[gurps] GURPS: Nightbane?

[Jon Lang]

tbone <tbone at gamesdiner.com> wrote:
> On 12 May 2009, at 16:24, rekres wrote:
>
>> I had a system for Magical Potential.  It was an advantage that you
>> had to buy at character creation whereas Magery you buy up later.  In
>> essence, your Magery could never go past your Magic Potential (with
>> the possible exception of wishes or divine intervention).
>
> I happened to recently ponder similar concepts, so I'm curious how your
> system works. If I were to make up a rule off the top of my head, I'd charge
> some nominal, Perk-like "down payment" for the traits - say, 1 pt. per level
> of potential in Magery. The PC would later purchase the remainder of each
> level during the game, gaining each level when the full cost is paid.
>
> Expanding that into something more generic: I can't think of any merit to
> buying "potential" for something (like a skill) which you could buy normally
> during play, so the concept would be meaningful only to "reserve" traits for
> which the GM strictly enforces "must purchase at time of character
> creation". As for a cost: I don't know, maybe 1/10 the cost of the full
> trait?

A Perk, at best; possibly a zero-point Feature.  All you're getting is
the right to spend character points in a certain way.  Regardless,
however much you charge for it should be treated as a "down payment"
on the actual purchase.

-- 
Jonathan "Dataweaver" Lang