matchstickman
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Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
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Post by matchstickman on Feb 26, 2017 22:03:45 GMT
I think that if the idea is to make ESS more attractive for starting characters (which was half the intent when I suggested it) then limiting the "default" poz to "when you come back from the dead" is counter to the stated goal, it does nothing for starting characters at all.
Do you want characters to come back or not? Because if they come back with 0 Poz the more attractive option (to me at least) is to just start a new character (from the abstract perspective at least). If you spend all this time on working out rules/plot for characters who come back from the dead and no one takes you up on the offer, are you going to be a happy bunny?
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Post by logan9a on Feb 26, 2017 22:31:52 GMT
I think that if the idea is to make ESS more attractive for starting characters (which was half the intent when I suggested it) then limiting the "default" poz to "when you come back from the dead" is counter to the stated goal, it does nothing for starting characters at all. Do you want characters to come back or not? Because if they come back with 0 Poz the more attractive option (to me at least) is to just start a new character (from the abstract perspective at least). If you spend all this time on working out rules/plot for characters who come back from the dead and no one takes you up on the offer, are you going to be a happy bunny? I think even if players had to come back at no poz IF they were enjoying their character and IF they had some story going with their character they would come back at no poz. If they are not enjoying their character and have no story attached to their character then sure - they can choose to come back with a new character. If there are no story threads attached to them then it really doesn't matter to me. I think that after a character has been played for awhile that the player will become fond of it and want to keep playing that character. Not everyone will but enough. Also, if the player manages to build up their ESS before dying, hey they get free poz if they come back. Honestly, I'm not seeing a downside here. If someone isn't wanting their character after they've played him for awhile and gotten story attachments and such then I don't think the lack or having of poz will be the deciding factor in whether they continue to play that character. I would argue that if it is, they are not attached enough to that character.
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matchstickman
Agent
Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
Posts: 2,939
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Post by matchstickman on Feb 26, 2017 23:48:16 GMT
There is no downside to having a high ESS when you die. But there's no upside to having a high ESS at Character Gen either.
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Post by logan9a on Feb 27, 2017 0:07:00 GMT
There is no downside to having a high ESS when you die. But there's no upside to having a high ESS at Character Gen either. True - but might it be worth dumping 2-3 points in to get 2-3 poz should you die soon?
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matchstickman
Agent
Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
Posts: 2,939
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Post by matchstickman on Feb 27, 2017 0:49:56 GMT
True - but might it be worth dumping 2-3 points in to get 2-3 poz should you die soon? How exactly would you do that? Stat increases are slow, and you can't (usually) do them mid mission so by the time it looks like you might die it's too late.
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Post by logan9a on Feb 27, 2017 1:16:12 GMT
Guy starting new character:
Four stats, 10 points to spread out. Willpower, Learning, Sanity, Essence.
He decides he wants to be a well rounded character so he puts 2 points into all of the stats. That leaves him 2 points. He decides to put one more into learning and essence.
His stats are now:
Willpower: 12 Learning: 13 Sanity: 60 Essence: 13
He gets into game and after a dancing contest in which he inexplicably blew all 10 of his starting poz...a building falls on him, instantly killing him.
All of his stats now are:
Willpower: 10 Learning: 11 Sanity: 50 Essence: 11
Since his essence is 11, 11-10 is 1. He starts with one poz in his new hopefully danceless life.
For the more extreme, if he had put all of his starting points into Essence to start (and to check the system):
Willpower: 10 Learning: 10 Sanity: 50 Essence: 20
After a death,
Willpower: 8 Learning: 8 Sanity: 40 Essence: 18 Hence, he would start with 18-10= 8 poz.
Eh. Don't die.
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matchstickman
Agent
Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
Posts: 2,939
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Post by matchstickman on Feb 27, 2017 12:31:03 GMT
Right I get the maths. How do you "dumping 2-3 points in to get 2-3 poz should you die soon", it's not something you can do reactively if you think you are going to die.
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Post by Fantômas on Feb 27, 2017 12:44:04 GMT
So you need to have essence at 13 or above to gain starting poz after death and all new chars have 10 poz to begin with?
How is Luck handled (if at all)
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Post by logan9a on Feb 27, 2017 14:35:44 GMT
Right I get the maths. How do you "dumping 2-3 points in to get 2-3 poz should you die soon", it's not something you can do reactively if you think you are going to die. Correct. You have to plan ahead.
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Post by logan9a on Feb 27, 2017 14:36:12 GMT
So you need to have essence at 13 or above to gain starting poz after death and all new chars have 10 poz to begin with? How is Luck handled (if at all) Correct to both first questions. Luck: App/Luck as a skill - start at base 25.
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matchstickman
Agent
Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
Posts: 2,939
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Post by matchstickman on Feb 27, 2017 14:45:28 GMT
Correct. You have to plan ahead. You can't. How do you plan to get points in Essence any more than players already do? Everyone tries to get ticks in their stats because that's the "standard" way for them to go up. How would you even get a tick in Essence? Do you have to throw yourself in front of another PC who is being magiced at to try and get into an opposed Essence roll? You propose people do this when they're low on Poz?
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Post by logan9a on Feb 27, 2017 14:59:13 GMT
Correct. You have to plan ahead. You can't. How do you plan to get points in Essence any more than players already do? Everyone tries to get ticks in their stats because that's the "standard" way for them to go up. How would you even get a tick in Essence? Do you have to throw yourself in front of another PC who is being magiced at to try and get into an opposed Essence roll? You propose people do this when they're low on Poz? Sorry - I was thinking of character creation rather than during game play. Yeah - for getting checks in ESS during game play, the character (not the player, gods help us) will probably need to learn some magic or something to get those checks. Pretty much the extra poz is a little extra I'm considering but whether it comes about or not, I am not too worried about a character with zero poz if they come back. If the player wants to make a new character because they think they simply cannot live without the starting 10 poz, I can't stop them. Maybe they can't. However if they died the first time, they kind of proved they couldn't even though they started with poz.
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Post by Fantômas on Feb 27, 2017 21:25:55 GMT
At this stage, I see Essence as the dump stat at char creation at the start of the game. The other three stats are much more important for a beginning character
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Post by logan9a on Feb 27, 2017 23:19:02 GMT
At this stage, I see Essence as the dump stat at char creation at the start of the game. The other three stats are much more important for a beginning character Can you rank the perceived importance of the other three stats?
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matchstickman
Agent
Messiah: Will rise again
Creator of and most frequent player of the Heroic Cthulhu Drinking Game
Posts: 2,939
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Post by matchstickman on Feb 28, 2017 0:59:34 GMT
Yes.
All 3 others________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ Essence___________
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