So on page 59 of BWG the text says “You can invest in earning certain traits by spending artha to accomplish your Beliefs and Instincts. Artha is discussed in the next chapter…” I went looking in the Artha chapter and did not see anything regarding this. Is one able to spend Artha to get a specific trait they want during gameplay? I know that traits can be awarded by other players, but what if a player would like a certain trait? Does the player perhaps mention during gameplay that they are trying to get a particular trait, and then tries to roleplay activity that they believe would help their character get the trait and then hope the other players agree that he deserves it? This hasnt become an issue yet, as my group has only played two sessions, but i can see the question on the horizon and would love to have an understanding before it arises.
Hi wamoomaw,
The text it’s referencing is actually the heading “Evolving Beliefs and Instincts” further down the page. When people spend artha in pursuit of a belief or instinct, have them mark (or remember) roughly what they spent and when the trait vote comes up instead of turning that instinct or belief into a character trait, it can get some mechanical weight behind it (so someone with an instinct of “always check my wallet before and after going to the markets” could get the call-on Penny Wise instead of a character trait when they retire that instinct in the trait vote if they spend the artha on it).
There’s no hard and fast rule about how much artha converts to how many trait points so it’s fairly subjective, but use the trait costs as a guideline. One fate shouldn’t be enough to earn someone “Your Grace” but spending three or four persona probably is. There used to be mechanics for that in Revised but almost everyone forgot to track it so it was dropped in Gold.
If people want a specific trait, they should write a belief in service of getting that trait, spend artha in the pursuit of said belief, and the nominate themselves in the trait vote for it.
Cheers!
Thanks for laying it all out for me. It now makes complete sense. Should have just read a few sentences down the page. Ha!
It’s ok, I spent a fair bit of time digging through Artha section of the book as well as the Artha section of Burning Empires trying to figure out where it had gone. I eventually had to grab the Hub and Spokes PDF and search for the Evolving Beliefs heading to find out that it’d moved.
For what it’s worth, in revised, the guideline was spending Fate was good for a character trait, Persona for a Call-On or a 3pt or less Die Trait, Deeds for a 4pt or more Die Trait.
Frank
That sounds like a good system. This is what happens being late to the game and starting with Gold, I dont have the historical knowledge from earlier editions.
Perhaps I should get the Hub and Spokes PDF as well to help find things.