Greetings all. My progress towards a dragaeran campaign using HERO rules
proceeds apace. I've got a question on which I'd welcome reflection, and I
wanted to share my provisional solution with you, for pelting with tomatoes or
whatever.
[ spoilers for the Viscount trilogy-ish below ]
The question is: Where did Grita get her power from, on a day-to-day basis,
and how did she maintain the supply?
We know that she engaged in pre-empire sorcery, and we know that she 'reached
an accomodation' with one Sea of Chaos or another. We might therefore infer
that she at some time or another produced one or more 'small blue stones'.
But does she -consume- these stones in the exercise of sorcery? Does she need
to go back every few (weeks? months? years) to make more?
Perhaps they are sufficiently potent that for magic on less than an epic scale
just having one or two around will be sufficiently powerful.
For that matter, how much chaos is around in the world? Perhaps the skilled
practicioner can extract sufficient chaos from normal environments that they
can later use it to accomplish their aims.
Here is my solution to this, so far, expressed in Hero terms.
Variable power pool: pre-empire sorcery
Skill roll to change powers: "Pre-empire sorcery".
Charges
(all powers in the pool cost one charge per 10 active points)
Charges take a long time to restore.
Charges are difficult to restore.
Charges are dangerous to restore.
Charges are an accessible focus.
(someone can steal your bag of blue stones)
There are two methods available to replace charges:
Method A:
1) Locate a sea of chaos, go there.
2) Make an accomodation with it (skill roll with substantial penalties)
3) Get a 'blue stone' with charge count related to how well you succeeded.
4) Get a 'Nasty Explosion' with damage related to how badly you failed.
5) Get a 'New Character' if you fail critically: the chaos accomodated all
over your heiny.
Repeat at will (operation should take on the order of a minute).
Method B:
1) Spend four hours teasing whatever chaos is available in range into a usable
form.
2) Make an accomodation with it (skill roll with moderate penalties)
3) Get a 'blue stone' with charge count related to how well you succeeded.
4) Get a 'Nasty Explosion' with damage related to how badly you failed.
5) Get a 'Major Disaster' if you fail critically: Big area-of-effect
explosion, lots of damage, but theoretically survivable. "Medic!"
Repeat at will, but you have to go somewhere else: you drained the chaos out
of "here". Maybe a few klicks down the road. "here" might be usable again in
a month.
In round terms this means that an indifferently skilled wizard spending a
14-hour day collecting mana would be able to squeeze enough oomph out of the
universe to cast several low-level spells, perhaps 10-20 points worth, at
substantial risk to life and limb. This is Tazendra at the beginning of the
Interregnum. (*FOOM*)
An highly skilled wizard would be able to perhaps double this, at relatively
little risk. I'd put Grita here, at the beginning of _Viscount_. This level
of skill would be achievable by a player-character.
A legendary-class wizard would be able to just wander over to the Lesser Sea,
and mint mana-gems all day long, and mostly feel exhausted at the end of the
day. I'd put Adron here. PCs would only get this far if I like the plot.
- Allen S. Rout