Feruchemical starting charge

[zthumser]

I apologize if this has been stated and I've just missed it, but when a new character with Feruchemy is created, do their metalminds start with any charges?  (i.e. Feruchemy rating x N charges, divided across the character's metalminds at the player's discretion)
Obviously, when a feruchemist first realizes their powers, their metalminds are all empty, because they can't use others', that isn't the question.  But new characters represent experienced heroes, and it does seem reasonable that they would have something banked.  After all, Sazed started the first book with years of strength stored, speed, wakefulness, senses, healing, and I don't know how many hundreds of charges of copper, representing the entire library that all Keepers are expected to know.  Now he may not be a perfect yardstick to compare starting characters to, but the same idea applies.

In fact, sub-question: If all Keepers are expected to have the same primary Keeper library in their copperminds as part of their Keeper training, how many charges is that?  Didn't Sazed need something like 2-4 large bracers to hold it all?

[Skywalker]

I would at least allow the Feruchemist PC to start with 30 x Rating, the same as after a Long Breather. My impression is that this is meant to represent the standard number of charges taking into account every dayusage.

[Crafty_Pat]

Entirely depends on the Hero and the story, though I would be very cautious about starting with more than a couple dozen or so. As in the books, Feruchemy is very powerful and it's only real balancing factor is time spent in a state of weakness. (There's also the fact that metalminds can be stolen, but really, how often is that going to happen?)

So yeah, proceed with extreme caution.

[zthumser]

I think a couple dozen sounds awfully stingy.  I know it's powerful, but consider that every Long Breather gives you 30 x rating, so that's 90 charges for a new character.  Every single time you come out of a long breather you get 90 free charges, so the assumption is that every time you sit down to start an adventure, you'll have a minimum of 90, in addition to anything you might have left over and anything you store during the adventure.
If 90+ is going to be the minimum guaranteed after each long breather, and most adventures will probably be separated by one, then it seems to me the first adventure should probably use the same value.

[Skywalker]

I think a couple dozen sounds awfully stingy.  I know it's powerful, but consider that every Long Breather gives you 30 x rating, so that's 90 charges for a new character.  Every single time you come out of a long breather you get 90 free charges, so the assumption is that every time you sit down to start an adventure, you'll have a minimum of 90, in addition to anything you might have left over and anything you store during the adventure.
If 90+ is going to be the minimum guaranteed after each long breather, and most adventures will probably be separated by one, then it seems to me the first adventure should probably use the same value.

Whilst I agree, I note that a Long Breather is meant to happen every 2 or 3 sessions. It's the Short Breather that is meant to occur every session.

[zthumser]

Perhaps, but I really dislike the use of the "session" as the metric for how often things occur.  Some groups play for 2-3 hours at a time and might spend an entire session on one or two encounters, spending several sessions to accomplish one scheme.  Another group may play for 14 hours and finish two entire schemes in that time.  Another group may play-by-post, and the entire concept of sessions is meaningless.  "Sessions" are, in my opinion, a terrible way of measuring time.  I think that game pacing should be handled by the in-game clock, or in units of "schemes", not sessions.

[MistbornDave]

It is your game, allow how many ever you'd like starting out.

[Skywalker]

Perhaps, but I really dislike the use of the "session" as the metric for how often things occur.  Some groups play for 2-3 hours at a time and might spend an entire session on one or two encounters, spending several sessions to accomplish one scheme.  Another group may play for 14 hours and finish two entire schemes in that time.  Another group may play-by-post, and the entire concept of sessions is meaningless.  "Sessions" are, in my opinion, a terrible way of measuring time.  I think that game pacing should be handled by the in-game clock, or in units of "schemes", not sessions.

Agree. I was just referring to the default assumed pacing as you were when you said one long breather a session.

[ancientcampus]

Thanks for asking this! I haven't been able to find it anywhere in the books, either. Could we get an official recommendation on where to start? "1 long breather's worth" makes sense, though a long breather can often max a metalmind.

I agree that it depends on a character and a story, but I can already ignore rules and "do what I think best" on my own, and getting "party line" rules is the reason to buy the book in the first place.

[Skywalker]

Thanks for asking this! I haven't been able to find it anywhere in the books, either. Could we get an official recommendation on where to start? "1 long breather's worth" makes sense, though a long breather can often max a metalmind.

I agree that it depends on a character and a story, but I can already ignore rules and "do what I think best" on my own, and getting "party line" rules is the reason to buy the book in the first place.

Crafty Pat above is about as official as you can get

In terms of maxing out with a long breather, be mindful that this is likely to happen in the first few sessions in any case, given default pacing, so reducing starting charges will only have a temporary effect.

[Aminar]

I started my Feruchemist with 20 in each.  That worked out well.  Besides which, watching him constantly storing was really fun roleplay.(He had Luck, Speed, Health, Strength, and Mental Speed storing almost constantly.)  RPing a 2 wits character that can suddenly outperform Holmes.  Priceless.

[ancientcampus]

Crafty Pat above is about as official as you can get

Truth, I guess I was asking for something more specific. It's good advice, though.

I agree that roleplaying the storing is half the fun, so ~20ish makes sense.

[Crafty_Pat]

30 x Rating seems fair to me, though I would definitely fudge that depending on the where, how, and why of your game's start.

[zthumser]

Wait, something I just noticed in the Storing in a Metalmind section.

A Feruchemist may store any number of characteristics and abilities at a time, so long as he or she has the appropriate metalminds

Combined with the Storing During Breather's limits of 10 or 30 x his or her normal maximum, so those limits are per attribute stored.  So that means a Feruchemist is going to come out of every long breather with 90 charges or so in all their metalminds, not total?  That's ... a lot.  I was thinking that would be 90 charges total, per long breather, not for each stat (or maybe less, if the attributes don't allow it)

[Skywalker]

Yes 30 times rating for each metalmind.