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Old 10-19-2020, 09:59 PM   #1
Plane
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Non-Mage Threshold / Tally Recovery / Calamity Proneness /

T80 under Ceremonial Castings mentions "Assess additions to each participant’s tally exactly as you would reckon energy contributed in the standard system."

We know from the three limitations on T78 that mages might have reduced threshold (perhaps none at all), be prone to calamities and recover tally slowly (or none at all, barring 'calamities reduce tally)

Without having a magery stat to limit you can't get these limitations though, so it actually seems like ALL non-mages might end up better off in terms of powering spells than certain limited mages?

Would it be reasonable maybe to convert one or more into disadvantages based on the cost of magery 0? I guess it's a point crock if you don't need it to cast spells, but a reduced ability to safely power spells is SOME kind of drawback.

"Lend Spell" or non-mages casting spells in High Mana also seems like issues where you'd want these options for non-mages to have varied capacities.
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Old 10-20-2020, 05:54 AM   #2
Gumby Bush
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: FL
Default Re: Non-Mage Threshold / Tally Recovery / Calamity Proneness /

Isn't the RAW recommendation to have non-mages have a threshold of 0, so that any casting will exceed it?
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Old 10-20-2020, 09:40 PM   #3
Plane
 
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Default Re: Non-Mage Threshold / Tally Recovery / Calamity Proneness /

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gumby Bush View Post
Isn't the RAW recommendation to have non-mages have a threshold of 0, so that any casting will exceed it?
I'm not sure, I can't find anything particularly explicit...

The closest I can think is T77's introduction of the concept "Every wizard has a threshold score" which I guess could be taken to mean as only opting in "wizards" which I can assume is meant as a synonym for mages.

Taking that approach could mean that any other term using "wizard" would also be "mage only though", right?

EG "calamities reduce tally" only applies to wizards ("to make wizards a little more powerful") and result 11 on the calamity table says "wizard suffers" so non-wizards wouldn't have Nightmares?

I would think maybe 'wizard' in these two cases means "someone using magic" even if they were merely helping a mage with a ceremonial spell, or maintaining a spell that a mage lent to them.
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Old 10-21-2020, 06:06 AM   #4
Gumby Bush
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Default Re: Non-Mage Threshold / Tally Recovery / Calamity Proneness /

Yup, I was thinking of Emergency Use of Threshold Casting.

You might treat a reduced threshold and similar as quirks, for non-mages only.

Actually, I'm not sure why Increased Threshold is an Advantage while Reduced Threshold is a Limitation (ceteris paribus for the other two)--probably because the limitations don't matter much for non-mages. The limitations are worth -1 to -3pts/level, so a quirk for some combination would be fair enough so long as the GM ensures it matters. A quirk for just one would be the same discount that a Magery 1 mage would receive, though, which might not be fair.
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Old 10-21-2020, 07:15 AM   #5
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Non-Mage Threshold / Tally Recovery / Calamity Proneness /

Threshold/Tally Recovery are dependent on the decisions of the GM (30/8 is only a suggestion). In my own settings, characters have a base Threshold/Tally Recovery of 30/8 (with non-mages usually accumulating Tally through using magical items). Instead of giving a skill bonus, Magery increases base Threshold/Tally Recovery by 50% at 0 and by +100% for every level beyond 0 (so Magery 3 gives Threshold/Tally Recovery 135/36 rather than a +3 to spells).
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Old 10-21-2020, 11:51 AM   #6
Plane
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Re: Non-Mage Threshold / Tally Recovery / Calamity Proneness /

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gumby Bush View Post
Yup, I was thinking of Emergency Use of Threshold Casting.

You might treat a reduced threshold and similar as quirks, for non-mages only.

Actually, I'm not sure why Increased Threshold is an Advantage while Reduced Threshold is a Limitation (ceteris paribus for the other two)--probably because the limitations don't matter much for non-mages. The limitations are worth -1 to -3pts/level, so a quirk for some combination would be fair enough so long as the GM ensures it matters. A quirk for just one would be the same discount that a Magery 1 mage would receive, though, which might not be fair.
Forcing mages to pay a little more (just assume all limitations maxed out by default) seems like the easiest way to avoid the issue of non-mages taking disadvantages to save points, or somehow being better than mages who take the limitations.

I guess mages being worse could be believable if "I have a lower threshold" or "accruing tally is more dangerous for me" are natural aspects of working magic.

Limitations can be shut off by making magery switchable too, so I shouldn't fret so much about it. Especially since you can reduce +10% switchable costs to net +5% by taking "while conscious" (-5%) switchable (not much use for magery while you're asleep, can't see/touch items) or temporary disadvantages that won't bother you much when you're casting spells (like maybe -1 to DX, if you're a non-combat mage).
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