I'm looking at the range of karma points each priority entry in the table could be worth, focusing on the cheapest karma cost and most expensive karma cost in each case. I'm using this analysis to estimate what would be a good amount of karma for a karma gen system that leads to characters of similar power level.
Assumptions (for simplicity):
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- Humans only. Race costs deserve their own analysis.
- +1 Edge for humans is applied after chargen
- All points of whatever for a priority could be spent (metatype A and B) and were spent.
- Ignore qualities for simplicity, especially exceptional attribute and skill
- Whatever cost for being awakened or resonant gives you 1 special attribute for free
- Skill points cannot be used to increase skills obtained for free by a magic priority (again just for simplicity)
- To compute lowest cost of skills, I assume one takes only rating 2 skills, not rating 1 which is just unplayable, but even then it's a bit crazy, I concede
- Round up karma cost in the one place where it matters in resources
Full Analysis
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Metatype:
A: Human (9) -- karma spent: 180
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Only possibility
Edge 1-->6: 90 karma
Magic 2-->6: 90 karma
B: Human (7) -- karma spent: 130-155
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Lowest cost:
Edge 1-->5: 70 karma
Magic 2-->5: 60 karma
Highest cost:
Edge 1-->6: 100 karma
Magic 4-->6: 55
C: Human (5) -- karma spent: 80-100
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Lowest cost:
Edge 1-->4: 45 karma
Magic 2-->4: 35 karma
Highest cost:
Edge 1-->6: 100 karma
D: Human (3) -- karma spent: 40-75
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Lowest cost:
Edge 1-->3: 25 karma
Magic 2-->3: 15 karma
Highest cost:
Magic 3-->6: 75 karma
E: Human (1) -- karma spent: 10-30
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Lowest cost:
Edge 1-->2: 10 karma
Highest cost:
Magic 5-->6: 30 karma
Attributes:
A: 24 -- karma spent: 360-470
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Lowest cost:
all att. 1-->4: 45 karma times 8 = 360
Highest cost:
4 att. 1-->6: 100 karma times 4 = 400
att. 1-->5: 70 karma
B: 20 -- karma spent: 280-400
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Lowest cost:
half att. 1-->4: 45 karma times 4 = 180
half att. 1-->3: 25 karma times 4 = 100
Highest cost:
4 att. 1-->6: 100 karma times 4 = 400
C: 16 -- karma spent: 200-310
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Lowest cost:
all att. 1-->3: 25 karma times 8 = 200
Highest cost:
3 att. 1-->6: 100 karma times 3 = 300
1 att. 1-->2: 10 karma
D: 14 -- karma spent: 170-270
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Lowest cost:
6 att. 1-->3: 25 karma times 6 = 150
2 att. 1-->2: 10 karma times 2 = 20
Highest cost:
2 att. 1-->6: 100 karma times 2 = 200
1 att. 1-->5: 70 karma
E: 12 -- karma spent: 140-225
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Lowest cost:
4 att. 1-->3: 25 karma times 4 = 100
4 att. 1-->2: 10 karma times 4 = 40
Highest cost:
2 att. 1-->6: 100 karma times 3 = 200
1 att. 1-->3: 25 karma
Magic or resonance:
A: karma spent: TM+180; FM+210
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Technomancer:
Resonance 1-->6 (100) + 2 rating 5 skills (30 each) + 5 complex forms (4 each)
Full Mage:
Magic 1-->6 (100) + 2 rating 5 skills (30 each) + 10 spells (5 each)
B: karma spent: TM+93; FM+120; Ad+120; AM+120
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Technomancer: 93
Resonance 1-->4 (45) + 2 rating 4 skills (20 each) + 2 complex forms (4 each)
Full Mage:
Magic 1-->4 (45) + 2 rating 4 skills (20 each) + 7 spells (5 each)
Adept:
Magic 1-->6 (100) + rating 4 skill (20)
Aspected Mage:
Magic 1-->5(70) + rating 4 skill group (50)
C: karma spent: TM+29; FM+50; Ad+51; AM+40
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Technomancer: 93
Resonance 1-->3 (25) + 1 complex forms (4)
Full Mage:
Magic 1-->3 (25) + 5 spells (5 each)
Adept:
Magic 1-->4 (45) + rating 2 skill (6)
Aspected Mage:
Magic 1-->3(25) + rating 2 skill group (15)
D: karma spent: Ad+10; AM+10
E: -
Skills:
A: 46/10 -- karma spent: 213-469
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Lowest cost:
23 skills at rating 2: 23 x 6 = 138
5 skill groups at rating 2: 5 x 15 = 75
Highest cost:
7 skills at rating 6: 7 x 42 = 294
1 skill at rating 4: 20
1 skill group rating 6: 105
1 skill group rating 4: 50
B: 36/5 -- karma spent: 143-327
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Lowest cost:
18 skills at rating 2: 18 x 6 = 108
2 skill groups at rating 2: 2 x 15 = 30
1 skill group rating 1: 5
Highest cost:
6 skills at rating 6: 6 x 42 = 252
1 skill group rating 5: 75
C: 28/2 -- karma spent: 99-203
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Lowest cost:
14 skills at rating 2: 14 x 6 = 84
1 skill group at rating 2: 15
Highest cost:
4 skills at rating 6: 4 x 42 = 168
1 skill at rating 4: 20
1 skill group rating 2: 15
D: 22/0 -- karma spent: 66-146
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Lowest cost:
11 skills at rating 2: 11 x 6 = 66
Highest cost:
3 skills at rating 6: 3 x 42 = 126
1 skill at rating 4: 20
E: 18/0 -- karma spent: 54-126
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Lowest cost:
9 skills at rating 2: 9 x 6 = 54
Highest cost:
3 skills at rating 6: 3 x 42 = 126
Resources:
A: 450k = 250 karma
B: 275k = 138 karma
C: 140k = 70 karma
D: 50k = 25 karma
E: 6k = 3 karma
Compiled Table[ Spoiler ]
.......Metatype....Attributes...Magic................Skills........Resources
A.....180............360-470.....qual+180-210...213-469.....225
