[HoE] The test of time

["Casey McGirt" <cmcgirt@hotmail.com>]

toadpooka@usa.net said:
>> Besides this being a blatant display of minmaxing (which I don't mean 
any offense by; it has its time and place, and this is no worse than any 
else), there's only one big flaw in your logic (well, two, sorta). <<
True, it does milk a Blessed for effectiveness.  However, depending on 
your HoE GM, that may be required to have the character last more than a 
session.   In HoE, the weapons do more damage, Abominations are tougher, 
and yet the 'defenses' (armor, Guts, etc.) aren't significantly greater 
than in Deadlands.  And, unlike Deadlands, the supernatural horrors 
aren't really concerned with keeping their existence secret from the 
general populace.  Now, if your HoE game is one where a Savage using 
hubcaps is an effective character, then minmaxing isn't needed (and 
probably not wanted, either).

>> The first, you state below that only Blessed need to worry about 
Sinnin' their powers away.  Any character with Faith can lose it by 
sinning, thus Templars still need to roll when they sin (I may possibly 
be incorrect in this, so I give full rights to Shane to beat me down for 
saying that). <<
HoE is a separate game, and though a lot of things are shared with 
Deadlands, we've seen the rules change more than once between the two 
games.  I suspect Faith isn't enforced for non-Blessed the way it is in 
Deadlands.

>> The second, which was in the Wasted West, was that the "good forces" 
out there couldn't "cheat" by giving their followers help for nothing.  
Allah can't come down and interfere any more than He already is by 
allowing Blessed to exist, no matter what the Reckoners are doing. 
However, the end result of your argument could be achieved by saying 
that the enhanced supernatural influence is gained similarly to the 
reason anyone can count coup now. <<
Agreed.  I think comparing Blessed to Templar is very interesting, when 
you look at the game setting.  They're really two different ways of 
approaching the same problem.  You can save humanity by being the 
champion of those who deserve saving, or you can inspire humanity so 
they will rise up and save themselves.  Actually, Blessed and Templars  
should ideally do both...Templars just focus more on the former, while 
Blessed focus more on the latter.

While I like Templars, I do have one problem with them.  I see no reason 
for them to exist other than 'we needed a new character class'.  Blessed 
could fufill their role fairly well as written, and perfectly with just 
a few modifications.  Furthermore, it seems odd that even Atheists can 
be Templars.  The only way I can see that justified is that Simon is a 
sort of proxy between the Templars and the 'Patron', with the Templars 
believing in Simon.

As I mentioned before, HoE is Deadlands with a significantly-increased 
power level.  Gunslingers are tougher, since the equipment is better.  
All the supernatural powers are, with few exceptions, reliable - nothing 
on the order of a MS gadget or huckster draw.  And, once the Templar 
book comes out, I think they'll have all the perks of the Blessed with 
less of the moral restrictions.  I guess when humanity is at the brink 
of destruction, those minor lapses just aren't that important in the 
grand scheme of things.

Perhaps sometime in the future, if the powers that be don't tackle the 
issue, I'll work on something for the list that 'upgrades' the old 
character types to the HoE level (something on the order of what I 
suggested in my previous email).  We'll see what happens...work has been 
rather busy, lately, as you can see from the lateness of my reply.

-Casey

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