenebrae")? That would essentially be a NMZ in a bag (or box, or whatever); it would need to be fairly inexpensive to justify using such (so probably not made of orichalcum after all).

[coronatiger]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

How do you stop a Powerstone from recharging? I know of no way to hit "pause" on a Powerstone.

Store it near a larger stone, and only the larger one will charge.

[SRoach]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

...
The Powerstone behaves normally until it charges up to 50% power. At 60% roll 1d, on a '6' it explodes. At 70% roll 1d, on a '5' or a '6' it explodes. At 80% of full charge it explodes on a 4, 5, or 6. At 90% it explodes unless you roll a 1 or a 2. When it hits 100%, it explodes on anything but a '1'. Once you start discharging it, it's perfectly safe until the next time it recharges past 50%. (That is, say you let it reach 80% and it didn't blow. Now you can use it normally and safely. But if you take it down to 70% and then let it start recharging, at 80% there's another 2/3 chance of a boom.)

If you know about this quirk, you can use the stone perfectly safely as long as you stop the recharge at 50%. But if you think you might really need extra power, do y you risk it?

I "lose" it in a card game against one of my enemies. I don't tell him or her about the quirk.
If I'm feeling particularly bloodthirsty, I have it set into a choker necklace or torc, first. If I don't get it back from the jeweler, I find a vantage to watch from, rather than getting mad.