Question 2:
This involves how to mix the "pay power points for added damage" idea of EoM with my intended base rules engine (RM/MERP) where rolling high is both more accurate and more damaging at the same time.
A short intro: My idea is spellcasters need to kinds of skills - implements and spell lists.
Implement skills (like Wand or Staff) work just like "One-handed Edged Weapons" for warriors; they make a Fireball work exactly like a longsword (only with different crits). You roll a 26* (130 if using percentage dice), you might get a "22D" damage result (i.e. game over for the target). You only roll a 18* (90%), you might get a "12A" (much less lethal).
It's for the spell lists EoM enter the picture. Instead of each rank in a spell list skill giving you a chance at learning the spell list (like in RM/MERP), each rank here grants you your effective Caster Level, or what I call "max power points". For example: with four ranks in Evoke Fire you can cast up to Evoke Fire 4, meaning your fire spell can use a maximum of four power points.
Now, to my question:
In EoM (as in d20) each power point basically adds 1d6 of damage to the spell. Sure you can (and will) spend points on things like better range, more targets, etc too, but the basic idea is that more powerful casters (high caster level) = more damage.
In my system (as in RM/MERP), it is having a high skill that makes you do more damage.
This leaves us with no good reason to pour a lot of power/magic points into our Fireballs, because my Wand skill is increased separately.
What would be a good mechanism for solving this?
A few possible ideas...:
* The spell list skill restricts the implement skill. With wand 13 (65%) and Evoke Fire 10 (50%) I can shoot a fireball, but only with an effective skill of 10. If I also had Evoke Lightning 15, I could power fifteen power points into a Shock Bolt, using my full 13 skill ranks.
Drawbacks? I would need to give spellcasters comparatively many skill improvement points on spell lists (because casters should be able to maintain parity in several lists with their implement skills, or these lists will suck compared to fighters). This leads to casters having an easy time spending power points (because each rank = 1 PP)...
* The spell list skill restricts the implement skill, but at a 1:2 ratio. In the above example, I would only need 7 ranks of my Evoke lists to be able to fully utilize my 13 implement ranks. This allows me the flexibility to go for more lists, while at the same time nicely limiting my power point expenditure. (Remember that spells in practice often have several PPs spent on other stuff too, like a Evoke Fire 5/Gen 3 spell)
In contrast, trying to add in the "more power = more damage" idea of D&D is probably not such a good idea.
*) After deducting the target's Defensive Bonus as usual for a MERP/RM game, that is.
