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Old 05-30-2012, 04:10 PM   #21
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen View Post
I'm also not saying ad hocking can't work towards a world feel, if it is ad hocking according to a metaphysical model that constrains what can and cannot happen, usually an explicit pre-determined model, but it could be an intuitive model instead for a few GMs who are specifically gifted at that.

I happen to dislike ad hocking, but that is for other world feel reasons. And I maintain that most GMs who ad hoc critical spell failures do so in a whimsical and unconstrained manner that will fail utterly at achieving any world feel.
I sometimes took notes but yeah most of the stuff I did in my games involved a lot of improv as I tried not to steer the players so all kinds of things could happen. But with a firm grasp of the worlds metaphysics and overarching plots and flavor I tended to make it all fit together. At least two of my old group loved that and tried ot make predictions based on events most of the time not knowing till much later what was off the cuff and what was planned for ahead of time.
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Old 05-30-2012, 07:43 PM   #22
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen View Post
Isn't it 2% of rolls, without Luck?
Luck doesn't affect spell crit fails.
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Old 05-30-2012, 08:22 PM   #23
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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Luck doesn't affect spell crit fails.
You wouldn't happen to have a citation for that?
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Old 05-30-2012, 08:28 PM   #24
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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I was thinking of using the RPM which means there'll be a lot of die-rolling involved.
I don't think it would make sense to have a critical failure table for RPM. A crit fail basically manifests as a new ritual, with energy equal to double what has been accumulated so far. It pretty much has to be concocted on-the-spot by the GM, though a table might be useful for inspiration (ie, damaging backlash, cosmetic changes, collateral effects, etc).

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Luck doesn't affect spell crit fails.
That's not entirely correct. Luck doesn't affect ceremonial casting rolls (M12) but it can affect regular spell rolls. Of course, if a GM wishes for Magic to feel more chaotic and risky he can forbid Luck from affecting any spellcasting, but it's not the default assumption.
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Old 05-31-2012, 09:11 AM   #25
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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Luck doesn't affect spell crit fails.
It doesn't affect rolls on the Critical Spell Failure Table, but it still has the normal utility in averting critical failures, as per Thaumatology p30.
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Old 05-31-2012, 11:09 AM   #26
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
It doesn't affect rolls on the Critical Spell Failure Table, but it still has the normal utility in averting critical failures, as per Thaumatology p30.
This is a subset of the general rule that Luck works on your own rolls, not on the GMs rolls, and especially not on table lookups that are already described as optional and provided as much for inspiration as for rule resolution.

The GM can always say "I'm making up your critical spell failure, as per Basic Set." Very hard to "reroll" that.
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Old 05-31-2012, 11:29 AM   #27
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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The GM can always say "I'm making up your critical spell failure, as per Basic Set." Very hard to "reroll" that.
I dunno, you can always try to roll the GM...
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Old 06-01-2012, 09:46 AM   #28
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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Depends on the style of campaign (and the style of character). Someone who casts relatively infrequently - perhaps because of a tight energy budget - just won't see many critical failures, even at the 2% level. And the large majority of critical failure effects, by the standard table, are mildly embarrassing or inconvenient, rather than deadly. (I've never seen the fabled Accidental Demon Summoning effect that I recall).
That does fit with with what Peter was saying about rules being not just for the individual, though. The chance of demon summoning really is miniscule to be sure. But all it takes is one well-publicized event and the idea of buying and selling cheap magical iron becomes about as popular as nuclear electricity in Japan. Commercial magic tends to focus on things that bring in a lot of gold per casting roll.
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Old 06-01-2012, 12:32 PM   #29
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

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That does fit with with what Peter was saying about rules being not just for the individual, though. The chance of demon summoning really is miniscule to be sure. But all it takes is one well-publicized event and the idea of buying and selling cheap magical iron becomes about as popular as nuclear electricity in Japan. Commercial magic tends to focus on things that bring in a lot of gold per casting roll.
Actually it does take two. The first time it happens, the populace may assume (or be swayed into assuming - GURPS has a Propaganda skill, after all) that the seemingly nice and thoughtful wizard was really a reckless and anti-social demonologist and that the summoning was deliberate.

It has to happen a second time, within a the most a couple of hundred years, to a different wizard who was also seemingly nice and thoughtful and well-adjusted.
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Old 06-01-2012, 01:30 PM   #30
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Default Re: Different critical spell failure tables

Remember that fantasy worlds are as vulnerable to urban legends as modern society - probably more so. So everyone could "know" that spells that go wrong summon demons without there being the slightest truth to it.
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