Phoenix

[Alex Koponen]

J Hooten asked me to post this as his attempt to was blocked.
--------his post--------------

Re: Phoenix and questions

I have had the same problem, a few in our group dont like the extra work
involved in tracking individual skill growth.
I and the others love it as it gives such a wide variety of skill levels
etc.
People of similar levels are not equally skilled so you cant assume you
are better or worse at something.
And better yet, mages dont suddenly gain mastery of a spell when they
change levels.
That makes all mages much more scarey in play, does that mage have
powerful offensive spells?
A low level mage could have specialized in a powerful attack and a high
level in nothing.
P&P removes alot of the assumptions characters can make in most games and
keeps them guessing.

How to simplify stats for players who dont like to do the math--
Use training!
Make them buy more skill points and train their stats to the max allowed.
In most cases this results in putting stats with low multipliers to the
limits and some high ones as well.
As a result the character doesnt have to worry as much about refiguring
effects as the stats change.
I found this helped one person alot.

I also used it on my own play by email char to minimize the amount of
early work needed so I could learn this games varences.
Normally I prefer to buy alot of skills and gain stats in play.

Yes all mages can be powerful, much more than many games but then so are
all magic items made.
I and many players feel that is the strongest part of this game, that low
level mages can make usuable and useful magic items.
And it isnt that hard to protect non mages from mages.
Amulets that give MDV remove many spells from working on people as they
have MDV limits.
Even a small MDV boost can cause grief to a mage as that MDV is literally
how much more chance of abysmal there is.
Natural magic items can give serious defenses as well.
If magic is easy to make then the items are more common and smarter non
mages will have protection.
The key then is economics, how much do items cost?

The books original price for magic weapons is obviously wrong being a huge
multiplier over base weapon cost with no care on quality.
All magic should be based on effort to make, or mana used etc.
One formula I recall someone proposing was like mel*el in gold, which isnt
so bad after you apply the other material costs etc.
But you can hire low level mages cheap so cant they make you things cheap?
As a general rule I always assume 1 mana is worth at least a silver piece,
likely more at higher Mel.
I made mage hirelings a base rate plus mana used fees, as it can take a
long time to replace the mana and that prevents hiring a bunch for a short
time just to use tons of mana that they cant replace in the duration of
the hiring.

Since I am rambling about time for questions?
Staffs and Wands mana, how does it work?
The description says a few things that dont quite work well together.
1) allows mage to use more mana per day than Enl by some amount. --This is
fine and self limiting. More than justifies the item.
2) adds some amount to mana. --This is a problem as it opens up areas of
confusion.
   What occurs if the item is lost, not carried etc?
   What if another mage gets the item?
I think the simplest fix was the item raises the mages max mana limit
while in his possession.
Thus that extra mana needs to be recovered normally to use it.
Loss of item can then trim mana to normal limit or just no longer allow it
to be recover to that level.
Passing it around doesnt give free mana etc, and likely wont be of much
use unless they hold onto it for days, other than the targeting
improvements etc.

Another question--bows?
Weapons use Cel+El mostly but bows do not.
The rules in effect say only the bow used matters not their skill?
But if you apply both, bows are really nasty
I have always aplied both as it seemed to make more sence, and bows are
generally dangerous.
Bows are self limiting due to deadly dice limited by bow WSB, and it is
harder to get high strength bows in general
Melee weapons automatically use the characters full str in deadly hits but
is also limited by weapon breakage.

Sorry for the jumping about, I just got up.
I have not actively ran/played in a couple years due to limited players
availiable so I could be misquoting/misremembering rules.
Still it should get the rough idea accross.

Personally I think this is the best RPG ever made, it has a few minor
problems but it works and works well.
Sadly the game companies are targeting the 'DUH' groups anymore. If it is
harder than 2+2 then they dont want it.
I have seen many systems strip out any math required in play and most in
character generation.
They have been over simplifing the games to appeal to the idiots who in
many cases cant play 'Roles' anyway.
P&P uses alot more math than most but it isnt that bad, and it gives the
every skill and spell is unique effect which is its true strength.
The charts make most things simple enough to do and the GM can help
players spend their points as needed.

Everyone please comment, maybe you have others solutions