Magery 3 in a TL 3 game universe

[hal]

Hello Folks,
As promised in another thread, I thought I'd open this thread up to discuss the effects on life for a player character who takes Magery 3 in a game universe where Magery 3 is not a common affair.

Ok, let's presume for the sake of argument, that your character is a freeman (ie born to parents with status 0 but less than 2). Let's further suppose that the "kingdom" your character belongs in, does not have magical colleges - but uses a Master/Apprentice style of teaching. In other words, the only spells your character can gain, are those that your master knows, and once you are freed from being an Apprentice, the only spells you can gain afterwards are those you can teach yourself via books, or can hire a spell caster to teach (ie 200 hours of teaching with reference materials and the like).

Now, Look at all of those spells that require Magery 3 before they can be learned and cast.

What do you think would happen to your character if word got out that you had magery 3? Who would pursue you? Why would you be pursued? Who might your enemies be strictly because you have magery 3? Who might your friends be?

How difficult might it be to amass more Magery 3 level spells if the only way to learn them, is if you have magery 3? Put another way? The only TEACHERS you can find, will be those with Magery 3.

Gimmicks: Perhaps Magery 2 is your normal magery, but you also have 1 level of Healing College Magery (making you effectively Magery 3 in Healing magic college spells, but magery 2 in all others)?

The purpose of this thread in general, is to get creative juices flowing more in the vein of "World building" than anything else. It is designed to get you (the reader) to think "what if I were that character, and I had to live in that game universe like I do in reality?"

Next question to consider: what would happen if instead of being a freeman, you were a Serf? Then, what happens if you're noble born instead of either a serf or freeman?

Just a thought... :)

[RyanW]

Any spell that exists must be in some way learnable without a teacher or text. After all, who taught that teacher, and who taught his teacher? Someone had to be the first one to learn it. Such a character might be inventing or rediscovering magic that no one else can perform.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Any spell that exists must be in some way learnable without a teacher or text. After all, who taught that teacher, and who taught his teacher? Someone had to be the first one to learn it. Such a character might be inventing or rediscovering magic that no one else can perform.

Unless, of course, the spells are taught by something non-human or simply exist from a pre-lapsarian era with tools unavailable to modern man.

[Railstar]

Originally Posted by hal

What do you think would happen to your character if word got out that you had magery 3? Who would pursue you? Why would you be pursued? Who might your enemies be strictly because you have magery 3? Who might your friends be?

Nothing.
Nobody.
Because they have no understanding of what your magical potential means.
Frightened peasants.
Whoever they would have been before.

"Magery 3" doesn't mean anything to people in the world with you, people who can't read your character sheet. Without magical colleges or a similar infrastructure of institutions such as Guilds, there'll not be the same standardised quantification of magical capability.

If it gets out that you can contact the dead, bless or curse crops, heal the sick, blast people to ashes, spread disease or taint food stores without any signs of foul play, reshape the earth with your will to create earthwork forts with small rituals... Then people will start to take notice.

Look at the Quartermaster Mage for the kind of support. You'd probably be granted unskilled helpers for performing large-scale rituals, and the kind of ways people would be interested in leveraging your magery.

Going through GURPS Magic, I found the following spells require Magery 3...

Body of Wind.

Permanent Shapeshifting.
Partial Shapeshifting.
Great Shapeshift.

Lengthen Limb.
Shrink Other.
Enlarge Other.
Transmogrification.

Permanent Possession.

Alter Terrain.
Move Terrain.

Simulacrum.
Doppelganger.
Great Wish.
Soul Stone.

Timeport.
Rapid Journey.
Phase.
Divert Teleport.
Control Gate.
Suspend Time.
Time Out.

Great Healing.
Neutralise Poison (alternative prerequisites exist).
Instant Regeneration.
Youth.

Create Servant.
Create Mount.

Contract Object.
Extend Object.

Charge Powerstone.
Telecast.
Bless at 3 points.
Drain Magery.
Delay.

Great Geas.

Ethereal Body.
Teleport Other.

Evisceration.
Steal Attribute.
Steal Skill.
Steal Beauty.
Lich.
Wraith.

