I assume that a lot of people are using house rules for Fate Points given for their actions/gameplay rather than simply by DP, but as Ecthelion already wrote, using the original rules the benefit would be quite small.
I agree with that. It struck to me when I saw that a Fate Point was considered just 5 DP worth. To me it's the difference between life and death, and that doesn't come cheap. As said, I don't allow FP to be bought, they must be gained through gameplay, taking risks in heroic tasks. I consider them like the Force Points of West End's D6 Star Wars. Otherwise, with the core rules in hand, Ecthelion is totally right.
The brand new RuneQuest 6 gives you 2-3 Fatepoints for each gaming session [...] You get a fix number of FP (called Luck Points).
I don't give points
regardless of the actions of the players. They have to gain them.
To make an example, in my adventures I always try to introduce a situation where players can just succeed in their mission (rescue the kidnapped traders), do really well (also recover the stolen caravan) or be extremely succesful (and finish off the bandit's leader, ending the menace of raiders in the region). The difficulty is scaled so that, to accomplish the later, they must be really lucky with the dices, come up with a brilliant plan or use their Fate Points. Managing to kill the bandit's leader would make them recover all spent Fate Points and, maybe, gain an extra one for the player who dealt the killing blow (the one who can boost about it, at least
).
Ecthelion, regarding to your comments, I have to agree with you.
As said, my rules try to give a certain balance between races, but it is on porpouse that elves are somewhat better than the rest. To be true, in my rules I consider them
somewhat better, while for you they are
Übermenschen.
The Fate Point difference is a way of balancing that, given the limitation I impose to gain them, and I consider that the equivalent of the lesser background points of MERP. Also, note that I said that there's a maximum of FP per race to prevent an elf of ever neutralizing this difference (it's not in the document, sorry, it's a newer addition). A Noldo can never have 5 FP, while a hobbit does.
Forcing elf characters to use their higher rolls in the Presence stat could be acceptable, too.
Lowering some bonuses (+5 to RRs against cold instead of +15, for instance) is also acceptable if you think that represents the idea of Middle Earth elves you have.
And regarding to how elves can overcome the (little) flaws they have by spending DPs, well, that's the point. They have to spend DPs to overcome them while other races don't. So if they spent 10 DPs for Fate Points (let's let aside that I don't let FPs to be bought) and 10 more to get Skill Specialization and the 5 ranks, they're spending nearly half their DPs.
But well, in general terms, I must say that the huge difference between your view and my own is that I don't mind elves being better in game terms than the other races and you do. That's okay and, like I said, it's an argument I had with myself as well. I consider that noldo should be above all others in scholar and artistic skills, or silvan in archery and nature-lore, if they choose so. But in other aspects (burglary, melee combat, RRs,...) they are, more or less, in equal terms.
Even so, you made me think about certain aspects that could lesser a bit elven advantatges, like making each race pay a reduced DP cost for the talents (noldo-scholar, sinda-skill spec, silvan-speed loader/outdoorsman) instead of giving them for free.
I'll take another look at your blood talents document, as I acknowledge you made some good points in your critics. Thanks for them and your time.
Just one question: On a quick glance, do yout think the same about the other demi-human races (dwarves and hobbits)? Or do you see them as more acceptable?
