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Old 09-10-2018, 10:11 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Artistic Magic

So, I was just wondering how people would model artistic magic? In GURPS terms, I am thinking that I would model artistic magic as a form of Path/Book magic that uses Energy Accumulation rules, but each Tradition would require a specific specialty of Artist as a prerequisite for any magical skills and any magical skills learnt by practitioners of a Tradition could not exceed the associated specialty of Artist. How would you model Artistic Magic in your games?
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Old 09-10-2018, 11:11 PM   #2
whswhs
 
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Here's a model I actually use in my current campaign:

Empowerment is achieved by making: creating a work of art, craft, or skill. Such creation calls for a roll vs. the lesser of two skills: a Path skill at -5, and a creative skill. The base time requirement depends on the conditions for use of the work: 10 minutes for a work that can only be used once; one day for a work that can be used repeatedly, but must be activated or performed each time, usually by the performance of a ritual taking 1 minute; one month for a work that is constantly in effect while worn, held, or ridden. Taking longer than the base time grants bonuses to the roll, up to +5 for taking 30 times as long.

Among selkies, empowerment is based on songs of power (see Path of Song). Roll vs. the lesser of Path of Song-5 and Poetry; for songs that can be used only once, Singing-2 may be substituted for Poetry to sing an improvised song.

A lesser song of power creates a magical effect by acting on a being that can hear the song. The ability is bought as an advantage with the modifiers Must Be Sung and Hearing-Based (-30%).

A greater song of power is a song that is intrinsically powerful. The ability is bought as an advantage with the modifier Must Be Sung (10 minutes) (-10%).

In either case, figure the total point cost for the ability, including modifiers for the form of the song and any other modifiers. The ritual skill has a -1 penalty per 10 points of cost, or fraction thereof. For an improvised song, divide the cost by 5 before figuring the penalty.

For improvised songs only, a variant form of empowerment is available. The singer rolls vs. the Enthrallment skill of Persuade, at the standard penalty for the desired effect. Effects must be those of lesser songs of power. Path of Song is not required.
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Old 09-11-2018, 12:58 AM   #3
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Wouldn't it just be a form of Enchantment by Deed (the Deed being the creation of a work of art)? This would mostly apply to tangible works of art such as paintings or sculptures, and wouldn't be much different from regular magic items other than the form the items take; but you might also be able to Enchant intangible works of art, like songs or plays: the supposed curse of Shakespeare's McBeth comes to mind.
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Old 09-11-2018, 01:23 AM   #4
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Pyramid #3/66 The Lawsof Magic has High Craft in the Alternative Ritual Path magic article. Its basically adapting the rules from Thaumatology to RPM.

I use something like both you describe, RPM variant with an Art skill replacing Thaumatology and different Paths available. I started it for Bards and adapted it to my elves who create unique artistic items rather than standardized types.
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Old 09-11-2018, 08:52 AM   #5
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by dataweaver View Post
Enchantment by Deed
This is the second time I've seen this term. Where does it come from?
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Old 09-11-2018, 09:07 AM   #6
dataweaver
 
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Thaumatology.
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Old 09-11-2018, 09:23 AM   #7
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by dataweaver View Post
Thaumatology.

specifically pages 112 and 113.
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Old 09-11-2018, 10:46 AM   #8
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

This is the case for the creation of fetishes in my Five Earths setting (see .sig). If you aren't in a creative/artistic mood, and aren't really creating the fetish as an artistic act, the spirits are not inclined to inhabit the vessel ('This house isn't good enough for me'), so you end up with a lot of time and work done for nothing. This also has the effect of requiring 'enchanters' (fetish-makers) to have more time off than you might expect otherwise, and for requiring them to work on a variety of different items, rather than just making the same thing over and over again. It's not a business model that folks on Earth-1 are used to, and Earth-3 also needed to adjust, but Earth-2 is used to it, and Earths 4 and 5 both are still mostly at the artisan level of manufacturing.

Quality control also suffers as a result, though not so badly that you can't trust your equipment. Inspectors (if any, sometimes just the enchanter rechecking his or her own work) determine if an item falls within specific parameters, and whether it's cursed or not (a possibility for critical failures), and then either marks it down for regular price, deluxe price (listing what's better about it), discount (listing what's worse about it), or recycling. Checking for curses is important enough that businesses than can afford it might have multiple inspectors per item.

EDIT: The better the quality of the art, and the greater the effort expended to create it, the more powerful the spirit you can convince to make itself at home, there.
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Old 09-11-2018, 12:33 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
The better the quality of the art, and the greater the effort expended to create it, the more powerful the spirit you can convince to make itself at home, there.
I'm reminded of the time a friend invited C and me to the Hare Krishna temple she attended then for a festival. They kept referring to "the deities," and it wasn't till more than halfway through that they meant the physical images that they had brought out. Suddenly "Thou shalt not make any graven image" sounded different to me.
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Old 09-13-2018, 09:58 AM   #10
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Artistic Magic

Would anyone use Artistic Magic in their campaigns? I was thinking about using an Energy Accumulation Path Magic in my nexy campaign where the performance of the ritual revolved around using the Artist (Drawing) skill, meaning that the practitioners would only need pencil and paper, with the time spent just representing the quality of the drawing. Instead of requiring Magery, the Artistic (Drawing) skill would serve as the prerequisite and skill cap for Ritual Magic, the Paths, and the Symbol Drawing skill.
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