Power crystals in old times (Chaosium etc) RQ and MRQII

[Armak]

How do you handle the POWER storing crystals of old RQ (pre Mongoose) in MRQ2. On a brief glance did not see them in the rulesbook. Use the POW crystals as such, restrict to sorcerers (the only place I found them was in necromancy book). Have the POWER storing batteries been abolished or replaced?

--h

 

[Simulacrum]

You can bring them back - but the main issue is that in MRQ2/Legend only Common Magic burns a lot of magic points relative to the effects produced. In CRQ and RQ3 a 10pnt storage crystal or POW 12 Power Spirit were essential aids to adventurers once they were throwing around a bunch of healing spells and bladesharps in the course of an adventure, especially the old dungeon crawl.

Also note in RQ3 your resistance to spells was based on current MP, not POW, so being able to call on MP reserves from elsewhere was a matter of life and death. For example if you have had to heal up after a fight in room 4 but run into offensive spells and spirits in room 5, best if you have used stored MPs...

So IMHO I would keep them fairly low (e.g. 1-6MP), and/or heavily conditioned (ie this item's MPs can only be used for x purpose), or very carefully control availability. And think through the impact on sorcery of such items quite carefully.

 

[Vagni]

I agree with the above. I allow them in my game but I restrict them to 1-6 points. I also make them MP holding, thus needing recharging, rather than power crystals, which regenerate their own power. You can also restrict the number of crystals a player can attune as well.

 

[alex_greene]

They used to have Magic Point Matrices as enchantments in the Avalon Hill RQ3 game. Same deal, I guess.

Me, I'd think of an alternative idea, something few people have done before - let's say using Alchemy to create a potion of magic points, which you drink to replenish MP you lost; or creating non-rechargeable periapts of MP, which are burned away and cannot be replaced (when the periapt reached 0 MP it crumbles to dust).

Things like that.

 

[jwpacker]

I, too, missed these external sources of magical power, so considered how I would rule on them.

I wanted to avoid them being too powerful. And I wanted to avoid their being an economy built around them.

So I thought, what if you can't re-attune them? What if they only work for the person that made them. And to make them, you have to permanently sacrifice POW to create a MP battery that will recharge on it's own at the rate of 1 point per hour, for every hour after it is last used? And, to keep it from being a never-ending game, you can't enchant a crystal/matrix/battery up to a higher value than your current, pre-sacrifice POW, and you can only have one of them.

That way, the most powerful spellcaster in the world might have a POW of 21, and a power crystal of POW 21, for a total of 42 available magic points. But to get there, he's actually done the work to get POW 21 effectively twice.

 

[alex_greene]

Periapts and charger potions could also work. With a restriction that would prevent people from having too many of them around at one time.

I'm writing up some sort of rules for this, and I feel like submitting it for publication with Mongoose.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Periapts and charger potions could also work. With a restriction that would prevent people from having too many of them around at one time.

I'm writing up some sort of rules for this, and I feel like submitting it for publication with Mongoose.

Please do!

I've been playing around with the idea of locations that are rich in magical energy. These places radiate magical power and are often locations where unusual natural phenomena occur. Spellcasters can use the Meditation advanced skill to harvest this energy in order to recharge their magic points at an accelerated rate. A typical location of this sort yields 4d6 Magic Points per day. Spellcasters must attune themselves to the flow of magical energy in the area before they can attempt to draw upon these Magic Points - this uses the same process as attuning a Power Crystal. There's a lot more and if anybody is interested I'll post my notes - for example, controlling a Place of Power grants some advantages when attempting to enchant a magic item.

 

[Simulacrum]

I, too, missed these external sources of magical power, so considered how I would rule on them.

I wanted to avoid them being too powerful. And I wanted to avoid their being an economy built around them.

So I thought, what if you can't re-attune them? What if they only work for the person that made them. And to make them, you have to permanently sacrifice POW to create a MP battery that will recharge on it's own at the rate of 1 point per hour, for every hour after it is last used?

That's essentially RAW in Age of Treason, using the Enchanting rules therein. :wink:

 

[jwpacker]

That's essentially RAW in Age of Treason, using the Enchanting rules therein. :wink:

Great minds, I guess!