Hello all I've been reading up on the Ars Magnus,( I'm trying to make a brood from breath of fire by using blood of the great beast and transformation: Eliodon) and I decided to reread on Transformation: Rupture of Destiny. It is a really cool ability but there is something I noticed that has confused me. The DP cost of this ability is 100DP and must come out of the Primary ability limit. The Primary limit at most is 60% and since this is a major ars magnus it can not be bought at level 1 because of the requirements. Therefore it must be bought later but with the limit you can only spend up to 60 DP which is not enough to get the ability. So my question is how is a character supposed to get this ability if it cost 100DP and the max you can use for primary each level is 60DP max?

Also as I have been playing I have had to create a few creatures for summoning and the stats look okay but I just don't know if I have been doing them completely correct. The main thing I want to know is for making a between worlds creature do you use the development points of it's level to buy essential abilities, powers and base stats, or do you use the level DP for the base stats and the essential and powers are bought with something else? I have been using the DP given by the level,(so a level 1 creature has 600) and have been using them to buy everything which causes that the more essential abilities and powers you purchase the lower the base stats of the creature become. Am I doing this correctly or is there something I am missing?

I am also having trouble with creating a specter. I want to make Raziel from Soul reaver and thought that a specter with the ability to be incarnated but with the disadvantage of degeneration would be the best way. However when I read on how to make a specter it says to use the rules of souls and spirits which say that I have to invest 100 DP just because it is a spirit or in other words they would have another level because of it. What does this mean? Do I have to spend 100DP on something? Does the specter start with 100DP less then it should for it's level? Do I apply a level modifier to him? It is really confusing me and I need some help because I want to put him in the bottom of some discovered ruins with puzzles to unseal him but I want to be sure that he is made correctly.

Hey,

The solution to your first problem is that you can save DP without any problems, just like you could save characteristic points to probably buy a two CP advantage instead later. I don't know from memory if the abilities that let you use attack and defense scores instead of magical or psychic projection, needed primary DP too, but if so, then those follow the same needs, as they cost 75 and 100 DP.

To the second one I am not sure, but wasn't it like you could just define the basic characteristics in a set range? I thought you could just set them, although the GM would probably allways have the last word on it and the style.
But someone else should comment that.

The specter advantage is just bound to be bought if you want a specter creature or character. It is neither a level modifier nor reduced DP, but just forces you to buy it. ..Because.. if you don't it wouldn't be a specter, right? It is just like saying, to be a member of the ..I don't know, Wolverine class?, you need to buy supernatural regeneration of level 16 at least or something. The "club" just selects its members by certain given abilities.
You have to invest the 100 DP, but they are not lost since being a specter is certainly somewhat of an advantage.

1) you dont have to spend all your dp each level, so you could accumulate dp for 2 level and spend 120 out of the 200, or you can spend 50 each level until you have enough to buy the 100 dp ars magnus.

2) when creating a creature as though it already existed, you dont spend DP on it's characteristics. you only spend DP on its characteristics if the creature was magically created. and yes, you use it's Total DP to buy everything you want/can. level 5 creature would have 1000 DP to spend on essential, creature, primary and secondary abilities.

3) Being a spectre/ghost/spirit has it's base advantages, which is why you pay 100 DP to be one. it's all described in the paragraph. Invisible unless can see spirits, Intangible unless being hit by energy or attack able to affect energy, Physical Exemption, LP based off of Power, not Constitution. now if i were you, i would make Raziel a Living Dead of the Spectre type, which use the rules for souls and spirits, except that buying spectral form would only cost 25 DP instead of 100. He would have regeneration 0 as a living dead.

------------------ dont know how it double posted.

Ah I see. Yeah he wouldn''t be much of a specter without abilities. Thanks for clarification and yeah regen 0 works best. I tried degeneration but it did not work with some aspects. I did give him a condition regen of 16 when he is devouring a soul. Anyhow thanks for the help and for clarifying about the DP. I always thought you had to spend it all when you leveled but if you can save it that will be very helpful. Anyway thanks again.

