help with limitations

[JmOz]

I am making my priest magic set. I need help with some fine tuning, espesialy in values of limitations

 

My ideas on this are as follows:

 

The gods are powerful beings who can bless their faithful with great powers, Priest Magic is a VPP

 

Priest Magic is somewhat uncontroled, while the gods are interested in the well being of there priests, and beleive miracles help to bring followers, they also do not follow the commands of mere mortals. The game effect is that the players asks in plain language for a blessing, the more specific the request the less likely is it to come to them, the more general the more likely (Great god of war grant me the ability to defeat this foe may result in extra strength, a magic weapon, a drain on the opponent, etc...; Great god of war grant me a magic sword...sorry no)

 

The God's have an agenda based on their dominion, the more in line with their dominion, the more likely the prayer will be answered.

 

The god's expect respect, and a code of conduct based on their dominion, using powers or not (A god of healing will be upset with you if you kill for no reason)

 

A god's power is based on multiple factors, including number of active and inactive worshipers, and how attuned the area is to their domain (An inactive follower is one who advances the god's domain without necesarily actively worshiping him, a warrior to a god of war, or a healer to the god of healing). I suspect this is background, and will not be a part of the write up for the VPP

 

So with these as a guideline, what do you think the lims on the VPP should be?

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: help with limitations

 

I'll avoid the temptation to say "None - limitations don't apply to VPP's, only their control costs (hmmm...or maybe I won't....oops!)

 

Anyway, the entire group of limitations, leaving aside the possibility of more or less powerful deities being able to grant more or less powerful blessings, seems like a variant on No Conscious Control. The character doesn't necessarily get what he wants, and may get nothing at all. That's -2 for no control at all, -1 for activating it but not controlling the result. Seems like he has some control over the result, but lacks perfect control of its activation. That feels like -1 at least, maybe -1 1/2 if you intend it to fail frequently (for example, because it's not in the Deity's interests) or often provide results that are less than perfectly suited. Add "Limited Class of Powers" limitations to suit.

 

Seems like a starting point - others will likely have some good, maybe more specific, suggestions.

[Erkenfresh]

Re: help with limitations

 

Also "Can only be used when serving the god's purposes (-1/2)" and of course Incantations since they have to speak what they want. This along with Hugh's should about do it.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: help with limitations

 

Incantations I agree with, if a silent prayer cannot be used. I consider "only when serving deity's purpose" to be a watered down version of NCC. You no longer have control of when you may use the power.

[Christougher]

Re: help with limitations

 

I kind of wonder why they're paying VPP prices for this with so little control over the outcome. Admittedly, that's why you're looking for limitation values, but here's a thought of a different color: Rather than buying a VPP, why not just buy a (probably equally expensive) skill? You could modify the skill roll based on phrasing, alignment with the deity's purpose, et al. Higher skill rolls would indicate greater pull with the deity, and you could use a rule of thumb of 5 or 10 AP per margin of success.

[Christopher]

Re: help with limitations

 

How hard are the Skill Rolls with the Active Point penalty? It could simply be a Bonus to the Magic/Fatih (Power) Skill Roll to be unspecifc in your request.

If the penalty isn't large enough for that, you can alway apply a higher AP Penalty Limitation (-1 per 5 isnteand of -1 per 10).

If the main problem is that they could just re-try if they don't get thier sword, how about a Side Effect? If that would be too hard, how about "Delayed Use" (APG I 144). It's desinged to simulate a Cooldown timer. Values is -1/4 for extra phase (every second phase), -1/4 for every step down the timechart.

[conquerclub]

Re: help with limitations

 

I agree with Christopher that if the penalty isn't large enough for that, you can alway apply a higher AP Penalty Limitation. I have my personal experience about the small penalties.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: help with limitations

 

Hmm. An alternative way to think about this. It sounds to me like you have a contact, a perk and a Watched complication.

 

The contact is obviously God and you can get in touch with him to request favours at certain times. Obviously as a God, the favours he is able to bestow can be biggies. If you get in touch too often and do not do the stuff he likes to see you do then there is less chance of getting favours but if you are measured in how often you call and do lots of the kind of stuff you are supposed to, when you do call it is more likely to be more useful.

 

So what about the perk?

 

Well, religions normally come in hierarchies and if you are at the lowliest level of the hierarchy then you can only really expect pretty minor stuff. If you are initiated then you can expect more. Adepts get more, Priests even more and Arch-priests might command miracles.

 

As GM you have carte blanche to hand things out but the perk gives you a baseline of power level and the contact bureaucracy allows you to amend that depending on whether the priest is currently in favour or not....

 

Doc