[Magic/DF] Powerstone or Power Item (Worldbuilding)

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

or his grandpa's femur

I was wondering why Grampa was so ornery...I just thought it was that time of the month...

[simply Nathan]

[QUOTE=Ze'Manel Cunha;1179064]It's a setting flavor, the Power Item makes magics more distinct, the Powerstone makes magics more mechanical.[quote]
Well, given how strongly my world bent toward "magic is a force of nature" thread, Powerstones look like the way to go. Thaumatology is this world's main science, basically.

Personally I prefer specific fetish/items which make for distinctiveness, but I don't use the cash value of the item at all, since cash value makes absolutely no sense in any setting.

In mine it sorta will. The world's purpose is to be built as much like an RPG setting as possible, but with the rules taken as straight as possible (the TL is TL3+2^ because magic made everyones' lives better).

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

In mine it sorta will. The world's purpose is to be built as much like an RPG setting as possible, but with the rules taken as straight as possible (the TL is TL3+2^ because magic made everyones' lives better).

Yeah, that'll work, can be pretty fun too, in that case for that type of gamist setting, I'll toss it all in, including the kitchen sink.

[Refplace]

I am used to powerstones and I think they work well for an industrial magic feel or even a primitive magic setup.
Power Items though strike me as better for a cinematic or epic magic, though I can also see them in a primitive magic game.
One item vs. many.

For a game with a feel like One Piece I would go with Power Items.

[Witchking]

Just a further note...if you do decide to go the Powerstones route...I would advise that the person playing the mage(s) be someone you can thouroughly trust...depending on situation often there will be a lotta bookkeeping going on...

Which Stones have What Powerstone enchantments (regular/single college) at what levels, when a spell is cast where does the energy come from (Personal FP/HT/Powerstone and if so which one?)...Once combat is over...WHERE are the various stones and which ones can/are charging (depends on location+mana level)...What is their charge rate and current state of arming...

Basically I would advise picking someone you can trust implicitly and then let the player do the maths...mebbie spot audit them now and again...but as the GM you will have more than enough to do!!

Prosit!

[simply Nathan]

Well, even though I was leaning slightly toward Powerstones, I think I'll go with Power Items because of just how gamist my world is. I think I'm more likely to have times where the characters are in desperate situations with Power Items that can only be recharged in town, at a price, than a bag of 10-or-so thaum Powerstones.

I actually have the start of an idea for the spell used to charge Power Items

Power Item (VH) Special
. Imbues a single item of significance to its owner with a temporary charge of energy. The energy from this item can be tapped the same as a Powerstone or the user's own FP. Once used, the charge is gone. The item's $ value determines the maximum amount of energy it can hold(DF1 p.28). Each person can have only one Power Item at a time, though once the energy in it has been used up he need not use the same item for his Power Item again.
. Only the item's owner can draw energy from the Power Item. A caster cannot charge one of his own possessions to render it a Power Item. The caster must stay within a one-mile radius of the place where he casts this spell for a week in order to be capable of casting this spell.
. A Thaumatology skill of 15+ turns all critical failures into regular failures.
. This is a Meta spell, an Energy spell, and an Enchantment spell.
Time to Cast: 14 minutes and 5 seconds.
Energy: 5 per point of energy the power item is charged with. May be cast incrementally. High skill does not reduce cost to cast.
Prerequisite: Lend Energy.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

Well, even though I was leaning slightly toward Powerstones, I think I'll go with Power Items because of just how gamist my world is. I think I'm more likely to have times where the characters are in desperate situations with Power Items that can only be recharged in town, at a price, than a bag of 10-or-so thaum Powerstones.

Ok Power Items kewl...and just so you know a last observation...with the base Magic system and assumptions...Magic Items are EXPENSIVE. The longest I ran a mage was probably about 18 months or so...I think I had about 3-4 Powerstones at the end.

Basically the economic incentive to enchant a powerstone...sell the smallest one you have once the new one is "done" use a portion of the procedes to build a newer bigger powerstone...and live of the profit for a couple of months. All this off the Q+D Powerstone enchant...Enchantment that have to be done S+S will cost significantly more...

But IMHO a lot of mages instead of 10 powerstones will go with 5-6 maybe somewhat larger ones and then use the processed from the sale of 1-2 of them to hire themselves 10 mooks or so for a week.

YMMV...

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Witchking

But IMHO a lot of mages instead of 10 powerstones will go with 5-6 maybe somewhat larger ones and then use the processed from the sale of 1-2 of them to hire themselves 10 mooks or so for a week.

It really depends on the wealth level of PCs; space to recharge powerstone isn't free, particularly since powerstones are eminently stealable, and you can only use one stone per casting, so 1p stones don't do much for you, but outside of special situations there's not much reason to use stones larger than about ten points, so you might as well just keep collecting 10p stones, and if you've got $100,000 to burn, that's 50 stones.

[simply Nathan]

In this world, Q&D is $0.5/thaum, S&S is $15/thaum, and Average starting wealth is $5,000. Enchanting is profitable because of mass production, this world being at the magical equivalent of the Industrial Revolution.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It really depends on the wealth level of PCs; space to recharge powerstone isn't free,

Well space for stones is not "free"...but a intelligenct placing of the stones bascially means you can have 24ish stones charging in a 3 room apartment (fairly low end urban living)...

Just drill a few small holes in the floor/ceiling so that you can "stack" 2 stones 6'1" vertical seperation in the Corners...4 corners per room and voila!!.

I never had enough stones for that problem but it was not an Industrial Light and Magic game...mages were artisans/rare and in a loose guild structure...not in industrial mass production corporations...

as I said YMMV...<mage lusts for the Gate spells to take advantage of importing from cheap powerstone world....>