Expanding the Special Intelligence Rule

[Domino]

Has anyone thought of opening up the Special Intelligence Rule to additional abilities? Effectively making the Special Strength/Agility/Speed Rule? The 'energy' stat would cost double (just like Int in the standard rule) and durability would still cost the usual three times.

It seems to me that there would be characters who have a lot of energy for actions, but aren't particularly bright and wouldn't have a very high health.

We're considering it in one of our games and I was wondering if anyone else had thought about it and/or already played that way.

[darkhawk]

actually i just made a comment about additional energy reserves on one of the other threads. check the "Buying more energy" thread below.

[bluethunder2013]

I acually applied this in a game using agility as my energy source and I happen to think it works rather well. Here's my argument for those that don't like it.


Quicksilver.

Fast little guy right? Infact he has so much energy he doesn't breath between sentances everything is run together. So why does he have to be so durable to have so much energy? I think if you punches quicksilver (assuming you could hit him) it would hurt alot more than it does right now so I say let him pay double for speed and base his energy on that. Everyones thoughts?

[Chaos0250]

I agree with you bluethunder. I also agree with the whole idea, its cool and gives you a way to try different combinations of things. And plus, if you use the idea, Quicksilver would then have 20 energy, five more than he has now. So that means he could use energy to attack, and still have some to put into defense.

[piratespice]

Durability doesn't always have to represent simply how much physical damage your body can take. In fact, by definition it isn't. What about mental damage? That still comes out of your Health stones. Hence, Durability/Health is really more a measure of how far you can push yourself before you drop. The connection between Health and Energy works rather well to represent that. In the case of Quicksilver, the guy's got a metabolism that just won't stop. Even if he get's clobbered, he's got the verve and gusto to keep going.

That said, I've considered opening up Energy to other Abilities, myself. But this only exacerbates the problem of the "one-stat-wonder" characters, and proliferates the same problems that already exist with Intelligence-based Energy (such as no wound penalties...or clunky wound penalty rules if you use those found in the Guide to the Hulk/Avengers). The Intelligence-Energy Rule was created to allow for a specific archetype common to the Marvel Universe. I don't think using Strength, Agility, or Speed accomplishes the same thing.

Lately, I've been thinking about overhauling the Energy system altogether, perhaps basing Energy for all characters on a combination of Intelligence and Durability...or Energy being Int-based, but regeneration Durability-based...or something like that. I really haven't put much thought into it yet.

-Ye Olde Spicy Pirate

[darkhawk]

I personally never really put much thought into expanding to far with the energy rules.. i think the int for appropriate characters is great.. and Durablitiy for everyone else is pretty cool too.. though there are times that i think a person should have just alittl e more energy then they do for there character type.. like a bruiser.. High Strength moderate Durablity, little bit of everything else..
maybe he could get a bonus to his energy pool equal, say half his primamry character stat.. say strength of 8, he would get the Dur x3 + 4 from strength for energy pool.. but still regen as normal.. something along those lines maybe.

[ratix]

For non-high Intelligence and Durability characters who still do big things, wouldn't they be better off with a series of modifiers to make up the difference?

[darkhawk]

very true..
the book and system is beautiful, we shouldn't try to play god and change it.. we should play MAN and improve apon it.. oh yes.. *evil laughter*

[redmage]

Steriotypicaly, the bigger you are, the smaller your brain is (didnt your school have a football team?). However smart people can go on thinking and thinking and thinking for hours (have you ever powergamed from friday night till monday morning with 20 minutes of sleep? I have.).
The only change I would like to see is a pre-requisite to who gets the special Int rule. For example, all heros must have a Durability of 2 or more. Also, a Int=Energy character must have at liest 3 intelect based skills (GM decides what is Intelegence based)
Some Examples Include:
Buisness Skills
General Knowledge
Mastery of Magic, Summoning, Sorcery, Magic Travel, Witchcraft, Necromancy, ect.
Telepathy/Mesmerism
Astral Travel
Concentration
Tech/Inventing
Gambling
Leadership
Tracking
Vehicle Opperations

[darkhawk]

thats a good way to put alittle balance into the int based characters, make it seem more reasonable that the characters are int based.. though a good story line and character concept should be able to out wieght any question of why.

[redmage]

Ive been thinking of ways to build an invincable characeter with the Int rule...
Moderate Int, Special Int Option
Low Str/Agi/Spd
Dur 2
Physical Immunity
Telepathy
Energy Absorbiton/Reflection

Let an Int of 5ish to give decent energy, depend on Energy Absorbtion for the rest.
Physical Immunity means little need for body armor, thusly no stones spent on wealth or toughness, also protects from Phisycal Attacks.
Telepathy provides defence to Mental Defence.
Energy Absorbtion protects from Energy Attacks.
There is the odd chance that a Magic attack could take him out quick, however Mesmerism and Magic Blasts would be negated (Physical Immunity, Energy Absorbtion, Mental Defence)

I would think that after some major drawbacks it should be doable...

