Costs ER as a Cost Reduction

My greatest frustration with 'costs FP' is that it reduces a set percentage of the ability cost, no matter how large or how small. This makes spending the FP for cheap abilities, like a minor attack, almost prohibitive in cost, while costs FP on something like jumper is nearly a point crock, particularly if you have lots of points to spend on an energy reserve. A lot of attention is placed on how small of a discount costs FP gives in the first place, but the real issue is that costs FP doesn't care about how many points the ability cost in the first place.

For example, Sardon half-demon has 3 levels of telescopic vision, but he has to draw on his unholy power to use them. This costs 3 ER. Sardon's ability is Telescopic Vision 3 (costs 3 FP per minute -15%) [13]. He only saved 2 points on this ability, which normally costs 15 character points. And he has to pay 3 FP each time he uses an ability he paid almost full price for. Elidoran the elf can slip between worlds, but it costs him 1 FP. His Jumper (costs 1 FP -5%) [95] is a solid 5 points under what he would have paid without spending FP. Is that price wrong? probably not, but Elidoran gets a 5 CP discount from spending 1 fatigue point while Sardon got a 2 point discount from spending 3 fatigue points. Its not worth it for Sardon. Why? because FP cost CP. Sardon's player and the fluff would like to just buy more ER to reflect growing closer to his demon roots. but it costs more to buy a single point of ER than to remove the limitation on telescopic vision.

This is a limitation on player concepts. They are told what they want to do is expensive, when it really shouldn't be. Its not about munchkinry, its about making wizards limited mainly by the energy pool viable.

Having identified this problem, I will now fix it:

The Rule

In this variant, costs FP reduces the price of the ability. The exact discount given depends on how long the ability lasts for. Multiply the amount given by the number of FP (or HP, or ER, or whatever). This is your discount.

Recharge time is calculated by the amount of time needed to regain what you spent. If you can immediately start regenerating your FP (or whatever), use the time needed to recover from a single 'use'. If you cannot regenerate until you stop using the ability, use the time needed to recharge from taking your pool all the way to 'empty'.

	1 second recharge	10 second recharge	1 minute recharge	10 minute recharge	1 hour recharge	12 hour recharge	3 day recharge
1 second use	[3]	[5]	[7]	[10]	[15]	[20]	[30]
10 second use	[2]	[3]	[5]	[7]	[10]	[15]	[20]
1 minute use	[1.5]	[2]	[3]	[5]	[7]	[10]	[15]
10 minute use	[1]	[1.5]	[2]	[3]	[5]	[7]	[10]
1 hour use		[1]	[1.5]	[2]	[3]	[5]	[7]

1 second recharge	FP with extreme regeneration, HP* with very fast regeneration
10 second recharge	Action Points (The last Gasp), FP with very fast regeneration
1 minute recharge	HP* with fast regeneration
10 minute recharge	FP or ER (can recharge while in use)
1 hour recharge	FP (wait till stopped to recharge), 1-30 ER (wait till stopped to recharge), HP with fast reg, HP* with regular regeneration
12 hour recharge	FP (Last Gasp), HP* (setting with reliable healing), 100 ER (wait till stopped to recharge),
3 day recharge	HP* (setting with gritty healing)

* HP are shown using the column one less than their actual recharge time, because they cost one step less

The discount is subtracted from the point total. This cannot reduce the ability below 1/5th, however. Unless specified, spent FP cannot be recovered while the ability is active. While the numbers for more time than recharge are given, it is not recommended that they be used.

This system doesn't acknowledge the existence of  'uses'. In most cases, an FP cost per 'use' just means a one second use time. There are exceptions: Jumper would require 10 seconds.

If you wish to  purchase faster regenerating ER only usable to power your ability (not stunts or extra effort!), you may do so without purchasing regeneration-- the point costs are balanced out in the table above.

