Some time ago, there was discussion about the point cost of limited
abilities in RPG rules systems with point-based character creation.
The example used was a Speak With Animals ability, which is a fairly
common phenomenon in the fantasy genre.
The system discussed (IIRC it was the only one) was Hero System.
Here are some more data points:
In GURPS 4th Edition, Speak With Animals has a base cost of 25 character
points and applies to all animals. If the ability is limited to animals
of the air *and* land (or to aquatic animals), the cost is reduced by
40%. If the ability is limited to one "class" of animals, such as
"birds", the cost is reduced by 50%. If limited to one "family", such as
"parrots", the cost is reduced by 60%. If limited to one species, such
as "macaws", the cost is reduced by 80%.
My own Modern Action RPG does not have a Speak With Animals ability, but
it does have a comparable ability, Animal Talent, which allows a
character to empathize with and tame animals. It can be purchased in an
unlimited version with strengths of 2d6, 3d6 or 4d6, with each extra d6
increasing the cost by 150%, from 8 points to 20 points to 50 points.
There's no Animal Talent ability that is fully limited to one species or
category of animals, but one can get limited bonus die, if one purchases
the first 2d6 without limits.
The design reason is that it does not make sense, within the genre, for
a human to have some ability with dogs or horses but *no* ability with
other animals. That which makes sense within the genre, and which is
therefore offered to the players as a choice, is to make a character
with some ability with all animals but who has *better* ability with one
species or category.
(This rules out, as a PC concept, a vampire-like character who can only
do things with bats, rats, wolves and perhaps cats, but who has no
ablity whatsoever with other animals. But I'm okay with that. The MA RPG
does allow for some fairly weird character types, but not this.)
The first 2d6, never limited, costs 8 points. The 3rd d6 costs 12
points, but if it applies only to one type of animals, such as canines
or equines, it is 1/3 cost, meaning that Animal Talent 2d6 (+1d6 with
canines or equines) costs 12 points, whereas a full 3d6 costs 20 points.
Likewise if one wants Animal Talent 2d6 (+2d6 with canines), the final
2d6 would normally cost 42 points (50-8), but this is reduced by 2/3 to
14 points, so that the final cost of Animal Talent 2d6 (+2d6 with
canines) costs 22 points, whereas the full and unlimited 4d6 ability
costs 50 points.
There's also Animal Talent 3d6 (+1d6 with one type), but I won't go into
that. Animal Talent dice, limited to one category (i.e. broader than
"type"), are 3/5 the cost of normal dice, compared to 1/3 cost for
type-specific dice.
Likewise the Empathy Gift can be purchased in a version that has limited
power on one sex but more power on the other. Sex-specific bonus dice
are 75% the cost of general dice, so that while Empaty 3d6 costs 20
points, Empathy 2d6 (+1d6 vs Men) costs 16 points.
There needs to be a version of the "Cloud Mind" Mystic Gift that is
stronger versus one sex than the other, of course, and there is, but the
cost structure is the same as with Empathy above (the limited die costs
75% of an unlimited die), so I won't go into that.
Instead I'll mention another version of the "Cloud Mind" Mystic Gift,
which can be boosted either 1 or 3 times per week with an extra d6. The
basic 2d6 ability costs 20 points (for comparison, the strongest
version, 3d6, costs 60 points).
The cost mark-up for a Cloud Mind ability that can be boosted by +1d6
once per week is +20% cost, and if it can be boosted by +1d6 3 times per
week then the cost is increased by +80% to, respectively, 24 points and
34 points.
Note that there's no "Ability building" system, in MA RPG, which is
available to the players. The players select from a menu of abilities in
the rule book, with the intent that this menu should contain everything
that is both desirable and in-genre for the system.
The Sagatafl "Power" build system still exists only in very vague form,
but the basic workings of the system is that the base point cost of a
Power is determined by the character's attributes in some way. Speak
With Animals would (naturally!) be a "Nature Power", so the
cost-determining attributes would (probably) be Faith and Will. The
higher the lowest of these two is, the cheaper the Power will be.
Powers are purchased in levels, with level 2 costing twice as much as
level 1, level 3 costing twice as much as level 2, and so forth. Half
levels cost 40% more than the previous level, when they are needed.
A Speak With Animal Power of level 1 would thus allow the character to
understand and speak to a single species, such as ravens. A Power of
level 2, i.e. costing twice as many points, would allow the character to
speak with a single broad category of animals, such as birds. A Power
level of 3, costing four times as many points as level 1, would allow
the character so speak with all animals.
A power of level 0.5 would probably be meaningless, and therefore not
able to exist, although perhaps one could invent a character who can
speak with only one specific animal, e.g. his horse (but then why not
make the horse be his Familiar instead, using those rules?). A power of
1.5 would let the character speak with 2 or 3 species of animals,
provided that they are related in such a way (biologically or
thematically) that it meets the GM's approval. A power level of 2.5
would let the character speak with 2 or 3 broad categories of animals. A
power level above 3 would be meaningless.
Now, those are my examples.
On to some thoughts:
Are players happy with putting Limitations on their abilities, in
systems such as GURPS and Hero System? One might naively assume that
since players do in fact put Limitations on their abilities, they must
be happy with it, but there are several alternative explanations:
B. The players purchase Limited abilities because they cannot afford
abilities without Limitations, due to being given a very tight point
budget by the GM.
C. The players purchase Limited abilities as a form of self-censorship
because they believe that the GM would reject abilities that do not have
Limitations on them (or which have too few, such as 1 or 2, Limitations
on them).
D. The players purchase Limited abilities because they know for a fact
that the GM of that specific campaign will reject characters who have
abilities that are not Limited.
We can't rule out, of course, that (A) players apply Limitations to
their character's abilities because those Limitations fit the character
concept and anyway the players feel that the cost difference between the
abilities with and without Limitations are such that they (the players)
are getting a fair deal.
What kinds of success criteria can one posit, if any?
Not seeing any characters with Limited Mystic Gifts in the first MA RPG
playtest campaign is certainly insufficient.
I'm not making a GURPS or Hero System-like system here. I'm simulating a
genre, even if it is a very broad genre. I therefore offer those
abilities which I predict that players will want. I dream up character
concepts and then I check whether my rules system allows their cretion;
if it doesn't allow it, I have discovered a problem which it is my duty,
as a game designer, to fix.
One could argue that a -25% point cost discount for one sex-specific die
(or for two sex-specific dice) is too little. I may change that to a
-30% or -35% or even -40% discount. In that area, my chief concern is
that none of the offered choices must be obviously better than the
others. If 2d6 (+1d6 vs one sex) costs only a very few points more than
a "flat" 2d6 Gift, then no player would ever take the "flat" 2d6
version, and that *is* a game design failure.
This is a subset of the menu offered:
8 points: Empathy 2d6
16 points: Empathy 2d6 (+1d6 vs one sex)
20 points: Empathy 3d6
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
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