Duvors

Swordsman Insight vs. Decker Deception: (6,1,6,6) three successes vs. (1,4,5) two successes. "And what would this 'primary objective' be, and is it really unrelated to your seeking me out?" He gives a small chuckle of amusement. "Very well, I shall meet this friend of yours. Is he here?" he says, looking around quizzically.

@karmajay, that airlock panel is two squares away, and you have only one velocity. You should choose a different action this turn while moving towards the door, and then you'll be able to open it next turn. Also, @Dutch Thriceman, why does Bers have two CP invested in spirit when he can't learn spells?

"Eh, suit yourself." You get the feeling that she doesn't appreciate your behavior. The man turns to you, a serene smile on his face. "Hmm? This? I think I picked it up in a street market on Hi-Pluvvon. Why do you ask? Are you in the market for a sword?" "Oh ho ho ho! My friend, your wish is my desire!" He begins pointing to the different bottles in turn, lauding their various merits. "To begin with, that dark green one is pure arsenic, theoretically you'd need a license to sell it, but well... heh, I think you get me. Ten credits for you sir. The red one, that's a little concoction called Frozen Blood for the feeling you get from it. It'll put you right out if you take it, twenty-five credits. The orange one is supposed to be a sleeping aid, but it's too strong to be sold as one though and passes through the system too quickly. That goes for fifteen credits. The yellow one is called Lamplight, it was supposed to help people see in the dark, but it, er, didn't. Ten credits for that one. The sparkly pink one is called Glitterdust, makes your head spin that one, fifteen credits. The purple one is called Black Death, not after the disease, that's how people describe the feeling. Ten credits. The blue one is Æther Shroud. Do not take it if you're a spellcaster. Fifteen credits. The err, bright green one is absinthe, it's completely harmless, unless you consider the slow poisoning of alcohol as harmful. Ten credits. This one," he says, holding up the copper bottle, "These are called Cytherian Salts, they'll heal you right up, but they have some... ah, funny side effects. Ten credits."

"My potions are too strong for you, adventurer." There is a momentary silence as the man before you gazes dead into your eyes, unblinking. Suddenly, he breaks into a grin with a short bark of laughter. "Hah! I wish I could've seen your face there! Seriously though, I have a whole bunch of... let's say officially discouraged merchandise. Come, take a look!" Green... is that the glass, or the contents? This one's red, definitely the glass. The contents of this one are viscous. Uhhhh... this one's... glowing. Ooh, sparkly! This one doesn't seem to like you very much. The world grows faint if you look at this one too long. This one has frosted glass... and toxic green contents. This one is in a copper bottle, why?

