Attributes/Bidding

We are not going to have an Attributes Auction, simply because of practicalities. Instead this is how it will work.

Each player begins with 100 points to spend as they see fit. You may get more points in three ways:

1. Buying down an Attribute (not recommended).
   
2. Doing things for the game--including designing trumps, putting together a soundtrack for characters or storylines, etc. We can discuss details.
   
3. Taking Bad Stuff (again, not recommended but up to you )

Apart from Attributes (Psyche, Strength, Endurance, Warfare) here is a list of what is available for purchase with points, and their cost:

Pattern Imprint (50 pts)
Trump Artistry (40 pts)
Shape Shifting (35 pts)
Power Words (10 pts) Note: We will have to go over what power words you know. Yes, you can make up your own.
Sorcery (15 pts) Note: Again, we'll have to go over which spells you know. Designing your own spells is encouraged.
Conjuration (20 pts)
Broken Pattern Initiate (10 pts)
Broken Pattern Adept (25 pts)
High Compelling (25 pts, or an extra 5 pts if you already have Conjuration)

You may also spend points on the following to imbue Artifacts with powers:
Animal Vitality (1 pt)
Double Vitality (2 pts)
Immense Vitality (3 pts)
Mobility (1 pt)
Double Speed (2 pts)
Engine Speed (4 pts)
Double Normal Stamina (1 pt)
Amber Stamina (2 pts)
Supernatural Stamina (4 pts)
Combat Training (1 pt)
Combat reflexes (2 pts)
Combat Mastery (4 pts)
Resistant to Normal Weapons (1 pt)
Resistant to Firearms (2 pts)
Invulnerable to all Conventional Weapons (4 pts)
Extra Hard (1 pt)
Double Damage (2 pts)
Deadly Damage (4 pts)
Able to Speak (1 pt)
Able to Speak and Sing (2 pts)
Able to Speak in Tongues and Voices (4 pts)
Psychic Sensitivity (1 pt)
Sensitivity to Danger (2 pts)
Extraordinary Psychic Sense (4 pts)
Psychic Resistance (1 pt)
Psychic Neutral (2 pts)
Psychic Barrier (4 pts)
Shadow Trail (1 pt)
Shadow Path (2 pts)
Shadow Seek (4 pts)
Mold Shadow (1 pt)
Mold Shadow Creatures (2 pts)
Mold Shadow Reality (4 pts)
Self Healing (1 pt)
Rapid Healing (2 pts)
Regneration (4 pts)
Alternate Form (1 pt)
Alternate Named/Numbered Form (2 pts)
Limited Shape Shift (4 pts)
Contains Trump Image (1 pt)
Personal Trump Deck (2 pts)
Powered by Trump (4 pts)
Contains Power Word (1 pt)
Contains Named/Numbered Power Words (2 pts)
Capable of Racking a Spell (1 pt) Available only to PCs with both both Sorcery and Conjuration
Can Rack Named/Numbered Spells (2 pts) Available only to PCs with both both Sorcery and Conjuration
Rack and Use Named/Numbered Spells (4 pts) Available only to PCs with both both Sorcery and Conjuration
Confer Quality (5 pts per Quality)
Confer Power (10 pts per Power)
Named and Numbered (twice total number of points for Artifact)
Horde (three times the total number of points for Artifact)
Shadow-wide (four times the total number of points for Artifact)
Cross Shadow Dimensional (five times the total number of points for Artifact)
Ubiquitous in Shadow (six times the total number of points for Artifact)

You may also use points to design a personal Shadow:
Personal Shadow (1 pt)
Shadow of the Realm (2 pts)
Primal Plane (4 pts)
Communication Barrier (1 pt)
Restricted Access (2 pts)
Guarded (4 pts)
Note: The following three qualities of your personal shadow are mutually exclusive. You may take only one.

• Control of Contents (1 pt)
  
• Control of Time Flow (2 pts)
  
• Control of Shadow's Destiny (4 pts)

You may also build a Construct.

An observation: as a longtime Amber PBM GM (look here: - go to Online-Roleplaying - dot - commodities and look up Wired*Nun's games (me) - I can't post any links for 7 days), I found it dangerous to allow players to construct their own items using the standard rules. It's too easy to make combos that become overwhelmingly powerful. Then you as the GM are stuck with either re-doing the items, nerfing them, or dealing constantly within the situation to mitigate the impact. Some players will always minimax and try to stretch an advantage to the breaking point.

