Magic as Powers: Islands of War

[simulatoralive]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I've got no problem with it as a house rule, I just wanted to point out that a) it didn't match RAW, and b) like just about any change to RAW, it has the potential to cause unforeseen problems. If you've tested it and it works, I'm certainly not going to call the GURPS cops on you.

I've actually tested it quite a bit. Over the course of several years. Through several iterations of my magic system and with probably at least five groups, with some carry over of one or two players. I changed it as I saw issues crop up.

I haven't seen anything game breaking come up any time recently. Though I have had to change my expectations of how NPC mages should be played, based on tactics I've seen players use, but that's pretty much the same old power-gaming arms race I've been dealing with since day one as a GM. ;-)

And I saw some truly fascinating tactics on a PC with Extreme Regeneration, just the other day, spending HP to power spells... I've never seen Fatigue Magery 45 used to throw around minor combat spells like an archmage before. I'm going to have to check that PC for High Pain Threshold in our next gaming session and enforce the pain rules. I've been forgetting that lately: too much role playing, not enough roll playing, hehe.

As for GURPS cops, I used to regularly disagree with about half of what Kromm said on the forums the last time I hung around here a lot. Rev. PK, on the other hand, I found often made the same rulings I do, though usually some time after I did. I remember a particular case of getting roasted over the coals by others on the forums for being over generous with limitations on the spells in the wiki, especially one particular limitation. Then some time later, I found on PK's site almost the exact same modifier I'd used. I was amused and felt vindicated.

Like I said before, the GM decides what's fun for his game. Who cares what anyone else thinks? If you like my magic system, use it. If you don't, then roll your own, however you like or use the GURPS magic system. You can at least learn from some of my mistakes when building your own and perhaps my completed spells are all you need for your's.

I found my GCS files for the current Magery Advantages, BTW. They have close to a dozen modifiers that are each quite lengthy and complicated. They're some of the most complex traits I've ever built, due to so many corner cases. I'll have to put them up on the wiki for the curious. Getting ready for an update, anyhow.

[simulatoralive]

I can't find the file for Standard Magery, but as I recall, it was far simpler to build and I may not have resorted to using GCS. Heck if I know where my notes on the current version are.

Here's the current underlying builds of Fatigue Magery and Sorcery, for the curious or those that want a jump start on rolling their own new Magery Advantage.

Fatigue Magery: Modular Abilities (Lengthy Catalog, Concentrate Required)

• Physical, +100%
• Cosmic (Abilities keep going once activated; Abilities may still be rearranged and used, regardless of whether or not the previous one has ended; Concentration time required to switch abilites counts as 1 second of time concentrating on using those abilities), +50%
• Costs Fatigue 20, -100%
• Limited Use (Points deallocate after use), -40%
• Limited (Abilities limited with Magical and some form of ritual for activation), -30%
• Activation Requires Skill Roll (vs. an appropriate specialty of the Magic Skill), -10%
• Requires Daily Study (Must read known spells daily to keep them fresh in mind; New spells may be made ready to cast by reading and understanding them), -10%
• Requires Study/Research (Abilities come from books that must be purchased or researched), -40%

Sorcery: Modular Abilities (Slotted Cosmic Power)

• Physical, +100%
• Cosmic (Abilities keep going once activated; Abilities may still be rearranged and used, regardless of whether or not the previous one has ended; Concentration time required to switch abilites counts as 1 second of time concentrating on using those abilities), +50%
• Costs Fatigue 20, -100%
• Limited (Only Advantages without Enhancements), -20%
• Activation Requires Skill Roll (vs. an appropriate specialty of the Magic Skill), -10%; Limited Use (Points deallocate after use), -40%
• Requires Magic Words, -10%
• Requires Gestures, -10%
• Requires Material Components, -10%
• Reduced Fatigue Cost 2 (Temporary Enhancements Only, -50%), +20%
• Reduced Time 1 (Temporary Enhancements Only, -50%), +10%
• Magical, -10%
• Limitations Require a Skill Penalty Like Temporary Enhancements (But not extra time or FP), -10%

Sorcery is currently a work in progress and has very, very little field testing. So, your mileage may vary. It's likely to change significantly if I ever find a player willing to give it a try with a real character over the long term. There's things I do not like about the build, but it's an experimental prototype that's likely to explode, after all.

In retrospect, I wish I'd kept the pricing for Magery the same as in the Basic Set and forced this underlying advantage to be taken in a number of levels that would point-match that price. It would have been smoother for building characters all around and would have simplified the math for fatigue calculations. But, it's a little late now.