I want to test my idea for limited meditation, so I'll run one last fight between Azure and Black. Their stats will remain unchanged from last fight, which will give them both two uses of meditate per my formula. Otherwise the only rule change is that Eldrich Vigor will apply its bonus at the start of the fight. No pictures. Round one, Azure gets two successes to Black's one, so Azure goes first, moving to B3 (by the fountain). Instead of making an attack, they instead defend themselves. They will now roll four die net time they're attacked. Black in turn moves to D6 and attacks at long range. They're adjacent to the fountain, so Azure doesn't get the cover bonus. Black gets a pitiful two to Azure's five, but the defend is removed. Round two, initiative ties at two each, so we roll again. Shockingly, it ties again at one. The third roll gives Black the first go with two to one, so they move to G7 and use Transmuter's Advantage to make their armor kinetic. Clearly they remember the last fight. Azure in turn moves to D4, before moving to E5 and making a short range attack. They get three successes to Black's two, bringing Black down to seven vitality. Round three starts with a one-to-one tie. The second initiative roll gives Azure the first turn with one to nothing. Azure doesn't even need to spend movement, instead leaping to F6 as part of their attack. The first attack gets two successes, but Black's decision to activate Transmuter's Advantage results in two successes for them. Azure them makes their extra attacks, the first resulting in one to two, the second is also one to two. Black, pleased by this failure to do damage, runs to G4 and attacks Azure at a minus one penalty. It fails with one to two. Black wins round four initiative at three to two, and immediately rushes to F3 and attacks again. This fails at two to three. Azure does the logical thing and moves to F4, attacking three times. First is three to one, second is three to two, third is three to three. this leaves Black with five vitality. Initiative! Azure wins at one to nothing and immediately repeats their actions from last round. First attack is two to one, second is two to one, third is one to two. All in all, Black is now at two vitality. Black now moves to C1. If they were less hurt, they'd attack. As things are however, they decide to instead cast Shielding Ward on themselves, bringing themselves down to one spirit and adding three die to their next attack. Round six, Black goes first (two to one) and attacks. Black gets five successes to one, Azure is now at three vitality. Azure decides to move to D2, but instead of attacking decides to replicate Black's action, casting Shielding Ward on themselves and also reducing their spirit to one. Round seven, Azure wins initiative at two to nothing. They could heal themselves, but instead they decide to make Black's life miserable by attacking them repeatedly. First attack is three to six, and the second is four to six. This has the secondary effect of removing Shielding Ward in one round, meaning their final attack is two to one. Ouch! Black, now down to one vitality, moves to A4 and drinks a Plasma Potion. Amazingly, they roll six, bringing themselves up to seven vitality. Round eight, Black gets three to one in initiative and they immediately attack at long range. They get two to six, so no damage, but Azure also only has one ward left. Azure is the one on the back foot now, but not that much. Since they don't have enough Spirit for extra attacks, they spend their last spirit on Sustaining Healing. They roll five successes, restoring themselves to full! Initiative, Black goes first (three to two). They move to B6 and attack. With two to six, they do no damage, but they do knock off the last level of Warding Bond. Azure moves to A5, but instead of risking a single attack, they choose to use a meditate action. They get four successes, just enough to restore them to full! Round ten, Azure goes first, making three attacks. First is two to two, second is two to three, third is three to two. Black is now at six vitality. Black moves to E8 and decides to make Azure's life miserable, casting Pulling Point to drag Azure to A4. Azure is dealt four damage, bringing them down to three again and adding one die to Black's next attack. This also brings Black's spirit down to zero. In round eleven, Black gets two successes to Azure's none, going first. The ball is now in Black's court, they move to C6 and attack with a minus one penalty. It ties at three to three! Azure takes advantage of this kindness in moving closer to them, moving to B6 and attacking three times. The first is two to two, the second is three to two, the third is three to three. Black is now at five vitality. This round begins with Black going first (two to nothing) and moving to E6 to attack. The rest is an infuriating two to two, dealing no damage. Azure follows, moving to D6. But instead of simply attacking, Azure decides to do something very mean, casting Singeing Dose on their opponent. They get four successes, dealing one damage now and giving Black three rounds to prevent being brought down to one vitality. Black gets one to nothing this round, going first. As part of this gamble, they begin by moving to G5 (upper) and attempting to meditate. They get three successes, and wish they had used Nature to qualify for their class. Azure moves to F6. They then move to the vertical space below G5 (upper) and makes an attack. They get one to two, dealing no damage. They then move to F6 (upper) and attack again at three to one. They finish by moving to H5 (upper) and attacking again, getting four to two. This, along with the second activation of Singeing Dose, does a grand total of five damage, one more than Black's current vitality. Black is shoved off the balcony and has just enough time to bemoan not having healing light before the ground makes their acquaintance. Black's (failed) plan to survive Singeing Dose: Run away and meditate. If meditated to full, use transmuter's advantage to change armor to energy. If not, cast Warding Bond on self at highest possible level. Continue running. Move to optimal distance, attack, and use shield booster in case Azure survives.

