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Old 11-28-2015, 11:57 AM   #37
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Building permanent magical traps with GURPS Magic

I find GURPS Magic is best used as a toolbox. When I determine which people (specific guilds, temples, libraries, tribes, etc) have which spells and resources etc., it can be interesting and consistent and manageable. However, even for one-off adventures, when I've tried to allow high magic including anyone might know any spell... I can't even come close to wrapping my brain around all the possibilities in a way that leaves me feeling I'm doing a good job of knowing what's going on in the world and having it make sense. Too many possibilities for my tastes.

I think the rules-as-written with no invented spells pretty clearly does not allow you to make a self-powered fire cloud spell with link to make a permanent fire cloud trap.

I think it's easy enough to add, but requires making the decision to do so. As has been suggested, you can add a Trap spell (prereq: Link) or other spells, or modify the description of Link.

I think that's probably good, for reasons of potential balance and world abuse. So it requires deliberately adding the ability, but makes it easy enough to do in a mechanically consistent way. Or even in the existing system, if you invent a spell to do it and the GM allows it, or if you luck out and your GM decides to allow that sort of use by stretching the rules interpretation a bit, as was suggested already.

I can see several balance and abuse issues, unless you as a GM want that kind of abuse, which for the most part it sounds like you do. But not every GM wants to discover that the magic system allows creating permanent trap zones (which players may want to do or hire people to do) or other interesting uses of permanent self-powered enchantment with link spells. In particular, I can see players with mechanical enthusiasm wanting self-powered furnaces for steam engines and such (which is actually relatively abusable just with a self-powered fire item) not to mention the rest of the spell list. I have players who can cause great mayhem with the basic Sound spell and their imaginations, so...

But if you want a world where it's relatively common to leave permanent magical traps lying about, it's easy enough to add a spell or a few. I tend to think that it would make sense to allow some limiting discounts for a static permanent enchantment, as a portable magic item with self-powered fire cloud is generally quite useful - probably much more so than a room that can't move. Except that as a trap, it's a feature if your targets can't pick up your trap and use it as a weapon against you.

However I think there's a logic/balance issue with magic room traps - if a wizard has enough time and energy to enchant various permanent traps like that, then I'd hate to see what magic he has on hand for his personal use, and the use of whatever army of powerful bodyguards I'd expect him to have. That is, I think a smart wizard (look at the IQ they generally have) would tend to put even more effort into enchanting the weapons he and his pals and bodyguards use, than he puts into static traps on some room or door, no?

In which case, it might make more sense if there were a set of more balanced trap spells or trap methods for existing spells, that don't involve permanent self-powered enchantments. How vital is it that the fire cloud room trap have infinite energy? Maybe if there were just a trap spell that lets you hook up and link a spell trap without the maintenance and -1 / spell issue, that would let you have far more routine traps, without implying that anyone with magic traps has to be some sort of uber arch mage who can make super-powerful enchantments.
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