Thus Spake Zarataylor/PlayersGuide

izzylobo - 03/30/2004 19:01:40

charles77: "Nice background, and some VERY nice ideas, but I have some questions."

Thanks!

Neph has it pretty much squared away, but...

"1. Can god bloods take the Experience or Knowledge backgrounds? My first thought is No, that those backgrounds are subsumed in Inheritence."

This depends entirely on the Storyteller. Knowledge, Inheritance, and Experience are "cheater" backgrounds - they provide far more benefit than they cost. Accordingly, they can only be purchased - or, more appropriately, assigned - with the express permission of the Storyteller.

That being said, if the ST says sure - yeah, you can end up with the Right Hand Gal of Sunipa, wise in the ways of thaumaturgy, skilled in battle, and fearsome of aspect in her own right. Such a character is equal to many Terrestrials in power (if not immediately accessible power), and can prove a dangerous (if eventually doomed) foil even for Celestials.

"2. Knowledge and Experience both allow you to take flaws-- if you hve knowledge AND experience, do you take the sum of the two's flaws, or is it simply the highest total? I.E., could someone with knowledge 3 and experience 3 take 30 points of flaws, or are they lmited to 15? My preference would be for the latter."

You are wise to listen to your preferences. The larger limit prevails - not the combination of the two. While it might be amusing to watch some Experience 5Thus_Spake_Zarataylor/Knowledge 5 master-savant actually try to get out of the house without tripping over some foe, his own bad luck, his doomed fate, or the dozens of geases he has taken over the years, it's not likely to be very fun for the player, or the other characters.

Let's leave the epileptic berserk one-armed half-blind agoraphobic bigoted dwarves for really awful GURPS games, shall we? :-)

"3. While such Thaumaturgy merits such as Essence recover, y Essence Awareness, and Essence mastery are obviously subsumed into the abilities of any Exalted or God blooded, what about "The flow of essence"-- should that be allowed to godbloods and exalted?"

I wouldn't.

"4. Finally, are those mortals who have gained the ability to use essence or attune to artifacts prey to the negative effects of Gunzhuo armor or other such devices? My assumption is that they could attune them like all artifacts, rather then having to use the more dangerous methods humans who cannot essence channel mus use."

If a thaumaturge makes the roll, they can attune to pretty much anything that isn't actually limited to a certain type of Exalted or has some other limitation that prevents them. Attuning to some things might be *stupid* (like an Elemental Lens), but they could do it. This *does* mean that thaumaturges can attune to Gunzosha armor, etc. without the use of implanted amulets, or such - but remember they have to make that roll *every time they try to attune* - and if they ever botch the roll, they can't attune to that device again until they raise their Essence.

It's entirely possible that the implants, etc. served a different function for thaumaturgical Gunzosha in the First Age, allowing them to attune more easily to the armor, or maintain an attunement even after removing it - I dunno, I wrote those armors up long before I tackled the Thaumaturgy section. I'd imagine there had to be some way of reliably maintaining the ability to attune to the armor for those Gunzosha who had mastered their Essence - whether or not anyone still knows how to use those techniques in the Second Age is another matter entirely.

Scott Taylor