Rebuild.
Permanent Machine Possession.

Spit Acid.
Essential Acid.

Now the question becomes, "which of these can't be accomplished by less powerful spells"?

Why choose Great Geas over Enslave or a Loyalty enchantment?
Why choose Spit Acid over Acid Jet?
Is Instant Regeneration really so much more valuable than Regeneration?
How much more valuable is Bless 3 over Bless 2?
What can be accomplished by Move Terrain that you can't do with Shape Earth and patience?

The main ones I see value in for say a sponsoring noble are Youth, Soul Stone, Lich, maybe Simulacrum/Doppelganger.

Most of those spells are so powerful, so rare, or require so much work to perform those spells, that you need to be fairly advanced in your career to gain them - essentially Magery 3 is one of many obstacles towards being able to use those spells. Anyone pursuing you for having Magery 3 is pursuing you because you might, one-day, eventually if you're lucky enough gain access to one of those spells.

That's a very long term investment. The only ones I see being truly useful or worthwhile for those investments are Youth, or perhaps Steal IQ & Steal Skill for an adviser.

I'd say a court wizard's value to sponsors would be in his ability to earn his keep until he gains access to those more powerful spells. The difference between Magery 2 & Magery 3 is not that major, not compared to a court wizard who is loyal, dependable, and applies himself to his studies.

[David Johnston2]

Actually Magery 3 would be a bigger deal in a setting that had magical academies and the like because they'd be more likely to identify such students.

https://youtu.be/oelXoNPKjKE?t=27

OK, that's more like Magery 10.

But if you did identify a Magery 3 character then I suppose the people who would be really interested are the Magery 2 wizards who having halted their aging after a lifetime of study, would really like not to be 83 forever.

[Purple Haze]

A character Magery 3 + IQ 13 will be inferior in most respects to one that has Magery 2 + IQ 15.

Or to go another way, inferior to Magery 2 + IQ 13 + HT 12 + FP 16.

Every PC will be Magery 3 + IQ 14, but the NPC with Magery 3 + IQ 10 will be working along side of the NPC with Magery 1 + IQ 12 and nobody will notice the difference.

[Railstar]

Originally Posted by Purple Haze

A character Magery 3 + IQ 13 will be inferior in most respects to one that has Magery 2 + IQ 15.

Or to go another way, inferior to Magery 2 + IQ 13 + HT 12 + FP 16.

Every PC will be Magery 3 + IQ 14, but the NPC with Magery 3 + IQ 10 will be working along side of the NPC with Magery 1 + IQ 12 and nobody will notice the difference.

Definitely this. Not only is Magery required, but the IQ to capitalise on it, the temperament for study, the reliability to be suitable for a sponsor or someone to actually cover your studies, and so on.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Actually Magery 3 would be a bigger deal in a setting that had magical academies and the like because they'd be more likely to identify such students.

https://youtu.be/oelXoNPKjKE?t=27

OK, that's more like Magery 10.

But if you did identify a Magery 3 character then I suppose the people who would be really interested are the Magery 2 wizards who having halted their aging after a lifetime of study, would really like not to be 83 forever.

That's a really good incentive for taking on an apprentice.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Unless, of course, the spells are taught by something non-human or simply exist from a pre-lapsarian era with tools unavailable to modern man.

That's possible too, but it means any spell that isn't known by an active wizard or recorded in a recoverable record doesn't exist as anything more than an archeological oddity, and without a guild or college structure, likely more spells make that transition every time an accomplished wizard dies or a library roof leaks.

[edk926]

The Death Spells are Magery 3 if you have that supplement.

[a humble lich]

Originally Posted by Railstar

Going through GURPS Magic, I found the following spells require Magery 3...

I agree, but there are a lot of spells that you did not include on the list, namely all of the spells that require the listed spell as prerequisites. In that case, other important spells that require magery (not a complete list) include Resurrection and Create Gate. A master with magery 3, who knows either of these spells, would be very interested in finding as many apprentices as they can with magery 3 to whom they can teach those spells, because they are potentially very useful when cast ceremonially. Nobles would also be interested in putting together ritual circles which can cast those spells.