[X] My Assistant

[Ol' Scratch]

I was designing a Magical Threat earlier today and was reading up on the rules for Potency (MitS, pp. 123-124). One thing I noticed is that they don't really talk about initiates who have Potency, particularly initiates with metamagic techniques dependant upon their grade.

Do you think it would be too much if Potency were added to a Magical Threat's initiate grade for purposes of determining how effective certain metamagic techniques like Masking or Shielding are? Why or why not?

I've looked over most of the metamagic techniques and I don't think it would be all that bad, especially since a Magical Threat's Potency is supposed to be something pretty impressive. Simply adding to Magic is kind of silly as the Magic attribute really isn't used that often, though an additional (if minor) dice pool is always nice. It still doesn't seem to inspire that level of "fear" that should accompany a Magical Threat with, say, a Potency of 3 or 4, though. It's little more than having a Power Focus at that rating, which is relatively easy to come by to begin with without having to sell your soul.

So, yeah. Do you have any comments or suggestions for things that I might want to look at more closely before considering this house rule? Just keep in mind that this is a GM-controlled power and not one that will be at a player's disposal under most circumstances, so "munchkin abuse" isn't really a consideration.

Thanks in advance!

[Backgammon]

Well, from my point fo vue, anyone with a potency rating is gonna be some sort of Big Villain. Therefore, any rule in the book is merely a Suggestion at this point, since i'm Going To Do Whatever I Feel Like With Him, And Be Damned The Klingons!

[Ol' Scratch]

Well, I like to play fair. Even when there are GM-only rules, I still don't like to fudge rolls or give NPCs abilities or powers they didn't already possess. I think it's kind of cheesy and takes away from the gaming element of a roleplaying game when you do that (I'm a strong advocate of both aspects).

So I was just wondering if it seemed a little too powerful or whether or not it's mostly harmless. Whatever decision I make here, I'll likely carry over into future NPCs, so I'm really debating which way to swing. I honestly can't see any reason why it would be too much to give it that -- seems to make the Potency power as useful to a magician as the flavor text continually suggests, yet doesn't deliver.

[Glyph]

I think an additional Dice Pool (for spellcasters and summoners) or additional Power Points (for adepts) are ample cause to inspire fear in PCs - especially since Potency can increase fairly rapidly. To me, that's the real focus of the horror - realizing that this being is going to evolve from powerful to nearly unstoppable if his/her plans are not foiled.


On increasing an effective inititate grade, I would argue that the Magic Rating represents raw power, and should increase with Potency, while the initiate grade represents not just power, but an increasing refinement of power - should an increase in Potency suddenly make the threat better able to fool wards or center against penalties? And should this newfound knowledge suddenly evaporate when the threat loses Potency?


Personally, while I don't think initiation and threats should be completely exclusive, I still think they should be on the rare side. To me, most threats are the people who have taken the quick, dirty, and easy road to power, while initiation demands more self-discipline. I could see some threats doing it more than other threats. A toxic avenger might be very dedicated to his magical studies, while a serial killer adept of the twisted way would probably just keep murdering to gain Potency and disdain taking any time to initiate.

[Ol' Scratch]

And what of a blood magician along the lines of Darke? Or a corrupted shaman with the same calm, collected, and intelligent vibe? Magical Threats aren't all seething psychopaths; Potency just leads them down that road.

[El_Machinae]

I can see your dilemma.

But, if you give potency the advantages of initiation, then what separates it from initiation? Potency is what you get for being evil.

Okay, I'm boiling water when I thought of this analogy. It's like being a dark jedi (in the new rpg). Being a dark jedi means you can use dark side points (which gives you more power than being a good jedi), this is a lot like potency.

On the other hand, a dark jedi can still get to be a higher level jedi - they can further refine their powers by (I dunno) adventuring.

I think that potency and initiation are different things. If they merely get 'more initiation' then it would be much more important to specify that they advanced further in the craft due to evil, and not study. And thus, they'd need Dr. Doom-like rants about their evilness.

[Ol' Scratch]

Well you see, that's the thing. The boost to grade would be *soley* for the purposes of determing how certain metamagic techniques behave. They would be able to cover more people with Shielding, they would be able to Mask (Grade+Potency) force points, and that sort of thing.

I'm not advocating adding Potency to Grade, only using it to determine the effective Grade for metamagic techniques that use Grade as a limitation of their effectiveness.

Basically, my real question comes down to this: Can anyone think of any techniques where this would be really unbalanced or overpowerful? Challenging is good, god-like is bad. I also rarely allow Potency to exceed 6, so please keep that in mind.

[Zazen]

Go technique by technique, then. High potency threats will be able to:

Cleanse a lot of background count
Use divination many times per week
Mask a lot of foci
Hide possession slightly more easily
Invoke great form spirits with more ease
Shield like a motherfucker

That's all I could think of without checking books and whatnot. The shielding one can get crazy, but I don't think that's a problem by itself. Highly spell-resistant enemies can make for a cool battle.

The rest are really fine for an NPC threat.

[spotlite]