Are Powers Overpriced? - Page 3

dataweaver · 08-11-2018, 01:02 AM

Consider Divine Favor and Sorcery, two builds of the Powers system that feature extensive use of Alternate Abilities. In theory, you're getting a massive price break (1/5 cost) for the restriction that you can't use two of these miracles/spells at the same time. But in play, that restriction really isn't that restrictive; compare it to massive Limitations, where the most limiting of them have a tendency to top out around -50%; and the rare -80% Limitations are things like “Accessibility: One Person” — restrictions that almost totally cripple the ability.

Originally, when it was Alternate Attacks, the pricing made some sense: the discount came from the fact that the two Attacks had near-complete overlap in their utility, with each attack doing more or less the same thing as the others (i.e., inflict damage on the target), just in different ways. The price break was because the additional Attacks didn't add much to your capabilities.

But when it got generalized to Alternate Abilities, that went out the window: now you could take Abilities designed for drastically different situations, Abilities where you'd be unlikely to find yourself stressing out over which one to sacrifice in order to use the other one — certainly not “one-fifth of the price” levels of nail-biting.

Yet no one complains that the Alternate Abilities are too cheap. Indeed, people seem to flock to Divine Favor and Sorcery because, after an initial investment in the “core ability”, they don't have to pay full price for their prayers or spells. People seem quite satisfied with the costs of Sorcery's spells.

So is it possible that the problem is on the other end? Are Abilities without the Alternate Abilities discount too expensive?

08-11-2018, 01:02 AM	#1
dataweaver Join Date: Aug 2004	Are Powers Overpriced? Consider Divine Favor and Sorcery, two builds of the Powers system that feature extensive use of Alternate Abilities. In theory, you're getting a massive price break (1/5 cost) for the restriction that you can't use two of these miracles/spells at the same time. But in play, that restriction really isn't that restrictive; compare it to massive Limitations, where the most limiting of them have a tendency to top out around -50%; and the rare -80% Limitations are things like “Accessibility: One Person” — restrictions that almost totally cripple the ability. Originally, when it was Alternate Attacks, the pricing made some sense: the discount came from the fact that the two Attacks had near-complete overlap in their utility, with each attack doing more or less the same thing as the others (i.e., inflict damage on the target), just in different ways. The price break was because the additional Attacks didn't add much to your capabilities. But when it got generalized to Alternate Abilities, that went out the window: now you could take Abilities designed for drastically different situations, Abilities where you'd be unlikely to find yourself stressing out over which one to sacrifice in order to use the other one — certainly not “one-fifth of the price” levels of nail-biting. Yet no one complains that the Alternate Abilities are too cheap. Indeed, people seem to flock to Divine Favor and Sorcery because, after an initial investment in the “core ability”, they don't have to pay full price for their prayers or spells. People seem quite satisfied with the costs of Sorcery's spells. So is it possible that the problem is on the other end? Are Abilities without the Alternate Abilities discount too expensive? __________________ Point balance is a myth.[1][2][3][4]