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12-22-2020, 04:56 PM | #1 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Question re: Limited Use and Preparation Required (in Modular Ability)
I'm converting an ability from an old supplement for That Other Game, but it brings up a question about how the Limited Use limitation interacts with Preparation Required limitation when using Modular Abilities.
Quote:
Graven Image: Mindlink (Graven Image) [5] + Modular Ability (5 points base + 3 per point; Limited, only Allies with Minion and Summonable, -50%; Preparation Required, 10 minutes, -30%; Requires Skill Roll, vs. Artist, +0%; Social, only social advantages, +0%, Temporary Disadvantage: Distinctive Feature, tattoo, -0%) [1 point base + 0.6 points per point of abilities] + Telesend (Accessibility: only with Graven Image, -80%) [6]. 12 + 0.6 points per point of Ally advantage.Allies would take Minion (+50%), Summonable (+100%), Limited Use (1/day, -40%), and Maximum Duration (up to 10 minutes, -50%), for a total of +60%. Assessing those modifiers after the 4x for Constant Availability, you get the following levels:
Limited Use (1/day) doesn't seem to quite fit the ability's initial description. If a "graven one" uses the ability, the image shouldn't reset after 24 hours, despite the limitation's name. In fact, if the character is imprisoned and denied access to artistic equipment, the ability will never reset. On the other hand, the situation doesn't seem on a level with "One-Time Powers" from GURPS Supers, in that there is a way to reset the power, so vaporizing character points along with the power doesn't make sense, and a 1/5 multiplier for the whole power does seem rather munchkinish. In the ability as built above, Preparation Required applies to the Modular Ability. Should it also apply to the Ally advantage itself contained in the slot, reducing its modifier cost from +60% to +30%, and representing the fact that, not only does the reallocation of points require preparation, so does any simple "reloading" of the initial ability? I could see this question also applying to Vancian spell systems, which would encounter the same difficulty with Limited Use (1/day) not reflecting the fact that spell-book study is required not only to change the repertoire of spells, but also to re-enable them after their single allowed casting. Thanks for any help that the GURPS collective can provide!
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12-22-2020, 06:23 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: Question re: Limited Use and Preparation Required (in Modular Ability)
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In which I post about a TL9-10 solar system http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=169674 If you don't know why I said something, please ask. Assumptions are the death of courtesy. Disappointed in the behaviour I have too-often encountered here. |
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12-22-2020, 06:27 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: earth....I think.
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Re: Question re: Limited Use and Preparation Required (in Modular Ability)
Limited use would not be on the Minion ability, but on the modular ability like with preparation required.
Limited use on modular abilities means that every time you use it you have to redo/reorganize/ spend the allotted time needed to use it again. In your example, once the user has prepared the ability, they can use it only once per day. If they use it then they have to again spend 10 minutes preparing it. I assume the cost of the modular ability is 5 base and 4 per point. The 4 is because it is subject to external influence, such as needing art supplies. If not, you need to add that limitation into the cost. Also, You can't have social only on the ally ability because it has the summonable modifier, which turns it into a supernatural advantage instead of a social one. |
12-22-2020, 07:39 PM | #4 | |||
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: Question re: Limited Use and Preparation Required (in Modular Ability)
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12-22-2020, 07:59 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: Question re: Limited Use and Preparation Required (in Modular Ability)
As I think on it, Limited Use isn't really appropriate at all for the modular abilities themselves: theoretically, looking at the initial description, one could invoke the single use of the power, take ten minutes to re-engrave, invoke again, and so on and so on, for far more than a single use per day. The limitation lies in the need to prepare, not in any rationing by time period.
So we need a Modular Ability in which re-allocation of points is limited by Preparation Required, and in which the allocated slots are themselves limited by the same Preparation Required (in that re-enabling them after use amounts essentially to the same process as re-allocation of points). But is it double-dipping if both the Modular Ability and the modules themselves use Preparation Required (10 minutes, -30%) to represent this process, and the modules then don't take Limited Use (1/day, -40%)?
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— - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — Looking for a GURPS game in Houston, Texas. |
12-22-2020, 08:20 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: earth....I think.
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Re: Question re: Limited Use and Preparation Required (in Modular Ability)
Ah, yeah, my mistake on the limited use part then and cost. I agree with the above. Limited use is not needed because preparation required makes you have to rearrange the points, even if you are using the same thing again.
You are also right that it is still a social advantage, its just no longer a mundane social, but a supernatural social one. I forget that GURPS has two "classes" for advantages/disadvantages: Social, Physical, Mental. and Exotic, Supernatural, Mundane. |
Tags |
ability, limited use, modifiers, modular ability, preparation required |
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