QUOTE (JoelHalpern @ Mar 13 2009, 11:09 AM)
Calling the rules changes "tweaks" or "errata" seems to stretch the definition of the terms.
In at least two cases, given the duration of the game, and the magnitiude of the change, it just does not fit.
1) Moving attribute karma cost from 3*rating to 5*rating is a big deal. It means that karmagen goes from an interesting alternative which was a bit overpowered to a lower power alternative. There are many starting builds under BP that literally can not be created under the 375 Karma for all attributes rule of Karmagen.
2) Increasing the drain for direct damage combat spells is a major shift in balance. Some folks will like it. Some will hate it. But calling it errata or a tweak is rather misleading.
These two are sufficiently major that I keep hoping it is an elaborate joke.
Yes, many people complained that mages were over-powered. I could imagine the combat spell rule as an optional rule, for GMs who felt that way. But as an errata to the base book?
Yours,
Joel
1) Errata, easily.
2) Errata, easily.
Tweak is not the proper term, but they
do fall under the errata category with little doubt (only doubt is if the original is now considered a mistake - which I say yes).
As for the changes themselves;
1) Advancement costs need to be determined pre-racial modifiers (what I am doing in my game), but otherwise the cost is good.
2) A change was very much needed, but I seriously doubt this is it. It, at best, over-complicates the system. This is the same reason why I changed curative Health spell Drain; having a separate system for calculating Drain is retarded. Direct spells
should have been changed to allow a Defense & Resistance roll, streamlining it with
everything else, instead of adding yet another unnecessary sub-system.