As you arrive at the window, you see that the cook is handing the previous customer their order. "Here you go, one cheese with olives and anchovies." "Thank you, have a good day." As the man leaves, the vendor turns her attention to you: "Right, wadda you want?" she says, shoving a thin plastic menu into your hands. Menu Pizza: (Consumable) x4 uses, each use restores 2 Vitality, multiple uses may be spent as a single action. - 15 credits. Fizzi-Cola: (Consumable) +1 die to next initiative check, does not stack. - 5 credits. Dwarven Root Beer: (Consumable) +1 die to Melee Combat Checks and -1 to Ranged Combat Checks for next battle, does not stack. - 5 credits. Spellpop: (Consumable) +1 die to Spell Checks for next battle, does not stack. - 10 credits. Fizzi-Cola and Dwarven Root Beer were designed by Kintobor. Not allowing yourself to be distracted, you continue to scan for the swordsman... Decker Perception Check (DC 3 1): (2,2,4,5) Two successes. ...wait a minute, didn't the guy that was here before you have a sword? I'm not sure you can equip the rocketpack without armor, but I'll allow it until I receive information to the contrary. Of the vendors remaining, you have a choice between a carpet seller, a potion stall, and a bookseller. The carpet seller wasn't recommended, and you can't think of anything immediately useful from the book stall, so suspicious potions it is. "Yeeeessss, welcome. What are you searching for?" As he addresses you, you scan the crowd for the mysterious swordsman; Ronin Perception Check (DC 3): (1,5,5,1) Two successes. ...nope, not a sign of him.

@Endgame @Yzalirk "Thank you again, you have no idea how grateful I am. May you be drawn inwards." Moving out into the street again, you reassess the scene presented to you:

"Thank you, my name is Merol Soron. I know it's silly to worry about someone his age, but his friends are... distressingly irresponsible." He blinks in sudden realization. "Oh! I haven't told you what he looks like. He's about sixteen, slightly shorter than I am, and wears a black jacket, with zippers. Reminds me a little of myself at his age."

That would work. It's just that the idea of thematically connecting it with Vampirism and Violence and such made a lot of little wheels click in my head for some reason.

The following is a proposed replacement for the 'Eldrich Vigor' feature of the Battlemage class: Eldritch Bloodshed When you deal damage with an Offensive Combat Check, you regain Spirit = # damage dealt.

Entropic Mending's healing function is something I'm having trouble parsing. As far as I can tell, the effects of the spell are supposed to be temporary, but it says it restores '#Vitality per Minute (Combat Round)' which seems seems like it heals over the duration instead of providing vitality for the duration. So the healing function and the repair function work differently despite being the same spell. As for Healing Light, it's really difficult to think of a way to make it worse per se. It's already as unreliable as it can be safely made, and out-of-combat lower levels are more efficient than higher ones. Really the only thing I can think of is making the 0-Spirit version you came up with the lowest level of the spell and shifting the rest up, but that might be going too far. I know, but to be honest I just don't like the class anymore. With meditate, it's too powerful. Without, it's too weak. I don't really like it thematically either, it seems like a generic 'gish' class that exists simply for the purpose of filling an arbitrary niche.

I was still talking about the specific solution proposed (spell weapons), not about abstract ideas. As for support spells in general, You seem to be operating on the assumption that a caster will cast one spell and wait for the timer to run out before casting another. The rules don't really give any reason to act like this, and changing that would create long periods where spellcasters aren't casting spells. It can in fact be argued that there are very good reasons to pile on as many long-duration spells as possible in as short a time as possible (though this is something that ought to be limited somehow considering how the Battlemage abused this in my first test battle). The point I'm trying to make about healing light is that it's such an important spell that it supersedes a lot of other spells in importance - the same goes for warding bond and illusory clone - thus, people are more likely to keep spirit in reserve to cast it instead of casting other spells. And people don't really have a lot of spirit to spend to begin with. Without some leeway in the amount they can spend, people are strongly incentivized to only ever cast a few of the 'best' spells and leave the rest untouched. I want to make it clear, I don't want some shiny free ability for support casters, I don't want free spell abilities at all. I'm simply trying to point out that this would be perceived and unfairly favoring a certain playstyle even if it isn't. And honestly, slapping on a special case rule to fix a wonky balance issue rather than trying to make a consistent system seems slapdash. Firstly, see above sentence re. special case rules. Second: a Special Action? As in, something they can do every round at no cost? Skipping over that, we're still left with the question of what it's replacing. As a special action (why) it could replace Empowered Strike (the feature that encourages it to spend spirit in the first place) or Eldrich Vigor (which was intended to allow for more survivability for a non-strength combat class). If we keep it an action then the only thing it can replace is Transmuter's Advantage. TA is probably a bit overpowered anyway, but... it doesn't feel right. It raises the question of why 'meditate' is a feature of the Eldrich Knight class instead of the Kung-Fu Monk class.

