Faerie Size

RoP:F, page 49 (or 51 after errata :stuck_out_tongue:) has the following line for faeries with Size +3 or more:

Extrapolating from the other entries I gather that the latter two are plain characteristic modifiers that you don't have to "select" but simply get "for free", but what about the "(Size−1) times" entry? Guess it's missing a comma to begin with. Is that supposed to mean that you have to select Huge (a Major Virtue) twice to gain Size +3?

... actually seems to be the case, given the stats of Size +3 centaurs on RoP:F, page 76 (78 respectively). Daaamn, that's expensive...

If you think its too expensive, talk to your troupe and negotiate. See if they agree.

The costs run like this

Size - Cost
+1 - 1 Minor Virtue
+2 - 3 Minor Virtues (1 major is three minors)
+3 - 6 Minor Virtues

You might argue with your troupe that 2 minors is enough. (I assume you don't want the +2 to +3 step to be cheaper than the +1 to +2 step?). I'd argue though that the added wound level breadth you get going from +2 to +3 is worth far more than what you get going from +1 to +2.

Basically by being a giant (Size +3 is between 10 and 13 feet tall if you are humanoid), you are substanitally diminishing the penalties for any damage you recieve. Your light wound range goes from 1-5 to 1-8, which sounds like its nothing much, but the layers are additive, so that a fatal hit on someone else (21) is just a heavy wound on you, and the person needs to scrape together another +12 to off you in a a single hit. That's just shy of an added Pilum of Fire, and it's really hard to see how a human can muster that. Sure he could wear you down with lesser injuries, but in any long running combat it means you can trade your enemy blow for blow, and he'll keep getting medium wounds while you get light ones, so he death spirals far faster than you. And if both of you have the same armor, because you are so high above the curve, yours does you far more good.

Being a giant makes you a wound-soaking monster, because it makes the death spiral mechnanic work in your favour pretty much every time you fight someone. That's rare for PCs.

Well, actually I'm going about this as the Storyguide with a notion of balance on my mind. :wink:

Sorry, how do you mean?

The issue came up in our saga too -- briefly, because a player was interested in playing a Faerie dragon. He eventually went for a holy knight (somewhat ironic), however. So, although we all agreed that the current price is (far) too high, we did not spend much time to argue and reach a consensus about the exact price.

The "strictest" view at our table was that the Virtue Large could be taken multiple times, each adding +1 to Size (so a Size +7 character would need to spend seven virtue points). The most "generous" view was that Size could be chosen freely, at no cost (with the usual effects on characteristics and derived stats).

The are several reasons I strongly disagree with Timothy Ferguson's analysis.

The first is that being a "soak monster" is not such a huge boon in terms of combat. Which is a deadlier opponent: a +3 Size character (who had to take the Major Virtue Huge twice), or a Mercenary Captain (a mere Minor Virtue) commanding half a score well trained warriors? This is even more true for Faeries, that can easily heal wounds and even recover from death.

The second is that being really large is not such a huge boon in terms of overall "story power". While it does provide a boost to combat and also allows one to do other interesting stuff (e.g. lift things that a normal human couldn't) it pales in comparison to what many other Virtues and/or a little Hermetic magic could do for a much lower "price".

Lastly, being really large has very, very serious disadvantages as well. You stand out (literally!). If you are humanoid, you need custom clothing, weapons, and such. You can't enter many places. Although immensely strong and tough, you are also pretty slow and easy to hit.

A humanoid faeries doesn't need custom gear: the accoutrements of faeries are made out of glamor.

As I said, if it doesn;t suit you, pick another price. A can see 1 Minor per size, but it does quite quickly get the the point where only magi can kill your character.

Sure, but it means they can't use gear made for folks of "normal" size -- including that excellent quality sword or that magical armor.

Mmmm, I'm not sure I agree with this either. At which size would you claim that this gets you to the point where only magi can kill your character? Because it seems you need a whole lot of virtue points before you can outcompete a well trained team of half a dozen grogs.