[Infocalypse]

I wanted to play a Mystical Adept in our upcoming party and one other player's firm opinion is, that the Mystical Adept is vastly overpowered compared to the Mage and the Adept.

Comparison to the Mage:
Equal in all aspects but:
Can never learn to astraly project.
Has to pay extra for astral perception.
Has Adept powers in addition to the Mage's magical abilities.

Compared to the Adept:
More expensive Priority-wise.
Has to pay Karma for  Power Points at character creation.
Can learn Echantment, Conjuring and Sorcery, which the Adept cannot.

Question is whether the ups and downs roughly equal out?

[Nal0n]

I strongly suggest reading http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=11583.0 for a lot of info on that topic.

I myself think they are blanced enough.

[Ryo]

Once the Errata of Karma 5 instead of Karma 2 for power points kicks in, they get a little less ridiculous.

[Crunch]

I think the consensus appears to be that some sort of adjustment to the Karma cost at chargen is looming, but that in play they're pretty much OK.

[ZeConster]

I disagree. In play they get pretty much everything adepts get from Initiating and increasing their Magic, while also getting a boost to their Magician side.

[Raiden]

down with the 5 karma 3-4 is plenty for a PP, they also will have to specilize eventually. they can't keep up with a mages casting power or an adepts physical skills without picking one or the other.

[Infocalypse]

Thanks for the quick and informative answers. Does anyone know when the first official Errata will be out, that are more than just speculation and house rule discussion?

[Ryo]

down with the 5 karma 3-4 is plenty for a PP, they also will have to specilize eventually. they can't keep up with a mages casting power or an adepts physical skills without picking one or the other.

If they automatically get 1 power point per magic like adepts do, yes they can. If they focus on being a magician they are just inherently better at it, because they're picking up adept powers for free right along with it. And if they focus on being an Adept, they already got free spells and magical skills from the priority they picked as if they picked Magician, so they are just an inherently superior adept because they have these spells in the wings they can use all they like.

I had a player who came to me with the idea for an adept character, read the rules, and then went 'on second thought, he'll be a Mystic Adept.' That's all I needed to see to know something was wonky with Mystics.

[Xenon]

(i think he was meaning that mages often spend Karma to raise mental attributes such as Willpower and Logic/Charisma and skills such as counterspelling, spellcasting, astral combat, banishing, enchanting, assessing, summoning and spells such as fireballs, improved invisibility, mask, mana ball and binding power focus, sustaining foci - while [Physical] Adepts tend to focus on Strength, Body and Agility and skills such as sneaking, blades, climbing, escape artist, running, gymnastics and binding various weapon foci or Qi foci).

[Raiden]

^ this

[Ryo]

A Mystic Adept actually playing a Mystic Adept isn't an issue, because they don't have the points to spread around and be good at both. The problem is that a Magician can build a Mystic Adept and aside from losing projection, is just an inherently superior Magician, and an Adept can build as a Mystic Adept with the same inherent superiority. They don't ever have to buy new spells or increase their magical skills past creation to have all the magician capability they need to be an Adept, but better.

The effect is more pronounced with Mystic adepts built as mages, since they get the exact same Priority benefits, and after they buy power points equal to their magic with karma, get the rest for free, and just have a bunch of adept powers to supplement their spellcasting.

[Xenon]

The effect is more pronounced with Mystic adepts built as mages, since they get the exact same Priority benefits, and after they buy power points equal to their magic with karma, get the rest for free, and just have a bunch of adept powers to supplement their spellcasting.

Yes. Agree
Which is why additional power points should come with a [small] cost. Like 5 Karma. Same as a spell.

If a mystic adept goes physical he will not get free spells when he get higher magic rating. He have to pay 5 karma for them...

[Medicineman]

 

A Mystic Adept actually playing a Mystic Adept isn't an issue,

Hmmm,but what is IYO  a mystic Adept ?
For Me it was always a Mix of Adept and Mage
What makes him ...different/seperate(?) from a Mage or an Adept ?

With a Dance in the Dark
Medicineman

[Ryo]

A Mystic Adept actually playing a Mystic Adept isn't an issue,

Hmmm,but what is IYO  a mystic Adept ?
For Me it was always a Mix of Adept and Mage
What makes him ...different/seperate(?) from a Mage or an Adept ?

With a Dance in the Dark
Medicineman

Trying to be good at both. IE, he's improving both as a magician and an adept, so he's spreading his karma around a lot to succeed at both roles. As opposed to just playing a Magician who happens to have adept powers, or playing an Adept who happens to have spells. In those cases, the Mystic Adept is just better at the job, since they improve at the same rate as Magician or Adept, but also get free bonuses from the other half that the pure ones don't get.

As I said earlier, I had a player who wanted to be an adept, then took one look at the rules and went Mystic instead. In his case, he's playing as an adept who just happens to have spells, so he's just an inherently superior adept to the other adept in the party.

[Raiden]

not necessarily Superior to the true adept, but better in general due to spells and being more useful? yes. imo there should be two types of mystic adepts, those that start with spells, and those that start with PPs.