Magery /Maledition like Range enhancement

[Randover]

Could Magery get +50% Range Enhancement to get spellcasting done with only Range/speed penalties instead of -1 per yard penalty?

ANd of course saysing yes would be realy powerfull, because It woud allow +100% enhancment getting long range penalties.

This would also decrees overall usefullness of direct damage missile spells.

[Rev. Pee Kitty]

No, absolutely not. Magery is a talent -- the only enhancements you can put on Magery are those that affect your Magery itself, not your spells. That would be like buying Green Thumb 4 (Ranged, +40%) and telling your GM that now you can do your gardening from a distance. :)

See, however, GURPS Thaumatology for rules on adding enhancements (yes, including Long-Ranged) directly to spells. Also, I have an article on the subject, which takes a completely different approach, at MyGURPS (link in sig) -- look in the Resources section.

(Normally I'd post the article link itself, but I'm in the middle of converting the whole website from CGI to PHP and it's going to invalidate a lot of links. Unless I can figure out mod_rewrite, which is a little arcane...)

[The Benj]

Ninja'd by the Reverend! Darn!

[Randover]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

No, absolutely not...

I would agree if it is balance thing. But Thaumatology already has enhancements that modifies resistence rolls. (Easily resisted Magery pg.24). So where is the difference.

(No offence ment, I just want to get it cleared)

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Randover

I would agree if it is balance thing. But Thaumatology already has enhancements that modifies resistence rolls. (Easily resisted Magery pg.24). So where is the difference.

That not an enhancement. It's a limitation, and one that only makes a trivial alteration in how the spell works. A long range enhancement on Magery would fundamentally change the core system for magery.

[Randover]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

That not an enhancement. It's a limitation, and one that only makes a trivial alteration in how the spell works. A long range enhancement on Magery would fundamentally change the core system for magery.

Well not enought. Basicly both seems trivial alteration to me. You can stuck up that limitation up to -30% (Making spells cast on enemies almost unuseable) But superior aid for buffer caster.

[Anaraxes]

If the magic range rules change for everyone in the game world, then balance isn't an issue. Only if particular individuals have super-range Magery and others don't does the point cost matter. The former case could be considered a campaign advantage granted to all, so the exact point cost doesn't matter.

[Randover]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

If the magic range rules change for everyone in the game world, then balance isn't an issue. Only if particular individuals have super-range Magery and others don't does the point cost matter. The former case could be considered a campaign advantage granted to all, so the exact point cost doesn't matter.

What about it is the case of two different types of mages one with long-range spellcasting abilities, the other limited to close range. Because that is exactly what I like about the idea of enhancement to magery.

[Rev. Pee Kitty]

Originally Posted by Randover

Well not enought. Basicly both seems trivial alteration to me. You can stuck up that limitation up to -30% (Making spells cast on enemies almost unuseable) But superior aid for buffer caster.

To put it bluntly, limitations on Magery are far less abusable than enhancements. Look at Threshold-Based Magic for another example -- the boosts are implemented as advantages, while the reductions are implemented as limitations. That's no coincidence.

It's easy -- really easy -- to get Magery down to 2/level. Everyone knows this. And that's fine, because Magery's cost is not the balancing factor of magic. The balancing factor is how the spells work -- their FP cost, their range, etc. So when you start messing with that, especially if you boost it, you're making some significant changes to the system.

That's why you can't put an enhancement on there to do it. If you do it as a house rule, rock on with yer bad self, but be aware that you've just made mages far more powerful on a point-for-point basis than non-mages. The fairest way to do this is the canonical way, as presented in GURPS Thaumatology.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

If the magic range rules change for everyone in the game world, then balance isn't an issue. Only if particular individuals have super-range Magery and others don't does the point cost matter.

Untrue. If all mages are now super-mages for free, you've made mages simply "better" than non-mages in your game. That's like saying, "In my game, Ambidexterity comes with an extra attack for free. It's balanced because anyone who takes Ambidexterity gets it," and then wondering why everyone who plays in your game either plays ambidexterous warriors or plays something else and complains about it.

Originally Posted by Randover

What about it is the case of two different types of mages one with long-range spellcasting abilities, the other limited to close range. Because that is exactly what I like about the idea of enhancement to magery.

Eck, no -- that's actually the worst-case scenario. No mage in his right mind would not buy Magery 0 (Long-Ranged 1, +50%) [8] and start casting spells with huge ranges. Again, do what you want, but realize that you'll be making a paradigm where one choice is simply better than the other, which isn't a choice at all.