That's because that's how the MA was intended to work. The Battlemage on the other hand was intended for a more dynamic playstyle that made heavy use of meditation. Without it it doesn't really function as intended. As someone who plays a support caster, I don't want a feature that effectively forces me to occupy a niche I don't want, and it feels unfair that attack casters get a shiny free toy for their palystyle while support casters don't. Also, I don't really agree with the assessment that support casters aren't as badly impacted by the lack of meditate. I can't exactly explain why this is, I think it has something to do with the fact the the spell I use the most is Healing Light, and I really need to have spirit on hand at all times in case I need to cast it. Other spells can reduce damage for a single ally, but that leaves everyone else. Even with Meditate I did most of my combat healing with potions, because meditate costs an extra action that I might not be able to afford in a pinch.

We begin round one with our combatants in the same position as last time. Rolling for initiative, the extra velocity proves decisive for Black, giving them two successes to Azure's one. Black, now able to move farther, runs to G8 and hides behind a pillar. Too far away to attack effectively, they instead choose to Defend themselves. Azure then moves to E3, before charging to F4 as part of a short range attack. The calibrated weapon cancels out the light obscurement of the pillar, but the range penalty is still -2. The roll fails anyway, but hitting wasn't the point. As a bonus, it removes Black's defend (which rolled three successes by-the-by). Round two, Azure has only one success to Black's two, so Black goes first again. Unable to move out of Azure's movement range, Black instead shifts to D7 and attacks at long range. the rolls and bonuses give us two to Azure's three, so Azure takes no damage. Azure than returns the favor, moving to D6 and making three unarmed attacks. The first gets four successes to two, the second three to one, and the third three to one, dealing a grand total of 6 kinetic damage and bringing Black down to two vitality. Black is probably regretting not using Transmuter's Advantage last round. Round three, initiative ties, roll again. Black gets two to one, so they go first. Black is now in a horrible position, the only option they have is to run back to G8 and drink their plasma potion. This brings them up to five vitality, will this save them? Azure doesn't think so, moving to F8 and unleashing a blistering series of attacks. The first is two to nothing, the second is nothing to one (swingy much?), the third is two to one, running out to three damage, and Black is down to two Vitality again. Guess that plasma potion wasn't a good investment. Round four, initiative is now three to nothing in Black's favor. Black, climbs up the balcony to H7 (upper) and casts Interposing Ward, leaving them with three Spirit... and one vitality. This is where a problem with Eldrich Vigor appears, without healing or meditation, Black can't use most of their powerful defensive options in this situation without killing themselves. It might be better to have Eldrich Vigor apply at the start of a battle rather than remaining dynamic throughout. Anyway, Azure is having none of this cowardice, and wants revenge for last time. Running up the pillar, they reach G7 (upper) without difficulty and unleash another series of blistering attacks. Their three successes (and Black's two) are negated by the ward, But Black can see the future, and knows that the next attack will be at two successes to Black's one. So they surrender without further resistance. Well, Black made a foolish misstep by not using transmuter's advantage to start with, which would've allowed them to benifit from a use of the shield booster in the second round. I think the fear was that Azure would use Sickening Radiance in the first round. Still, having enough Vitality and shield bonuses would likely only delayed the final result. With increased Spirit and both combatants unwilling to cast their limited spells, the ball was firmly in Azure's court.

