[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by dfinlay

Each geographical region in the campaign world has a list of spell descriptors. Spells matching those descriptors are the only spells that are possible to perform there. Characters may buy an advantage that exempts them from this rule for a specific type of spell. This is intended to make it so that casters will either have to search for locations where they can cast the spells they want to cast, influence conflicts so that they occur in the locations the casters need, or try to deal with having a limited set of effects they can produce. It should also make magic seem more finicky and less casual. This is the core of the idea. Everything else is optional add-ons.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. For the rules for this I would do something like this: for a specific spell charge a perk; for a whole class of spells for a geographic region charge 5 points; for 10 points an entire group of spells the equivalent of 1/4 to 1/2 a Path; for 50 to 100 points you can cast spells anywhere (the latter may not be allowed at all depending on your GMing style).

Originally Posted by dfinlay

Each combination of location and spell type that is possible there (called a spirit) would only allow spells of a certain power level or lower (measured in energy). This would make the process of finding somewhere to cast the spell more difficult for more powerful spells, potentially making it a full-on adventure for the most powerful. Note that this doesn't give a bonus to casting, merely acting as a requirement for more powerful spells.

This feels like a place of power to me.

Originally Posted by dfinlay

Originally, I was thinking that each spirit would require you to use a different attribute as the base of your magic. This would encourage casters to focus on Magery and Path skills to improve their magic, rather than IQ, while still giving some incentive to have non-magical aptitudes. It was also intended to differentiate casters by having some of them work better with certain spirits than others and to allow/encourage casters with things like strength or health as core attributes as well as the typical IQ mages. You might be correct, however, that it is unnecessary complication and I should just make it base 10 magery.

It might work for RPM just because the Paths are so broad, but really, I think it would just be a nightmare in game and lead to some weird builds. At the least you could use calculated bases (DX + Magery Attribute / 2) or whatever may work. Again, might be too complicated.