| From: | Forgotten Horror <phinar@**.CENCOM.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Raising Attributes |
| Date: | Sat, 24 Jun 1995 23:53:32 EDT |
mercilessly (though not without some remorse) as a player. I am not
certain how other people handle this, so I thought I'd check it out.
The way we currently read the SR2 rules is as follows:
When you go to raise an attribute, if the new rating will exceed
racial maximum, it requires GM approval. Otherwise, it costs a number
of karma points equal to the new rating. This can be done to any
number of attributes any number of times until the final result of all
attributes at racial maximum is reached. Furthermore, if the GM is
inclined to allow attributes to exceed racial maximum, they should
exceed it by no more than 1.5* racial max. Ad nauseum.
To my somewhat biased eye, this seems surreal. It practically
encourages a runner to be walking around as a sterling example of
his/her metatype, and at the least, makes it extraordinarily easy to
do so.
Our corresponding fix, really a compromise between hungry players and
threatened GM's, is as follows:
When you go to raise an attribute, compare the new value against the
value the character started with. If the new value will be more than
twice the starting value, karma cost will be at least 1.5* the new
rating. If the character desires to raise an attribute above racial
maximum, he may do so for three skills, two of which may be from
either the physical or mental group, and the third of which must be
from the other group. (Thus a troll could raise Str and Bod above
racial max but not Qui, and subsequently would be able to raise either
Int, Wil, or Cha above racial max as well.) If the new value will
exceed racial maximum, it will cost 2* the new rating, regardless of
original score.
This seems to be a bit of a deterrent to the monster ability scores we
were seeing before on the sammys (esp. after augmentation! 18 body, 12
str, etc. What a nightmare!), but still doesn't seem to answer the
original issue: what makes it so much easier to boost an ability than
a skill? Especially if you have an Int above 3...
My understanding is that in SR1, you could raise your scores only
once. I never had 1st ed, so I dunno myself, but even that (while
seeming restrictive) makes more sense than the anything-goes I've been
seeing...
One further note: It would seem that a close examination of the rules
could lead to a strict interpretation whereby a runner could only ever
raise a given ability 1 point. In debating this, we found it foolish
that FASA would then include the information on raising stats beyond
racial max, as they would be naturally capped at 1 above. Even this
makes a crude amount of sense, when placed beside the other system.
Anyone else out there got some different takes on this issue?
<G>
(phinar@******.net)
