CP Points

[Ettie Byram]

Do CP points "gained" by taking hindrances count against the 40 CP cap for this year?

Just wondering....

Ettie

[Jacob]

Yes, they do.

-J

[Morganstern]

I would argue against this.

Hindrances are permanent disadvantages to a character in return for some color and a small numerical advantage. I don't think that advantage should be able to be matched just by sewing tabbards or buying glowsitcks.

An examples:

Nicholai is Addicted to alcohol. He must consume 1 measure of alcohol every time resets with Void (of which he has many) or loose a point of Sanity (of which he has precious few). For this hindrance he gains 1 CP.

On the other hand, I could just go out and buy a nice tophat. For this donation, I gain Nicholai 1 CP. He can now drop the Addicted hindrance and retain the same skill set. He can still go around drinking heavily, but he no longer is required to hunt for tags every reset.

This all being said, I think hindrances are a good thing that promote character development. From a game standpoint, though, I think allowing hindrances to eek over the cap makes taking the detriments worth it.

-Ian

[Ken]

[Morganstern]

If I may have a rebuttal and one last point before I let this issue lie:

I understand fully that Qualities are RP mechanics at their core. None of Nicholi's hindrances were picked out before his character history was written, and were chosen to reflect his personality and circumstances. No matter which this call turns goes, he will be keeping them.

On the subject on acting in certain way without purchasing qualities, there are different levels of severity for everything. There is a line between people who like to drink and those that need to, and the crossing of this line is what the Addicted hindrance represents. Not every sickly character has Consumption, and not every healthy person is Hale. I don't think there should be repercussions for people who want to play milder forms of the Quality traits and not purchase them.

All I'm saying is that if someone is willing to do 13 CP worth of work for you and contract a wasting desease in the name of roleplay, it might be nice to let them come in at 42. =)

-Ian

[Matt]

First off, for the different levels of qualities.. we do understand that. However a character who's history says that they are the fabulously wealthy King of Alden, who's grandfather happens to be a thing that should not be, would need to take the appropriate qualities. The third son of a Baron, who's older brothers are inheriting everything probably wouldn't. We'll deal with each character as we receive them, but from those we've seen thus far, we don't really anticipate any issues.

As for the cap, we feel that it's important to implement a hard cap for a number of reasons, including game balance. That said, the initial cap of 40CP is for the two events this year. As soon as 2010 begins the cap will be bumped up to a larger amount.

In addition to that, the cap is not how much CP you can earn, but rather how much you can spend. If a player manages to earn 46CP this year, they can only spend 40 of it until January 1st 2010, when they will immediately be able to spend the additional 6CP.

[Morganstern]

Sounds good.

Thanks for the call.

-Ian