Workaround for Multiple Arcane Backgrounds

[SeeleyOne]

I was successful in coming up with a way to handle multiple Arcane Backgrounds.

I created an empty Arcane Background in the editor. It is from the tab called "Arcane Backgrnd".

The new generic background which I called "Powers Only", has the "Add Once" selected, and 0 for the number of powers. I also made up a new Arcane Designation tag called "Powers". I gave this the unique id of
"arcPowers"

This has the following effects:
1. It can be bootstrapped to different Arcane Background edges.
2. Those edges will want their own PP values in parenthesis. It can be as simple as:

var PPoint as number
PPoint = 10

field[livename].text = field[thingname].text & " (PP: " & PPoint & ")"

You will likely want to add powers to that eval script, but you can look at New Powers edge for a hint.

3. The edge will need to have its own Power Points edge, if desired, and add those to its own parenthetical value.
4. The arcane backgrounds will not determine which powers are restricted.
5. As they share the same list of powers, you will need to differentiate with trappings or other ways, but at least now it is possible.

 

[SeeleyOne]

I created my own versions of the Arcane Backgrounds that I want to use in my setting. For Magician I have two Eval Scripts

The first grants the number of Powers. Pre-Traits 5000, before Calc TrFinal

~The initial number of powers.
#resmax[resPowers] += 2

The second stores the Power Points total. Traits 5000

var PPoint as number
var Legend as number
PPoint = 10
Legend = 0

if (hero.tagis[Edge.edgPPMag1] = 1) then
      PPoint += 5
endif

if (hero.tagis[Edge.edgPPMag2] = 1) then
      PPoint += 5
endif

if (hero.tagis[Edge.edgPPMag3] = 1) then
      PPoint += 5
endif

if (hero.tagis[Edge.edgPPMag4] = 1) then
      PPoint += 5
endif

if (hero.tagis[Edge.edgPPMag5] <> 0) then
      foreach pick in hero from Edge
          Legend += eachpick.tagis[Edge.edgPPMag5]
      nexteach

      PPoint += (5 * Legend)
endif

field[livename].text = field[thingname].text & " (PP: " & PPoint & ")"

This references 5 new Power Point edges, each requires the Arcane Background: Magician edge and a particular Rank. edgPPMag1 is Novice, down to edgPPMag5 being Legendary. 1 to 4 are Unique (may only be added once), and Legendary is not Unique. The original method of counting them does not work correctly as it only tells you after the fact that you have selected it more than once. The method shown here is more accurate and shows if something is valid before it is selected.

I also have a Spellcasting skill that requires the Arcane Background: Magician edge.

So the question is this: do you have a setting that uses multiple Arcane Backgrounds and you want to be able to have more than one? Do what I did. Otherwise stick to the usual way.

 

[zarlor]

I really do like Rank checking before allowing purchase of the Edge. There are several Edges, or even (perhaps especially) Advances (namely the +1 Attribute advance) that would really benefit from getting a warning on them beforehand. I'm still not fond of allowing more than one AB, but I'm always fond of flexibility and that you've worked out workaround for doing it (and sharing it!) Very cool.

 

[SeeleyOne]

I understand that this is not for every setting. But there are many things that are better served as multiple Arcane Backgrounds. For example, it is a good idea to allow an Arcane Background: Vampire, but what if your character is also a wizard or a cleric? (Assuming that the cleric's deity will still grant powers to a vampire) I have divine casters use the No Power Points rules, but the vampire powers would use their Power Points (or in this case, Blood Points).

 

[Paragon]

I hope you won't mind if I piggyback on your thread a bit here, but you and Zarlor seem good people to ask this question to.

At a further down point in my XCOM game, I am going to make limited psionic capability available to the PCs in the form of individual Edges. Mostly they'll work like the other Class edges I did for the game (there are four tiers of them available at different levels and that use one of two at the prior tier as prerequisites).
I wasn't actually planning to have the checked by a skill, but an attribute roll, but I was planning to have them use Power Points. What I'd like them to do is each tier to give you a few more power points, and the higher tier powers to cost progressively more to use.

How convoluted is this going to be to do?

 

[zarlor]

I hope you won't mind if I piggyback on your thread a bit here, but you and Zarlor seem good people to ask this question to.

At a further down point in my XCOM game, I am going to make limited psionic capability available to the PCs in the form of individual Edges. Mostly they'll work like the other Class edges I did for the game (there are four tiers of them available at different levels and that use one of two at the prior tier as prerequisites).
I wasn't actually planning to have the checked by a skill, but an attribute roll, but I was planning to have them use Power Points. What I'd like them to do is each tier to give you a few more power points, and the higher tier powers to cost progressively more to use.

How convoluted is this going to be to do?

I don't think it would be too tough. It would just take adding to the AB Edge you create a script to increment PPs by Rank. Costs on a Power is strictly a matter of listing it in the appropriate spot for the Power you're making, but in essence it's really just a text field since you don't really need to do anything with it in play other than see what the cost is and then decrement your PP counter by that much when you use it is all.

 

[SeeleyOne]

So, just to make up a guess as to what you are meaning, there are PP for Fighter moves, Wizard spells, Cleric spells, and Rogue actions? That would work just fine if you do what I did above, having it check for these other edges and adding the PP total to the character.

So let's say Fighter. The Fighter edge would have a PP value (or whatever you want to call it) in parenthesis on its printout. Then it checks for the edges of Seasoned Fighter, Veteran Fighter, Heroic Fighter, and Legendary Fighter as I did above.

Alternately you could just have it as a fixed value in parenthesis, like "Novice Fighter (3 PP)" and "Veteran Fighter (6 PP)", and just have the earlier version switch to the no-print in the eval script. That way Novice will not show if you have Seasoned or higher, and so on. This is what I did for the Martial Arts Master levels.

The advantage to the way that I did in this thread is that you can add other mods in, which you can still do in the hiding way, but you only have to modify one eval equation and not for each and every level of it.

You can also make a version of the Super Heroes Companion power and its powers will show up even at the same time as the Arcane Background powers. That is good because some of the Racial Abilities are better done as powers. The cost of Super Power points would need to be evaluated for fairness, however. It also lets you get some Mythic Play from Pathfinder to use in Savage Worlds.

 

[Paragon]

Just to give a clearer idea, it works like this:

The first tier ability is Mind Fray (basically a damaging attack that targets by a resisted Spirit test, but compares normally to Toughness (but not armor). It'd give you, say, 3 PP.

The next tier allows you the choice of Psi Inspiration or Psi Panic (you choose one of the two Edges) and gives you another 3 PP.

Third tier gives the choice of Telekinetic Field and Mind Control, and gives you another 3. And finally Rift, the top end, which would give you its power and some more power points.

It was mostly the stackable PP bonus at each tier I was concerned about (and I wasn't sure if HL didn't have an automatic process for "click the power and it deducts the PP" but from what Zarlor says you do that manually so that shouldn't be an issue).

 

[zarlor]

Yeah, there's nothing like clicking a power to have it auto-deduct PPs, but if you think about it many of the powers don't have a set PP cost anyway, and the trappings for a fixed-cost power might change that cost anyway, so it's not really, IMHO, the Savage Worlds way, so to speak, to lock things down too much so Hero Lab just can't really code for all of those possibilities.

If each of the Edges, however, are the "tiers" rather than the Rank of the character (although Rank could be a prerequisite for any of those Edges) then you could also just include the PP code directly in the Edge itself (take a look at the Power Points Edge for how to do that.) So that shouldn't be too tough at all, I wouldn't think.

 

[Paragon]

Thanks again, gents.