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Aspected Magicians

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« Reply #15 on: <10-18-16/1401:28> »

C: Aspected Magician: three rating 3 magic skills from one group


Why not just do the skill group?

Blue Rose

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« Reply #16 on: <10-18-16/2020:12> »
Allows for specializations in character creation.

Hobbes

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« Reply #17 on: <10-18-16/2030:49> »
That's quite the buff!!


And yet Magicians, Mystic Adepts, and even Adepts are still mechanically better.  *shrug*  Sorcery Adepts come pretty close, but still you're better off just taking "Mage" every time. 

Hobbes

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« Reply #18 on: <10-18-16/2036:15> »
Allows for specializations in character creation.

That and individual skill points can be spent to increase them.  Really to give a Player as much flexibility as possible to work the concept.  Not that any of mine have bit yet  : )

Glyph

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« Reply #19 on: <10-19-16/0140:34> »
Mechanically, it is a lot harder to reach the sweet spot with aspected mages.  For full mages, Priority: A gives you a Magic of 6 as well as bonus skills and spells.  For adepts, Priority: B gives you a Magic of 6 and a bonus skill.  For aspected mages, well, Priority: B gives you, well, a Magic of 5 and a rating: 4 magical skill group.  So you need skills: C or better to get that skill group up to 6, and 7 points of your starting Karma per skill if you want any specializations.  Also, unless you are playing a human, you will need metatype: C or better to be able to start with a Magic of 6.  And finally, sorcerers have to buy spells with starting Karma - a sorcerer who takes no positive qualities, 25 points' worth of negative qualities, and spends all 50 Karma on spells will have the same number of spells that a Priority: A mage gets for free.

Plus, sorcery and conjuring are both incredibly useful - and complementary.  Spirits can aid spellcasting, sustain spells for you, and even cast spells for you (but the innate spell power has to be a spell the summoner knows, so suck it, conjurers).  Spells can often fight or protect against hostile spirits better than the banishing skill can.  Frankly, even under the much fairer Point Build rules, the opportunity cost of getting the complete magical package is such that the only real reason for playing an aspected mage is if you have an overriding roleplaying reason for it.

Dwagonzhan

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« Reply #20 on: <10-21-16/0258:11> »
Frankly, even under the much fairer Point Build rules, the opportunity cost of getting the complete magical package is such that the only real reason for playing an aspected mage is if you have an overriding roleplaying reason for it.

That's pretty much the truth of the matter.
Even for concept characters, Full Magicians and Mystic Adepts have too much complimentary overlap to justify going Aspected.

Conjurer is the only Aspect that's viable solo, but it's just so much better with anything else added.
Ignoring how powerful just Spellcasting is; Alchemy is nice for gathering reagents in downtime and Counterspelling is useful for covering your spirits from one of the only things that can realistically stop them.

(I'm currently reworking my main runner to include Alchemy in his repertoire, and using some expanded/improved alchemy house rules. None of which would be possible as a pure Adept.)

EDIT: I will add that pure Adepts are the only "aspected magician" type that is worth it, in terms of pure opportunity costs. But even then, it's only because you have to pay 5 karma per Power Point as a Mystic Adept at character creation, and pure Adepts automatically gain a Power Point every time they increase their base Magic Rating. Mystic Adepts are still more powerful in the long run purely due to how flexible they are, but it's not an insurmountable difference like with the other Aspect Mages.
« Last Edit: <10-21-16/1730:37> by Dwagonzhan »
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