Using Powers

While I wait for my lunch to cool down enough to eat it, I thought I'd post some quick thoughts about ways to limit the use of Powers. In some settings, you don't want powers to be used all the time. In a fantasy campaign where one PC is a wizard and the others are warriors and thieves and other mundane archetypes, you don't want the wizard to be dominating every scene with powerful spells. On the other hand, if it's a high fantasy setting where everyone knows some magic, then you don't want it too be too difficult to use minor spells. Thinking about Star Wars, I think it would be stupid to say that Jedi or Sith can only use telekinesis X times per day or something like that.

One option of limiting power use is a system of "Mana" or "Power Points" but I don't want to do that. I don't want to keep track of how many points have been used or how many are left. Above all, I don't want to keep track of how quickly they recharge. The option I chose to use by default is to make more potent powers more difficult to use. Instead of saying a power costs 3 Mana to use, it will be cast with a difficulty of 3. This isn't a very onerous limit. A wizard could use a spell every round to blast his enemies with a lightning bolt or something, but the mundane characters could match his output with a (much less flashy and mystical) bow or gun. In fact, the mundane characters might have the advantage because their difficulties may be lower.

In campaigns where magic needs to be rarer and more limited, there are other options. One is the Vancian Magic option: spells must be prepared in advance. If using powers is slow and must be done in advance, the effects aren't limited but the uses of them are. There is also diminishing returns: if the powers become increasingly difficult the more you prepare, there will be an upper limit to the number that can be ready for use at one time. Another option is resource expenditure. A warrior who can put everything into one Fighting skill will be able to do his thing for less cost than a wizard who needs to use Knowledge: Magic, Shooting, and Concentration skills to fully use all of his powers. In settings where powers are common, they can be used with less resources (like one skill) and in settings where they are less common, they may require more skills to fully use so it takes more character resources to get good at them.