I've decided that I'm not really satisfied with the fight I ran, so I'm going to run it again, but with a few changes. Since the last one was to test how the classes worked with meditate, I'll be running this one under the assumption that there is no meditate action. I'll also be altering the stats of the two combatants to better optimize them for this fight. First, the Martial Artist: AzureVitality: 7Velocity: 2Strength: 4Skill: 2Smarts: 1Spirit: 4Spells: Healing Light, Photonic Modulation, Sickening Radiance, Warding BondProficiencies: Acrobatics 1, Religion 5, Short Range 1Equipment: Calibrated Kinetic Short Range, Standard Elemental ArmorInventory: Plasma Potion To start with, the two points in Velocity have been moved to Skill, which keeps their speed the same, but improves defense. Then Religion and Acrobatics switch places for better spell performance, and the two points now invested in acrobatics are moved again to Spirit. This adds an additional spell and a second extra attack at full. Quantum Transposition was never used, so it's removed and replaced with a ranged attack spell for emergencies, and a defensive spell for impeding Black's ranged attack. Now for the Battlemage: BlackVitality: 6+2Velocity: 3Strength: 2Skill: 2Smarts: 2Spirit: 4Spells: Gravity Sink, Illusory Clone, Velocity Amplification, Warding BondProficiencies: Arcana 5, Deception 1, Long Range 2, Stealth 1Equipment: Standard Elemental Long Range, Standard Energy ArmorInventory: Shield Booster, Plasma Potion This is much less in-depth, since Black was already supremely effective. All I did was correct the Velocity and replace the unused Gravimetric Propulsion with an emergency melee spell. This fight will take place on the same grid as last time, and all the rules are the same. To reduce the work, i'll be reusing rolls from the last fight in the order that they occurred. I'll also be taking no pictures this time, so I hope I can describe it all clearly.

The priest gives you a searching glance for a moment, but seems to decide you're being sincere after a moment's contemplation. "That... does not sound good. I do not think I can give you anything to counteract memory altering powers, but... One moment." The priest disappears behind the doors of the temple for a moment, before just as swiftly returning. "Here, take these. It's dangerous to hunt the forces of darkness alone. May the wisdom of the Ranagapari defend you from corruption." Holy Candle x2: (Consumable) Prevents Unholy enemies from entering a space adjacent to the user for 3 turns. As he speaks to you, you feel a strange energy in the air. Like some ward, preserving you from harm. As this happens, the priest clears his throat uncomfortably. "I... do not want to impose on you, but can you do me a favor? My son, Neros Solon, he hasn't been home for a few days. This isn't unusual, his friends tend to... encourage that sort of behavior. But it makes me worry about him... especially now, with all you've told me. If you run across him, could you please tell him to come home? I don't want to impose, or distract you from your quest, but..." he trails off, clearly distressed by his subject.

"Uhhh... wow. That's... that's a lot to just walk up and say to someone." He shakes his head as if to clear it. "I'm sorry, can you tell me more about this demon you're hunting?"

@Waterbrick Down I think the thing I really object to about this is that both options seem to go against the issue that prompted the discussion in the first place. If casters have too many spell uses available, giving them free spells (even if they are weak) just brings us back to the same problem. And as for 'magic weapons', I don't like it because A: it deviates from the design we established for weapons (a system full of situational exceptions is against the design principle of simplicity and ease of use we've been trying to keep to), B: It adds additional power to attributes that already have a lot of power from a mechanically involved subsystem, and C: It breaks immersion. (In more complex terms, if weapons and spells are mechanically distinct things, then shooting a gun simply does not feel the same as casting a spell, no matter how you flavor it. It creates questions such as 'why does this immaterial object take up space in my inventory' 'why doesn't this cost spirit' 'why don't I need a spell slot for this'. There are probably people who can reconcile this in their minds and want a weapon that is flavored as a spell, but in that case they can just use an existing weapon type. And how are players supposed to get access to this anyway? Do they have to buy it? Does it come in a starting kit? Do they get it free with their first point of spirit?) There is also the issue that this really only benefits people who see spellcasters are ranged damage dealers first and foremost. As someone who plays a spellcaster and actively avoids taking damage-dealing spells because they don't fit the character I'm playing, I object to this strenuously.

