Alternate Core Documents

[Viewing_Glass]

I did, you big meany. Back when I had concerns about Bookwright running out of strain. Back in the summer of 2012, when none of us knew what we were doing. Another character in the same party also has taken multiple ranks of the perk.

I think we need to start discussion strain regeneration. It's clearly becoming a problem for high-strain character to be able to simply regenerate all their strain.

Sorry Scorch, I didn't know.

Anyway, I did write up a perk for my game that I think solves the problem of Strain Regeneration at higher levels. I haven't had the chance to see it in action though, so it may still need to be adjusted.

Before I go on, I have tested increased Strain Regeneration with a Spirit of Friendship Cloak, which granted +5 Strain Regeneration. However... even while that helped, it wasn't enough to make a difference in the long run. Thus, I propose the following perk:

Resilient Caster, Level 7/10/13, 3 Ranks. You are more resistant to burn out and bounce back from it faster than your fellow unicorns. For every rank of this perk, you gain +3 Strain every time you regenerate strain, and +1 to END checks to resist burn out. Mastery: +1 Strain every time you regenerate strain, and +1 to END checks to resist burn out.

Like I said, it still needs testing, but... it should fix the problem. I think.

[EDIT] Have some math.

With all three ranks, it changes a Unicorn's strain regeneration to 15 (Normal Activity), 20 (Light Activity), 25 (Resting), and 30 (Sleeping). With 8 hours of sleep, the unicorn regains 240 Strain. My unicorn, Viewing Glass, with a 10 END and 9 INT, has 448 Strain at level 20. Normally it would take him... 22 hours of sleep (20 Strain per hour for 440 Strain) to regain all his magic. With this perk, that lowers to 15 hours of sleep (30 Strain per hour for 450 Strain). Combine with the cloak I mentioned earlier, and you come out to needing 13 hours of sleep to regenerate all your strain. (35 Strain per hour for 455 Strain).

[Kkat]

If strain regeneration is the problem I think we're all beginning to agree it is, then I suspect the proper approach is to rework strain regeneration completely rather than create perks which will effectively become "must have to play a unicorn" perks... which is kinda like taking perks away.

The cleanest solution I can think of, at least for initial testing, is to have a level-based variable. That way, strain can regenerate faster at higher levels where more strain regeneration is needed. Still, we don't want to increase it too much -- we want to keep strain conservation something unicorns and alicorns always have to think about because they can't just get all their strain back over a night's rest. But I agree that the current system is definitely too stingy.

Maybe something as simple as strain regeneration per hour of 5 (Normal), 10 (light), 15 + (level / 2, rounded down) (resting), 20 + level (sleeping).

[SilverlightPony]

Whee, 8 pages of discussion in less than a day! XD

[TyrannisUmbra]

Well, for an interesting take on strain regeneration, I'd suggest maybe buffing one of the spells I don't think I've ever seen anyone use outside of RP purposes: Sound Slumber.

In addition to HP, it should maybe also boost everything that regens with sleep: Strain, Trick Points, and anything else that may exist in a supplemental ruleset.

Maybe something like "Your regeneration from sleep (HP, Strain, Trick Points, etc) is POT/2 times stronger"

Though I do agree that strain regen may need a bit of tweaking, I also agree with Kkat that it should never become trivial, and balancing strain costs should always be a concern.

Something that may be part of the issue is some very high costs on advanced/expert spells. If strain regens too slow, maybe the reverse is also true, and you're spending it too fast? Just something to keep in the back of our minds. Not something that I actually think is the correct issue, but worth checking.

[Kkat]

Minor note:

The General Items list now includes My Little Workbench.

[Viewing_Glass]

Maybe something as simple as strain regeneration per hour of 5 (Normal), 10 (light), 15 + (level / 2, rounded down) (resting), 20 + level (sleeping).

...That actually solves my problem AND makes Resilient Horn worth taking. And suddenly, all was well with the world...

[Ragebrew]

Thank you Viewing_Glass for the hack and slash through my taint chart for typos, errors, and the like. See, one of the many reasons i need folks to butcher it, so I can find the errors and fix them.

[Kkat]

Maybe something as simple as strain regeneration per hour of 5 (Normal), 10 (light), 15 + (level / 2, rounded down) (resting), 20 + level (sleeping).

...That actually solves my problem AND makes Resilient Horn worth taking. And suddenly, all was well with the world...

I'll wait for a few more responses to this, but if it seems like a good improvement, I'll implement it.

(Goddesses know Artifica needs the extra that would grant from her last six hours of sleep. She'd been fried for a month.)

[Ilushia]

Maybe something as simple as strain regeneration per hour of 5 (Normal), 10 (light), 15 + (level / 2, rounded down) (resting), 20 + level (sleeping).

...That actually solves my problem AND makes Resilient Horn worth taking. And suddenly, all was well with the world...

I'll wait for a few more responses to this, but if it seems like a good improvement, I'll implement it.

(Goddesses know Artifica needs the extra that would grant from her last six hours of sleep. She'd been fried for a month.)

Hm. Let's see. Noble Heart has 412 Strain and is level 17 so that's 37 per hour of sleep which says roughly 11 hours of sleep to full restore. So two days worth of normal rest, assuming light spell use per day?

Sounds pretty decent to me. Though it may be overkill for less magic-centric unicorns.

Actually that's a thought, we could have regen scale off Potency or something similar, perhaps.

But that requires more math, and the math here works fine for most purposes, though may result in us needing to re-balance a few spells, especially healing spells which don't tend to be cast more than a few times per day in my experience.

Looks alright to me, though.

[TyrannisUmbra]

... may result in us needing to re-balance a few spells, especially healing spells which don't tend to be cast more than a few times per day in my experience.

The changes may even spur some unicorns to cast more often, since a lot I know hold back more because they know it'd take ages to regen.