Ah crap one other thing. How does flight value work► Is it the same as movement value or does it have it''s own values► Does the value change for flying up or down► Also why is it important to know the flight value of thrown objects when using something like minor psychokinesis► On that note how does strength apply to it as well. I know that strength can affect how far something can go but what does that matter if it misses► These are just questions that popped into my head when I was going over psychic abilities.

Flight value uses the same table as movement value. You may feel a bit slower though, because -as you found out- the necessity to fly up and down with the same value reduces the pure horizontal speed. It's just like when you would have to run up the stairs in order to keep your horizontal momentum constant. But with flight value, you can't.

Why is it important to know the flight value of objects that are moved through telekinesis? I don't understand the question. Why would you not wanna know it? It might be of use for riddle solving, for keeping pace with a fast moving whatever, for stealth, if you have a certain timeframe to get a wanted object out of sight before the guard turns around… stuff!
Not to mention the use of impact attacks where you have to know if you can reach the target in one turn.

The strength attribut was not mentioned in minor psychokinesis, but I guess it will be the same as with the psy power "ballistics" where willpower replaces it. But that kind of strength only influences the damage output, not the range or something, since the object stays telekinetical aided by the psyionic. He just pushes it all the time with his mental strength constantly (otherwise we would see objects flying a curve like with natural hurled objects, who just have their starting speed and direction to reach something).

Are you really planning to play something like a raziel character? Since you are going through all those related powers they have.

The main reason I wanted to know about the flight value is if it affects the damage dealt. How much does the strength affect the damage of a weapon. The reason is I want to know is because in the "shadows within dreams" it mentions that a knife is thrown at the characters with a strength 11 in the Marques Mansion.

Yeah I do plan to play a raziel character in one of my campaigns. I want to put him in the bottom of some ruins that my players will be exploring. I am going to have him sealed up and have the players solve a list of puzzles to release him. Though they will have no idea that they will be releasing him.

I have made a prototype of him and would like some input about him.

Raziel

Level 10 Living dead Specter Gnosis 30

Class: Warrior Mentalist

STR 13 DEX 11 AGI 12 WP 10 POW10 INT 8 CON 9 PER 9

Essential: Physical exemption, access to a psychic discipline, inhumanity, Superhuman Physical Characteristics, uncommon size psychic inclination, physical need(souls)

Powers: Soul Reaver +5,(Supernatural attack, +20 damage, +20 critical), Ghoul Claws,(natural weapon, damage energy, -2AT), Dark hunger (conditioned Regeneration 16(devouring souls)) Regeneration 0, Wraith form(Spectral form, spiritual invisibility, conditioned ) Physical form at will conditioned , see spirits

LP 235 Initiative: 130

Attack ability: 210

Dodge ability: 210

Damage: 65 Ghoul Claws (Cut), 105 Soul Reaver +5(Energy)

AT: Physical 2

Size 17 Regen 0/16(conditioned) Fatigue: Tireless Movement: 12

Special: Different class module (Soul Reaver)

PP 1/10 Psychic Projection 120 Innate slots: 1 Psychic Potential: 80

Psychic Powers: Psychokinesis(minor psychokinesis, Psychokinetic impact, Psychokinetic trap, organic psychokinesis)

Secondary: Stealth 70, Hide 70, Notice 60, Climb 65, Jump 65, Composure 35, Swim 55, History 40

Wraith Form: Being as Raziel's nature is a wraith his normal form is as a specter that cannot be seen except for those with the ability to see spirits. Despite being a specter he cannot interact with the physical world. Though it is said that a cold chill can felt whenever Raziel passes by a living being in this form. However if Raziel is at full health he can don a physical form via possession of a nearby corpse. In exchange for interaction with the physical plane he is susceptible to physical attacks while he is tangible. He can maintain his physical body as long as he has more than 1/4 if his health left, Should his health drop below 1/4 he is reverted back to his wraith form cannot materialize until he fully recovers.

