Trading Points for Money discussion

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by corwyn

I think so, yeah. Over the past decade there have been plenty of little rules presented as options or increased detail that feel more like stealth errata to me. This is one of them. If they feel the original rule is unbalanced/unfair then I feel it should work its way into errata, not buried in a specific game line or non-core supplement.

This is very true. And true apart from errata too. The ruleset it sprawling louchely.

[GodBeastX]

I don't know why trading points for money is 10% but Signature Gear is 50% and gives it more story impact.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

I don't know why trading points for money is 10% but Signature Gear is 50% and gives it more story impact.

Signature Gear is supposed to be an item or small set of items that are iconic to your character, so conceptually you can't have a lot of different things that fit, and it is very unlikely to be something you can buy after character creation (or at least if you do, it usually will require quite a bit of role-playing to justify). Conversely points traded for money don't require any explanation more complicated than a windfall, can happen at any time during play, and the money can be spent on anything, even trivial or frivolous things.

That said, as I said, Impulse Buys suggests more generous options.

[Kalzazz]

We actually have in our games started using a variant of Sig gear (named 'sir pudding Santa Claus Sig gear') which is MUCH more generous

Allowing say Rand al'Thor to actually afford his nice sword as a starting character

[Kalzazz]

Raw cash in arbitrarily large amounts can be used for all manner of things. Including say buying a sword, or healing potions, or hiring a detective etc

A signature gear sword . . . can be used as a sword

[Phantasm]

Started a digression in the proper (GCA) forum...

[dataweaver]

The single biggest difference between buying a sword with money acquired through points and buying a sword signature gear is what happens if you lose the sword. In the former case, unless you put effort into retrieving or replacing it, it's gone. In the latter case, you'll eventually get it back. You pay extra for the signature gear because you get the security of knowing that you're never going to be parted from it for long.

[Edges]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

You pay extra for the signature gear because you get the security of knowing that you're never going to be parted from it for long.

But the point is, you don't pay extra for the signature gear. You pay less. Five times less!

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

I don't know why trading points for money is 10% but Signature Gear is 50% and gives it more story impact.

This is what GMs are for. To make rulings and balance stuff out when things fall out of balance.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

This is what GMs are for. To make rulings and balance stuff out when things fall out of balance.

A bad rule is a bad rule whether GMs can overrule it or not.