Words games - Mnemonic games

Index
This section Index

Mnemonic index
Mnemonic and eidetic memory games

Puzzle
Logic games

Cards
Pyramid, Solitaire cards games

Math
Games for mind development

IQ test
Test your mind ability

Relax movies
Relax and meditation

020216 words online games

This is free words online 020216 flash games. Download online game for free use

Using Eidetic Memory

First, the good news: the Eidetic Memory advantage is extremely useful and rather cheap. Now, the bad news (if you`re a GM): many players have discovered this. In this column, I`m going to look at both the potential gains from this advantage, and the opportunity for abuse.

The utility of the Eidetic Memory advantage varies with the campaign type. If the campaign is oriented toward combat, then DX-based skills dominate, and the advantage is of little use. On the other hand, if the style of play tends toward the heavy use of social or scientific skills, it becomes almost irresistible.

When is Eidetic Memory cost-effective? First level Eidetic Memory only becomes directly cost-effective when a character has 40 or more points invested in IQ-based skills. Of course, there are also long-term benefits when earned character points are spent on mental skills. The 60 point version of the advantage is directly cost-effective if the character has 80 or more points in mental skills. In fact, the first level version is more cost-effective than the second level one unless at least 100 points would be spent on mental skills without EM. (My thanks to Lestat for bringing this point to my attention.)

Optimizing

In general, the technique for optimizing skill points for this advantage is the same as the attribute optimizing method I gave in my last column. Total the number of points spent on mental skills, skipping any with only 1/2 point (1 point for the 60 point version), and any not affected by Eidetic Memory (spells and psi skills). Divide by the Eidetic Memory multiplier (2 for the 20 point version, 4 for the 60 point one). Add to this the cost of the advantage. If this is less than the original total, using the advantage will save points.

An example may make this somewhat clearer. Gus Foley (in the Car Warriors book) has a total of 50 points invested in mental skills. In addition, all his mental skills have more than the 1/2 point minimum. (You can't save any points on skills where only 1/2 point has been spent, since you cannot spend 1/4 point on a skill. Even with Eidetic Memory, the minimum investment is 1/2 point.) So we divide his current mental skill total by 2, to get the number of points Gus would spend to buy the same skills at the same levels, with the Eidetic Memory bonus. This comes out to be 25 points, plus the 20 points for first level Eidetic Memory, for a total of 45 points, 5 less than the same character without the advantage. (I consider this character a bad example for using the Eidetic Memory advantage -- more on this later.)

Words articles and games