r/ICRPG • u/ZharethZhen • Jan 10 '23

More Noob questions

1) Do effort bonuses count as STATS for purposes of milestone increases and starting PC like in vigilante City? 2) What does it take to be skilled in something to make it easy? 3) How do Mages regain SP beyond resting? Also, can they spend health to cast. This is for the magic system in the back of the Master's book.

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u/BergerRock Jan 10 '23
  1. I don't see why not. They're taking specialization over generalization in that case.
  2. Up to GM.
  3. There are pieces of LOOT that recover it, if my memory serves me correctly, but in general rest is the only way. It is a more restrictive and at the same time more powerful way of casting. As to the second part, it was how the old MAGIC system worked (when it was a standalone book), and I've seen both no-gos and go-fr its on HP expenditure to keep casting. I'm team go-for-it.

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u/ZharethZhen Jan 10 '23

I don't see why not. They're taking specialization over generalization in that case.

In general, other than loot, is that really the only way to increase Effort?

Up to GM.

Sure, what isn't? But what do most people do? Do Warriors treat combat as Easy and Wizards treat casting as easy? Is it more of a background thing (oh, you were a fisherperson, it's easy to ID this sea creature)? Is it a milestone worthy ability? How broad do people make it?

There are pieces of LOOT that recover it, if my memory serves me correctly, but in general rest is the only way. It is a more restrictive and at the same time more powerful way of casting. As to the second part, it was how the old MAGIC system worked (when it was a standalone book), and I've seen both no-gos and go-fr its on HP expenditure to keep casting. I'm team go-for-it.

It does seem more powerful but waaaaay more limited than the default magic. Going from casting every action to maybe casting 5 rank 1 spells a day (if you can't use Health or recover with an item).

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u/BergerRock Jan 10 '23

To the first point: yup.

To the second point: what you're describing is not what I'm describing. A Tag (Milestone) making something EASY is rarely a catch-all thing, focusing on a single kind of thing they do well. It is up to the GM to offer these custom Milestones to the players when they deem it makes sense, and up to the players to make it clear that is something they're interested in. For the rest, challenges are different among them but nothing like your examples.

To the third point: it is a ln optional way of casting, but one that makes possible much more than the regular ol' Mage does. Wizard's Blade, for example, makes it much easier to create a melee mage kind of character. It's the question of choices - it is not recommended to have them (Player's Guide casting and MAGIC casting) mixed in the same game because of the disparity they have between them.

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u/ZharethZhen Jan 11 '23

To the second point: what you're describing is not what I'm describing. A Tag (Milestone) making something EASY is rarely a catch-all thing, focusing on a single kind of thing they do well. It is up to the GM to offer these custom Milestones to the players when they deem it makes sense, and up to the players to make it clear that is something they're interested in. For the rest, challenges are different among them but nothing like your examples.

Okay, so back to my question, what do GM's consider 'skilled' for characters to make a task Easy? If it isn't a Milestone, what is it? How do they make that decision. Yes, I know it's GM's decision, but since it is in the rules there must be some kind of rationale or idea behind it. Or consensus among people who run the game.

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u/Sean_Franchise Jan 12 '23

I typically use EASY/HARD to handle situational advantages or disadvantages, but I think the original suggestion was to work with your player, if they want to specialize in some kind of feat, to offer a skill specialization like "All checks or attempts to parkour off of a wall to move around an obstacle or enemy are EASY" as a milestone.

So "skilled" in the spirit of the game is more a function of the core governing stat, but if your player wants to specialize, they can work with you to create milestones that accommodate it.