Another houserule for MysAd and Aspected Mages, Simple yet flexible Options

[xsansara]

In other threads, there have been issues with the current balancing between MysAds, Mages, Adepts and Aspected Mages. MysAds are felt to be too powerful, Aspected Mages seem to be somewhat unclear in definition and underpowered at chargen.

So, why not make all awakened chars MysAds. Just like Astral Perception is a Power, Astral Projection, Summoning and Spellcasting could be, too. At 1,2,2 PP optimally. Add in an aspected Power for Summoning and Spellcasting at 1 PP and you have the Aspected Mages covered as well. Fixing those abilities on chargen is a bad idea anyway. Long running campaigns tend to have late Awakenings and other shifts in awakened status. The fluff also has this a lot. So why not make rules for it? Also it fits the fluff about magic unification.

For the goodies define magic packages of either one Rating 5 Magical Skill, 5 spells/rituals/recipes, one Rating 4 Active Skill or one Rating 2 Magical skill group.

A gets Magic 6 and 4 packages (exactly the same, except for more flexibility)
B gets Magic 4 and 2 packages (Mage similar, Adept -2 Magic +1 pack., Asp. -1 Magic +1 pack.)
C gets Magic 3 and 1 package (Mage/Asp.Mage the same, Adept -1 Magic +2 Skill)
D gets Magic 2 (the same, except more flexibility)
E gets nothing

In the game, I would allow initiates to take meta magic instead as adept powers when they raise Magic to compensate for the lack of mage-flavoured Powers.

This more or less fits with the current priorities and allows for a wider range of char options, without changing the balance too much. The pure adepts get nerfed a bit, but they gain in flexibility (e.g. PhysAd with Astral Projection) and late-game options. Maybe throw in a fat disadvantage for Awakened that disallows taking the above Powers, if you still think it is too harsh. The MystAd are nerfed, too, but they had it coming (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) They still get the double use of magic as PP and for Magical Skill use, if they want, but do not get the PP for free anymore.

So what do you guys think? Anything I broke?

[Chrome Head]

I don't really like it. It seriously boils down to "Mystic Adepts are broken so let's make every one a Mystic Adept". I'm not a huge fan of the concept of mystic adept, and I'm even much less of a fan of what they have done with it in SR5, even when considering the Missions errata.

I also dislike your proposal, because fluff-wise it is quite strange to consider spellcasting - or, even worse, astral projection - as an adept power!
Where do Alchemy and Enchanting come in? Can we forego the stuff we wouldn't want to use to free up.. adept power points!?

All in all, I don't like the flavor of this, though I appreciate the effort to try and fix an important problem, and the out-of-box thinking.

[Shemhazai]

Previous attempts to give characters just a touch of magic have been too complicated (spell knacks, aspecting, qualities, etc.). As it is, being awakened puts you in a de-facto character class.

For years I've had in mind a "big picture" set of changes to the magic system that I think would work well. Some of the changes are radical, but I think the game would be better. Your idea of being able choose which kinds of awakened abilities a character has is an important part of it. This can be done in a straightforward, concise way. In the past these things have taken up many pages of supplement text, and are still imperfect in my view.

It would give players an incentive to specialize in only some areas of magic, and make awakened characters in general less powerful.

[xsansara]

Thanks for the constructive input. (So rare...)

The fluff should be a little different for sure. The mystical adept always felt a bit like a power gaming variant. Maybe reintroduce the old advantage system from SR4 to give a better distinction between types.

This is just an idea, no one paid me to write actual rule text (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)