DISTRIBUCIÓN GLOBAL DE LOS EJERCICIOS Y EJEMPLOS RESPECTO A LAS VARIABLES BÁSICAS: ESTUDIO COMPARATIVO DE DOS TEXTOS

Changing Half-magic abilities

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Swapping Discipline Talents with

• Talent Options

Changing Discipline Talents

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Changing Defense Priority

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Changing Seventh Circle Karma Bonus

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Changing a Discipline Ability

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Important Attributes and the associated Karma Bonuses should not be changed, as they tie into a Discipline’s talents. Some exotic ideas for Specialists might justify changing other aspects of a Dis-cipline than those listed, but caution is advised: some changes may only seem necessary because a single feature of a Discipline is dis-liked by the player or gamemaster. It is there for a reason, however.

The usefulness of some abilities, or the reason for why a specific talent is a Talent Option instead of a Discipline Talent, might open itself up after repeated reading and comparison with other talents, and may sometimes be for balancing reasons.

Designing Talents

D

esigning new talents is probably the most demanding task from the perspective of efforts made to compare a design with existing alternatives, even though writing a whole new Discipline is a considerable creative effort.

Before a new talent can be designed, all other talents need to be studied, because there might already be a talent out there that actually serves the same or a very similar purpose, or that could easily be modified and designated with another Name to fulfil the need for a talent. For example, a player of previous editions of Earthdawn intent on designing “an Avoid Blow for spells” can find that function served with the changes to the Steel Thought talent RedBrick made to its Earthdawn lines. Especially some of the infrequently used talents might offer a solution to the need for a new talent.

Even if no talent can be modified or used as a blueprint, knowing their effects and characteristics gives a good sense of balance for talents and where the limits for talent magic are, especially where it comes to the Circle a talent is available at. Similarly to talents, talent knacks and spells as well as skills that might serve as a blueprint or alternative source for rules that should be taken into consideration.

Effectively, it is easier to work with a reliable source than come up with a new one. If there is no comparable material to work with, use the following guidelines to design a new talent, and also take them into account when modifying an existing one.

Effect

The talent’s effect is what the design process is all about. You should have a pretty good idea about the effect, given that you are designing a talent for it, but some general advice applies as to its extent.

Talents that are used against characters or for their benefit usu-ally do not have an effect that is measured in any quantity other than the rank if a bonus or penalty (see Battle Shout), the Result Level of a Talent Test against a target number, or the Talent Test itself if an Effect Test such as Damage or when enhancing a trait other than Defenses or Action Tests (see Wood Skin).

Most of the work done on your talent should be to allow the effect to be made possible by determining the talent’s character-istics and putting the effect into context in the talent’s description, determining any additional requirements there.

Characteristics

Talent characteristics are the Action requirement, Karma requirement, Strain, and the Step. Characteristics are usually the requirements that must be met before using a talent, in addition to requirements the talent’s description sets.

Refer to the description of the different Action types in the Player’s Guide, p. 58, to determine what type of Action a talent uses. Non-damaging talents that measure their effects and dura-tions with their rank lean towards requiring a Standard Action (see Heartening Laugh or Frighten), but can use Simple Actions if they use the rank to determine only effect or duration and have an additional limitation (see Taunt). Talents with long-lasting effects measured in hours or days are often Sustained Action and have requirements that must be met (see Diplomacy).

The Step requires an Attribute to be determined for tests that are made for the talent, or the decision that the talent’s effect only requires a Rank. If a talent only requires a Rank, it is either con-stantly active, or can be used without a test if another condition is met, and then enhances that test or a following test (see Criti-cal Hit). Such talents should be an exception, another method to assume a talent to be active all the time but require a test is the Free Action (see Empathic Command). The preferred alternative is to design a talent that’s Step replaces another step (see Crushing Blow), to prevent too many talents from stacking their effect.

Karma should be required on talents with powerful effects that require magical instead of just physical effort, while the reverse is true for Strain. Karma allows effects that cannot be achieved without the help of magic (see Flame Arrow), Strain is used where a talent is an enhanced version of something that can be done with mundane training (see Great Leap). Some basic tasks should not require Strain, even if they would normally be physically demanding, to reduce

bookkeeping (see Melee Weapons). Deciding if Karma is required and what amount of Strain is cause depends on the talent description that more closely details the rules than the characteristics do.

Description

The talent description details aspects surrounding the tal-ent’s effect. The important parts to be decided upon here are the target, Difficulty Number, additional requirements, Result Levels, and duration.

The target of a talent most often determines the Difficulty number as well. If the talent is used as an attack or attack-like abil-ity, the Difficulty Number is usually a target’s appropriate Defense Rating. If multiple targets are possible, the highest Defense is used and +1 added for each additional target (see Howl). If very large groups are targeted, only the highest Defense among the group is used without increase, other methods are applied to handle targeting a group (see Emotion Song). If a talent is used to affect multiple targets but is not an attack, only the highest Defense is used (see Acrobatic Strike). The Defense targeted depends on the type of effect and method of delivery. Most physical combat maneuvers target the Physical Defense, but some combat tal-ents that cannot be explained by mere physical action target the Spell Defense, usually if an action that simulates knowledge of the target is performed (see Anticipate Blow). It is usually easy to determine if Social Defense should be used as the Difficulty Number, this is usually the case if interaction is the medium to deliver the effect (see Inspire Others). In most other cases, a talent targets the Spell Defense or determines its Difficulty Number otherwise. A sizeable number of talents do not use Dif-ficulty Numbers, but make their Talent test as an Effect Test. This includes talents that are used only after another successful test, for example to determine damage, or if the talent’s effect only targets the adept (see Great Leap).