B.....130-155......280-400.....qual+93-120....143-327.....138
C.....90-100........200-310....qual+29-51.......99-203.......70
D.....40-75..........170-270....qual+10...........66-146.......25
E.....10-30..........140-225.....0.....................54-126.......3
Discussion on the magic column
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There are some notable fuck-ups in the magic column. Being a technomancer costs more than being a mage by a long shot (21 to 30 karma difference). In priority B, being a FM costs same as Ad and same as AM (which is kind of strange to begin with), and in priority C, it is as if AM quality somehow costs 10 more karma than Ad or FM, and in D, Ad and AM are the same again. Overall I think there actually are incentives to NOT be an aspected mage, which I find frustrating.
In the following tables I use only the FM values.
Table of Averages (imo a good approx. of karma spending by a reasonable player)
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.......Metatype....Attributes...Magic.........Skills......Resources
A.....180............415.......qual+210........341........225
B.....143............340.......qual+120........235........138
C.....90............255.......qual+50..........151........70
D.....58..............220.......qual+10..........106........25
E......20.............183.......0....................90...........3
Table of average differences in cost by priority
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.........Metatype....Attributes...Magic.........Skills......Resources
A-B....37.............75..............90+q.........106........87
B-C....53.............85..............70+q.........84..........68
C-D....32.............35..............40+q.........45..........45
D-E.....38.............37..............10+q.........16..........22
Discussion on the differences table
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The last table is very interesting to me, and shows that there are some strange things going on with the priority system. The last three columns are relatively consistent with each other, whereas the first two are all messed up.
The metatype column might be a bit weird because it also tries to account for other race options which were not included in my analysis, and the strange stuff that happens with trying to put some of the points in magic or resonance, especially with priorities A and B, but also for all computations related to it. In options C, D, E, if we assume that all goes in edge, it's much easier to deal with: you get karma costs of 100 ©, 45 (D), and 10 (E), which lead to differences of 55 and 32, which is more consistent with the rest.
The attribute column is really quite strange however (and this remains true even if we're not using the averages), with differences in the 30s between C-E and differences in around 80 for A-C... the other columns are all shaped similarly and even with very similar values as well, which I don't think is by accident. There are all sorts of things we might conclude from this.
Trying to estimate karma costs
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Let's try, using the average values per priority, to evaluate how to maximize and minimize your karma spending with different paths in the priority table. Special care is taken to take into account the strangeness of the metatype column: i.e. if you're not a mage, the karma values are 100©, 45(D) and 10(E)
I have to give a value to the magical quality at this point, and I'll say that a reasonable value appears to be in the 10-25 range, for argument's sake, I will go with 15.
Highest karma path:
Skills A (341), Attributes B (340), Reources C (70), Metatype D (58), Magic E (0) = 809
Lowest karma path:
Metatype A (180), Resources B (138), Attributes C (255), Magic D (25), Skills E (90) = 688
I might have missed a better path in either direction, but interestingly the difference here isn't too high anymore. The average of highest and lowest karma paths is 748.5
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TLDR:
Proposed karma system based on the analysis above and really sticking to what I observed:
You get 1 in all stats for free, including special abilities which only appear if you pay for an appropriate quality.
You get to spend 775 karma, ignoring racial modifiers to attributes during char gen only.
Karma cost for choosing a metatype other than human: Elf (40), Ork (75), Dwarf (75), Troll (140)
To stay in the spirit of the current rules, don't spend more than half of the karma for skills on skill groups.
Similarly, Attributes are capped at 24 increases, normal skills at 50 total points, and skill groups at 15.
The maximum amount of nuyens you can obtain is 450,000.
You can spend 40 points to become a technomancer, or 15 points for being awakened (any kind, pick one).
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Of course, personally, I would change that last line for: You can spend 20 points to be a mystic adept, 15 points for technomancer, full mage or adept, and 5 points for being an aspected magician.
I plan to complete this analysis with more on the metatypes.
I know this is a hot topic and there are a lot of different things we might want to discuss, so fire away! Please stay on point though and avoid just flaming or raging about stuff you don't like.
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Edit: A few minor additions.
Edit 2: metatypes added in the suggested karma gen rules.
Edit 3: Note that you would get an additional 25 karma for the karma gen to be truly equivalent, accounting for the free 25 karma of the last step in the priority system.