Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="phloog" data-source="post: 5391064" data-attributes="member: 59219">KM - - you've got it...in terms of background, I started playing this game around 1978, and quickly moved from boxed set with light blue covered book to the 1E books.Back then, you would in the course of telling the story make a change to a character, and that would often give them a drawback or benefit like we're discussing here...the problem was that without some framework it was as likely as not that the power would be too much, and could overshadow the other players.&nbsp; Without a list of graded powers, you'd give them some version of Grim Presence, and have to make your best guess about power level...and best guesses are usually rotten.Having a whole catalog of powers that is, at least in theory and by intent, balanced to a degree, allows me to simply give them choices that should be somewhat balanced.&nbsp; If they opt to take the Grim Presence, then they shouldn't be suddenly the most powerful character in the party.&nbsp; And it's their choice - if they don't take it, then they might still be scarred, but it has no significant impact.And of course I'm not even handing it out as a BONUS - My original thought was that it would be a choice of this INSTEAD of a power from their normal list.&nbsp; But I could see also treating it like an item or 'bonus thing'.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="phloog, post: 5391064, member: 59219"] KM - - you've got it...in terms of background, I started playing this game around 1978, and quickly moved from boxed set with light blue covered book to the 1E books. Back then, you would in the course of telling the story make a change to a character, and that would often give them a drawback or benefit like we're discussing here...the problem was that without some framework it was as likely as not that the power would be too much, and could overshadow the other players. Without a list of graded powers, you'd give them some version of Grim Presence, and have to make your best guess about power level...and best guesses are usually rotten. Having a whole catalog of powers that is, at least in theory and by intent, balanced to a degree, allows me to simply give them choices that should be somewhat balanced. If they opt to take the Grim Presence, then they shouldn't be suddenly the most powerful character in the party. And it's their choice - if they don't take it, then they might still be scarred, but it has no significant impact. And of course I'm not even handing it out as a BONUS - My original thought was that it would be a choice of this INSTEAD of a power from their normal list. But I could see also treating it like an item or 'bonus thing'. [/QUOTE]

Verification