And thusly I break MURPG.

[rangereric18]

I know this is probably a dead post but:

Ive been thinking of ways to build an invincable characeter with the Int rule...
Moderate Int, Special Int Option
Low Str/Agi/Spd
Dur 2
Physical Immunity
Telepathy
Energy Absorbiton/Reflection

Let an Int of 5ish to give decent energy, depend on Energy Absorbtion for the rest.
Physical Immunity means little need for body armor, thusly no stones spent on wealth or toughness, also protects from Phisycal Attacks.
Telepathy provides defence to Mental Defence.
Energy Absorbtion protects from Energy Attacks.
There is the odd chance that a Magic attack could take him out quick, however Mesmerism and Magic Blasts would be negated (Physical Immunity, Energy Absorbtion, Mental Defence)

I would think that after some major drawbacks it should be doable...

And thusly I break MURPG.

Ha! Yeah...DUR of 2. Let's see: Iceman can take you out. Think about it. Low Agility of 1 or 2? Iceman goes first. He places simply 3 or more stones in his Ice Mastery and your 'invincible' character is an ice cube.

Physical Invulnerbility huh? Unless your character is a self contained life form, what's to stop him from being killed from asphyxiation, drowning, poison, etc? Also, just because he has physical invulnerbility doesn't mean he's immune to everything else. Read Physical Invulnerbility. Again.

Every hero has a weakness. At least all the good ones do. The 'major' drawbacks might render your character useless by the time you're done paying for all the abilities you have. Physical Invulnerability costs 20W stones by itself.

Thusly, the MURPG has your broken your broken character.

[vicsage]

The only questions I have about this idea is: why are we assuming being fast makes one energetic? Look at Olympic sprinters. They're very fast for a burst, but then they're good for nothng one minute later. Same with agility & gymnasts or what have you. I think the system works fine as it is. Quicksilver's scores reflect his abilities quite well. And since when do his words run together, and if they do, how does that indicate energy and not just talking fast or a speech impediment he has apparently acquired since I last read a story involving him?

[beryl]

vicsage said:

The only questions I have about this idea is: why are we assuming being fast makes one energetic? Look at Olympic sprinters. They're very fast for a burst, but then they're good for nothng one minute later. Same with agility & gymnasts or what have you. I think the system works fine as it is. Quicksilver's scores reflect his abilities quite well.

It doesn't really make sense from a common-sense kind of standpoint, but it's merely a means to an end: a way to have a large Energy Reserve with low Durability.

Quicksilver often comes up because he's energetic as well as pretty fragile, but with the RAW, the more energy he has, the more health he has. It's a conundrum, but one that is easily (and often) circumvented with house rules.

For the record, I don't like the flavor of this idea, either, for a few of the reasons Pirate Spice mentioned, as well as the fact that it doesn't make sense why one would be more durable (for lack of a better word) because they're strong, quick, fast, etc. If anyone can provide me with a good explination for it, great.

In general, though, I prefer other House Rules, such as Energy Battery (which is why I mention it so often) to represent low-health-high-energy characters.

And since when do his words run together, and if they do, how does that indicate energy and not just talking fast or a speech impediment he has apparently acquired since I last read a story involving him?

He's fast, which some may view as him being hyper. Honestly, if you met someone who talked fast, walked fast, did everything quickly with little effort, you'd assume they have a lot of energy. It was an aesthetic example.

[powerfull]

Well, it seems like a nice idea, and consistent with the rest of the system since they already have an option for another statistic (intellect) to base it upon. I don't find it more realistic for intellect to be a source of energy then agility, unless you actually seperate the stones for physical and mental actions (would that make a good house rule?) , and as far as I figured out, realism is not of prime concearn so far in this system. There is no such thing as super strength or super agility in real life after all, so the "sprinter" example is a bad one. And it gets kind of tiring for every character to be super-tough or worthless. It is conceavable for super strong characters, but of little worth to anyone else. And what about robots? When was the last time your car was excausted?

Bottom line. Nice rule, consistent with the game mechanics at least as consistent as the int energy rule and certainly much more then energy battery and other house rules, since it is based on an already existing rule of the game. I would take a rule based on an already existing rule most of the time then one that was created from scratch, unless of course I was planning on doing a full modification of the system in question.