CM and spells (again)

[benz72]

I'm searching for answers to a bunch of issued involving compartmentalized mind and its effect on spell casting.

1) The advantave description says "or two mental maneuvers (e.g., Concentrate on two spells)" implying that those two actions are in parallel.
Can they be taken in series to cast a multi-turn spell in half the time? (e.g. instead of concentrating on turns 1,2,3&4 to cast X concentrate on actions 1&2 of turn 1 and actions 1&2 of turn 2 to cast X at the end of turn 2 instead of the end of turn 4)

2) Is there any meaningful limitation to a "spellcasting only" modification and if so what would be a reasonable cost?

3) Can someone with CM cast ritual magic with themselves? Can each mind draw on a seperate powerstone that the mage is touching? I don't see any prohibitions, but wanted to see what the group thought.

Thanks

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by benz72

I'm searching for answers to a bunch of issued involving compartmentalized mind and its effect on spell casting.

1) The advantave description says "or two mental maneuvers (e.g., Concentrate on two spells)" implying that those two actions are in parallel.
Can they be taken in series to cast a multi-turn spell in half the time? (e.g. instead of concentrating on turns 1,2,3&4 to cast X concentrate on actions 1&2 of turn 1 and actions 1&2 of turn 2 to cast X at the end of turn 2 instead of the end of turn 4)

Yeah they're consecutive.

Originally Posted by benz72

2) Is there any meaningful limitation to a "spellcasting only" modification and if so what would be a reasonable cost?

I'd price it as follows (using the limited enhancement from Psionic Powers as a guide):

Limited, One Spell, -30%. Maybe take on another -50% because there ARE so many spells.
Limited, One College, -20%. I might adjust this up maybe to -40% (lots of colleges after all).
Limited, Magic, -10%

Originally Posted by benz72

3) Can someone with CM cast ritual magic with themselves? Can each mind draw on a seperate powerstone that the mage is touching? I don't see any prohibitions, but wanted to see what the group thought

I don't think so. No matter how many minds you got you're still you. Just buy solitary on your Magery to ceremonially cast by yourself. I don't see why they couldn't draw on separate powerstones.

[Refplace]

My answers for what there worth.
1) It is like two people casting so they can do separate spells but not speed up a single casting. Get ATR for that.

2) Depends on what effect it would have. However there is already a limitation for only can cast spells or single skill. Though I personally frown on them as Munchkin bait.

3) Yes. If you can cast a spell on yourself then you can also do it with CM.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'd price it as follows (using the limited enhancement from Psionic Powers as a guide):

Limited, One Spell, -30%. Maybe take on another -50% because there ARE so many spells.
Limited, One College, -20%. I might adjust this up maybe to -40% (lots of colleges after all).
Limited, Magic, -10%

My problem with this is that your getting more of a point break on CM then if you take it on Magery, yet if you take it on Magery you cant use CM for those other spells. On the other hand if you just take it on CM then you can still use your full magery and have saved more points.
I'll grudgingly go with 1 skill and call it Spell casting but no more a point break.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Refplace

My problem with this is that your getting more of a point break on CM then if you take it on Magery, yet if you take it on Magery you cant use CM for those other spells. On the other hand if you just take it on CM then you can still use your full magery and have saved more points.
I'll grudgingly go with 1 skill and call it Spell casting but no more a point break.

Hmmm. Maybe.

[Anaraxes]

Kromm speaks in favor of CM reducing casting times:
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=696171

Originally Posted by Kromm

Yes. This is wholly mental, and also entirely on your internal clock and not dependent on anybody else's reactions. For this purpose alone, you can think of CM as ATR (Mental actions only). That's why it's very expensive.

Originally Posted by Kromm

I'm just saying that the game system assumes that spells are vectored code, and benefit from parallel processing. This seems likely, given that even Joe Mage without CM can somehow reduce casting time from 4 to 2 to 1 seconds if he's skilled enough. Sure, you could interpret that as taking shortcuts . . . but you could also interpret that as doing several things at once, which is what the rules do.

Prior threads:
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=47586
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=51376

Not Kromm's opinions:
Note that even if your GM doesn't allow parallel processing, you can in some cases get a similar net effect. For example, if CM 1 casts a missile spell starting turn 1.. 2... 3; CM 2 on turn 2... 3... 4... ; CM 3 on turn 3... 4... 5...; you throw one 3-turns-charged missile spell every turn.

Note also that a ceremonial casting likely involves lots of physical activity in the ritual, and so CM may not help in these cases. Perhaps there are some rituals that are purely mental -- some sort of meditative trance -- but the kind with candles and robed acolytes and adding the eye of newt just when the moonbeam strikes the altar depend a lot on external time.

[benz72]

Sorry, when I said ritual, what I meant was enchantment ritual. Under the Q&D rules for casting with assistants, would you allow a caster with CM to be his own assistant(s)? If so, would each mind be able to access one powerstone or is that limited to one per body?

On a similar train of thought, could a caster with CM and 2 powerstones draw from each of them in the same turn or would it be limited because there is only one physical presence?

[Anaraxes]

In the second thread I linked, people debate the powerstone question. Kromm weighs in (via not another shrubbery):

Originally Posted by Kromm

I'd allow it for two different casting. The limit, remember, is not "one Powerstone per wizard." The limit is "one Powerstone per casting." A wizard can carry as many Powerstones as he wishes and use them, one at a time, for as many spells as he likes. He just can't draw energy from more than one per casting. If two compartments are performing two castings, then of course they can use one Powerstone each.

A Q&D enchantment is a single casting, so it seems that one CM wizard would fail that test.

Perhaps a good way to think of it is as a limitation on the powerstone. A powerstone has one "output port", which you can link to a spell casting in progress. But no matter how many people (or minds) try to connect that output port to the spell, it can only connect to one at a time. Similarly, the analogy has to assume that a normally cast spell as one "input port", so you can use only one Powerstone to power it, no matter how many you happen to have.

The Q&D ritual, however, seems to have multiple input ports to allow those assistants. So using this "port" analogy, you could argue that one CM wizard with two powerstones is a legal configuration, just as is two wizards each with one.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by benz72

Sorry, when I said ritual, what I meant was enchantment ritual. Under the Q&D rules for casting with assistants, would you allow a caster with CM to be his own assistant(s)? If so, would each mind be able to access one powerstone or is that limited to one per body?

The primary purpose of assistants in Q&D is to serve as extra FP batteries; Compartmentalized Mind doesn't provide a spare store of mana, so is of no help at all here. I might allow an extra powerstone to be used, but considering how "physical" their connection to mana is (must be touching it to access, can't recharge within X distance of other stones, etc) it's probably a no-go.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by benz72

Sorry, when I said ritual, what I meant was enchantment ritual. Under the Q&D rules for casting with assistants, ?

You didn't ask about S&S but I'd think that CM did allow a caster to count twice. That's actually a more dramatic boost than you're going to get with Q&D and Powerstones..