ToME WikiKhymChanur: Currently, Symbiants have can access the powers of their symbiont through Minor Symbiotic Powers and Major Symbiotic Powers; all powers accessed via Minor Symbiotic Powers have the same mana cost and the same failure rate, and likewise for Major Symbiotic Powers. Thus "Major Arrow" and "Summon High Dragons" both have the same mana cost and failure rate, since both are Major powers, even though one is much more powerful than the other. I think that each monster power available from a symbiont should have it's own mana cost, failure rate, and spell level. That way, a power like "Summon High Dragons" can have a very high cost and failure rate, while "Major Arrow" can have only a moderate cost and failure rate.
NeilStevens: In principle I think your idea is good, but I don't like your example. Let's not go nuts and wreck the best powers the skill has to offer!
RavenRed: A way to manage this is possibly to put the monster spell effects into a player-usable school of their own. It requires another layer of complexity, true, but it allows each of the monster "books" to be individually set up with set spells with their own failure rates.
NeilStevens: Yes yes yes, but technical details have nothing to do with the quality of the idea.
RavenRed: True. Well, to judge the idea on it's merits, I think it's a good idea that moves away from the set cost powers mindset of Pern/Zang. Yeah, you have to be careful to ensure that you don't nerf Symbiosis, but it also makes Symbiosis less of a catchall. I suppose the next question is how you determine the relative costs...