X 2/70
! 14/70
~ 19/70

It depends on what you mean by "have to," I think. If you want to be sure that you'll have that ability in all possible situations, or if you want to take a power that requires the power, then I would recommend taking the power. And if you think that it would be more enjoyable to you for your ability to keep working the same way it does now, for the same reasons, it might be better to not take the power. The Spirit's powers don't need reasons to work, they just work.

Are a lot of things like that?

X 2/70
! 14/70
~ 19/70

Like what?

Not needing a reason to work. What does that even mean?

X 2/70
! 14/70
~ 19/70

Well, all of the Spirit's powers are like that.

This is always tricky to explain, so please ask me questions if you're still confused, but… none of these powers are limited to working in one specific way. There are lots of ways you could explain how Dressing Room and Pocket Dimension work, for example. But all of those ways have rules to them, which means that there are circumstances where those powers might not work the way that you want them to work because something about what you want would break the rules. So instead of having rules, the Spirit's powers just… work. Every time. So you don't have to worry about your powers breaking if you go somewhere with extremely different physics than what you're used to, because the powers aren't following those physical rules in the first place.

So the powers can… change their own rules? That seems really strange.

Also scary. But she actually hadn't considered the possibility that there were places that the physical rules she's been slowly figuring out weren't the same, so… maybe this is actually the less scary option.

I think I understand what you mean about the powers not having to follow one set of rules. But I don't see why that means that things can happen without a reason. Doesn't everything have a reason, even if things that look the same can have different reasons?

X 2/70
! 14/70
~ 19/70

There are some places where that isn't the case! But when it comes to powers granted by the Spirit, oftentimes the ultimate reason something happens is that you chose for it to happen, or that it's what makes for the best story. And then if there needs to be a specific physical cause, that can be arranged retroactively.

What if I meet someone else with Spirit powers and she wants something different from me?

X 2/70
! 14/70
~ 19/70

By default, you won't meet anyone else with powers granted by the Spirit. There's a drawback you can choose to change that; if you choose it then how your powers work on each other and which powers would win in a fight will be decided by what makes for a better story for both of you.

She will… think about drawbacks when she gets to that point. For now, she feels like maybe she'll get a better understanding of how the Spirit works by reading more about the powers.

She doesn't need half of Personal Hygiene but the other half would definitely be convenient; she's found out that if she doesn't clean her outer surfaces regularly she can get gunky on the inside, which doesn't actually have direct negative effects but sure feels unpleasant. She almost gives it an X right there, but… she's trying to save the Xes for powers she definitely, absolutely wants. It can get an ! for now.

Starstuff is kind of insane, but… also super tempting. She likes the stuff that she's made of right now, but it would be cool to be able to change it around.

Is she going to add another tier and rejigger her totals again? Yes, yes she is.

X 2/70
⛤ 10/70
! 22/70
~ 25/70

What do all of the symbols that you're using mean? You don't have to answer if you don't want to or if it's particularly hard to explain, but I like to talk with people about their choices. Also, I'm curious!

The X means that I'm definitely choosing that option. ⛤ and ! are pretty similar because they both mean that a power sounds cool but I'm not totally sure about it, usually because it's pretty expensive or because I don't know how much it will come up, and I want to come back to it; ⛤ is closer to X than ! is. And ~ is for powers that *might* be cool.

X 2/70
⛤ 10/70
! 22/70
~ 25/70

That's very interesting! I'm not sure I understand the difference between ⛤ and !, but that's okay. I can keep track of the totals fine and the important part is that your system works for you.

Well, I'm going to be reading through all the powers again when I get to the end of the list, so those two are mostly so that I remember that I wanted to think about those ones again with more context. And I think I want to think about Starstuff again in a different way than I want to think about Inner Strength and Lightfoot.

She almost put in Pocket Dimension as the example power for the ! tier, but now that she thinks of it she's gonna promote it to ⛤ tier instead.

And that's the end of the Yourself: Appearance section! She has no idea how she's gonna make it through this whole list of really interesting powers with only seventy points.

What's a true name? How can it be used against someone?

X: 2/70
⛤: 14/70
!: 22/70
~: 25/70

There are some magic systems where you do magic to people or things by knowing or invoking their name. Because there are a lot of magic systems like that, I can't really give an explanation that's true for all of them, but… usually if you have a true name it's a fundamental part of you like your body or your mind. Sometimes someone's true name is the first name they were given, sometimes it's a metaphysical fact about them that started being true when they started existing, sometimes it's something they have to discover or make for themselves. Sometimes just knowing someone's name is enough to form a magical connection to them, sometimes you have to say it to them, sometimes you have to do a ritual that incorporates it. This isn't an exhaustive description of all true name magic forever, to be clear.

Huh. I can see why you'd want to avoid people being able to use your true name against you, but why the first part of the power?

X: 2/70
⛤: 14/70
!: 22/70
~: 25/70

Sometimes people don't like the name they were given! They might not like the sound of it, or feel like it implies things about them that they don't want people to think are true, or want to conceptually separate themselves from the people who first named them.

That makes sense. I don't have a name because I haven't really needed one yet. I guess if I'm going to be potentially meeting a lot of people I should figure one out. And make sure that I like it.

She gives What's In A Name a ~ and moves on… to Immunity System, which gives her pause. At first she's tempted to skip over it, because she's never gotten sick or poisoned before, but it's starting to seem like there could be some pretty heavy-duty sicknesses and poisons out there! Also, you can get sick from spending time around other people who are sick, and she doesn't know if she's immune to that kind of getting sick. On account of never having spent time with a sick person.

Are there powers that let me help other people not get sick? Or that let me help people get better if they're already sick?

X: 2/70
⛤: 14/70
!: 25/70
~: 29/70

I don't actually know of a lot of powers for specifically that! There's a Power of Friendship that lets you cure any illness or break any curse by kissing someone you care sincerely about and there are a few Yourself powers that let you pick up skills and magical abilities, which can definitely include healing sick people or preventing sickness, in full generality. If you'd like, I can definitely try to think of a power for healing sick people.

It feels a little silly to ask for custom powers before she's even a quarter of the way through the list, but it feels incredibly silly that the list doesn't already have those powers!

That would be great!

X: 2/70
⛤: 14/70
!: 25/70
~: 29/70

The notebook puts a little ♡ next to that sentence.

I don't recognize that letter.

X: 2/70
⛤: 14/70
!: 25/70
~: 29/70

Oh, it's not a letter! It's a little symbol representing a heart, because I really appreciated that you thought it would be great if I tried to make a healing power for you.

She doesn't totally see the connection between those things but it seems sweet anyway.

Moving on. If she takes Immunity System then she'll also be taking Breathe Easy and Warmhearted because they seem super handy for exploring a lot of different kinds of places!

Is there a version of Just A Little Longer where I don't have to sleep a whole day after?

X: 2/70
⛤: 14/70
!: 27/70
~: 31/70

Well, sleeping for an entire day is the upper limit, so that shouldn't kick in until you've spent at least a whole day working. But I don't know of any power right now that doesn't have that included. What part of sleeping for a whole day makes you want to avoid it?