Date:          13 Jun 97 15:29:46 EDT
From:          "S.D. Anderson" <102250.1425@compuserve.com>
Subject:       Mental Maneuvering

   A couple years back, I posted an article to rgfg about making elixirs 
maneuvers of the alchemy skill.

   The system had a serious drawback: Learn 2 separate maneuves and it cost as 
much to advance them as it would to advance the alchemy skill and advance all 
maneuvers together.  
Improve more than 2 and you would be LOSING points for all intents and 
purposes. 

   This is a drawback to the maneuver system.  If you have 4 or more karate 
based maneuvers, you're better off improving the skill instead of the maneuvers 
once you pay 2 pts per level to improve them.  

   Most Martial styles have enough primary skills to keep this from really 
occuring, but in the case of elixirs and the sole skill of Alchemy, it leaps 
out real fast.  

   The difference is that the maneuver system was designed for physical skills. 


The guiding principle for maneuvers is that it is cheaper to build up a 
maneuver than a skill.  This is not the case with ME MA and MH skills.  The 
same basic progression scheme is in effect.  

   The solution: Mental Maneuvers classed as Standard and Easy.  

Default                Easy                         Standard
+1                      .5                             1
+2                      1                              2
+3                      2                              3
+4                      3                              4
   
   And +1 CP per additional level.

   Easy Maneuvers should usually be based off of ME skills.  Perhaps a few MA 
skills might have Easy Maneuvers, but generally they should have Standard 
Maneuvers.  Anyone who can justify an easy Maneuver from hard or very hard 
skills could likely sell a den of cobras a pet mongoose.  In short, it 
shouldn't be allowed for the harder skills.

   Example:  Specific Region (Easy) Defaults to area Knowledge.  
Prerequisite: Area Knowledge.  A  character who has AK: NYC could put points 
into SAK: Queens and thus have BETTER overall knowledge of the Queens specific 
region than the rest of New York, NY.  It still becomes cost effective to buy 
the skill if you want to know more than one specific region, but at least you 
CAN have a character who knows Queens better than NYC as a whole as opposed to 
say having AK NYC at IQ +1, spending half a point to become better familiar 
with the specific region and knowing it at IQ MINUS 1.