Nuclear Beasts

Game Balance

Okay, one thing about magic is balancing it properly.

At the current level it's a use-at-will power/skill with hard-coded results. The resistance roll for anything that could take out an opponent needs to be a skill, not a stat. Otherwise an experienced PC mage will easily wipe the floor with opponents.

Compel: Resisted with Resolve (Drive).

Influence: Resisted with Psychology (Perception).

Manipulate: Resisted with Brawn... and nothing else? Actually, it might not be resisted normally, but you could have a Brawn vs Brawn contest if they struggle for something.

Spark: Resisted with Evasion (Agility) when you try to hit someone with fire or electricity and they try to dodge. Otherwise the damage simply isn't enough to be really unbalanced unless you're talking about First Ones.

Shape: Normally requires touch and stillness... any serious resistance succeeds.

Probe: Not really resisted... if I allow mind-probes, that would doubtless by resisted by Resolve, but I don't really intend to allow them.

Actually, how about Influence resisted with Intuition (Perception). Your Intuition skill will cover stuff like sensing the presence of ancient magic, ghosts and subtle magical effects (such as the Influence spell).

Power Level is normally Magic + SL.

Influence: how potent the emotion is. You can manipulate their emotional state at will during a continued one, giving you bonuses to any interaction. With a concentrated one, it's only one emotion and you have to split the points between effect and duration but you get a few bonus points. I might dump the split bit, depends on what the chart looks like.

Compel: what you can prohibit or compel. During a continued one, you can give new commands and veto any action. During a concentrated one, it lasts longer but you can't change anything. It's also harder to resist.

Influence: PL determines the bonus/penalty.
Compel: PL determines what commands can be given.
Probe: PL determines what you can search for.
Manipulate: PL determines the effective Brawn.
Spark: PL determines the damage done.
Shape: PL determines how fast you can shape it (if at all).

PL 0 or less is pathetic and often can't do anything. PL 2-4 is good, 5-8 is great, 9+ is generally beyond most mages' capability. Should they resist your original roll or your final PL? Resisting PL would make Magic even more useful... probably too powerful.

Influence: should PL even matter, really? Or just SL? Would a First One be able to alter your emotional state at will? Or just have the alteration last a really long time? I need to work up a list of what things can be modified... the biggies to modify them are SL, PL, Magic and possibly other stats.

How did Blue Rose do emotion-control magic? Hm. They kept it simple and low-key.

Influence: Roll Influence vs target's Intuition. Target's emotional state changes as you wish, granting a +2 bonus to social rolls against them and altering their behavior accordingly. The effect ends PL minutes after you stop concentrating.

Concentrated Influence: Blasts them with raw emotion. Roll Influence vs target's Resolve. On a success, target acts as though they were overcome by that emotion for PL rounds. This can grant a +2 bonus for any action that the emotion would help or a -4 penalty for anything it would hurt. Afterwards, the target will almost always realize that they were being magically influenced.

Compel: Roll Compel vs the target's Resolve. Your last command lasts for PL minutes after you stop concentrating. SL (not PL, it's how much you beat their will by that matters) determines what sort of commands can be given.

Concentrated Compel: Slam a single, long-lasting command into their head. Roll Compel vs Resolve. Command lasts for PL hours.

Example Commands:

• +0: Don't perform an action that you don't really need to.
• -5: Don't perform an action that you need to do.
• -10: Don't perform an action when your life is at stake.
• -5: perform a harmless action
• -10: perform an action that violates your needs
• -15: perform an action that endangers you or people you care about
• -20: perform a suicidal action.

Manipulate: move an object with a Brawn of Magic-5. If it's a person, they get to resist with their own Brawn. Complex actions entail a -5 penalty. Really intricate actions (like weaving) a -10.

Concentrated Manipulate: blast someone with brute force. Brawn of Magic. You can push or pull... shoving to one side entails a -5 penalty. Nothing more complicated is possible.

Spark: hit them with fire damage equal to your PL/2. Remember that a sword does (Weapon Damage + Brawn + 1d6 x (SL-1)), so this isn't exactly impressive. You can attack once per round by rolling Spark vs their Evasion. This is best used for starting fires, not combat.

Concentrated Spark: hit them with a single burst of fire that does 1d4+PL, making it a weak attack but better than nothing.

Posted by Kiz at October 2, 2005 10:03 PM