Tears of Madeira

I shall be applying distance and sense specific modifiers (pg 231-232) to perception (and perception like) rolls from now on. Range modifiers do apply to PER rolls (pg 229, 245-246).

Line-of-Sight will be determined (when it is not obvious) for mental powers with a perception roll (pg 78). Range penalties apply only to the per roll on LOC powers not to the power effects. (ie If you can see it you can do it.)

Telekenisis is a ranged attack not a LOC attack and hence is subject to normal ranged modifiers, cover modifiers, and difficulty modifiers rather than LOC perception rolls.

1) That 20xp can't be spent on skills unless it is a magic skill or something that would have been known prior. (ie it's a gift from 'gods' so it hasn't been earned) Check with me.

2) You may buy the Magic Skill Common AT THIS TIME without a teacher or need to study. This is is a one shot deal.

3) Everybody has a 1AP MPP.

4) The Research skill is not a freebee and must be bought with a reason for having it either now or later.

5) At this point only you may buy spells without researching them.

6) MPP up to 40AP may now be bought at 1:1 by everyone. But only with post-jury points.

7) I'm going on msn now because my email is doing something odd with the reply function.

Changes to Everyman Package
* 1 AP MPP

Common Magic Path

This is the basic magic path for all warlocks (aka magic users of whatever name) in the new cycle. Pre-jury magic works as normal unless it is modified or improved. This path comes into effect for ALL new magic and ALL magic that has been improved or modified since the jury.

Requirements:
* EGO = 13 (roll of 12-) minimum
* All magic must draw from END reserve (magic) as per previous and this means that all magic can be seen via magic sight (as normal to last cycle)
* Magic Skill Common (EGO) = 3/2 required skill roll for all spells
* Research (INT) = 3/2 required skill to learn and research new spells

Notes:
* Difficult spells will require extra time, have negative modifiers to the research roll, and/or require complimentary skills (ie medical skills for a healing spell) in order to learn a new spell.
* Base time to research and learn a new spell is a week.
* See list of banned spells and list of Focus only spells to determine what is not allowed.
* Some power types may have other requirements.

Sharing AP

Via Spell:

This allows a warlock to give xd6 AP to another to use. The recipient must be willing and the lend is automatically terminated when the the spell ends. The recipient MUST have the Focus Magic Path in order to use the power. END is not automatically given using this spell. Multiple instances (ie buy this spell more than once) of this power will allow AP to be lent to multiple people in parallel. This looks like a thread between the giver and reciever in magic sight. This spell is best bought as a flexible slot but it is not required.

Magical Pool Succor [Aid]
Lend magical power to others (AP transfer)
1d6AP/5AP (lent/cost)
Draws from END reserve (magic)
Useable on others
Requires a Skill Roll

Via EGO:

This allows any person with an AP pool to give ALL of that MPP temporarily to another person. While active the giver does not have access to his/her MPP at all. The recipient MUST have the Focus Magic Path in order to use the power. END is not given.

* An EGO roll is required to give the AP to a willing recipient.
* +0 END (magic) results in a thread between the giver and reciever in magic sight.
* An EGO roll is required to end the lending of magic and this may be contested by the Focus with an EGO roll to prevent removal.

I hope everybody liked last night's game.

A few things about magic:

1) What you have you are allowed to keep but you won't be able to improve it unless you change to the new system.

2) The new system will have two paths common and elite (working titles only) that will correspond to how everybody uses magic and how the focus of a magic circle uses magic.

3) The everyman skill will have a 1AP MPP (magic) added to it (nothing to help you use it though). Using common magic will require a minimum EGO level to have any ability to use magic, a magic skill RSR for casting magic (as per normal), and a Research(magic) skill to learn new spells. Having a teacher or source will reduce the difficulty of learning spells. Some power categories will not be allowed to the common path and others may be more difficult to learn (as per rarity or difficulty in the world).

4) Lending power will have either a skill(EGO) or a power(spell) to use. I haven't decided which.

5) The elite path will allow people to pull from a joint power pool which they have joined. Several classes of spells will be only usable with this path and will roughly corralate with Prince type powers (sans bond). There will be drawbacks when dealing with focusing large amounts of power (possibly a side effect or something to simulate potential for burn out). It will be set up almost the same as the common path but requires a mastery (of some sort) of the common path to gain access to it. (Almost like a prestige class type but not quite.)

6) Princely bonds were desolved with the Council's formation and these new powers are not Princely bonds so the Princes will have to rebuild thier power pools before they can gain equivalent status back. They may or may not figure this out quickly.

About races (most of this is just color):

1) Demons no longer have the infertility disadvantage. I'll have to check to see if there is anything else. There might be but it will more likely affect future generations and not presently adult characters. Demons are now considered a full race and not a half-breed.

2) Changelings have a few changes as well but these should only affect future generations. Changelings are now considered a full race and not a half-breed. Sidhe characteristics that were previously suppressed (ie good looks, pointed ears, height, and other little physical characteristics) will start to show and breed true in future generations. Mental issues may be decreased.

