Willpower, Kai Monks, and Psychic Abilities...

[ReaperWolf]

Has anybody tinkered with adding Willpower to Kai Monks? What about other non-spellcasting classes?

 

[SnowShadow]

Guilty. (Just wrote this and lost it so here goes again).

Spellcaster Classes (Primarily) = Brotherhood Wizard*, Bautarian Herbwarden*, Dessi Magician* & Vakeros Warrior-mage** ALL have combined stats of 41+(3x Random Number).
*5+RN CS, 16+RN EP, 20+RN WP.
**10+RN CS, 16+RN EP, 15+RN WP.
[Grey Star, a Shianti Sorcerer - like a Dessi Mage, has 10+RN CS, 20+RN EP & 20+RN WP but he is directly taught from a baby by all the Shianti, bar one.]

Kloon Sage* has Willpower but combined stats of 36+(3x Random Number), versatility making up for lower stats.
*6+RN CS, 20+RN EP, 10+RN WP.

All other classes (I think) do not have a Willpower score. So you could keep them in line with the Kloon's stats in total; 36+(3x Random Number):

Willpower = 6+ Random Number - Kai, Ranger, Buccaneer, Telchos Warrior or any versatile Warrior Class.
Willpower = 4+ Random Number - Knight (Any) or other primarily Warrior Class.
Willpower = 1+ Random Number - Dwarven Gunner, Ice Barbarian or other strongly non-magical Warrior Class.

As for uses of Willpower - any ability of mainly Magical or Psychic nature that costs EP may be paid for with Willpower instead, including Magical Items like Helshezag. Lone Wolf would gain a much better benfit with Psi-Surge in this way {e.g. vs Chaos Master!} and Kai Grand Masters would be more likely to use Kai Blast too.

Restoring Willpower -
Potions to restore Willpower would cost the same as the EP equivalent.
Decent night's sleep (8 Hrs): 1EP or 1WP for a undisturbed/peaceful sleep (not on guard), 2EP or 2WP or 1EP & 1WP for a deep, comfortable sleep.

 

[SnowShadow]

Additional thoughts:

A hero may add a +1 bonus per point of Willpower spent to any test requiring intense mental concentration, for example Mind Over Matter to move an object or trying to recall an obscure piece of knowledge/identify a rare heraldic symbol or text they saw once, etc.

Curing = +1WP for every 1EP Restored instead, Healing just isn't powerful enough (if your using my maximum EP Restorable per adventure rules a Kai with just Healing may restore EP equal to their Initial EP as normal but a Kai with Curing too may restore a combination of EP & WP equal to their combined Initial EP & WP scores).

Rank 20 Characters may once only adjust their three Initial scores by taking points from one and adding them to another on a 1/1 basis but cannot reduce any stat below 1:

Lone Wolf with normal Kai Lore Circles gets 15+RN CS, 31+RN EP & 6+RN WP or 52+(3x RN) combined at level 20/after Books 1-12; combined stats of 52-79, average 66*.
A New Order Grand Master/Lone Wolf from scratch Bk13+/Level 20 gets 25+RN CS, 30+RN EP & 1WP + 1/2 RN [i.e. 0-5, 0=0 otherwise Round up] or 56+(2.5x RN), they have effectively traded WP for CS; combined stats of 56-79, average 67*.
* Read somewhere average D10 = 4.5. So 3d10 = 13.5 [14], 2.5d10 = 11.25 [11].
A fair trade off considering the Equipment & Experience advantages a veteran character would have and ultimately the maximum stats are the same.

Rank 20/Grand Master Experience Bonus may be +1CS, +1EP & +1WP instead of +1CS & +2EP.

 

[beowuuf]

There are a group of games over on RPoL that are still/did play around wil empowering Kai Disciplines through WP

Culling of the Kai (ended)
http://rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=42325&date=1321481800
Rebirth of the Kai (ongoing)
http://rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=49005&date=1321481352
Dragon's Legacy (ongoing)
http://rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=47952&date=1314385048

 

[ReaperWolf]

I'm seriously considering giving everybody Willpower to reflect individual immunities to social and psychic manipulations.

Also, it makes sense that the various Mind abilities of the Kai should cost Willpower to function.

This would also allow gamemasters to implement a Call of Cthulhu type sanity/fear system.

>>ReaperWolf