BillGarrett/MoralityMeter
This was an idle thought. I haven't put this into practice in any game, nor am I thinking of doing so immediately. It hasn't been playtested and nobody has really looked into it.
The purpose of this system is to enhance the interactions between Willpower, Limit Break, and Virtues, make the XP cost of boosting Willpower more palatable, and give people a better in-game reason to indulge in moral weakness.
Rule Changes:
- Rather than a 10-bar limit gauge, there is a "Limit Break" meter with as many boxes as the character's permanent Willpower score.
- This gauge is treated in all ways like a Limit Break, in that once you reach the end of the gauge, your character suffers the effects of his Virtue Flaw.
- When the character suffers from the break condition specified by his Flaw, he automatically gains 1 point of Limit, rather than rolling his Virtue.
- The character may "borrow" Willpower from his Limit Break by filling one box from his Limit gauge per point of Willpower. This Willpower may be used as normal - even for powering Charms. By calling on his dark side and momentarily indulging his weaknesses and baser desires, the character finds a form of solidity and self-assurance.
- Willpower points used in this fashion will be "tainted", and cannot be lent to other characters using Charms like Will-Bolstering method without increasing the recipient's own Limit. Limit lent as Willpower in this fashion cannot be forced onto a recipient; the target will feel the taint and may refuse the gift.
- Characters may not reduce their Limit by gaining or spending Willpower in any fashion, although specific Charms or other magics may specify that they do so.
- Example: Brave Swordsman Chitao has Willpower 6 (and thus 6 points of Limit, with none filled). During a social party, his Temperance is tested by some snidely cutting remarks directed his way, and he holds his tongue - but at the cost of a Limit point. Later on, Chitao is attacked, and wishes to summon his sword and make a counterattack as part of a Combo. Since at the time he is low on Willpower, he chooses to increase his Limit gauge by 1 instead.
- Filling his heart with the pain of his frustrations, Chitao forces Essence to obey him, pushing it roughly rather than guiding it with strength. His sword appears and the Combo occurs normally.
That's hot. I like it, especially as it gives the Solar some control over things - it also represents (very well) the "fall to the dark side" if you're into the type of game that has Beam Klaives. I wonder if you can really put the great curse into it even more strongly though - the more you use this, the more often you tend to break, and the more you want to use it, etc. A downward spiral, rather than a downward linear curve. Something along the lines of "if you resist your virtue flaw by spending a willpower point, you gain two points of limit". Alternately, something along the lines of "Limit boxes are a type of moral health. The more of them you fill, the 'weaker' you become, and the longer the wounds on your soul take to heal. The moral 'health levels' are [-1,-2,-4,...(the remainder are all -4 levels)], and heal half as quickly as lethal damage. When you limit break, automatically heal one moral wound, and convert the remainder to bashing." This gives you things like people falling down a slippery slope, limit breaking over and over, as they keep getting frustrated by things. If they can just keep sane for a day or two, they'll get better, but continual use of the limit-for-willpower conversion will get you real crazy real quickly. - GregLink, loving BillGarrett's idea, and the idea of limit as moral wound levels.
- As it stands, Limit Break is basically an all-or-nothing event. This changes that, but I'm a little unsure of how those penalties apply. What you might do is something like: -0 -0 -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3 -4 -4 -5 -5, where each filled box "masks" your Willpower to some extent, or shifts the balance toward limit. That is, once you've filled three or four boxes of your Limit Gauge, your effective permanent Willpower is reduced by 1, and your effective Limit Break meter is increased by 1. At five or six boxes, your Willpower is reduced by 2, and your effective Limit maximum goes up by 2. In this case, you can't have Willpower less than 1 or a Limit maximum higher than 10. This keeps the total balance of spendable points the same, but adds consequences for spending an increasing percentage of those points. Fiddle with these values for a darker or less dark game.
- The ability to effectively double your Willpower in exchange for going nuts was, basically, the "evil path to power" motif common in fiction - you're trading away your soul for more fuel for Charms and other uses, one break at a time. That it gives you more potential WP is thus deliberate, and planned for. Those PCs who make use of it should have players who realize what they're getting into. -- BillGarrett
- Actually, Bill, I think we're not quite on the same page about the whole 'moral wound penalties'. I'm not saying that having a high limit (and hence a "-4" penalty) actually makes your day any worse. I'm not saying it affects your die rolls, or Willpower. I just added that part so that there would be a canon heal-rate for it. But I suppose, if there was some sort of trade off, you could get into situations where once you've got so much limit, it's just easier to stay there, and not go back to Willpower as your actual fuel source. Like a real dark side, of sorts. Intriguing. The concept of limit and willpower as a yin-yang combo. - GregLink, thinking it's fun