@Endgame @Yzalirk There's no difficulty in finding the temple, it's directly across the street after all. You and Vinoq bid each other brief farewells before you make your way across the street to the temple doors - and the person standing before them. "Greetings, travelers. What brings you to this place?" What on Ebria are you going to say?

"Unfortunately I can't answer that question. What little I know about him is based on inference, and since his movements are near impossible to track it would be a tall order to associate him with any specific individuals. Most of the crimes he's involved in seem to be carried out by people with whom he had no contact prior to the... incidents." "I believe they have a lodge off Starbright Street, but that's up a whole level and could take hours." He stops for a moment, shifting his arms into a new position. "I don't want to dictate your next actions to you, but there are several courses you could take; to start with, several of the vendors on this street, namely the potion seller, pizzeria, and bookseller, all have wares that you could use. The priest of that temple could also be persuaded to give you some form of blessing if he's told of your mission, and there's a wandering swordsman who comes around here sometimes, though he'll probably want to challenge you, Ronin, to a duel - to 'test your skills' or some nonsense." He sighs and shifts position again. "I don't know the details of how your organization operates, but asking for backup doesn't sound unreasonable, though your employer might have to be informed somehow. And... well, you could go to the local police, but you'd likely need more evidence than hearsay, or perhaps some nice blackmail." There's a momentary pause. "I'll give this to you for free, but I'll expect you to return after this is all finished to tell me how this all went down; Grey and Brown Shipping is officially a small shipping company. Unofficially it's a front for Flatfoot Thompson's lates criminal endeavor - smuggling. Thompson is sort of famous for being willing to engage in pretty much anything criminal, and the Space Police have a warrant out for his arrest on an increasingly long list of charges. Now, the chief of police of this precinct has been seen having meetings with one Ted Wilson, supposedly a clark for Grey and Brown. The police chief is almost certainly taking bribes to cover up Thompson's doings. It's likely he thinks the disappearances are connected to Thompson somehow, or that investigating would involve accidentally breaking the agreement." "And of course, you could simply continue investigating, either in the sewers, the Grey and Brown warehouse, or the apartment building where Kampf and Machen both had rooms. Any of these could provide evidence to convince the police to act, or conversely might be easier with the police's authority." He clasps his hands together - two behind his back, the rest in front. "I'm curious Heroes, what will you do?"

No. Aside from making the whole weapon/armor type rock-paper-scissors more complicated (something that was explicitly minimized when designing the system) and creating a question of why spells don't use this special damage type, damage dealing isn't really the main draw of spellcasting to begin with. You can deal damage with anything, including yourself, and I'm not keen on allowing weapons with unlimited range back into the game to solve a problem I'm not even sure exists. Frankly, magic users will fell like magic users because they use magic, not because of how magic is balanced. (Examined objectively, the balance of this idea is a mess to begin with. To start with, if there is no corresponding armor type, then they'd be the best weapons in the game simply because they would completely bypass the guaranteed armor successes and range penalties that do the majority of damage reduction. If there is a corresponding armor type, then the above holds true except when that armor is in play, in which case those guaranteed successes are going to have a seriously detrimental effect on their ability to deal damage.) Well we're going to have to commit to something at some point, rather than dithering about how this or that isn't quite satisfactory. I suggested limited meditations per rest because it seemed a logical way to limit access to spirit while still allowing spells to be cast with relative consistency. You say it seems hard to remember, but honestly I don't agree. Having half your casting attribute in meditations per rest seems fairly easy to keep track of for a player, and MM's would have no requirement to track it themselves anyway.

