[_Pax_]

I think this is stupid, because, if I am a physad, I have to spend almost 100 (if not more) to get 2 power points.

  Talk to your GM, and ask him if you can use the optional rule to gain 1PP instead of a MetaMagic.  Therefor, for that "almost 100" karma, you can get FOUR new power points (two in place of metamagics, two from Magic Rating increases).

[raggedhalo]

I use the "Powerpoints instead of metamagic" rule at my table and it works fine.  Because they're not increasing their Magic rating, each individual power is still capped at 5 (soft-maxed) for the adept or 6 for the mystic adept.  That's fine by me.

And for 100 Karma, surely you'd be better joining a magical group and doing a series of ordeals to be a Grade 7 initiate?

[All4BigGuns]

And for 100 Karma, surely you'd be better joining a magical group and doing a series of ordeals to be a Grade 7 initiate?

Assuming you either like the stock groups for a particular character or can think of a good set-up for a magical group both mechanically and story-wise to fit your character. Otherwise, you're pretty much stuck without that one. As to the ordeals, I've never really liked those because of GMs who think that 'challenge' has to equal the entire party being near death after an encounter (which would probably end up slaughtering a single character--and since ordeals are generally done alone...), not to mention that I'd also prefer going without the ordeal to keep from taking up that much time that could be used to spotlight the other players (I hate the spotlight).

[raggedhalo]

(I realise that actually you'd be capped at Grade 6, assuming a Magic Rating of 6, but the point remains)

The only ordeal that requires risk for other PCs is the Deed one, though.  You could do any of the others to avoid the risk of immediate death.  And if your GM is running things as you describe, you might gently suggest they read Street Magic again...

Most of the other ordeals can be done off-screen/in downtime rather than taking the spotlight.

[All4BigGuns]

Assuming the GM doesn't grandfather in the old 'metaplanar quest' ordeal. Those could seriously frag you up depending on how they were set up.

[Crash_00]

For a good Die Hard GM, the amount of players involved won't change the outcome. Half of GMing is about cheating, in the players favor, while letting the players think they fought tooth and nail to get where they did. Some GMs will call it something more subtle like fudging or upholding story integrity or some such, but it's really just cheating when you get down to it. The only issue that occurs is when the GM is cheating against the character constantly rather than cheating for them.

I like ordeals to be done (usually) off screen just to avoid the rest of the group getting bored, but I try to make sure they remain an integral part of the characters development and that the actions taken during the ordeal do come around in game.

The 1 PP instead of a metamagic is a huge boost to adepts. It really helps them get where they need to be balancewise. I usually use it, but if I'm playing with a new group, I modify it to be 1PP instead of a metamagic on every other initiation. Otherwise, newer players tend to not even bother reading the metamagics and some can be quite useful for their builds.

[Rythymhack]

  I always assumed the optional rule was to balance cost...For example assume I have a magic rating of 6, and initiate twice normally (picking up masking and adept centering and paying for the magic inrease separately making my magic . From there I could use the optional rule, NEVER pay to increase magic again, and gain a power point with every initiation. Sounds cost evvective to me (giving out double power points seems a bit shady to me). However, I thought (dont have access to my books...on long term loan) your were unable to have more power points than magic points. If this is true, it borks my whole view. (Have only ever PLAYED 2nd edition...ONCE when it was new(ish)).

[Falconer]

I hate it when the GM cheats in any way... it's one thing to restrict certain things to the 'threats' cateogry of GM only (like say infected, blood mages, other exotic things which don't really fit well as player material).

Quite another when the GM just hands you anything.  There's no point in playing if the chance of failure isn't real is my opinion and how I grew up playing.  Especially in a fun game among friends.  Growing up we tended to have a 'stable' of characters we could pull out and have fun with... pick one and go with it... if it dies you got others (or quickly make up a new one).

This is similarly why I hate a lot of the metagaming I see sometimes... like watching players planning in advance for ghostwalker showing up in denver and how best to exploit the situation... or bug city... before it happens.


Things are obviously quite different when you're dealing with things like conventions with mostly fixed stories and keeping everything on track and within time budget.  Then a little bit of GM fudging may very well be necessary.  Makes me wonder... how often do convention/missions runs go off the rails and fail?!  Or is the outcome pretty much predetermined barring gross incompetence?

[All4BigGuns]

There's no point in playing if the chance of failure isn't real is my opinion...

The chance of failure should still be rather low--around 5% to 10%--in my opinion. Games should be played for real fun for all, not just so the GM can have fun inflicting injury or forcing characters to live worse than a fast food employee who gets hour-screwed by their managers.

[raggedhalo]

However, I thought (dont have access to my books...on long term loan) your were unable to have more power points than magic points.

Nope.  You can't have more grades of Initiation than your Magic rating.  You always have at least as many power points as Magic rating, after all.

So your Magic 8 adept could get as high as Grade 8 initiate but no further unless they increased their Magic.

[Rythymhack]

Aha. Ok.

[_Pax_]

You always have at least as many power points as Magic rating, after all.

  Not if you're a Magician Adept.  Your Magic Rating may be 6, but you could have as few as 1 Power Point out of that ...

[Chrona]

You always have at least as many power points as Magic rating, after all.

  Not if you're a Magician Adept.  Your Magic Rating may be 6, but you could have as few as 1 Power Point out of that ...

GMs are encouraged not to let Mystic Adepts use less then 2 Magic Points on their Adept side iirc.

[_Pax_]

You always have at least as many power points as Magic rating, after all.

  Not if you're a Magician Adept.  Your Magic Rating may be 6, but you could have as few as 1 Power Point out of that ...

GMs are encouraged not to let Mystic Adepts use less then 2 Magic Points on their Adept side iirc.

Encouraged but not required.  Character may have started out with a 2-1 split, and has only added Magic Rating to the Spellcasting side of the fence.  Or started with a 3-3 split, has lost (and replaced) to points of magic since - with both losses taken from the Adept side.

There's plenty of reasonable and rules-legal ways to end up with a 5-1 split.

[Chrona]

Encouraged but not required.  Character may have started out with a 2-1 split, and has only added Magic Rating to the Spellcasting side of the fence.  Or started with a 3-3 split, has lost (and replaced) to points of magic since - with both losses taken from the Adept side.

There's plenty of reasonable and rules-legal ways to end up with a 5-1 split.

Yup, it ends up being the GMs call as usual.