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Point Buy and Adepts clarification needed

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MercilessMing

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« on: <05-18-22/1014:59> »
Early on in 6e, Adepts started with a number of power points equal to the Magic they got from the Magic column, similar to magicians and spells.  This put them in an awkward place unlike previous editions, where they could raise their Magic to 6 but only start with 4 power points.  There was a question that I think went unanswered, what happened when an adept with 6 Magic and 4 PP got .5 essence of cyberware?  Did they lose a PP, a point of Magic, or both? 
When errata changed adept character creation, adepts now had power points equal to their Magic attribute, not just the Magic they got from the Magic column.  Power points were errata'd to reflect that whenever an adept gained or lost a point of Magic, they gained or lost a PP.

Point Buy method brings back the case where an adept's Magic can be different than their PP total.  Adepts start with 0 PP and they must be purchased separately from Magic. 

The CRB says in the Magic chapter on pg.156 that "Whenever adept characters gain or lose a point of Magic, they also gain or lose a power point".  So that would indicate the 6M/4PP adept should become a 5M/3PP adept.  But, the same paragraph also says "an adept character who starts with a Magic rating of 4 also starts with 4 power points", which is not true for that character.  So, this player may understandably believe their case is different and they don't lose the PP. 

Could you clarify what is to happen in that case?  Or perhaps the Companion should be errata'd so that adepts are compelled to purchase PP up to their Magic, which brings them in line with all other character creation methods?

Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #1 on: <05-18-22/1045:11> »
I don't think there will ever be a rule that will compel an Adept to buy PPs up to max. The point buy system is supposed to give more granular options than priority pick.

However, the loss of a PP whenever you lose a point of Magic is indeed something that happens no matter what chargen system you used. Thank you for the question, we'll keep it in mind when we get to errata or faq for 6WC!
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.