View source for Szilard/HouserulesBackgrounds

== <b><i>house rules on backgrounds</i></b> ==

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=== <b><i>multiple backgrounds of the same type</i></b> ===

Multiple independent backgrounds of the same type are typically rated independently, rather than added together. That is, someone with two artifacts, one rated at 2 and one rated at 3, will have Artifact&bull;&bull; and Artifact&bull;&bull;&bull;, not Artifact&bull;&bull;&bull;&bull;&bull;. Why? It ought to be significantly more common for someone to have several less powerful artifacts than one more powerful one, and Backgrounds above &bull;&bull;&bull; cost double. Some Backgrounds (such as Resources) don't really follow this pattern. Other do so differently - Allies, for instance, should be separated if the Allies are separate, but not if they are more significant or powerful (Ally&bull;&bull;&bull;&bull;&bull; represents a single, very powerful Ally or close-knit group, while five individual allies would be rated seperately).

=== <b><i>artifact</i></b> ===

The artifact rating system seems to me to be rather broken. There seem to be three design goals here that are incompatible: 
# make relatively fine differentiations between the power level of artifacts 
# have some artifacts of incredible power and others of a relatively trivial nature
# retain a five-point scale

I'm tempted to get rid of #3. Really I am. It would make things <b><i>so</i></b> much easier. Here, though is my attempt (still in progress) to sacrifice a bit of #1 in an an attempt to salvage what I can: Szilard/[[ArtifactWeaponsAndArmor]]

=== <b><i>familiar</i></b> ===

Familiar seems to be a major weak link among the backgrounds. For three background points, you could have a rather powerful Ally (perhaps a notable Exalt or a Guild Prince), a powerful magical Artifact, a Manse and Hearthstone of significant strength, or a pet tiger who won't die of old age. I've toyed with creating a point-buy familiar-creation system, but I don't really want it to get over-complicated. (My thoughts toward this, though, are at [[Szilard/Familiars]])I'm still trying to figure out what the best method of handling this would be. It works fine as-is for Sidereals, insofar as they have powerful Familiar-boosting charms. Perhaps the answer is to have similar charms for other Exalt types.


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=== <b><i>comments</i></b> ===