Hi Mary,
You bring up a lot of good points. Let me share my thoughts on some of them.
marybamford wrote:
1. Gee, another point total to keep track of. Joy.
My vision is to keep this system simple and easily tracked. My proposal is 1/CP (VCP, RCP) plus any for items (explicitly printed on the cert) - expenditures on cert or relic pages. If it takes more than 2 minutes to confirm the accuracy of the information in terms of current total, it's probably taking too long.
There's also a convenient spot to track the running total as we no longer track fate from mod to mod.
marybamford wrote:
2. I can already see that everybody is going to want not one, not two, not even three, but lots of signature items for each of their PCs.
Again, not what I had in mind. This is why I recommend we finalize principles first and work out the specifics of cost later as the former will drive the later. My gut says that 1 item per tier is probably the right number. I could maybe see 1+1/2 Hero Tier. When you're talking about characters that could be completely replay and will never get items other than what they can buy, 1/Tier seems reasonable. I would cap at no more than 2x Hero Tier. There are already limits on how much a character can wear (3+ passive Charisma).
marybamford wrote:
4. I would allow gradual improvements to the signature item, presumably as they accumulate points.
I like this idea as well. The challenge is how to do it. For the most part Arcanis is designed not to change items. Armor and Weapons improve by getting a new item that is a higher level quality or by adding runes to them. Given the lack of focus on items, I'm not sure how much time I would spend in figuring out ways to improve existing items. It could be a lot of effort.
marybamford wrote:
5. If a PC doesn't have the points to build a signature item, then they don't get a freebie.
I'll have to go back and check my wording and I apologize for the confusion. I absolutely don't want people building new signature items or upgrading them by going in the hole. For that, they can wait. I do feel that if a special item is found that not everyone or most everyone has the option of taking that there's an SP cost to it. Only if you're pulling an item out of the rewards at the end of the mod would I see going in the hole permitted and only with the GM's approval. I would hate to see a new player with a brand new character sit down for their first mod and it happen to be a great item for the character, but they can't take their fair share of the treasure because they don't have the SP for it. If someone has a different suggestion for how to balance items that don't go against the Signature limit vs. not being able to get the rewards when they happen to occur I'd be happy to see the proposal.
marybamford wrote:
6. Signature items should be expensive in whatever currency is used to buy them, and it should take a while to accumulate enough points to afford one.
Agreed. I would also suggest that by definition Signature items cannot be traded or sold.
marybamford wrote:
7. There should be no special historic background to the item; this item is something you're having made specially for you. Although I could see it somehow dovetailing in with the Heirloom talent. And I could also see the possibility of a PC getting a cool flavor item and making it his signature.
If it's made then the special flavor options would be really limited. Perhaps something like, crafted by Elebac or the equivalent. I provided a previous post on SP being used to represent acquiring an item rather than commissioning it.
marybamford wrote:
I can see this whole thing getting out of hand very, very quickly. It scares me and makes me wonder how it'll change the campaign. So, please, be cautious in introducing something like this. Take it slowly.
My view on how this entire thing would work would be as follows:
1. General idea presented, community provides feedback
2. Staff determines if this is even something they want to allow and if so drafts a possible implementation including assumptions on points given out over time etc.
3. Staff gives the proposal to an internal group to find the most broken things they can do with it. Make revisions and repeat until they're generally comfortable with it. It may become obvious that either the amount of work on the staff or players is too much, too complicated etc and it's dropped here.
4. If there's a proposal that moves forward, the draft could be presented for public review and comment [optional depending on how comfortable the staff is with it]
5. If implemented the maximum point totals are monitored to make sure they're in line with assumptions or if not, adjust things such that the system doesn't break and actively monitor for feedback to improve or scrap the system.
To be clear, I'm no one official. I'm simply an interested player offering suggestions. No matter what does or does not get implemented, I have faith that the staff will make the right decision to support their vision of the world and the campaign.
With a sweep of his hat,
Paul