Alternate gateway advantages for magic

[dataweaver]

One way to make a magic system feel different is to use an Advantage other than Magery as the “gateway” for access to spells or rituals. For instance:

consider using Channeling instead of Magery (Path/Book) for a more voudoun-style of Path/Book Magic.

Consider Blessed or True Faith instead of Power Investiture for a style of clerical magic where your deity is a bit more hands-on (but not so hands-on as to be best represented by Divine Favor).

A morality-based magic system might be opened up by an appropriate Higher Purpose.

Illuminated could replace Magery 0 in a setting where mages know a truth about the world that's hidden from everyone else — see Mage: the Ascension and Mage: the Awakening for two examples of this idea.

Medium could be a good entry point for an animistic magic.

Oracle could serve as the basis for a sort of nature magic, sort if like the one found in Celtic Myth.

Empathy might be suitable for some sort of bardic magic system.

Finally, Visualization could possibly empower a sort of “wishcraft” version of Syntactic Magic.

[AlexanderHowl]

Flexible Magic does not require Magery by RAW in the first place (though Realms are their own advantages), so you can ignore Magery if you want (or use it for another purpose). As for the rest, Magery is a good placeholder that represents magical sensitivity. If you want to add magical sensitivity to another advantage, just increase the cost by 5 CP to reflect the expanded capabilities.

[dataweaver]

The point is not to add magic sensitivity to other Advantages; it's to enable magic through a means other than magical sensitivity. Take Channeling as an example: the houngan(sp?) doesn't have any particular sensitivity to magic; instead, he has an innate ability to channel spirits; and that is what allows him to call on supernatural powers.

As for Syntactic Magic and Magery: Thaumatology never explicitly says that Magery is needed; but there are numerous mentions of Magery in the text that carry the implicit assumption that it is.

[AlexanderHowl]

In that case, I would suggest taking spiritual allies with magical abilities rather than allow Channeling to serve as a gateway (without magical sensitivity, a character cannot sense the magic that they are trying to manipulate). I would just have the shaman purchase a spiritual ally who possesses Magery and the necessary skills, which could use the abilities on behalf of the shaman.

A 250 point shaman could easily purchase a 375 point magically gifted spiritual ally that appears on a 15- for 45 points. Of course, it would probably be more efficient for the shaman to develop magic on his or her own, but it is the cost that a character pays for theme over efficiency. With Channeling, Medium, and Spiritual Empathy, the character could also negotiate with other spirits for their services through using his or her influence skills.

[(E)]

A similar idea, having prerequisite skills, for example you might need to have physics at 15 before learning any movement spells. Though this may be more suited to some magic rules than others.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

Illuminated could replace Magery 0 in a setting where mages know a truth about the world that's hidden from everyone else — see Mage: the Ascension and Mage: the Awakening for two examples of this idea.

Something very similar is also used in GURPS INNominae (Symphonic Awareness) and GURPS Voodoo came fairly close with the Initiation advantage.


Besides your ideas of a gateway advantage they could also be stabilizing advantages. The only problem I see with these as replacements for magery is they are not leveled (though you could add a Talent) and you would need to redo your prerequisite trees.
Still, for the right setting it should be a good option.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

(without magical sensitivity, a character cannot sense the magic that they are trying to manipulate).

…which misses the whole point. Power Investiture doesn't grant magical sensitivity; the way it grants access to spells operates on an entirely different paradigm than what Magery represents. What I'm suggesting here is that other (mostly supernatural) Advantages might likewise grant access to spells/rituals/what-have-you in ways unrelated to the standard magic paradigm.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Something very similar is also used in GURPS INNominae (Symphonic Awareness) and GURPS Voodoo came fairly close with the Initiation advantage.

True enough.

Originally Posted by Refplace

Besides your ideas of a gateway advantage they could also be stabilizing advantages. The only problem I see with these as replacements for magery is they are not leveled (though you could add a Talent) and you would need to redo your prerequisite trees.
Still, for the right setting it should be a good option.

You'd certainly want to tweak the magic system to which the Advantage grants access to better reflect the nature of the Advantage, which might involve restructuring prerequisite trees or redoing the Colleges entirely, or even more drastic changes than that. I would never replace Magery with, say, Medium and then use the rest of the standard magic system exactly as written. OTOH, I very well might do exactly that with respect to Effect-Shaping Path Magic, which was originally conceived with spirit-mediated magic in mind.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

You'd certainly want to tweak the magic system to which the Advantage grants access to better reflect the nature of the Advantage, which might involve restructuring prerequisite trees or redoing the Colleges entirely, or even more drastic changes than that. I would never replace Magery with, say, Medium and then use the rest of the standard magic system exactly as written. OTOH, I very well might do exactly that with respect to Effect-Shaping Path Magic, which was originally conceived with spirit-mediated magic in mind.

Medium or Channeling could easily work with Path/Book or Effect Shaping, especially if you use the options where Magery does not add to skill rolls.

[dataweaver]

Bear in mind that Effect-Shaping lasted for years without getting either a bonus or a cap; it just had a 5-point “Ritual Aptitude” Advantage that was roughly analogous to Magery 0.