House Rules

Many Paths

Pattern
Logrus
Trump
Shapeshifting
Sorcery

Forging

This page is still in progress, but it does and will detail the house rules I intend to use for Many Paths.

Attributes

Most if not all of you indicated that you were okay with using the standard attributes, so we more or less are. However, just so there are no misunderstandings, I'm going to talk about each one individually.

Psyche: Psyche is ordinarily the most problematic Attribute, so it will receive the most changes. Psyche is mental strength and, to a certain extent, sensitivity. It drives all of the powers except, in certain cases, Shapeshifting (Endurance is, of course, important in order to keep driving those powers). It is also possible to engage in psyche based combat. However, it is not possible to initiate Psyche combat through eye contact or skin contact. Period. Trumps open the gate for this sort of thing in the usual way, Magic can be used, and potentially other Powers as well, but there will be no need for your mirror shades or latex gloves. More bad news for Psyche folk: I am very reluctant to allow full-scale mindwashing, puppetry, or post-hypnotic suggestions. With enough of a Psyche differential, it will be possible to do each of these things, but the process will always be quirky and somewhat unreliable. Suffer. High Psyche people do have one thing going for them when they aren't using a Power; Psyche can double for a sort of charisma. If a high Psyche individual barks a command, lower-Psyche people will tend to obey without thinking about it. If a high Psyche person looks pitiful on the street, they'll soon accumulate a few hundred dollars in handouts. If a high-Psyche person looks scary as all get out, guards will feel that they have pressing engagements elsewhere. This ability is not fine-tunable, nor does it represent real mind control: commands to "Kill yourself" will be met with laughter, and if someone is told to, "Go ever there, turn the key, walk into the room, and type in your password, then launch the nukes," they may start to obey, but they'll "snap out of it" before they finish.
Strength: It's the least important attribute. I'm not going to lie to you. But when it's important, it's really important. Strength includes no martial arts abilities, open-hand or not, "soft" or "hard" styles notwithstanding. All such things are the domain of Warfare. However, it is this GM's opinion that, in the case that two combatants have skills which are even remotely comparable, Strength is much more important in unarmed combat than is skill. It's less important in armed combat, but even there, if you're having to dodge all of your opponent's blows, because if you parry, your sword will be knocked out of your hand, if you have to make sure that when your opponent blocks your blows, that you disengage before he can knock your sword out of your hand... Well, that sort of thing can eat up a Warfare advantage really fast.
Endurance: Endurance is the great equalizer. It's pretty much exactly as stated in the book, but you should be aware that I generally believe that it's possible to defend against somebody almost arbitrarily better than you... for a time. In either Warfare or Psyche combat, you can construct a defense that nobody can break without a truly ridiculous amount of skill advantage, but it will be extremely tiring. So, defensively, at least, Endurance lets you make up for almost any disadvantage... If you have enough Endurance, that is.
Warfare: Warfare is almost exactly as described in the book. It also includes unarmed combat skills. No, you won't parry if someone sneaks up on you.

Attributes will be scaled down from the default presented in the DRPG. The zero point level (what's called the "Amber" level in the book, though I don't like that terminology) will correspond to an AD&D or GURPS 13 or so, or a White Wolf 3. It's noticably above average, but you wouldn't be the best at that attribute in even a relatively small town on Shadow Earth. Definitely, nobody will consider you legendary in quality.

The -10 point level ("Chaos," but don't assume that that means that it's common in Chaos) is human average. AD&D/GURPS 10, White Wolf 2. If you're even considering getting something at this level, talk to me.

For completeness, the -25 point level makes you significantly below human average. If you want it, talk to me, and I'll probably do my best to convince you that you don't want it.

Ten points in a stat puts you at Olympic level. Up to 15 points is probably the best a human could ever possible hope for. Twenty or more points is flatly superhuman.

For reference, the attributes of the first-ranked Elders in their best stat are (depending on the stat) somewhere between 130 and 150 points. Oh, and ignore all that crap in the DRPG about "what the best ranked Elder can do."

Ranking doesn't really mean anything: Fifty points is fifty points, whether you're first ranked or fifth.

Attribute work on a "stepped decreasing returns model." The steps are as follows: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100, 130, 160, 200. What that means is that the difference between a zero and a 5 score is the same relative amount as the difference between a 160 and a 200 (so points are more effeciently spent on low attributes than high ones). The "steps" are just points on a curve; it's not really a plateau system where a 49 is exactly the same as a 40, but a 50 is better.