Ritual Path Magic Help

[Lameth]

Hello,

Master of GCA, would it be possible to create a datafile for Pyramid 66 Ritual Magic alternatives? As an example... Rote Technique?

Rote Tech is a special tech. basically you are buying pluses to them add to the spell later. So its not based on a core skill since that spell you are buy it in can change its path depending on what path is the highest at the time. So if you have a spell that is -4 to Path of Energy OR Path of Mind, whichever is less, you cant link it that tech to a specific skill.

So what is needed is a new type of Tech that starts at zero points, and zero level, as a Avg tech. You set the neg of the tech from 0-XX. Then 1 point will give you a "skill" of "+1", and so on. Now when you cast that spell, you have those as free pluses to use to off set the negs.

The Tech would have a max level of the negative you set for it, unless you have a special perk, which allows you to go 4 above your spell.

So the spell above would be entered at Tech/A -4. Therefore the max points I can put into it is 4, unless I have that special perk in the book, then I could go 4 more.

Armin can you help?

[Armin]

Okay, I'm not familiar with the system, so thank you for the explanation. I might still be missing something, so we can try something else if this doesn't work as you intended.

Here's an example skeleton.

Rote (Whatever), Tech/A, default(0), needs(SK:Something|SK:Other), upto(me::neg+@if(PE:Perkiness then 4 else 0)), page(user), neg(6)

From how I understand it, you don't actually need much. Just set the default() for the technique to 0, so that all levels bought raise it from 0 to give you your pluses.

I added the new tag neg(), which in this case I set to 6 just so it wasn't 4. That's the neg value in your explanation, and it's the limit for your levels.

Neg() is not necessary as a tag, you could just edit the me::neg in the upto() formula to the number each time as needed, if you're creating all the things up front.

If you want each combination of possible Path skills to set the neg(), you'll have to create a formula in neg() to find the lowest negative value of the related Path skills, and return that to use.

The upto is fixed at neg() unless the given perk exists, then it gets 4 more.

(The needs() I set in case it's needed somehow, but the referenced skills aren't used in the example at all.)

Does this make sense? Am I missing something important? I'm not sure about the relationship of possible Path skills to the Rote, or if the Rote can be applied anywhere.

This should be pretty doable.

[Lameth]

this is great, thank you, ill give it a try. But, ummmm, what do I do with what you wrote? :) . How do I add it into GCA?

[Armin]

Here is a data file containing my example, available from my OneDrive:

rote techniques.gdf

Put that in your \Documents\GURPS Character Assistant 4\data files\ folder.

Edit the file as usual, using a plain text editor! You will need to change things like the needs() and such to meet your exact requirements.

Once you have the file being loaded in your active data set, you can copy/edit/mangle the Rote (Whatever) in GCA, and save it back to that file to add Rotes to it. (Or, as is my preference, just edit in plain text to suit.) Remember that you'll need to reload the file/data set inside GCA to reload anything you saved out to it while GCA is running.

[Lameth]

thank you Armin!

Ok, so I do not think it needs "needs". due to that is built into the concept of having this tech, you need the underlining skills and perks.

first thank you so much for your time in this. I am hoping this will help many others using RPM and GCA. Below I gave a new example I hope it will help explain it better...sorry if I failed in that before :) Maybe this will change something you did already.

So if I wanted to change the neg, which part do I change? The reason I ask is every spell would have its own "max" allowed points, based on its default level.

So Fireball may be -5, banish demon may be -23, light may be -0, and make city may be -252. The purpose is then to allow the person to buy pluses up to that max neg level. So my Rote tech for banish demon would start at a 0 score, and then allow me to buy "up" to 23 for 23 points. If I have the perk "Rote Mastery (banish demon)", then it would allow me to buy 4 more levels, up to 27 for 27 points. Each rote tech will or will not have a matching Rote Mastery perk to match it up with. If you do not have that perk, you are maxed to the neg, if you do, 4 more is allowed.

So is there a way to build into it the above concept, so all I need to do is add the perks name, and if GCA sees that perk it will allow it to be bought higher, if not, it maxes out at the set neg point?

Here is the data from Pyramid 66.



New Technique: Rote Technique
Average
Default: Prerequisite Path skill.
Prerequisite: Path skill for that spell; no upper limit. This is a separate technique for each ritual. It provides a bonus to Path skill when casting a specific ritual (Ritual Path Magic, p. 19), but only for the purpose of offsetting the penalty from the calculated energy cost; you cannot get a net bonus. (In other words, apply that penalty to this technique, and then use the lower of unmodified Path skill or effective Rote Technique.) Do this as the first step, applying all other modifiers afterward. A caster can have as many rote techniques as he likes, but is best off spending points on only a few “signature” techniques and raising his Path skills for the rest.

Ritual Mastery
Prerequisites: Path skill 10+ and Rote Technique for that spell.
This perk indicates mastery of a specific spell. If you have levels of Rote Technique (below) “left over” after offsetting the penalty for energy cost, you can use them for a bonus, gaining up to +4 to skill. For example, if you know Rote Technique (Fireball) at Path of Energy+8, and the energy cost of the spell requires you to roll at -6 to cast it, you roll against Path of Energy at +2!

[Armin]

Okay, I didn't get enough sleep, so I'm kinda out of it. Thanks for the extra info, but it just made me scratch my head <shrug> so I'm just gonna work with how I understood your explanation. If it doesn't work in practice, I can adjust things once we know what's wrong.

I've uploaded a new version of the file linked in my last post. That link should still work.

The file contains two sections: Skills and Perks.

[SKILLS]
<Rotes>
Rote (Fireball), Tech/A, default(0), upto(me::neg+@if("PE:Fireball Mastery" then 4 else 0)), page(PY3/66), neg(5)
Rote (Banish Demon), Tech/A, default(0), upto(me::neg+@if("PE:Banish Demon Mastery" then 4 else 0)), page(PY3/66), neg(23)
Rote (Light), Tech/A, default(0), upto(me::neg+@if("PE:Light Mastery" then 4 else 0)), page(PY3/66), neg(0)
Rote (Make City), Tech/A, default(0), upto(me::neg+@if("PE:Make City Mastery" then 4 else 0)), page(PY3/66), neg(252)

Skills is much like the skeleton I posted before, but I used your examples as the examples here.

Take the neg value for your technique, and put it into the neg() tag as a positive value. That's because we only use it as an absolute value to limit how many levels can be bought in the upto().

I've embedded the names of the Perks below into the upto() statement, so that the +4 can be gathered if applicable.

When you make your own spells, you'll need to change the name of the perk for each rote inside the quotes of the @if() statement, as well as the neg() value. If it helps, I can probably rewrite this a bit so that the perk reference can also be in a tag, for easier editing, but that's only marginally more helpful.

[PERKS]
<Ritual Masteries>
Fireball Mastery, 1, page(PY3/66), needs("SK:Rote (Fireball)")
Banish Demon Mastery, 1, page(PY3/66), needs("SK:Rote (Banish Demon)")
Light Mastery, 1, page(PY3/66), needs("SK:Rote (Light)")
Make City Mastery, 1, page(PY3/66), needs("SK:Rote (Make City)")

These are the mastery perks that apply to the rotes. I include the needs() here so taking one will both auto-add the rote, and ensure they have it. You can delete it if that's annoying, especially since you'll have to edit the needs() for every one to reference the correct rote inside the quotes.

[Lameth]

Thank you Armin, works great. I needed to tweak it as you said, but ya, thank you!

[Armin]

Originally Posted by Lameth

Thank you Armin, works great. I needed to tweak it as you said, but ya, thank you!

You are welcome!