RE: (TFT) New way to improve characters. --> talent points.

["Dave Seagraves" <zilch@austin.rr.com>]

>If the talent points increase the value
>of the character then they work the same as
>Dave Seagraves education, or my memory super
>scripts.  If they don't increase the value of
>the character when calculating exp. to go up
>to the next attribute then they are VERY
>attractive.  Unplayable so in my opinion.

   Actually I call it adjIQ, but yes, the mechanics are the same, and it is
essentially an "Education" stat.


>(An early draft of my superscripts
>allowed players to buy a superscript at a full
>memory cost but it did not increase the value
>of the character and PC's bought MANY, MANY
>superscripts.  When they cost 1/2 to buy but
>increase your character cost by 1/2 then PC's
>buy superscripts only when they need them.)

   Ugh . . .  I can just imagine trying to track full-cost and half-cost
IQ/memory points on my characters' sheets.  Not fun.


   About spells and their prerequisites . . .  For some time now I've been
toying with the idea of reversing the prerequisites for GURPS spells, for
the purpose of my own campaign's magic system.  Instead of saying, "You need
all these prerequisite spells to know this spell that you /really/ want", I
want to turn that around and say, "Buy /this/ spell, and you also know all
of /these/ lesser spells".
   For example, my wizard buys Flame Jet at skill 14 (or whatever), which
also gets me for free Create Fire, Shape Fire, and Ignite Fire (the
"prerequisites") -- all at the same skill level.
   Two advantages: It's easier to buy spells during character creation, and
this makes bookkeeping easier.
   And one doesn't have to list all those tedious prerequisite spells on
one's character or grimoire sheet.  The player would just list the spells he
thinks he'll be casting during actual play -- all his primary and powerful
spells, with perhaps a few more that he's interested in.  If necessary the
player can look in the book (or on the "prerequisite" chart) to see if he
has a particular spell.
   Of course TFT does the same thing with a few spells, like 4-hex Illusion
getting one (1-hex) Illusion for free.

   I'm also considering having spells cost a flat amount of character
points, just like TFT does -- 1 IQ point per spell.  A higher level of
ability with a particular spell (e.g.: to cast it at 1/2 fatigue cost, or
whatever) would simply double the character point cost.

   BTW, I'd also eliminate the skill points table in GURPS, and just make
all skills a flat cost per level; a different cost for each skill.  (The
same for prime characteristics like ST and DX.)  I hate having to look at a
table to reverse-engineer how many points it'll take to get my Guns skill to
/this/ value.

Dave Seagraves   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thail
Adieu, Chasseur mon ami
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