[BNW] Covenant Powers: Unbalancing ?

[GMPax@aol.com]

Well, I've just had my offline game die (too few players) after getting into 
a heated argument with my g/f over the power levels of the Covenant power 
package (in Ravaged Planet).

Is it just me, or does anyone ELSE agree, a starting character with, not one 
or two, but three to FIVE powers (each about half as much as an entire 
package) is a bit much, for a supposedly low-power environment?

I mean, come on.  Wrath of God is a mini-Blaster power; God's Mercy is Healer 
Lite, and Strength of God is Goliath in a Trial Size package.  Yet, spending 
only four skill points, a Covenant hero could have ALL of them.

And even more, if they went to the hilt on Faith.

My girlfriend was making a 5d6 Spirit, 5 Faith covenant delta ... and of the 
other two players, one would have been a gadgeteer and the other, a 
teleporter.

They'd have been steamrollered by comparison.  IMO, Covenant is _broken_ ... 
they get way too many powers, and way too EASILY, to boot.  I could see TN's 
of 10, not 5, to get most to work (with hte option to have a SINGLE "primary" 
power with the regular TN of 5).

Face it: If a Covenant delta has a faith of 5, then unless s/he rolls a lot 
of ones, their poers will work ... and they will, with Faith 5, have a LOT of 
powers.

This has, in essence, shredded the campaign I was building (and thus, yes, my 
online game is indefinitely ON HOLD, sorry guys, the offlien and onlien 
versions were going to be _strongly_ linked ...), due in part to my 
unfamiliarity with the rules, thus having to rule on the Covenant AFTER she 
picked (though I would have let her rebuild, we han't _played_ yet), not 
before ... but much of is is that I _needed_ to do so.

Don't get me wrong, I love the setting, and the system IS no-brain easy.  But 
... the Covenant needs fixing.  BADLY.