Quote:
Originally Posted by khorboth
I don't see a FP or HP cost. We don't see folk getting tired or hurt by their magic. Instead, there aught to be other limiting factors.
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After striving to seal the doors of the Chamber of Mazarbul behind the fleeing fellowship, Gandalf comments "You will have to do without light for a while: I am rather shaken". This looks like at least some sort of limited-resource mechanic, and they are strongly implied to be something like Fatigue Points, especially since he shortly thereafter remarks "I must rest here a moment, even if all the orcs ever spawned are after us," and then (after a short rest and discussion) "Ah! I have never felt so spent, but it is passing." So major magic-workings are in fact fatiguing, and this fatigue is strongly implied to temporarily limit further workings of magic.
[The account Gandalf gives of the struggle at the doors would be useful reading for anyone seeking to replicate Middle-Earth magicworking. Terms like "counter-spell" and "word of Command" brim with inspiration, even if the detail is less than a GURPS player would desire.]
EDIT: I will reproduce a few paragraphs, claiming fair-use. If that is inappropriate, the mods should of course delete them.
'I do not know,’ answered Gandalf. ‘But I found myself suddenly faced by something that I have not met before. I could think of nothing to do but to try and put a shutting-spell on the door. I know many; but to do things of that kind rightly requires time, and even then the door can be broken by strength.
‘As I stood there I could hear orc-voices on the other side: at any moment I thought they would burst it open. I could not hear what was said; they seemed to be talking in their own hideous language. All I caught was ghâsh: that is “fire”. Then something came into the chamber – I felt it through the door, and the orcs themselves were afraid and fell silent. It laid hold of the iron ring, and then it perceived me and my spell.
‘What it was I cannot guess, but I have never felt such a challenge. The counter-spell was terrible. It nearly broke me. For an instant the door left my control and began to open! I had to speak a word of Command. That proved too great a strain. The door burst in pieces. Something dark as a cloud was blocking out all the light inside, and I was thrown backwards down the stairs. All the wall gave way, and the roof of the chamber as well, I think.
‘I am afraid Balin is buried deep, and maybe something else is buried there too. I cannot say. But at least the passage behind us was completely blocked. Ah! I have never felt so spent, but it is passing. And now what about you, Frodo? There was not time to say so, but I have never been more delighted in my life than when you spoke. I feared that it was a brave but dead hobbit that Aragorn was carrying.’
This actually looks like a fairly gameable encounter.