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hal · 09-23-2016, 03:07 PM

I've long been a fan of changing spells where required, to fit the GM's mindset or worldview as the case may be.

Imagine what would happen if someone said "Let's have a GURPS MAGIC 2" book, where people actively made an effort to create singular spells WITHOUT the prerequisites listed, leaving that up to the GM him/herself to determine for their own game universe.

I'd like to see spell descriptions where the spell does something at a lower skill level, and the higher the skill level, the better the spell itself is. Or instead of that, have "maneuvers" for the spell such that the spell caster can accept given penalties to his spell casting in order to procure the special capabilities for the spell.

There are times when I think that GURPS MAGIC should have been rewritten to change the requisites for DESTROY MANA to require SUSPEND MANA before they could destroy it. I've also never been fond of the quirking rules for POWERSTONES simply because those quirks never appeared in a standardized fashion, nor was it applied evenhandedly on all enchantments.

In my campaign world, BLESS PLANTS uses up the land twice as fast - it doesn't teleport the materials into the plant to make it more bountiful. It doesn't change the genetics of the seeds to where it has more grains per head than is normal. Otherwise, one could PLANT those seeds instead of eating them and having a non-stop double yield going forward.

One could change things with the Bless spell as well. Make it so that instead of affecting EVERYTHING, it affects a more narrow field of endeavor (making it less costly in energy perhaps?). Or perhaps as Anthony mentions, it grants certain destinies. Problem with that then, is that it would be a MORTAL granting destinies instead of divine favor - something that the Immortals might frown upon.

In one campaign I ran set in ATLANTIS: THE SECOND AGE, using the Resurrection spell didn't bring the person back to life, it allowed you to enter the death realms to bring the soul back - if you could. Cerebus would not let any souls back through something as mundane as a spell!

So, experiment with the spells, rewrite them, make them WORK for your world view as the GM instead of just using them as written. It is largely the fact that many of the spells originally introduced in GURPS GRIMOIRE (now contained within GURPS MAGIC for 4e) that I felt violated the metaphysics set forth in GURPS MAGIC (now GURPS CLASSIC MAGIC).

So, ban some spells, modify them, write your own. MAKE your magic um...

Magical?

;)

09-23-2016, 03:07 PM	#25
hal Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Buffalo, New York	Re: [Std Magic] How have you fixed Bless? I've long been a fan of changing spells where required, to fit the GM's mindset or worldview as the case may be. Imagine what would happen if someone said "Let's have a GURPS MAGIC 2" book, where people actively made an effort to create singular spells WITHOUT the prerequisites listed, leaving that up to the GM him/herself to determine for their own game universe. I'd like to see spell descriptions where the spell does something at a lower skill level, and the higher the skill level, the better the spell itself is. Or instead of that, have "maneuvers" for the spell such that the spell caster can accept given penalties to his spell casting in order to procure the special capabilities for the spell. There are times when I think that GURPS MAGIC should have been rewritten to change the requisites for DESTROY MANA to require SUSPEND MANA before they could destroy it. I've also never been fond of the quirking rules for POWERSTONES simply because those quirks never appeared in a standardized fashion, nor was it applied evenhandedly on all enchantments. In my campaign world, BLESS PLANTS uses up the land twice as fast - it doesn't teleport the materials into the plant to make it more bountiful. It doesn't change the genetics of the seeds to where it has more grains per head than is normal. Otherwise, one could PLANT those seeds instead of eating them and having a non-stop double yield going forward. One could change things with the Bless spell as well. Make it so that instead of affecting EVERYTHING, it affects a more narrow field of endeavor (making it less costly in energy perhaps?). Or perhaps as Anthony mentions, it grants certain destinies. Problem with that then, is that it would be a MORTAL granting destinies instead of divine favor - something that the Immortals might frown upon. In one campaign I ran set in ATLANTIS: THE SECOND AGE, using the Resurrection spell didn't bring the person back to life, it allowed you to enter the death realms to bring the soul back - if you could. Cerebus would not let any souls back through something as mundane as a spell! So, experiment with the spells, rewrite them, make them WORK for your world view as the GM instead of just using them as written. It is largely the fact that many of the spells originally introduced in GURPS GRIMOIRE (now contained within GURPS MAGIC for 4e) that I felt violated the metaphysics set forth in GURPS MAGIC (now GURPS CLASSIC MAGIC). So, ban some spells, modify them, write your own. MAKE your magic um... Magical? ;)