 Character Creation/Magic Costs, So what's the verdict? |
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 Aug 18 2005, 09:00 PM
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#1
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Freelance Elf  Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714  |
That was me, a few months ago, in what could politely be described as "a heated conversation." I'm wondering how legit my concern was. Is it cheaper to be a mage now? Is it easy and low-cost to purchase "I'm Awakened," get that first Magic point, and unlock the door? How much does it cost, compared to previous editions (IE, in terms of build points spent versus starting character build points)? What'cha got, Gencon-goers? Anything yet? |
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Aug 18 2005, 09:06 PM
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#2
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Target Group: Members Posts: 81 Joined: 12-April 02 From: the shadows.... Member No.: 2,548 |
Check out the latest PDF for download, the Combat Mage.
Apparently it costs 15 build points to even be magically active, and then the Magic Attribute has to be bought up like other attributes at 10 build points per level, at least that is the best estimate so far...thanks Ellery :) Note: that it appears that the normal attributes all start at 1 for free, while the first point in Magic must be purchased (thereby making it a little more expensive). |
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Aug 18 2005, 09:10 PM
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#3
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Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
So, sounds like 25 character points out of...what...400?
Yeah. That's real steep. |
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Aug 18 2005, 09:20 PM
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#4
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 442 Joined: 23-April 04 From: Pennsylvania Member No.: 6,280 |
Considering that all the sample characters have spent roughly 50% or more of their starting BP on character attributes alone just in order to get 3s and 4s, you might be surprised what a difference 25 can make. |
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Aug 18 2005, 09:21 PM
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#5
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Karma Police Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 1,358 Joined: 22-July 04 From: Gothenburg, SE Member No.: 6,505 |
I donīt think that estimate is reliable. How do you know Magic isnīt more expencive than other attributes? Iīm pretty sure Edge will be, why not Magic?
Besides, you wonīt get far with just being magicly active. You need loads of skills and such too. But you still won that bet, Critias. Iīm also guessing more players will choose to be magicly active just to have more growth potential. I donīt mind though. May make some interesting character concepts possible that just werenīt before. Iīll just have to steer some players away from it to prevent everyone from doing it. |
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Aug 18 2005, 09:22 PM
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#6
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 527 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,118 |
As far as creation goes, I am under the impression that you get your first point of Magic for free as part of the creation process, such that it only costs 15 points. 25 points would be how much it'd cost for Magic of 2. As far as the estimate being unreliable goes, Ellery's been pretty spot-on so far with her idle dissections of the creation system.
As far as gaining Awakened status in play, bear in mind that if you have augmentations that reduce your Essence, you need to buy more Magic in order to have any ability at all. If you had, say, Essence of 2 (i.e. 4 points spent), you would need to raise your Magic up to 5 (5-4=1) in order to have an actual magic rating, period. What this means as far as burnout goes, I couldn't tell you. It may actually have to cease existing to permit anyone with augmentations of any sort to become Awakened after creation. |
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Aug 18 2005, 11:54 PM
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#7
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Target Group: Members Posts: 44 Joined: 14-April 05 Member No.: 7,331 |
Well in the last 3 campaigns I have run in Shadowrun (2 under 2nd Ed, 1 under 3rd) everyone has chosen to be magical anyway, citing 'it gives us more room to grow' as their response. This included in each game at least one player spending the points to be an aspected mage of some kind and not really bothering with the skills and buying them up in game later. So I don't really thing it will make a difference in my group.
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Aug 19 2005, 10:27 PM
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#8
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Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
Well, there we have it. Guess I win that bet. Now, if only Doc Funk had ever specified what we were betting, exactly... |
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Aug 19 2005, 10:42 PM
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#9
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
Umm, Doc was a nutcase if he actually took that bet. Well i guess that isn't exactly something that shakes my understanding of the order of things. ;) It was hinted at from early on that there would be a much wider range of build costs to being awakened. Now whether or not it actually is any sort of concern, or that it will lead to a much larger number of awakened characters in SR4 than SR3, or that that is actually a bad thing, is highly questionable. SR3 players with an eye on the powergaming longterm were already awakening. |
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