Powerstone Quirks Suggestions

[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
Not usable by non-bottle blondes

Moderate
Only usable by a virgin
Only usable by women
Only usable for Light and Darkness, Protection and Warning, Movement, Making and Breaking, Air and Enchantment colleges
Only usable by athletes (12+ points in DX based skills not involving guns or motorized vehicles)

Major
Only usable during the day
Only usable inside
Only usable outside in the rain

Severe
Only usable by unclothed mages
Only usable by a blonde (bottle blondes don’t qualify)
Only usable by a parahuman

Spell Effect
Minor
Spells must draw FP entirely from the stone.
Spells with no visual effect have one

Moderate
Magic rituals become one level more elaborate
Major
Severe

User Effect
Minor
User is always at least slightly thirsty

Moderate
User becomes Lecherous until the stone recharges fully (12- self control number)
User’s skin, hair or eyes become an unnatural colour for 1d hours

Major
User (superficially) becomes a vampire : pale complexion, fangs, pointed ears, red eyes, disturbing presence, aversion to sunlight (not damaging or impairing) and an appetite for blood (quirk level) for 1d hours
Severe

Misc. Effect or Limit
Minor
Moderate
Major
Severe
Mana Pool
Mana Vortex

[PTTG]

Recharge Limit
Moderate: Only recharges under full, direct sunlight
Major: Only recharges within 30 feet of the place it was made.
Severe: Produces 1 rad/hour while charging.

Usage Limit
Minor:
Can't be used for truly evil ends.
Can't be used to break the law.

Spell Effect
Severe: Acts as a point source of radiation when used. Produces 1 rad for every 10FP drawn from the stone.

User Effect:
Mild: The user
Moderate: Use of the stone has an intoxicating effect. 1FP = 1 shot of strong liquor.
Major: After using the stone, the user forgets their own name for one hour per FP drawn, and cannot be reminded of it during that time.
Severe: User is slowly petrified by the stone. After drawing 10FP, the user gains 1 DR due to their skin becoming stony. Upon attaining 10DR in this way, the transformation is sealed, and they will become a cursed, inanimate stone statue in 24 hours.

[Fred Brackin]

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

Moderate

Only recharges in the presence of orchestral music

Major

Only recharges when immersed in salt water

Severe
Only recharges while immersed in boiling water.

The "orchestral muysic" thing is an only mminor Quirk is recorded orchestral music satisfies the stone. If it has to be _live_ orchestral music theneven if you keep it ion a concert hall it only recharges for a few hours each day and the stone is not only annoying but severely underproduces. It'll be heavily reduced in price if it even can find a buyer.

If the "salt water" thing can be a jar with water that has salt added to it that's aminor recharge Quirk. If it has to be a_body_ of natural salt water that might be major.

In a modern setting the "boiling water" thing is only a little more annoying that the orchestral music thing. If it has to be dunked ina volcnaoc hot spring that's pretty limiting.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Recharge Limit

Severe: Produces 1 rad/hour while charging.

Spell Effect
Severe: Acts as a point source of radiation when used. Produces 1 rad for every 10FP drawn from the stone.

User Effect:

Severe: User is slowly petrified by the stone. After drawing 10FP, the user gains 1 DR due to their skin becoming stony. Upon attaining 10DR in this way, the transformation is sealed, and they will become a cursed, inanimate stone statue in 24 hours.

The recharge Quirk could just barely be handled if the user knew about it and could keep both shielding around the stone when it charged and distance between it and living creatures. Mostly though a little bit of Power every couple of days wouldn't be worth it. Thrown away or something more careful.

The spell effect thing is far beyond what a pair of lead gloves could handle and would leave the user minus a hand when the skin cancer showed up. Exactly that sort of thing happened to early X-ray techs who used their off-hand as a test subject for imaging while they were calibrating the machine. This is a "kill" Quirk and not just Severe..

Same for the petrification thing. Once known these stones would be disposed of as if they were toxic waste.

Unless they were large and already had a significant number of Powerstone Enchntments on them. Then the killer Quirk Enchantment would be removed leaving the stone's remainign Powerstone Enchnatments intact and lettign the stone be re-Enchanted to full capacity.

If you wonder, it's Word of Kromm that this can be done and if it means that no one is goign to put up with excessively annoying Quirks then that's what happens.

[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?