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[6e] Availability

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ammulder

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« on: <05-06-21/1109:41> »
Is availability 9 meant to be a hard limit?  If it was, for instance, it would put an upper bound on the Force of Foci.  (I would prefer that to seeing people talk about their 35 die pools with rating 12 foci and etc.)

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #1 on: <05-06-21/1124:13> »
Is availability 9 meant to be a hard limit?  If it was, for instance, it would put an upper bound on the Force of Foci.  (I would prefer that to seeing people talk about their 35 die pools with rating 12 foci and etc.)

Well, the current prevailing view on the augmented limit on skills is the +4 applies to bonus dice rather than bonus ranks.  So if you have a Force 20 focus, it still caps out at only giving you +4 dice.

Yeah, that only applies to skill tests, so yeah that leaves a loophole for drain tests.  It's possible that a fix for that could be out sooner rather than later.  I have my fingers crossed.
« Last Edit: <05-06-21/1125:50> by Stainless Steel Devil Rat »
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #2 on: <05-06-21/1129:25> »
As for availability capping at 9:

You could make a "by RAW" argument that yes that's the case.  This would then by extension mean that Power and Weapon foci can never be higher than Force 6.

I can't promise that the splatbooks and other published sources don't have odd examples of availability ratings higher than that though.  I wouldn't necessarily agree that saying gear can't be modified/come in ratings that would push availability past 9, but it's reasonable enough.  I mean, really, once you go past that, good luck finding a contact who will have a sufficiently high connection rating to acquire it.

Edit:  As for chargen, where yes technically availability doesn't matter unless the item in question is illegal:  then use your GM powers to just make foci of unacceptable ratings illegal in the setting in which your campaign is set. QED!
« Last Edit: <05-06-21/1133:06> by Stainless Steel Devil Rat »
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

ammulder

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« Reply #3 on: <05-06-21/1140:15> »
Edit:  As for chargen, where yes technically availability doesn't matter unless the item in question is illegal:  then use your GM powers to just make foci of unacceptable ratings illegal in the setting in which your campaign is set. QED!

Oh, I thought it was  stated that you can't come out of chargen with items of availability greater than 6.  But now I see that's only ILLEGAL items greater than availability 6!  lol

On the other hand, binding foci is not one of the listed items you're allowed to spend Karma on, so even if you bought a focus, you'd have to bind after some play, right?

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #4 on: <05-06-21/1147:17> »
Edit:  As for chargen, where yes technically availability doesn't matter unless the item in question is illegal:  then use your GM powers to just make foci of unacceptable ratings illegal in the setting in which your campaign is set. QED!

Oh, I thought it was  stated that you can't come out of chargen with items of availability greater than 6.  But now I see that's only ILLEGAL items greater than availability 6!  lol

On the other hand, binding foci is not one of the listed items you're allowed to spend Karma on, so even if you bought a focus, you'd have to bind after some play, right?

Well, delaying paying karma to bond a ridiculous focus until AFTER chargen is still problematic, unless you subscribe to the view that skill tests dice pools are capped at +4 bonus dice from gear/qualities.
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #5 on: <05-06-21/1154:07> »
Seven-7 has an availability of 10(I).
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #6 on: <05-06-21/1202:43> »
Seven-7 has an availability of 10(I).

Yeah, there's bound to be other examples of >9 availability as well.  But, if you WANT a reason to restrict foci force levels, an ostensible cap of 9 is flimsy but arguably solid enough.  Frankly, just going with Rule Zero instead is the more honest and better strategy, imo :D
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.