Morality
I'm considering removing the XP cost from Morality ratings, preserving the system of loss, & rendering the only way to raise it actions taken during the downtime (an appropriate roll).
Thoughts?
Morality
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Summary:
Who ever pays Rating x2??
If spun the right way it might get some of the researchers out of their laboratories.
Of course the limitations would still need to be there; we can have haven on earth cyborgs everywhere.
Thoughts?
I like the idea, actually. It makes a lot more sense to me than simply spending XP and suddenly observing higher morals and being more sane - both of which are qualities I consider too ephemeral to link to a hard 1-10 rating.
Hmm… A preliminary proposal then: spend the downtime undertaking activities that fit your Morality Path, then roll Conviction + Morality, Difficulty 5-9. Difficulty would be assigned based on your activities and their relevance to your Path. Successes required would be current rating + 1 (so 6 successes at Morality 5), and could be an extended roll.
If spun the right way it might get some of the researchers out of their laboratories.
That would depend completely on the Morality Path, Shady. I can see it for folks on the Humanity Path quite easily, but for ones on custom Paths, I think they'd have to spend time committing to the Virtues relevant to their Path.
Of course the limitations would still need to be there; we can have haven on earth cyborgs everywhere.
I'm not sure it would change all that much. One of the big advantages that cyborgs and Augmentation characters have is that they actually have XP to spare for Morality and the like. I'd imagine that a lot of them would have Morality 10 and Tolerance 5 as a matter of course. Requiring a role-play aspect would actually [i]decrease[/i] the number of Augmentation characters that have that setup, or at least make it a notable achievement.
Oh oh oh, HERE's an idea: insead of just having a 1-10 VICE ranking, we also give morality paths a 1-10 VIRTUE ranking. When you're at the applicable level, you need to act out a virtue of your ranking or above to roll for increase. So here's one for humanity:
1) Help someone with no benefit to yourself. (walking a lady accross the street)
2) Provide major assistance to another individual (Give an out of work, homeless vet 100k)
3) Save a life
.
.
.
10) Protect a community (tens of thousands of people) at no small cost to yourself and with no ulterior motives. (Self sacrifice is important).
Then you roll conviction, difficulty of your rank in Morality (perhaps at a lower difficulty for virtues that are far above your rating), success lets you move up a point.
I'm not sure this would work out for Augmentation-based characters in practice. Take a cyborg with Humanity 8 and Humanity Index 20. His effective Humanity is 2, but he must pay 16 XP to increase his Humanity to 9 and his Humanity Index to 30. Under this system, all he has to do is refrain from committing murder for a few Games (and perhaps give a few hundred thousand dollars to charity — meaningless if he has Resources 5), and his Humanity increases to 9. Then he acquires more Augmentation, dropping to 20 again, and does the same thing for a few more Games, resulting in Humanity 10.
It's a partial list, and after level 3 each level should include actual self-sacrifice. And besides, it's about the motive behind the action, not just going through a motion and trying to act "good," that's what sociopaths do, not paragons of humanity.
Having 80 augmentation index and 10 morality is NOT the same as having 10 augmentation index and 3 morality. Both of their "effective moralities" are 2, but they are very distinct. In the second case, you're a shell of a man willing to commit murder if it'll get you off the streets for a few weeks; you've got a cybernetic part or two that further degrades the already dim connection you feel to humanity.
In the first case, you are dealing with a paragon of humanity: a Mother Theresa. This individual is at war with the extensive robotic side of herself, and it constantly drags her away from the people she's made it her life to protect.
Humanity index would obviously stay constant and be subtracted from your morality score. You roll the ACTUAL virtue to increase it further.
My understanding is that under the current system, your effective Morality (for purposes of behavior, sanity, Conviction checks, etc.) is your Humanity Index divided by 10, but the cost to increase Morality is your Permanent Morality x 2.
Well personally I don't favor over-systeming mechanics, but at the same time this is a really complicated and pedantic subject and standardizing a system and not using "Gm's discretion" will simplify it for everyone and make those judgements easier.
This is a related topic, I don't especially like using Morality as a buffer for Augmentation. That's a hold over from cyberpunk, but seriously: How many of our Cyborgs would suddenly become beatific Saints if the Cyber was removed? None. They would swiftly drop to a comfortable level.
If we need an index, it is a simple enough matter to utilize Conviction + Self-Control as a new Index, & then list very real penalties as you drop down the list (Say, every 3 full points), as opposed to the negligible penalty of "I'm a ruthless killer now…just like I started."
Oh, something like an advancing template in reverse I would imagine. Of course if we do this (effectively opening the box on Augmentation) then I'd have to insist that the Cyborg template only be awarded to players who make Gifts of Augmentation a major factor, as opposed to gaining powers that allow them to do it themselves.
Permanent Derangemets, Physiological Drift, Side Effects, etc. We already do this anyway (Cyborgs getting hit by EMPs, Magical Aug. vulnerable to unweaving, Chimera get animal features, etc). Just formalize it per type of Augment pattern available.
I suggest we do something like this: for each point of conviction/self control you lose to augmentation, you get some flaw:
1. conviction check
2. perm derangement
3. self control rolls are at +1 difficulty
4. augmentation is obvious to onlookers
5. Some major bane or drawback (chimera is considered an animal for powers, cyborg can be EMP'd, unweavings cause damage)
6. perm derangement
7. perm derangement
Etc etc. It would of course vary for each character.
It's also worth noting that losing effective virtues is probably a bigger drawback in itself than losing effective morality.
It's also worth noting that losing effective virtues is probably a bigger drawback in itself than losing effective morality.
True. I assume these drawbacks would replace point loss, though.
I'd think Augmentation would be obvious to onlookers sooner than this, perhaps at 2 or 3.
Of course if we do this (effectively opening the box on Augmentation) then I'd have to insist that the Cyborg template only be awarded
to players who make Gifts of Augmentation a major factor, as opposed to gaining powers that allow them to do it themselves.
I agree. Therapists also seem like something for those dedicated to Augmentation, rather than for part-timers and hobbyists. They would still have Tolerance, which is a significant benefit even without a Template or a Therapist.
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