Andrew Sayman wrote:
> Peter Knutsen (usenet) wrote:
>
>>I'm confused by some of the point costs in Shadowrun 4th Edition.
>>Specifically Adept Powers confuse me.
>>
>>In many cases, it seems to me as if Adept Powers are 100% functionally
>>equivalent to paying points for higher attributes or skill levels. In
>>other cases, they are functionally equivalent *except* that they cost
>>*more* - or *less*, in some other cases.
>>
>>
>>Enhanced Perception costs 0.25 Magic per level. Each point in Magic
>>costs 10 character creation points. However, raising the Perception
>>skill costs 4 character creation points per level. Therefore, if your
>>character is an Adept, you're better off buying Enhanced Perception than
>>buying the Perception skill.
>
>
> You can only have Enhanced Perception up to your Intuition and Magic
rating. I
> think it's actually best to buy Intuition and Enhanced perception
equally.
I'm not talking about buying Intuition vs buying Enhanced Perception,
I'm talking about buying increased Perception skill vs buying Enhanced
Perception. Enhanced Perception is better in all regards (unless you buy
your Magic up to 6 during character creation - but why would you?).
>>I'm not sure about Great Leap. It seems to me that you're better off
>>paying for a Gymnastics specialization in Jumping. That costs 2 points
>>and gives you a +2 bonus on Jumping rolls. Great Leap costs 2.5 points
>>and gives you only a +1 bonus to Jumping. But of course, if you want
>>more than your +2 specialiation, go ahead and take levels in Great Leap.
>
> The specialization only applies when trying to make the role. Great Leap
adds
> the dice, and increases the maximum distance you can jump. A great roll
will
> never get you farther than your max distance.
So Great Leap does let you do more?
>>Improved Ability (i.e. skill) is worth taking for non-combat skills. To
>>improve a non-combat skill the normal way costs 4 points per +1, whereas
>>improving a non-combat skill via Adept Powers costs 2.5 points per +1.
>>In many cases, you're better off starting with a Specialization on your
>>skill (2 points buys you +2 to skill, specialized), but if you want more
>>than that, you should go for the Adept Power.
>>
>>However, for combat skills, Improved Ability costs 5 points per +1,
>>whereas if you buy the skill the mundane way it only costs 4 points per
>>+1. Hence there's never any point in doing this. It's a waste of points.
>
> Two things here:
>
> 1] It's not a waste of points since this will let you roll more dice
than you
> normally could. Think about the max you can buy for the Ability, you can
then
> continue to buy the Improved Ability for a larger dice pool. Also, if
you don't
Sure, but with so precious few character creation points, few PCs will
start the game out with just a single maxed skill.
> plan on gaining more magic rating, you can get Improved Ability to
reduce the
> experience costs you'll have for the skill later.
>
> 2] There are ways to raise your magic rating, so these powers aren't
only for
> character creation. If you have an adept that has reached 7 in Longarms
and
> needs some edge, this is worth it.
Well, yes, I get the impression that Adepts should probably wait until
they've played for a number of sessions and gained some experience
points, before they start buying Powers.
But that's kinda silly too. You pay 45 points to get a Magic rating of
5, which then does nothing for the first 10 sessions?
That's a bit like AD&D, as in wrong.
>>Adept Powers are at once a license to optimize (up to your Magic limit -
>>but from what I've skimmed you can get more Magic points later on, and
>>thus optimize further) *and* a trap for unwary players who may end up
>>paying more points than they should (specifically for Improved Ability
>>with combat skills, or if they waste their Magic on Improved Physical
>>Attribute).
>
> I disagree here. There's a significant XP break by getting magical
enhancements
> at character creation. It increases the max dice you'll get to roll for
a
> situation long-term.
But there's no need to buy those Adept Powers during character creation,
then.
Of course there are Adept Powers that work. Ones that do what they
should, which is make the character feel magical. I'm just objecting to
the inclusion of the ones that don't.
--
Peter Knutsen
sagatafl.org
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