Topic: earthdawn- reputation, legend points and magic items

[markc]

 This is a thread that broke off of the reputation thread to keep things simple. I put this here because IMO it is where the most good will come out of it. But it may be moved to another location.

 I have heard that in Earth Dawn you have some type of points that can increase your magic items abilities or something. Can anyone fill in the blanks a little bit since I do not have the game?

Thanks
MDC

[RandalThor]

In Earthdawn (ED for short) there is a thing called Thread Magic. You MUST use it to gain powers from items (and you can even use it to bind your group together so they can do some things better).

Magic items in ED are not (usually) purposefully created. They are usually the items of mighty heroes of the past that have attained reputations and legends which are the true power behind their, well, powers. The Sword of Jax the Mighty, is a magic item because it was the Sword of Jax the Mighty.

Thread Magic should be thought of as a sort of Item Attunement: you use it to unlock the abilities of the item in question, but to do it you must gain information about the item - generally specific information tied to the ability you are unlocking. You must do it in order: that is, Thread 1, then Thread 2, etc.

It costs both experience (Karma in ED) and time/effort in tracking down the information needed. When you get the information, you spend the required Karma (100, 200, 300,....up to thousands) and use your Thread Weaving Talent (read: magical skill) to attach a thread to the weapon. If I remember right this thread connects you with the weapon so that you can use the ability (even if it is just additional damage). Someone else getting the weapon cannot use the abilities you have unlocked until they remove your thread (by killing you or a magical ritual) and attach their own - though they may be able to attach threads without removing yours, hmmm, something to look into.

Hope that helps. I was getting ready to run an ED game (and have played/ran games in the past).

PS: The Thread Magic of ED can get very complicated when you are talking about an entire PC group connecting threads to each other and their items, and maybe even their animals. Very complicated.

[Justin]

but it's so cool... 

[mocking bird]

Follwowing up on RandalThor.

It is actually legend points (experience points) you use to spent to attune/link to the items.  karma dice are basicaly 'extra' dice to roll for things.

Spell casting is actually quite similar to CoM - but as mechanics rather than just theory.  You have a set amount of spell matricies (many more than spells actually).  You weave threads into them in order to cast the spell which requires a spell casting roll.  It is reasonable easy to reattune a matrix to a different spell or with greater difficulty force a new spell into it w/o a matrix.

Threads also have many other purposes.  You can create a party matrix that boosts skills/talents as well as threading items to you.  And these cost legend ponits that could also be used for raising stats, learning new talents or moving up a circle (losely a level of experience - but there are differences).

Places and things can also become threaded items.  For example if a place was the scene of a great and historic battle, it can become magical.  Or if great deeds are done with an item it can become magical as well.  Kind of like the 'global mind' enchants them as many people have heard the legends of them.

Yes, threading many things can become a bit tricky but no different really than magical items in other games.

Still need to look up reputation...

[markc]

 Thanks all I hurt my back doing something very basic and i had to spend the last 2 days in be. No computers etc. But i could not stand it any more so here I am.

 I also heard that the powers gained are random and that sometimes it can be a bit of a let down to spend all the "points" and get something that does not really apply to your PC.

MDC

[RandalThor]

.

It is actually legend points (experience points) you use to spent to attune/link to the items.  karma dice are basicaly 'extra' dice to roll for things.

I knew I messed it up - that's what I get for playing Shadowrun and Earthdawn at the same time. 

Thanks all I hurt my back doing something very basic and i had to spend the last 2 days in be. No computers etc. But i could not stand it any more so here I am.

 I also heard that the powers gained are random and that sometimes it can be a bit of a let down to spend all the "points" and get something that does not really apply to your PC.

MDC

If by "powers" you mean Talents - which are the magical skills that adepts have/gain/train in - they are not random. They are dictated by what type of Adept they are. Like Archer, Elementalist, Warrior, Nethermancer, etc. Each one has Talents, many of which overlap.

[mocking bird]

One drawback, that might have gotten adjusted in the second addition, is that skills are pretty worthless - ack, that sounds odd on an RM board.  Everything can be done with talents - rather than picking a lock the thief summons magical tools to pick it for example.  Combats are also resolved via talents.

In some of the suppliments you also have knacks which are variations on spells and talents.  Rough RM equivalent would be having a permanent spell mastery on a spell.  They can get tricky if you end up with a lot but can be really cool.

One additional thing which seems to be creeping into other systems.  Legend points are used to advance talents.  When certain talents are bought up to a certain level you can spend more to go up a circle, level, to gain new abilities.  So you can decide to remain a lower circle but have more abilities should you chose. 

Likewise if you spend a lot of LP's threading items, group threads, etc. you won't have them to up talents or gain a circle.  So in the end you can have equal LP totals but completely different characters.

[RandalThor]

I wouldn't say they are useless, but they sure have made them unnattractive.

I also like the way they do Talents (skills) & Circles (levels) with the number of talents and their rank determining the circle of the character. I have been thinking on using a similar thing for an RM game. Just give out DPs as experience (obviously not the same amounts  ) and when they get to the previously set amount (I use a set DP amount, not determined by stats) then they are the next level.  This will aslo allow them to utilize them as they get them and not have to wait to use a large chunk.

[markc]

RandalThor,
 IMO this also lets you give out extra DP for best RP, best laugh, best thought etc during each game. Which can mean a level a lot sooner.

MDC