From:	Sebastian Wiers m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject:	PhysAd and extra Power Points (was: Big Bag O' Questions(3))
Date:	Fri, 16 Jul 1999 12:29:04 -0500

:Yes,...one power point is 20 karma. However, when a Streetsamurai is
:upgrading (s)he uses money (big guns, cyberware, bioware) and karma
:(skills). When a mage is upgrading (s)he uses karma (spells, skills) and
the
:karma used for spells is the same 1 - 1 rate as with skills. So they can be
:seen as the same.
:A PA, however, can upgrade using karma for powers at a 1 - 20 ratio, and
:then he should find the karma to upgrade his skills. Somewhere I have the
:feeling, and this could only be a feeling, that (s)he is going to lag
:behind.

In a rather long campaign, we only had 1 example of an bioware or
cyberware upgrade- a character with minimal implants got Boosted Reflexes 3,
and saved on surgery costs by buying a Biotech / Surgery skillsoft so
another character could do the work.
This was not really a cash poor campaign. I don't know if its typical,
but I just don't see really signifigant upgrades happening often enough to
justify the argument that adepts are at a disadvantage. Besides, if
there's enough cash for the samurai to afford signinifgantly helpful new
implants to replace hios old, there is enough that the adept can afford
low-impact but helpful implants. People are loath to loose magic, but it
sometimes offers an adept a dramatic edge to get a little bit of cyber ot
bioware.

:> I personally don't see why people want "more effective" adepts. SR3
:> adepts seem pretty butch to me, easily able to hold thier own as a good
:> character option.
:
:I think they can hold their own later on in the game, when people are more
:settled in their characters and have some karma to back their characters
up.
:However, when you compare it with the spells of a full mage for instance,
:they don't match up in the beginning. A full mage has at least 25 force
:points to use at character creation. If you want that could be 4 or 5 maxed
:out spells (4 spells of force 6, or 5 spells of 5), pretty impressive I
:should say. And then the mage still has the option of buying new force
:points with nuyen.

I was specifiaclly reffering to starting characters.
I just made a mage, and he was pretty danm ineffective in a straight
up combat compared to the parties 2 new adepts. Mostly because he was
really
slow, and spent the first two turns (he got 1 action per) turning invisible
and
runing for cover. Then when I used "control thoughts" on a baddy, my
teamates shot him- nice work, guys...
Admitedly, I was one of the very few who did not get shot, and several
others nearly died, and there were reasons I did not cut loose with big-kill
spells (I made a lot of all my spells area effect, and the fight was close
quarters)- but mages do seem more or less to have as much trouble at
character creation as everybody else.

:I just think that when a PA starts play, he could, with 6 power points
(PA's
:maximum), have 1 maxed out power (for instance pain resistance) and some
:toys like improved senses, mystic armor or something. I just think there
:should be the option for a PA to buy power points with nuyen during
:character creation. How this should be done, the amount of nuyen per power
:point, or the question where the limit should lie, is the reason why I seek
:guidance from the Great Collective(tm) of the mailing list.

There is the option of taking geas. That will give you more powers-
with limits on thier use.
I don't think they need to be more powerful at character creation, but
if you are looking for a monitary amount, 200,000¥ seems fair. You'd
probably want to use the build point system to get access to 400k¥ or the
650k¥ bracket.
I got this number by imagining the most expensive normal cyber that
adept powers could replace- Wired 3, at 100k¥ per essence point. So, I
figured power points are worth about 100k¥ each. Extra p[ower poits (past
the 6 you get normally) are like alpahware- to get more that 6 essence
cyber, you need to pay extra. 200k¥ seems fair; how much would a samurai be
willing to spend for an extra essence point?
I'd restrict adepts to buying 3 power points this way. More than that
really gets gross, I think, for a starting character. [Note that Mages are
not ever allowed to buy more than 25 extra force points, even if they have
the cash.]
Not that this all presumes no priority change- its just what I see as a
mathematically reasonably balanced cost for normal adepts buying power
points with cash. 10,000¥ per karma point is a pretty good rate (imo). I
think if you did this, it would make sense to charge mages 10,000¥ for a
force point (with the same max total of 50)- then they might actually buy
them!

Mongoose