Vinoq sweeps up the credits and listens in silence as you recount your previous experiences. "Hmmm... I'm not sure how useful this little piece of corporate blackmail is, I don't usually deal with executive types... There is a reporter I know, I might be able to convince him to drop some other stories my main clientele would find awkward in return for this scoop. Very well, I'll take it." He shifts his arms again, settling into a new position. "Let's start with the sixth man, Avery Mann to be precise. His presence was absurdly hard to confirm - or guess rather, I still can't pin him for certain - I wouldn't have known he was on station at all if wanted posters for him hadn't been popping up recently. Avery is a ghost, he often appears in connection to strange events of an unpleasant character, including multiple crimes with no clear motive. His role in events is always murky at best, and people often have difficulty describing him - if they even remember he was present to begin with. All descriptions of him are exceedingly generic, with no distinct identifiers aside from name - and even that can be obscured by one of his pseudonyms, Norm Pearson, Stan Guy, and others no-one knows about." He makes an uncomfortable sound that might be a cough. "It's not just his face that people have difficulty with, no-one has ever been able to clearly remember a conversation with him, even when witnesses attest to have spoken to him at great length. People he doesn't interact with don't seem to remember him at all, and even knowing his name or appearance doesn't seem to help people recognize him. The only thing that the police have been able to established with any consistency is that his presence often seems to coincide with acts of... ritualized murder." There is another shift, you get the sense of a distinct discomfort with this topic. "As for Machen, that is somewhat more mundane - somewhat. After asking around with my usual contacts I was able to discover that he had moved into an apartment in Kampf's former building shortly after the latter disappeared. Clearly part of his following the man. Further digging was barely able to tun up his name on the æthernet in relation to ...Avery Mann. It appears that our elusive friend was his true target. After connecting the two, I had a hunch to check the membership roll of a certain organization that specializes in hunting ritual murderers and suchlike." He lifts of slightly, seemingly preening himself in pleasure over his deduction. "I discovered that 'Machen' is, in fact, a pseudonym used by Investigators from the Thaumaturgic Society."

Well then, the simplest thing seems to do would be to say that you regain 1+successes.

This, I think, what I was pushing for. To be honest, they do feel more like class abilities. I do want to preserve some degree of randomness and uncertainty to the process though. Simply giving back all or half automatically would probably be best reserved for moments where the party has an extended period without significant risk - so yes, this would be at the MM's discretion. I feel that regaining Spirit during rests could simply work as meditate does now for the most part, but Vitality should probably roll an attribute instead of a proficiency, simply because it's more universal. I'd be fine with letting people assist Vitality recovery with Medicine, Survival, or some other appropriate attributes.

"What you have said is... difficult to parse. It's something of an intersection between theology and necessity. You see, while it would be nice to live in a word where those who choose not to own things can get by, the one we live in requires us to pay our way for the whole journey. While in a sense I agree that one cannot expect to get more out of life than one puts into it, it would be more convenient if everyone was a shade kinder." Decker Persuasion Check (DC 5 1 [secretly depressed, earnest inquiry]): (5,5,3) two successes. For once, the tone of his voice seems genuine, dropping the sly, mocking timbre for something more world-weary. "If you want to get technical about it, the Sect I belong too is disbarred from buying and selling goods, and from owning anything other than what is necessary for survival. The money I take is considered in the latter category, as I need it to buy food and maintain this suit. Otherwise I would suffocate in this low pressure. And being a power broker on this station has... other benefits, even for an ascetic. Frankly I enjoy being smug." He gestures across the way, the forcefulness of his motion betraying and internal anger at himself for admitting all this. "I do donate to the temple over there if I take in more than I can justify, but money buys my services only when I have need or when other payment is unavailable." "Anything I can sell, frankly." You seem to have prompted him to drop the dissemination, at least for the moment. "Useful information I can use to maintain my reputation as a purveyor of knowledge, so I don't become fair prey to street gangs and the like."