[UA] Charge Availibility

[Ted Cabeen]

Since we've had a discussion on charges and cliomancers recently, here's a 
table of approximately how often each kind of Magician can get a charge and 
how much their spells seem to cost.

Cliomancers:  Depends greatly on the GM.  I see about 1-3 minor charges a day 
for sure and approximately 1 significant charge a day if the GM is kind.  
However, there are no restrictions, so a munchkin could get up a 4am and try 
to hit all the significant sites for that day.  (This would obviously annoy 
the usual harvesters of that location)  Cost: relatively expensive.  No 
blast, the avoid damage spell is 2 sig charges, but Past sight (3 minor) will 
screw over any mystery plot you have. (As any Mage GM whose dealt with Time 
mages will tell you.  No taboo, so no way to lose the charges.

Dipsomancers:  Incredibly easy.  Approximately 18-25 minor charges a day 
(Depending on penalty desired)  With a historical vessel 18-25 significant 
charges a day (Any GM that lets a Dipso get more than 2 sigs a day has 
problems).  Charges can be held overnight with limited sleep and drinking as 
soon as you get up.  (If I were GMing this, I'd give someone at high 
impairment levels penalty to inherent skills like Walk(Stumble down the 
street) and Tell How Much I've Drunk)  Spells are pretty good, with blast 
being pretty cheap (2min/1sig) and Hold My Liquor and God Looks out for 
Drunks being pretty cool.  Also, the avoid damage spell is one sig, but has 
to be used before the attack. Taboo is pretty bad, as you will usually lose
your charges when you sleep, but they're *really* easy to get.

Entropomancers: Again, depends on the GM.  Risks are easy to take, but it 
depends on the GM how often they bite you in the ass.  (Personally, I'd not 
let a Tropo get a charge from anything that they had more than a %50 chance 
of succeeding at).  Ideally the risks will be things that the Tropo has no 
skill in and are true random chance.  Eventually though, the Trobo won't have 
anything left to risk besides his life, and eventually he'll lose that too.  
Spells are somewhat cheap, both blasts are 1, The damage aviodance is 
typical, (1 sig), I win is awesome, and Edit the World is cool.  All in all, 
it's pretty balanced, since much has to go by the GM and many of the spells 
are cheap (1 or 2)

Epideromancers:  Pretty bad.  4 minor charges a week, or 1 significant charge 
per week (on average)  with convalescent healing only.  With a First Aid 
skill, this can be increased if you make your First Aid roll, depending on 
how the GM runs First Aiding yourself.  Wound Location is important here.  
I'd probably change the damage numbers to some portion of your total wound 
points, since you can get up to 250 WP after a time, and 12 damage just 
isin't much to someone with 250 WP.  (Thought:  Damage done for charges 
effects your original WP, and cannot be healed using First Aid.  You can 
stop the bleeding, just not heal the damage, of course).
Major charges are really easy to get though.  Cut off a body part and get enough 
power to do something pretty damn cool.   Other spells are pretty cheap.  
Both blasts are 1 each, as is damage avoidance.  Body like Iron is expensive, 
but eventually makes you super boy.  Most spells pretty good, although the 
blasts are hand-to-hand and most spells only affect you.

Mechanomancy:  Pretty Irrelevant.  Since charges can only go into building 
things, and that takes time, it dosen't really matter.  Significant and major 
charges come mostly from the GM as items, although giving up memories can be 
done, it's a little too risky for everyday work.  

Plutomancers:  Charges are somewhat hard to get and depend greatly on your 
position in society.  If working a job of some sort, it might be possible to 
work on a weekly basis and as such get 1-4 charges on a regular basis.  Also, 
very wealthy people can generate tons of charges in the stock market.  The 
key is in keeping costs down and plan big purchases to avoid taboo, and be 
careful about how you get money.  As such, this is largely something that has 
to be worked out between the GM and the player, so it's not too much of a big 
deal.  As for spells, the minor is expensive, but the major is cheap, and the 
minor can do major damage if they're in a dangerous situation.  (And who 
isn't in a UA game?)  The other spells are okay; somewhat cheap, but not all 
together that cool, although the expensive spells totally rock.

Pornomancers:  Charges are pretty easy and you could get 2-4 minors every 
day, and if you had the equipment and partners, 2-4 significant charges every 
day.  The big restriction on Pornomancers is that they need partners to join 
in the Naked Goddess sex rituals, which may or may not be hard to find.  The 
blast is only significant, and does minor damage unless you're having sex 
with the target, where it's significant.  Spells are pretty cool, although 
the combat defense can be overcome with a soul roll.  The other spells are 
pretty good for the price, in general, and no spell seems too expensive.

Looking at the schools overall, Dipsomancy seems to be the most overpowered.  
Although Clio's can be buff, their spells are all expensive and the GM can 
restrict the charges they get pretty easily.  Anyways, let me know what you 
think.  Thanks

--
Ted Cabeen            http://fnord.rh.uchicago.edu           cabeen at netcom.com
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