2 rules: Mystery Power and Buying More Energy

[Essence]

These are two House Rules that I've made. I haven't used the Buying More Energy rule, although I'm currintly GMing a game where one of the players is using the Myster Power rule (it was his idea ).

The Mystery Power is for players who don't want to know what their powers are, and the GM takes over and uses their powers secretly. (ie luck or reflexive dodge)

Buying More Energy is for players who don't want to base their energy on Durability, Intelligence, or any of their other Abilities. It allows players to simply pay more CC stones for their energy, or to use an Action as their Energy basis.

Please let me know what you think of them, and if you decide to use them, I hope you enjoy it.

here are the links:

Mystery Power
Buying More Energy

[darkhawk]

i like the idea of buying more energy. i wouldn't make it a action though i would make it a modifier. Kinda like a secret energy reserve. the character should have a base of energy from either intel or dur. but have the option of a modifier at character creation to boost there normal energy supply. like say a character has a energy pool of 9 (dur 3).
the modifier should be a level + 2 cost.
for each level of the mod, the character adds one to his energy pool like normal energy. so at Dur:3. with a Energy Boost:4 would have max energy pool or 13. this is an option i think would come in quite handy as the characters with high action numbers and moderate energy tend to run out of stones faster.
also you should make it a trainable modifier so they can raise there additional energy reserves over time. At this point, in my mind, cycplose could do several full power blasts in a row. but the way to system is setup he doesn't have the energy for it. but i've seen him do it in the books.

[Neros]

I like both ideas...
1. ^{What would the cost/refound be for mystic power}
2. ^{Wouldent this simply be Power out of controle?}

NOTE: I made a POOC rule for a fire blaster where the more he used his power,
the more it build up inside him (made a pool he couldent see).
At some moment during the game when the level of energy was high enough,
it would go lose in the form of a firery inferno, destroying allot of stuff.

3. ^{This would be be great for 30 stones starter heroes.
Who dont know what their powers is.}
4. ^{Maybe rename it and call it Young Power, since its a power thats young and not fully revealed,
and not a power thats mystic (magic...)}

1. ^{+2 to cost might be to low... I would make it +3 since it is about as usefull as Thoughness and reflexsive dodge.}
2. ^{You could also get energy from intelligence instead. But then if you arent a intelligent person, it wouldent be that usefull.
And as mentioned, cyclop have used his blast close to full power more than once, but in the game mechanic, he can only fire it a couple of times.
Its more or less the same with mastery of element characters, they usally not that strong or powerfull,
they would also only have 6-9 stones for their effects.}

NOTE: To increase modifiers and abilities you need to do something major ingame...
Like: Grow longer claws, upgrade your armor...
But how do you then increase reflexsive dodge, thoughness, targeting, mental defense....?
I could imagen it is very hard since they are so important...

[bloodrunscold]

Mystery power seems like a great hook for a solo adventure. It's like all those intros to series where young teens have to comprehend the miraculous forces at their command.

[beryl]

I like the ideas, but I can't help remember seeing somewhere a modifier called Energy Battery that essentially gives one a greater energy pool for those Low-Durability-high-energy chars.

Energy Battery (New Modifier)

[/u]
(Cost = Modifier Number x Durability Number red stones)

Description
This simply adds 3 red stones to your normal Energy reserve for each point in the Modifier. In effect, your normal Energy Reserve is now (3 x Durability) + (3 x Power Battery Modifier), in all respects (including the determination of your storage limits with powers such as Drain Energy and Energy Absorption). This Modifier has no effect on your Health or on your regeneration rate for white or red stones.

Comments
This is the perfect way to simulate those characters who seem to have a lot of energy without being particularly buff and is especially useful for characters who focus on Actions, rather than Modifiers. Note that the unusual Cost calculation serves a purpose: it ensures that the number of stones you pay is always fair, based on your Durability, as well as your Modifier. For moderate scores, this is about one-third of what you would pay to gain a similar amount of Energy by simply adding to your Durability, on the average. For very high scores, it becomes slightly more cost effective, but it is useful at any level (and often
easier to rationalize than a Durability increase).

Rules for Modifier Box
· Add +3 red stones to Energy Reserve per Modifier Number.

Example-
Dynamo has a Durability of 4 and Power Battery +3. His normal Energy Reserve is 21 (3 x 4 + 3 x 3) – nearly double what it would be without this Modifier (although he had to pay 12 red stones – or 4 white stones – for this privilege). Had he simply raised his Durability by +3, to 7, he would have the same Reserve and other benefits, as well; however, this would have cost him 12 extra white stones, instead of only 4.

Credits go to Cwylric (a.k.a. D. Jon Mattson)[/i][/quote]

It also had a matching modifier called Rapid Recovery that allows one to regain energy more quickly, not unlike a Healing Factor that only affects red stones.

Anyway, Energy Battery is basically the same concept (minus regen), but done differently. Neither's better, of course, and is up to the DM to choose which he/she will allow. Different styles for different people. Just thought I'd offer an alternative. :D

However, I do like the idea of the Action->Energy Base idea, and I LOVE the Mystery Power concept. There are so many ways a GM could have fun messing with it, I can't even fathom them all. :P

[wayne]

I agree, the Mystery Power idea is great! I'm already thinking of a fresh new scenario to work on with our guys....

-Wayne