Revising GURPS Magic

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

My simplest fix for "Create Metal" and "X to Metal" spells is to have them be temporary rather than permanent.

It has been pointed out that these spells are subject to dispelling because they're not instantaneous like healing. In many game worlds, null mana zones exist, as do predictable days or astrological events when magic ceases to function for a period of time. That would make it temporary enough to reduce its value considerably, but long lasting enough to make occasional casting make sense.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Culture20

It has been pointed out that these spells are subject to dispelling because they're not instantaneous like healing. In many game worlds, null mana zones exist, as do predictable days or astrological events when magic ceases to function for a period of time. That would make it temporary enough to reduce its value considerably, but long lasting enough to make occasional casting make sense.

Gurps R.A.W. assumes no mana zones occur in every "world". But I don't know of any published setting with global no mana times.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Gurps R.A.W. assumes no mana zones occur in every "world". But I don't know of any published setting with global no mana times.

I've seen the concept in novels (usually based on specific conjunctions of the stars or something), but not in an RPG setting.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Gurps R.A.W. assumes no mana zones occur in every "world". But I don't know of any published setting with global no mana times.

"Global" is overkill anyway. Mana crashes that happened just in the area covered by, say, a complete solar eclipse would still cause massive devastation in a civilisation where the buildings were all stuff that would disintegrate in a no mana zone.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

"Global" is overkill anyway. Mana crashes that happened just in the area covered by, say, a complete solar eclipse would still cause massive devastation in a civilisation where the buildings were all stuff that would disintegrate in a no mana zone.

Unless it was a new thing, no one would be that stupid.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I've seen the concept in novels (usually based on specific conjunctions of the stars or something), but not in an RPG setting.

Mystara, once know as the Known World for Basis D&D has such a day.

[scc]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

That would be a great campaign though. If it only happened in a very infrequent event, like once every 20 years (like whenever 3 planets lined up in a straight line) it would be a generational problem and you'd have a bunch of doubting youngsters with dead parents who might be hard to wise up from surviving elders, kind of like demon/magic disbelief in The Shannara Chronicles.

It could also mean some civilizations where this happens would always use a material base they simply armor with magic but not rely on it.

You've just described Nightfall by Issac Asimov, if I recall correctly. On a world with 6 suns night never falls, but every so many thousand years, when the stars are just right, there is only a single sun in the sky and it under goes a total solar eclipse and people panic upon seeing things they can't understand (Stars) and start looking for things to burn to provide light to keep the night at bay

[scc]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

Summon/Control/Create (Air) Elemental: I think there is nothing much wrong with the spells as such - in fact, they might be a tad expensive. However, what we really need is a larger list of summonable elementals. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 5: Allies helps a bit, but even there the base system does not provide for much variety. And allowing PCs to customize elementals to their own specifications (a) might result in abuse, (b) threatens to drag down play if the PC does this in the middle of a game session, or (c) requires additional review work for the GM between sessions.

Sorry for the late reply. I'm working on some upgrades to elementals, and one of the things I've been kicking around is the question of what is an elemental and how can you sort it with a sword? This has resulted in me cooking up a custom limitation of Unkillable 3 and Elementals get a version of that for 60 points. I've also given them some extra disadvantages as a result Cannot Learn, Reprogrammable, Unhealing (Total), and Social Stigma (Subjugated). The first two are interesting if you want to beef elementals up, it a result of thinking that they're clearly created things, so why can't people make them more powerful? So after you've Summoned or Created an Elemental, Controlled so it'll stick around for a while you can cast Create on it again, making it more powerful

[Jürgen Hubert]

Body Control

Might/Grace/Vigor: I have less of a problem with the spells themselves than with their “always on” magic items. While attribute-boosting magic items are very much in the tradition of D&D, attributes are also less important in D&D than they are in GURPS, and if one character gets hold of an item that grants him +5 to DX then that is going to break the system. Therefore, I would limit the “always on” variant to +1. On the other hand, I would allow a “jewelry or article of clothing” variant that would allow the wearer to activate the spell on themselves for the usual energy cost.

Enlarge/Enlarge Other: One possible fix has been described in Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventures, by raising the cost to 15 energy per +1 SM. I think that’s a bit too much - 10 sounds reasonable. However, to prevent “Godzilla” incidents, I would also rule that a single casting can only increase SM by +1, and repeated castings will have to deal with the increased energy cost for targets larger than SM +0 (see GURPS Magic). Though that might give an unfair advantage to creatures smaller than humans, who tend to be disproportionately strong for their size in fantasy settings...

[simply Nathan]

I limit the number of SM changes on Shrink/Enlarge variants to be one SM per level of Magery, so that more talented wizards are different in the scale on which they can operate the effect. Takes an elvish DF wizard to get into Godzilla territory and other DF wizards can get the Liliputian/Brobdinragian effect.