Examples

Jack the Illusionist can turn himself invisible. He has to pay 3 FP for every minute that he remains invisible. He has Invisibility (switchable +10%, costs 3 FP per minute [3*7=21]) [50-21=29]

Henery Phelson can read the minds of others, but only briefly, and its exhausting. He pays 3 FP for 10 seconds of peering into a mind. Mind Probe (psi -10%, costs 3 FP per 10 seconds [3*10 =30])[18-30 =0 -> use 18/5=4]  

Sardon the Half Demon has telescopic vision, but he must call upon his demon nature to do so. He pays 2 ER for 1 minute of  telescopic vision. This is one of our examples from above. His Friendly neighborhood argued him down from 3 ER based on it being over-payment shown on points. 2 ER is pretty close. He spends enough ER that he hits the 4/5th's limit and must pay for at least 1/5th of his ability. Instead of most of it. Now Sardon can have a wide repertoire of inhuman stunts and improve his power primarily by improving his energy reserve size. Note that the 1/5th limit is based on the cost of the ability after modifiers are applied. Telescopic Vision (half-demon -10%, costs 2FP for 1 minute [2*7=15])[13-14=0 -> 13/5 =3]

Super-Cape can fly, even traveling long distances. But doing so is tiring, and costs 2 FP per hour. Its worth noting that Super-Cape cannot regain any FP used to fly while she is still flying -- if she flies for 2 hours, she will be down 4 FP because she can't regain them while flying. Flight (super power -10%, 2 FP per hour [2*3=6]) [36-6=30] 

Zerribuchus the fire mage must has 10 ER that return to him at the rate of 1/second (10 seconds total). He must spend one to throw a fireball. He must still pay for 1/5th of the cost of the ability. He pays [3] for each ER in a set that takes 10 seconds to recharge, and cannot use it for stunts. Its cheaper for him to just buy the full ability (because he had to purchase ER), but if he gets other abilities, he can add to his power set rather cheaply. Innate attack 1d burning (costs 1 ER per second -5) [5-5=0->5/5=1]

Vaea the Spirit Walker can travel between worlds, but at great physical harm to himself, spending HP.  Jumper (world, 10 minute immediate preparation required -45%, 5 HP per 10 minutes -35) [55-35 = 20]

Explanation (under the hood)

An ability that lasts for an hour gets a 3 point discount -- the cost of the FP and the amount of time it will take to regain it. Yes, it takes an hour or more to regain all of your FP. The effect is similar to that of an alternate ability: you no longer have your FP, which is usable for all sorts of wonderful things like extra effort, power stunts, and keeping you upright.The increased points for shorter amounts of time reflects that you have to wait longer to regain the ability: if you burn through all your FP in 10 seconds, you've got to wait 10 minutes before you even get one FP back -- so its not really a one-to-one alternative ability. I freely admit to assigning the numbers as I saw fit. I'm copying the feel and sequences of existing rules rather than basing that on RAW.

This method of pricing relies on 1 hour recharge time (roughly) for FP to be balanced. This is usually true, all things considered. Yes, it may take 3 hours if you have 13 FP and 4 ER, but compared to 10 minutes and 12 hours, that's pretty close. And most people don't like to spend more than 7 FP because you start taking penalties. The same logic was used to expand the system to using HP and other systems.

The single use rule was considered because recovering as you fight is a classic ability, and reminiscent of the mana bar from so many video games. Its substantially more powerful, and the rules reflect that.

Leech works perfectly fine within the framework of these rules. Healing magic and potions are likely to be balanced, though in extreme cases GM's should recalculate the values.

The guy who paid for very fast FP regeneration may be feeling left out at this point. "But I paid 100 points to get that FP per second! Doesn't that count for something!" Yes, it counts for something. If lets you use Extra effort in combat every other turn or so. It lets you run others into the ground. It lets you perform power stunts on a regular basis. But it doesn't let you get huge but eventually meaningless discounts on abilities -- which the current rules allow. And if all you're using it for is powering abilities, you should buy the ER and just say it regenerates that fast. And buy a lot of it. And realize how much you could have been doing with the 100 points.

Conclusion

 I am happy with how this worked out, and how simple it turned out (the first draft was a mess). Much of this was because I didn't cover special recharge limitations on FP/ER. That part of the system is still quite rough, if quite awesome (at least I think its awesome).

This system was in large part inspired by an attempt to make the power system be able to imitate the spell system used in standard magic, but keeping the strengths of both. I'm particularly interested in feed back on this idea.

I hope you all enjoy this and find the concept liberating!