10-12-2018, 09:56 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2017
|
Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
I'm wanting to create a caster template that uses spells based on something other than IQ, likely a calculated base of (HT+Per)/2. However, other casters in the setting definitely use IQ-based spells. Do you think this would just be a feature, or should it be an enhancement on Magery since raising the base costs a minimum of 10 points even after Magery is maxed out? If an enhancement, how much should it be worth?
|
10-12-2018, 10:24 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
I'd probably just charge a small UB, (HT + PER)/2 is cheaper than IQ but not by a huge amount and if you cap PER its even less of a difference.
HT and PER are also far less useful for as many circumstances as IQ.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries |
10-12-2018, 11:44 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2017
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
What price would you suggest for the UB? 5 points, maybe?
|
10-12-2018, 11:52 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
Yeah, 10 at most. I would also discourage super high Per bought above IQ.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries |
10-13-2018, 11:00 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
Personally I'd call it a feature. Mages don't after all pay a premium for IQ vs. non-mages who don't get to use anything as a base for spell skills, what with not having any spells at all.
Even if these guys end up with a spell base a point or two higher than your IQ based mages usually have, the fact that they don't get any synergy with the non-spell IQ stuff that's pretty important to most traditional "mage" builds is probably going to push them into a niche just as different from the traditional mages as those non-spellcasters. If this is rare enough people don't prepare for it I might charge a point for the occasional surprise value or resistance to countermeasures - though here I'd expect most stuff that works as an IQ countermeasure to also lower Per, but any more than that seems likely to just discourage anybody from actually taking it. HT and Per are just so much less undervalued than IQ in the first place that giving up the extra advantages of IQ (or DX) just to get a slightly lower cost of increasing spell base seems like a fairly marginal choice already. If I have to pay extra for it too...
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
10-13-2018, 12:26 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
I would suggest a base of (HT plus Per plus Will)/3, rounded down, as it would produce a more well-rounded mage with a different flavor than standard mages. Magical animals would be a natural extrapolation, as they would generally have a base of 10-12, and it would be rather amusing to have animals casting spells (though I would suggest no more than a handful of innate spells unless the animal was sapient). A snake with Flesh to Stone-20 would be quite terrifying for most groups to encounter, as they would not necessarily know where the attack was coming from.
|
10-13-2018, 12:32 PM | #7 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
Personally I wouldn't slap a UB on it, I'd just make it use a different "Magery". Call it whatever, but make it separate so someone can't use both types of magic with one advantage.
|
10-13-2018, 12:41 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Aug 2017
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
An update and some additional context for the template. First of all, I've decided casters with this template just use outright HT for a spell base. Upon further consideration, it just made more sense that way. The template is a specialized caster/power-user for DF, the Seductress. Limited spell list, no Magery 0 needed. So, HT has some extra use for the template in that it raises Sex Appeal and Carousing, plus any sort of caster appreciates the extra FP. Additionally, they have at least one affliction that uses a Quick Contest of HT vs. HT, so a high HT is useful for that, and I'll probably allow some power-ups that make other abilities and/or skills benefit from HT. So, the Seductress gets a good deal of mileage out of HT.
Considering all that, plus the fact that the Attribute Substitution perk as listed in Magical Styles requires specialization by spell, 5 point is probably fairly reasonable. In fact, in PU2, there's something of a precedent for five versions of a perk requiring specialization by skill equaling blanket coverage: 5 Off-Hand Training perks can freely be replaced by Ambidexterity. So, I think I'll stick a 5 point Unusual Background. |
10-13-2018, 12:55 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
Quote:
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
|
10-13-2018, 12:57 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Aug 2017
|
Re: Some, but not all casters using alternate spell base?
Quote:
|
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|