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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cor Azer" data-source="post: 5700288" data-attributes="member: 870">To be fair, this is a Buffy game, and set in (mostly) university. Social situations will be fairly common. Also, while being spread out evenly may make you decent at combat as well as certain mental stuff, it won't leave you specialized enough to doing the truly awe-inspiring stuff - so, sure you could do cool backflips, or flying kicks fairly easily, but with associated penalties, you might not being doing them at the same time against multiple foes.And now for a brief rundown on magic and superscience...Buffy RPG takes the "menu-driven/point buy" approach to magic. While there are some spells in the books taken from the show, they are generally used as examples for how the menu/point buy works.Typically, when someone needs a spell, they must consult some sort of Occult Library, and then research the spell.Researching a spell:1. Player (with Narrator consultation) determines what they want the spell to do. Generally, spells in Buffy err towards the way specific rather than the general use ones (ie: you might find a Flay My Ex-Love spell, rather than a generic Flay That Guy spell)2. Using the menus, determine the power level of the spell. Generally, the longer a spell lasts, more people it affects, further away it can be cast, more significant its effect, the higher its' power level. Generally, power level ranges between 1 to 7. There are some things that can reduce the power level (longer casting time, requiring extra casting assistants, rare spell ingredients, etc.)3. Once power level is set, research requires a Occultism + Intelligence roll. If number of successes >= power level, spell found, and you cross off one available spell in the Occult Library (it is always there; just takes up one of the spell slots in the library)4. Casting the spell requires an Occultism + Willpower + Sorcery level roll. If number of successes >= power level, spell is cast. If not enough successes, but result still 9+, spell mishap occurs.So what's superscience? Buffy RPG takes the Arthur C. Clarke view - sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.Magic and superscience are simply two different "skins" on the same mechanical system. Where a magic spell might be "Ghost's Passing", an Enchanted Item might be "Elven Cloak", and a superscience item might be "Alpha-level Stealth Suit", they all effectively render the user invisible.Enchanted Items and Superscience Devices are simply spells in item form. If they are of the assemblage variety, they can be used once, and then kaput. Permanent ones have no such limit (unless built into the item to reduce its power level).How to get such items? Two qualities from the Magic BoxEnchanted Item/ Superscience Device (2Q per level) - You start with an enchanted item or superscience device of a power level equal or lower than your level in this quality. Determining the power level of an item is pretty much the same as a spell, except that permanent items get +1 to their power level because they're reusable. Again, there are restrictions that can be applied to reduce the power level. The catch with this quality si that if you lose the item, it's not automatically replaced, nor are your Qualtiy points reimbursed. Life's not fair.Enchanter / Superscientist (5Q per level) - You can make enchanted items or superscience devices (not both - pick one). Determine the power level of the item as before. If you build it as an assemblage, then it takes 20 minutes or so and is one-shot. Otherwise it takes 2 weeks per power level. In either event, you need to make either a Occultism + Intelligence or Science + Intelligence roll to find the spells or scientific white papers needed to design it. There's a list of required spell ingredients depending on the power level as well (ie, demon horn for enchanted items, rare moon rocks for superscience devices, etc.), and some experience must be spent as well (putting a little you in your item). At the end of the process, you need a Occultism + Willpower or Science + Intelligence roll to see if you were successful. Mishaps possible as with spell casting.Some examples from the series - the anti-Glory Dagon Sphere is a level 6 enchanted item, Warren's Freeze Ray was a level 3 superscience device, and a typical glamour is power level 4.</blockquote>

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