[cowgod]

This is kind of irrelevant because it's about a game I don't know when I'm going to start programming, but here goes.

This is about a game featuring angels. I want to have something like "Paradox Points" like in White Wolf's Mage: The Ascension instead of regular magic points. The idea is that you can cast as many spells as you want, but the more spells you cast, the more likely it is that something terrible will happen. Magic has consequences instead of points.

Consequences would include things like bad status effects and spontaneous summoning of demons. I would have to be a little bit creative with this.

I think this would be best as a number that counts up with no maximum. You would have one stat that determines how quickly it goes back down and another that determines how likely it is that something terrible will happen.

What should I call this meter? "Paradox" isn't really an appropriate term for a game about angels. I've thought of the following: Contamination, Corruption, Demonic, Evil, Infection, Sorcery, Taint (like in Wheel of Time), and Witchcraft. None really make alot of sense.

If I make the number have a maximum and get reduced when you cast spells, I can use something like Holiness Points (which isn't what I plan to use "HP" for) or Purity Points. That sounds a little bit better, but the statistic basically counts backwards this way.

[RampantCoyote]

Stasis? Since it's a limit to how dynamic they can make reality?

Debt? Or something describing the debt - reality debt, magical debt, something like that?
_________________
Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[Scrim]

Horror points? Disaster points? Risk points?

I really like the idea of magic becoming increasingly risky the more of it you use. I might even "steal" it at some point in the future =)

[RedSlash]

Something like a magical rage or overdrive bar might be appropriate. Maybe a sanity bar? :)

[Rainer Deyke]

Reality points. The more you mess with reality, the less "real" it becomes until it all collapses.

[cowgod]

I really like the idea of a sanity bar. It could be a madness or insanity bar if "sane" is 0 and it increases with spellcasting.

All of the suggestions are good, though I was looking for something that goes more along with the "angel" theme.

I was thinking that one of possible consequences could be going berserk with a small twist. Instead of attacking everyone you can, you start casting your most powerful spells over and over. That would be a terrible consequence because it would raise the meter even higher.

[Rainer Deyke]

How about divinity points? Channel too much of the divine power of g-d and your mind/body won't be able to contain it - or alternately, the outflow of divine energy attracts demons who feed on it.

Somehow that sounds positively Lovecraftian, with Yahweh = Cthulhu.

Another approach: spell casting uses up divine favor. Divine favor works like karma. You earn it by performing your duties as an angel. You lose it by failing your duty, giving in to temptation, or casting spells. Loss of divine favor hurts your reputation and weakens your powers. Use up too much of it, and you become a fallen angel.

[RampantCoyote]

Backlash?

Addiction?
_________________
Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[cowgod]

I really like the idea of divinity points. That's sort of what I was reaching for but couldn't quite grasp.

A character's statistics will determine the maximum number of divinity points they can have. They'll gain divinity points from people praying on their behalf (the "good" way) or by slaying enemies (the "evil" way), but they can't gain more than their maximum number.

Characters will be sort of like divinity batteries, but I may make it so that divinity for the whole party is stored in one large pool.

Casting spells won't "use" divinity, but whenever you cast a spell a certain amount of divinity will be expended to prevent consequences. There's always a chance of consequences, but a lower divinity score (compared to the power of the spell) will increase the chance further.

I considered having something like addiction for item use (like in Fallout), but I think that's taking things a little bit too far. There's too much going on in the game already.

[Captain Vimes]

[cowgod]

[Captain Vimes]