Dark Hunger: Due to Raziel being a vampire in his previous life he still retains his hunger. However after being reborn as a Wraith his hunger for blood has changed to a hunger for souls. Therefore if he does not indulge himself he will suffer a cumulative -10 all action penalty for every 6 hours that he does not feed up to a max of -100. When the penalty is -50 or greater he can no longer maintain his physical form and will revert back to a specter. The penalty is reduced 10 points for each soul he devours until it disappears completely. Also since Raziel is no longer "living" he lacks the ability to regenerate naturally and can only heal his wounds by devouring souls. For every soul that he devours he recovers 30 LP (it takes him 3 turns or 9 seconds to devour a soul) He can only devour souls that have not returned to the flow of souls. After killing a living person or creature Raziel only has a window of 1 combat turn to ****** the soul and prevent it from returning to the flow of souls. Free roaming souls that have yet to return however are fair game. Side note* He hates soul less entities like zombies, slayers, and homunculus because they are a real pain and he nothing for killing them.

Soul Reaver: Although Raziel has claws from back when he was a vampire his preferred weapon is the ethereal blade that is forever wrapped around his right arm. This "Soul Reaver" is actually the soul of the legendary blade which Raziel's master Kain wields. During an encounter with Kain Raziel was defeated but as Kain tried to finish Raziel off instead of killing Raziel the blade was destroyed upon impact and the soul of the blade attached itself to Raziel. The blade is considered a wraith blade and follows the same rules as Raziel does for his Wraith Form.

Raziel does posses limited psychokinesis which he uses as support in combat.

I am unsure if you are aware of this, but you should know that transformations cannot be mixed, so if your intent was to take Transformation Eliodon, you cannot combine it with Transformation Rupture of Destiny

Rupture of Destiny is also the most difficult magnus to qualify for and purchase, unless the game starts at a high level, you should probably not attempt to get this magnus.

Krylancelo said:

Ah, I see. Strangely flight value doesn't affect damage at all, even so reason instinctively rebels against that. It is just like with an high Agi character, who could maybe move at insane movement values of 13, but still only hit with his strength of 6 … . Looking at the kinetic energy formula brings us the assumption that in the process of becoming super fast, the hero hast apparantly lost most of his body weight and is now a dancing feather in the wind (as after increasing speed, the total energy can only stay constant {6} if you reduce the mass exponentially).
Go with it, its a need of rpg systems to stay simple, so we must put common sense aside sometimes^^ . Just tell yourself its some zen stuff going on - riding beams of light and alikes. KI explains it all.

The strength is therefore added like in the normal projectile rules for ranged weapons: You take the simple attribut bonus and add it to the base damage.

The base damage however is determined by the GM if the object is not something like a known throwing weapon like the dagger, so the total damage is mostly still quite based on personal estimations more than strength (how much does this rock hit in relation to something like a warhammer?..).

A thing concerning the raziel character: His psychic projection is so low, that he will likely never use it against enemys that are stronger than level 3 or 4, and even less than never against equals. I know it is quite impossible to increase basically in another attack/defend stat, but thats why there is something like the psychic projection module, where attack and defense scores replace psychic projection in every way. It costs 100DP, but is the optimal solution for a cross class character like the warrior mentalist - ..if you want to use powers actively in a fight. If the powers were more of a passive nature, or just serve as augmentation outside (riddle solving), or deliver more indirect combat effects (letting rocks fall down, blocking ways, fast item exchange and similars), then it's totally fine to save the DP. Don't know how you planned it.

Ah I see. Yeah adding the psychic projection module does make it better. I rearranged the points and now Raziel has an attack ability of 230, a dodge ability of 215 and a psychic projection of 180.

I didn't intend on giving Raziel a high projection because he primarily uses physical combat but I like the 180 projection more.

Ah daijoubu. I only plan on giving my brood transformation: Eliodon. I was just looking at rupture of destiny and the question popped up.