Requirements are a way of either limiting an otherwise power-ful talent (see Air Dance) or to specify in what situations a talent can be used (see First Impression). A special form of requirement, usually expressed as an event, might explain not when a talent can be used, but when it ends (see Engaging Banter). Requirements can be introduced to allow a more powerful effect in a smaller choice of circumstances. For an example outside of talents, Down Strike is available as a skill, while Crushing Blow is not, although they are almost identical. Down Strike has steeper requirements, making its availability as a skill feasible.

Result Levels can be used to stagger a talent’s effect if they would be too powerful if applied on any successful Test (see Battle Bellow), this is usually a way to make a talent available as a Simple Action or increase the duration. Result Levels can also be used to reward high Test Results, especially when using several talents and paying their Strain and Karma costs to achieve such a high result—this method is ubiquitous in Earthdawn and evident in Armor-Defeating Hits, that are made more likely through use of talents that enhance attacks.

The duration of a talent is usually determined first, as it is a part of the desired effect, and other measures are taken to guarantee it, but in some cases altering the duration may be a step towards avoiding other limitations. Talent durations in Earthdawn are most often either 1 round, to the end of the following round, or based on the talent’s Rank or Test Result.

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13

CREATInG DISCIPLInE

C H A P T E R 1 3 | Creating Disciplines

— A —

Aazhvat Many-Eyes ...137

Aban ... 125

Accommodation Table ...47

Action Multiplier Table ...79

Adept’s Blood ...20

Airboat ... 71

Airboats ...58

Air Sailor ...90

Airship Construction ...57

Airship Descriptions ... 71

Airship Hazards ...63

Airship Hazard Table ...63

Airship Range Table ...67

Airships ...57

Alamaise ...127

Aloe ...20

Alteration ...16

Alter Distance ...64

Amulet of Agamon ...27

Amulet of Dianuus ... 41

Archer ... 91

Artificer ... 139

Astral Denizens ... 6

Astral Projection ...9

— B —

Balancing Durability ...181

Ballista ...66

Bands of Fortune ...27

Beastmaster ...92

Behemoth ...59

Behemoths ...38

Blade of Alemvor ...13

Blood Charm Cost Table ...20

Blood Magic ...28

Blood Monkey Swarm ... 109

Bloodwall ... 21

Bloodwort ...64

Board ...65

Boarding Battles ...16

Bog Moss ...16

Bone Crown the Usurper ...142

Booster ...28

Booster Charm Modifiers Table ...65

Break Off ... 144

Chantrel’s Horror ... 146

Chimera ...112

Chimera Head Table ...114

Cloud Bird ...114

Coreliander ...105

Creating Creatures ...176

Creating Disciplines ...63

Creating Magical Treasures ...69

Creating New Blood Charms ...112

Creature Descriptions ...112

Creature Scaling Table ... 108

Creatures ...69

Crew ... 71

Crew Repairs ...68

Crew Repair Table ...84

Crystal Raider Drakkar ...110

— D —

Designing Legendary Treasure ...46

Index

Designing Threaded Items ...14

Despoiler of the Land ... 149

Detecting Threads ...29

Devastator Spear ... 21

Dissemination ...30

Dragon Mail ...66

Dragon’s Breath ... 71

Dragon’s Tongue ...58

Drakkar ...74

Dreveki ...74

Druistadt ... 150

Durability Cost Table ... 180

— E —

Farliss’ Dagger ... 31

Felux ...115

Hazard Modifiers Table ...64

Hazard Tests ...64 Ice Blade of Omifan ...39

Icewing ... 129

Key Knowledge Table ...48

Kila ...72

Kilas ...59

Kingdom of Death ...25

Kolldar’s Gloves ...32

Kraken ...118

Krillra ...119

— L —

Law of Similarity ...57

Legendary Treasures ...27

Legend Award Adjusting Powers ... 108

Little Troll’s Helm ...39

Lorm’s Axe ...32

Poison Charm Modifiers Table ...18

Purifier ...64

— R —

Ram ...66

Rest and Recovery ...24

Ristul ... 163

Riverboat Construction ... 61

Riverboat Descriptions ...73

Riverboat Hazards ...63

Riverboat Hazard Table ...63

Riverboats ...57

Sailing Speed Table ...62

Sarfran ...22

Sentinel Hawk ... 122

Serpent Vine ...23

Ship Combat ...23

Ship Combat Maneuvers ...64

Ship Maintenance ...64

Ship Modification Table ...70

Ship Repairs ...68

Ship Speed Table ...69

Ship Statistics ...62

Ship Weapons ...62

Shipyard Repair Table ...66

Sindolin ...69

Talismans of Dianuus ...89

Tavern Owner ...12

Thread Item Characteristics Table ...43

Throne ...23

Thunderbolt Thrower ...23

Tome of Memory ...44

Trailfruit ...42

Tranceweed ...72

Transforming Pattern Items ...63

Transport Vedette ...83

In document La probabilidad en los libros de texto (página 147-154)