3) Teiflings are still considered a half breed and the term will eventually be extended to include any person of mixed racial heritage. (ie were-changeling, fey-demon, human-fey, fey-changeling, fey-were) Were/human race will be depend on whether or not they can change (were or human). Demon/human race will be determined by presence or absence of wings (demon or human). Changeling/human will depend on place of birth (changeling or teifling). Fey/anything will depend on whether or not they are accepted into fey society (fey or teifling). If it doesn't fit clearly into fey, human, changeling, demon, angel, or were then it is a teifling (aka half-breed or mixed breed).

4) What is most likely to matter in game is that some Irish humans are now considered changelings and are more likely to connect with Erin as well as possibly start buying off mental illnesses since those will be removed from the package soon. Demons are not infertile anymore and are less likely to have irrational hatred or psychosis with regards to Angels. Fey do not have princely bonds anymore but still can easily do joint magic.

5) All race magic maxes are off but the max max is still 40AP unless you are pulling from a joint pool or battery of some sort.

Other stuff:

1) I will allow Watcher characters now but not Controller characters other than those who gain the status in game.

2) Your characters are all carrying the 'gods genetic coding' in you now but it hasn't (and won't) manifested.

3) I don't remember what you decided about the void. If nothing changed then nothing changed.

4) New characters are to be made with the old rules and the standard+XP points then have the 20XP and 1AP added on top using the new rules. This should simulate the abrupt changes.

5) Continuing characters have a chance to do minor rewrites and fixes of character sheets but everything must be approved by me and have an in game reason of some sort.

6) I realize that some of the changes that have been made will mean that some of you loose disadvantages, gain bonuses, and/or have to add new skills to make magic work for you in the future and that this may mean that not all characters will be created equal. It shouldn't be more than a few XP difference so I'm not going to fix it. Everybody gets what they get. It isn't absolutely equal but I think you can understand my reasoning.

7) Characters will be allowed to learn the elite path in game but may not pick it out for a new character in character creation. I'm going to let you learn to be 'princes' but not *poof* be 'princes'. That is decent quest type material that I don't want to waste.

8) I will be introducing a few new skills and skill changes from my new book. I'll post those but the most important changes will be made to cramming and research.

9) I'm also toying with allowing Angel characters... feedback?

For Ironphoenix:

I need your character before next week so I can approve it and figure out how to work it into the game. I *think* the plan was for the group to go to Madiera but they might change their mind.

For Draco:

Ettienne is avaliable as a contact and we will discuss your controller status.

For ArrantDemon:

Let me know how you want to handle Nev and how you see his relationships with others changing (just as a heads up). I figure that the daughter thing will give you a reasonable excuse to leave if you schedule changes so that you need to.

For Nightstriker:

You wanted magic. It will be under the new system (so make sure you have what you need in terms of EGO and skills) and I'm going to allow you to buy the skill to use it without an excuse but the research(magic) will be something you will have to find someone else to teach you. So... you have a spontaneous 'eruption' due to the interference of the 'gods' but if you want to build on that you will have to do so in game as your character has not been studying magic up to this point.

For Anc:

We need to talk about your character so that we don't create a combat monster accidentally. Blessed by God.. heh heh.

EVERYBODY:

The essentials need to be dealt with by next game.

D'ange Batteries

Appearance: Small round blue beads which glow strongly to magic sight when charged. They have an almost gem-like appearance.

Usage: Used for powering thaumaturgical devices.

Description: These batteries were developed at the D'Ange institute in Nowhere NFLD prior to the Angel war. Inital manufacturing had begun for commercialization but production stopped in 2031 due to bankruptsy brought on by various lawsuits and legal proceedings. The design was sold in 2043 to a Canadian company operating out of Quebec but they failed to break into the market due to the late D'Ange's reputation and difficulties in compatibility with new technology. They have been sporatically produced ever since and are only sold in North America.

Mechanics:

1d6 Multi-power Magic Pool (may be combined with other pools)
3d6 Charges (do not automatically recharge, requires application of t-field)
RSR (magic skill - thaumaturgy, traditional, or psionics)
OAF (bead)
Side-effect (on failed RSR roll the bead explodes rendering the bead useless and permanently staining immediate area with a magical signature that can be seen by magic sight)

Summary - The batteries add to the MPP of a PC or device and the battery is run on the charges. When the charges run out the battery is dead. It may be recharged by placing it in an appropriate t-field (ie a recharger sold by the company who makes them, the storm, the gate fields, etc). These batteries are not as stable as they used to be due to enviromental conditions over the previous decades and may explode if not handled carefully.

Player Usage:

1) Figure out how to use it... roleplayed
2) RSR roll (for every use)
3) Roll MPMP and Charge # roll (once only per bead)
4) Cast spell(s) as normal with increased pool size (as long as you are in contact with bead)

Batteries for Implants:

Determine the number of uses per day and the base charge value from the charges table (pg. 182). These uses are one-shots where a shot is a phase.

