[UA] Re: Adepts/Avatars (was Thoughts on Fan Based...)

[Joshua K. Knorr]

> It's just that everyone seems to have the idea that adepts 
> are the new Malkavians.

In my personal play experience (one 18-month epic campaign, another
smaller 6-week game), adepts are decidedly less stable than avatars.
Just being an adept doesn't make you certifiable, as someone said
earlier all it takes is one Failed and one Hardened notch to join the
club.  But to move up the food chain power-wise, it seems to take a
degree of sacrifice and unhinging that avatars don't necessarily have.
You want to stay a vaguely anti-social bookworm who has one or two minor
charges on hand a few days a week?  Great.

Moving up the food chain, working to be a player with whatever level
(street/global/cosmic) you're at, requires a certain agenda.  Gathering
charges, holding charges, using charges in the most advantageous way
possible.  You're fighting against your school's paradox every step of
the way.  And the stronger you are, the more you are a generic target
regardless of whether or not you're stepping on someone's turf (avatars
have this problem too, but their power requires less sacrifice).

Adept magic is designed to screw you up.  How screwed up you are depends
upon how much power you want to have.  I find it unfun (and very
frustrating) to play mentally dysfunctional characters, which is why I
pretty much swore of playing adepts a while ago in my UA career.
Avatars may get fewer flashy powers until you hit upper-cosmic level,
but they don't have that unpleasant downward spiral mechanic.

If you meet an adept who seems well-adjusted and stable, you have two
possibilities.  One is that he's a pretty small fry - he still might be
dangerous, but he's more likely to just shoot you in the back than turn
your brain inside out.  The other is that he's really, truly profoundly
around the bend, so much so that he no longer has any mental problems
with just how far out of step he is with the rest of the world.  So be
very afraid.

- Josh