I finally came up with the best system I ever used, or saw used:

I simply trusted my own judgment as GM to assign a point value.

I went with my gut as to how powerful the thing would be within my vision of Amber, and then I told the player who was proposing it how much it would be. If they wanted to pay the price in points, fine. If not, they would tone down the power of the thing.

This worked like a charm (pun intended). After that I never had anything I felt was too powerful, because I had already fixed it before it started.

I hope to play in this game, so I hope you will at least consider this advice. I am pro-roleplaying, anti-monty-haul, though; in Amber, I believe as much as possible should be bound up in the player, not the goodies. That may not be your vision.

In general I agree with you. My own philosophy about role-playing is to create a good story first and foremost. This to me becomes very problematical if characters are overpowered.

To give an example: Were I running this game and no second Chronicles had every been written, I might well allow a character to create the Ghostwheel. It would be insanely expensive, but the player would soon learn (as Merlin did) that Ghostwheel has a mind of its own and isn't gonna be at the beck and call of that character. More likely, I do my best to persuade the player to design something else, something not nearly so game-changing.

Something like Ghostwheel is actually easier to deal with because it had a mind of its own. The harder part are those slave items (Spikards, et. al.) that the player thinks should simply do what they are told. Then assemble a minimax power combo that on the face of it will overwhelm anything. And they will be able to prove to you that it's all within the rules...

Oh, yeah--God's Own Swiss Army Knife.

i find that you tend to get what you pay for in ADRPG. constructs are a bit riskier as an investment, just because of the reduced control, the additional exposure of having something powerful that other people want to steal/control/destroy, and the unknown result of the synergy of one or more powers.

the right item can totally change how you play a character, and make the game more fun. but if you invest in something thats not useful to your concept or playstyle, then you end up with less to work with than the guy who just grabbed pattern and put the rest in attributes.

My issue with the book prices is the relative mismatch in power for points spent. This is why I went to "everyone gets Pattern for Free" starts, because that took away people's pleading to sell things down. In other words, 100 pt characters who really only have 50 points to spend tend to want to spend them as efficiently as possible. So we ended up with (initial) characters who have Amber everything (or wanted to sell down to Chaos) because several 4-point items are more useful than 12 points of distributed attribute points. And that's what happened to everyone's advancements - more stuff.

Once I gave everyone Pattern for free and told them I would put a price on all their items, suddenly things got a lot more balanced - that is, more the way the books seemed to be and I wanted things to be. People spending points on their attributes, one shadow, one or two signature items, and their powers.

Are we using a partial powers system at all?

I have no plans on using partial powers.

I don't want to re-design the character-generation system. I will instead watch over what everyone chooses for themselves and talk over any problems I see, rather than ask them to learn a new system.

Your points may be more than well-taken, but personal experience tells me I myself am better at catching things in character set-up than working out something systemic ahead of time (or applying a system I don't know).

Oh, yeah, you're the GM after all. I'm just so happy to be playing I'm babbling.

Weird. I can see it, and you are clearly listed as the Moderator.

Does a character have to have the power of Trump to have a Personal Trump Deck?

Depends on what you mean.

"Power of Trump" pretty much comes with the territory of being an Amber Royal. You can use Trumps, which is a skill developed through practice.

A "personal trump deck" can mean 1. A trump deck that is your personal property, or 2. A trump deck you have designed and made. The former only requires that somebody gave you a deck, which has to be justified but needn't cost any points. The latter requires taking "Trump Artistry" as an actual power.

Hope that answers your question.

I am not looking at my books but I believe "personal trump deck" is a 1-point item that means the Trumps you own that are in one deck normally on your person is recoverable in shadow if you lose it...

I don't see that in my Core Book (haven't checked out Shadow Knight) but off the cuff and tentatively that seems okay to me.

Core book, pg 70, as a possible facet of a larger item... 2pts.

Thank you very much. Clearly that applies to a deck created by a Trump Artist and you need to be a Trump Artist to have that for two points.

I think from memory that this is only if it is part of an artifact. I don't believe that you pay points for a normal trump deck but that you need to have a good reason to have them in character at game start.

Gavin

I read this as something more than a simple Trump Deck. If it makes sense for a character to own a deck, then I've got zero problem with them having one for free. But as I read it this is about a deck made by the character and linked to them. That seems to me what costs 2 points. If the character wants to own a deck, then all they need is to convince me somebody gave them one. Not too hard, imho.