[quote=@Darth]
[@Fallenreaper] While that's true, the difference between a mage and someone with a Glock 17c is that the mage probably has to wait on preps/cooldowns between their spells, but the person with the Glock can fire their gun for seventeen posts in a row if they only fire one round per post. No cooldown, no wait, no preps. 

That's what I mean by no drawbacks. My character can't punch you in the face with lightning for seventeen posts in a row, but someone with a pistol and an extended mag can spend every post slinging lead if they want, and the pistol's like to do way more damage at a much greater distance. That's where the disparity comes in (for mild powers).

That's also why I like magitech/future-tech weapons for mild powers. You can have a laser gun that is reasonably balanced, or a spell-gun ala Outlaw Star. You still get the same aesthetic, but none of the issues.
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I don't know, depends on how you do the character. My PC Trixi can pulse electricity through her hand continually, but it does need to build up and at the level I have her, will only reach so much amps (basically taser amp). However, she could keep it up indefinitely until she was ko-ed or killed since her biology is designed to both generator it in massive amount (it's only how much she can churn out and only in her hands that's limited, not the amount total) and prevent her muscles, tissues, etc from frying while allowing the energy to pulse through it. Granted, there's additional limits to it and such I've not mentioned but that's one example I can think of to put against that. Granted it's not a great one.