[PnP] noob questions part III - Son of Noob Questions

[Scott M]

On 9/19/07, Albert Sales <drite_mi at yahoo.com> wrote:
> If I recall, there is a shadow spell that gives back some energy (I've not
> used that in some time now).  Potions can be made to restore energy level.
> Other than that, yes, the regen for energy is slow.  That's why you never
> want to lose more than a little bit.  - (House rule) Wounds can replenish
> energy level if the Wounds spell was cast from energy level (ie, innate or
> natural magician) on a severe or deadly hit. -
>
> Per standard rules, the only way energy level effects or is affected by
> trained magic is to limit the cast ability usable in one day (not the
> overall cast ability, to be clear), or to be damaged in abysmal failure.  -
> I have a few house rules that increase the sting of certain spells
> (summoning or anything permanent) to drain some energy.  Some permanent
> magic castings, I also require sacrificing points from Will and a minimum
> EnL of sacrificed creatures. -  However, per standard rules, energy level
> just sets daily limits.
>
> A question from me:  Lethal poisons deal energy damage on success.
> Non-lethal poisons deal other effects on success.  However, on failure (not
> abysmal), an energy damage is listed for poisons in general.  I was curious
> how other referees handle this.  I list it as damage on the side, and when
> the total excedes current energy level, the effect of poison success occurs.
>  I fade this accumulation at a rate of Poison Resistance per minute.  (In
> truth, I have modified the effects of all effect-poisons to be based on an
> accumulation, and and set a fade-rate for many of them for the purpose of
> establishing duration.  I also worked up some cumulative effects for partial
> poisoning.)
>
> Energy effects:  They cause death you can never recover from.  They recover
> at a dreadful rate. These factors strike fear into the hearts of mages and
> warriors alike.  If tyou ever want to reduce the number of casters in a
> game, add something like, the BMC of a spell (or the EL) is deducted from
> energy level as well (this was a side-effect of non-chaos magic I worked
> into a L'p'n'th shrine once; a much worse result came from failure/ abysmal
> failure).  You will see magic use diminish greatly.  For the other energy
> effects, think of how the players react to them.  These are not pretty
> things, and are typically recieved with quite a bit of revulsion.  Hitting
> your players energy (or giving a main enemy energy level attack spells) is a
> good way to slow them down and make them say ouch, thinking twice before
> continuing on a path.  Energy is vital, and damage to it HURTS.  I like the
> slow energy recovery for this reason, so I typically don't mess with the
> rules on it much.
>
>
> Scott M <scottee.mac at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, it's a franchise now. Buy the action figures while you can...
>
> 1) Would a character with innate abilities ONLY get energy back via a
> daily energy roll (he gets 1d6 back if a roll of d100 minus EL is less
> than Con)? In other words, he doesn't use the Mana regeneration rules
> unless he is also a magic user? Also, I assume that roll is daily - it
> never really specifies that I can find.
>
> 2) For magic users, the energy level is never affected by spell
> casting, correct? Of course the casting ability can never exceed the
> energy level, but mana used on a spell is only deducted from the
> casting ability, not from the energy level. Unlike for characters with
> innate powers (who are not magic users), who deduct from Current
> Energy Level.
>

As usual, thanks to all for the excellent replies and useful advice.