If the charge is to last longer than a phase apply the contintinuing charge table (pg. 183). If these charges are turned off early the extra time is lost.

If the battery can be turned on or off without losing the remaining charge then it is a fuel charge. This reduces the limitation (ie increases the advantage) by 1/4.

If the implant can not be turned off and this is a good or useful thing, +0. If the implant can not be turned off and this is a disadvantage, -1/4.

Recoverable charges cannot be applied to implants. Boostable charges might be depending on GM approval.

Implant battery types & limitations:

Limitations due to battery type may add limitations and bring the cost down. These limitations include conditions on recharging conditions where recharge conditions are assumed to be necessary 1 hour per day.


-0 == Glucose Conversion performed by bacteria in an implanted culture. Commonly used by Angels. Trickle recharge occurs over the courses of a day by converting blood sugar to electricity. Still requires 1 hour out of every 24 to recharge but nothing special has to be done and it can be done any time or anywhere as long as the device is not in active use. If the device has been in constant use for 23 hours it will shut down for 1 hour to recharge.

-1/4 == Thermo-couple with hot side inside body and cold side near the surface. It requires an outside temperature of lower than 5degrees below hot side temperature to produce electricity. Commonly used by humans. Requires 1 hour of non-use a day in proper conditions to recharge. This may require the user to adjust ambient temperatures or apply ice to implant. If conditions can not be met then it does not recharge until the conditions are met for a total of 1 hour. If the device has been in constant use for 23 hours it will shut down for 1 hour to recharge.

-1/4 == Piezo-electric or Magneto-electric batteries both recharge via movement. Piezo by flexing the implanted fibers (ie calestenics or stretching) and Magneto by moving through magnetic fields (ie walking generally east-west) while the implant is not being actively used. Requires 1 hour of non-use a day in proper conditions to recharge. If conditions can not be met then it does not recharge until the conditions are met for a total of 1 hour. If the device has been in constant use for 23 hours it will shut down for 1 hour to recharge.

-1/2 == RF Induction recharges by placing a small transmitter over the location of the implant for a given amount of time. This requires a cheap external RF transmitter that uses AA batteries (or equivalent) and costs money not points. It must be applied for an hour a day while the implant is not in use to recharge the implant's batteries. If conditions can not be met then it does not recharge until the conditions are met for a total of 1 hour. If the device has been in constant use for 23 hours it will shut down for 1 hour to recharge.

-3/4 == Plug yourself into the wall. Requires a physical connection to a standard, non-mobile, power source for 1 hour a day to recharge. May cost money and have limited avaliabity in some regions. Will reduce mobility while charging. Requires 1 hour of non-use a day in proper conditions to recharge. If conditions can not be met then it does not recharge until the conditions are met for a total of 1 hour. If the device has been in constant use for 23 hours it will shut down for 1 hour to recharge.

-1 == Magical batteries. Rare. Recharged via collection of ambient T-fields or through application of T-Fields through a T-field transmitter. It may be difficult to find means to recharge unless the user is around magical discharges regularily or is in a high flux area. (Note: Flux areas vary from Null around prisons to insanely high in magical disaster zones. Exposure to high flux regions and repeated recharging fields may have health risks.) This type of battery is used to run magic implants (ie implants that create magic spell effects). Requires 1 hour of non-use a day in proper conditions to recharge. If conditions can not be met then it does not recharge until the conditions are met for a total of 1 hour. If the device has been in constant use for 23 hours it will shut down for 1 hour to recharge.

Note: All implants must have the disadvantage Independent (-2) this simulates the fact that it is a device and can be destroyed and the points invested lost. Different battery types are suseptable to different things. All will break if you hit them with a mag light or a sledge hammer. Most people will too. The bacteria in glucose conversion batteries can be killed by poisons, starvation, frost-bite, and other such biohazards that are usually also damaging to the user. Thermo, Piezo, Magneto, RF induction and Plugs can all be destroyed by overloading them. Magic batteries can be destroyed by dispel (suppress just drains the battery).

There will be some large changes in the up coming games. I am changing the magic system (see previous post) and the race packages (see up coming posts) as well as eliminating 'career' packages (ie Ratcatcher).

The big changes to the race packages include: addition of new races, elimination of power pools as part of the package (you will buy what you want when you want it), elimination of the package bonus, elimination of cultural skills/perks/disadvantages (due to the changing world these will be dealt with on an individual basis), and elimination of spells from race packages (you can buy them as you need them and with the elimination of built in power pools requiring them as part of the race package no longer makes sense. All powers that are in the race packages can be considered natural (ie non-magical) for the purpose of detection and END.

Race package disadvantages do not count towards your maximum disadvantages.

The end result should be that the race packages are stripped down to thier essentials.