Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[HawaiianBrian]

I got to thinking about minimum ranks for spells. A while back I came up with a document for Graduated Powers, which basically makes versions of every power for each rank -- so there's a novice-rank version of healing, just like there's a legendary-rank version of Bolt. Problem is, creating them is time-consuming, and with all the new powers in the Fantasy Companion I throw my hands up in despair at translating them all.

So I started wondering if one might just adopt a house rule that allows characters to take Powers of a higher rank than they are, but until they "catch up" they cast them at a penalty. For every rank higher than your own, you use the Power at a cumulative +4 difficulty.

Thus, for a Novice spellcaster, casting a Heroic Power like Divination would require beating a 16. A Veteran Power like Fly would require a 12, and a Seasoned Power like Invisibility would require an 8. Once that character reached Seasoned, Divination would drop to 12, and Fly would drop to 8.

Do you think it's balanced? Would it be better to lower the difficulty to +2 but increase the Power Point cost a little?
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***** HawaiianBrian / getsavaged.blogspot.com *****

[shadd4d]

Conceptually, doesn't that partially eliminate having ranked powers at all? I think what you're ending up with is a mechanic that almost completely discards the rank structure, and allows for almost any power. Also, how would new power work? It strikes me as very questionable as to why I would take a power earlier than I'm actually able to effectively wield it.
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Don

"But there is a difference between fear and horror. An important difference.
Fear is when you worry about what might be.
Horror is when you are certain." Dannyboy01

[HawaiianBrian]

Well, in answer to your question, I've never cared for ranked powers. I prefer all Powers to be available at the start, growing better as the character does. That's my rationale for this idea.

Powers would work the same, as written.

I think a lot of folks might agree with you, and not bother risking a Power they can't effectively use yet (especially one more than a Rank higher than their own) but others might like the chance to dabble earlier.

An alternative to this would be to come up with an Edge which allows the character to buy one Power that he can cast "early" using the above method. Problem with that is, once the character finally reaches that rank, the points they spent on the Edge long ago become wasted.

I think a better solution might be +2/+2. So for every rank above your own, a Power is 2 points harder and costs 2 PP more.
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***** HawaiianBrian / getsavaged.blogspot.com *****

[jpk]

Just as a general Savage Worlds design note, we generally don't increase Target Numbers (as in your +4 per rank). Instead, we apply a negative modifier to the roll (turning your plan into -4 per rank).

Just a fine point for all of you out there secretly cooking up something you want to submit professionally.
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Joel Kinstle
Pinnacle Entertainment, www.peginc.com

[77IM]

I like this idea a lot. I think it's a good way to get flexibility in the spell list without having to re-write all the powers to have scaling effects.

I think a -2 penalty per missing rank is more appropriate. Alternatively you could have a penalty per rank and ignore the difference (Seasoned -2, Veteran -3, Heroic -4, Legendary -5). The rationale is that higher-rank PCs will usually have a higher Spellcasting so the -2 doesn't matter as much. A Novice with Spellcasting d8 might shy from taking a Seasoned power because of the -2, but a Veteran with Spellcasting d12 might not mind taking a Heroic power a level early because -2 isn't that bad. But if the Heroic power was at -4 it's still an impediment to the Veteran with the d12.

I don't think you need to increase PP cost since the increase in failures (resulting in wasted PP) already kind of does the same thing. Plus it eats bennies! (Yum)

-- 77IM
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Stuff I made: Arcane Abilities · Talent Edge · Savage Fading Suns · Savage Wuxia!