POW improvement

[tendentious]

There are a couple of situations that allow for an improvement check for POW: success on an opposed POW check, and rolling 01 on a LUCK roll.

Do you allow for the improvement check immediately, or do you wait for the improvement phase at the end of an adventure?

If the check is done immediately, then POW may increase multiple times over the course of a single adventure, whereas any other ability will (or might) increase once only.

Also, if it applies immediately, does it apply to NPCs as well? So if the mythos sorcerer is casting multiple spells at the PCs, are you checking his or her POW improvement for every successful contested POW check?

Is this the intent?

[Valyar]

The rules state that a subsequent roll is done after successful opposed check. This means you can do it immediately. Also since POW is not a skill, you don't wait for the improvement phase. This is how I interpret the rule on p.179. It should be applicable to NPC as well.

[Lloyd Dupont]

Usually at the end of the adventure.... 
You're not supposed to improve your POW every time you resist a spell (I mean every right away time).

It's like saying you become stronger every single time you raise a dumb bell.
Well, maybe, but not by a whole STR/POW point!!

[Valyar]

20 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Usually at the end of the adventure.... 
You're not supposed to improve your POW every time you resist a spell (I mean every right away time).

It's like saying you become stronger every single time you raise a dumb bell.
Well, maybe, but not by a whole STR/POW point!!

When I was reading the paragraph How Sorcerers Get That Way on p.179 I was also wondering the same. Do you have reference that those rolls are done on the investigator improvement phase? I want to be sure I interpreted them the right way. So far my thinking was that POW is special as it is resources, while the skills and other attributes are not. Also skills are only improved after the adventure and attributes don't.

[Lloyd Dupont]

I can't find it in Cthulhu.
Anyway I play more like BRP. BRP has a checkbox next to POW that you check if you resist a strong spellcaster. Then you can improve your POW during the development phase like everything else.

Personally I don't do that anyway, I give ~3xp every session, that can be used anywhere to make an improvement roll, including for POW.

[Valyar]

Got it. I am not familiar with BRP, I guess it is different in Cthulhu since there is no XP for investigator. Our of curiosity I compared the character sheets - true there is checkbox in BRP, and fatigue! 

PS: What is this XP rule?

[Lloyd Dupont]

You can't increase fatigue directly....
You need to increase STR and CON. Which is hard.

XP is not really from BRP, it was from Mythras. And I loved that rule much more than skill checkbox, so using that ever since!  
But I went back to BRP, I like the simplicity of it better...

Basically every session the GM distribute an arbitrary XP amount, say 2~4 is advised. You can then use XP in lieu of checkmark to chose what skill to improve.
Also they price spell or learning professional XP with a flat cost of about 5XP. And some house rules that you can use XP insteaf of POW for magic item creation (maybe 5xp = 1 pow? other do 1xp = 1 pow)

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont

[tendentious]

Taken as written, it looks like you make the improvement check as soon as you succeed on the opposed POW check, or roll the 01 Luck.

I've been running it as just part of the improvement phase. I couldn't see any reason why POW should be treated differently from other abilities. Also, it opens itself up to player abuse. After a player learns a spell like Shrivelling, they cast it every round of combat, spending 1 MP per casting, which, depending on how you round fractions, may not even cost SAN. They might get a POW improvement check every round of combat.

As Keeper you can rule against that kind of abuse, but where's the line? I'd rather just avoid the headache and treat all abilities consistently.

[Prinz Slasar]

5 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

XP is not really from BRP, it was from Mythras.

Beware that in MYTHRAS the improvement of characteristics is a rare event and very costly in terms of XP. By default, you can increase your characteristics only temporarely (like in real world).

But there is an alternative rule for permanent characteristic improvement. So for POW it's not 1XP=1 POW but +1 POW= 1+current POW-3.

If you have POW 12 and you want to improve it to POW 13, you have to pay 10 XP. (1+12-3).

 

[Lloyd Dupont]

4 minutes ago, prinz.slasar said:

Beware that in MYTHRAS the improvement of characteristics is a rare event and very costly in terms of XP. By default, you can increase your characteristics only temporarely (like in real world).

But there is an alternative rule for permanent characteristic improvement. So for POW it's not 1XP=1 POW but +1 POW= 1+current POW-3.

If you have POW 12 and you want to improve it to POW 13, you have to pay 10 XP. (1+12-3).

 

Thanks for the additional clarification... Interesting alternate rule for characteristic augment that I didn't know!

Id like to point out though, that just like characteristic improvement is very rare in Mythras... Spending characteristic is just as rare...
For example, in Mythras, Enchanting doesn't cost any POW it locks MP away...

So.. in game where pow goes up and down more easily, each session, I think 1XP is fine. It's fitting with 1XP = 1 improvement roll.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont

[TheEnclave]

Whatever works best. I usually do skill improvements at the beginning of a session, luck rolls at the end, and characteristic improvements when they arise, either in downtime, rolling an 01 for luck, or other situations.