[Banestorm][DF][Fantasy][Magic] Was Dependency (Mana) a mistake?

[Michael Thayne]

GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Magic (all references are to Fourth Edition) have some templates with Dependency (Mana; Common; Constantly) [-50]. That -50 points seems rather excessive, given that in many fantasy worlds no-mana zones are extremely rare. So Banestorm and Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level downgraded this to (Mana; Very Common; Constantly) [-25], which is definitely an improvement. But it still seems like too many points. For comparison, Weakness (1d per minute; uncommon substance or condition) is only worth -20 points, and does more damage per minute than being deprived of a Dependency with a frequency of "Constantly", which does causes only 1 point of HP loss per minute. It seems like a fairer approach to beings that need mana to survive would be Weakness (No-mana zones; 1d per minute) [-10]. If you want to preserve the existing point cost of racial templates that use the -25 point Dependency, you could add something like Vulnerability x3 (Meteoric Iron) [-15]. The Inner Light power-up from Dungeon Fantasy 11 could then work like this:

• Level 1: reduce Weakness to 1d per five minutes and Vulnerability to x2 (10 points).
• Level 2: reduce Weakness to 1d per hour and Vulnerability to x1.5 (18 points).
• Level 3: Completely remove both Weakness and Vulnerability (25 points).

Thoughts on this approach? Anyone want to speak up for RAW on this?

[Gnome]

I love your house rule, will most likely reinterpret those templates in light of it for future games. Agree entirely with you on the RAW.

[Michael Thayne]

Thanks! I really appreciate that I'm on the right track with this.

[Alden Loveshade]

I think this is one of those Disadvantages that's largely campaign-specific (Dependency effectively has virtually endless variations in GURPS Basic Set p. 130). In a campaign where mana is everywhere and can't be "shut down," I wouldn't allow it for a PC. In a campaign where mana in nowhere, I wouldn't allow it for a PC (unless the player only wanted to play that character for five minutes....)

The -25 price listed in GURPS Banestorm is for a campaign that's "by-the-book" for that world (I've been involved in a few such campaigns).

And actually, GURPS Fantasy has it listed at the same -25 points on p. 108. The -50 is for a different case. Pages 132-133 have it varying from -5 to -30. So in GURPS Fantasy, unless I'm missing an example, the price can vary from -5 to -50.