[Sorcery] The Relatively More Complete Sorcerer: A Grimoire

[Michael Thayne]

One annoying feature of the sorcery magic system is that there just aren't many spells for it. Okay, there are, but the list is weirdly skewed towards (1) Fire Spells and (2) Protection and Warning spells. I wanted to fix this for an upcoming game I'm planning, so I went ahead and converted over three dozen standard magic spells to the sorcery system. As much as possible, I tried to use the same "conversion philosophy" as canonical sorcery spells, taking cues from canonical examples on things like "what should this buff's duration be?" and "how close to I really have to get in replicating this weird effect?"

I plan on posting these spells a few at a time as I clean them up. I haven't taken the time to do "full" write ups like you'd see in a published work, instead focusing more on my thinking for why I converted a spell a certain way. Sometimes I'll say "almost identical to (published spell)", and when I do I'll try to give the page citation for (published spell).

There's a bit of bias here towards "elemental" spells, since I thought the current bias towards fire spells was odd and wanted to remedy it (though sadly I don't have 20 spells for each of Air / Earth / Water). There's also, admittedly, a bias towards spells that were easy to convert. IMHO this is worth having because when I started this project, it wasn't obvious which spells would be easy to convert. Even if the result looks obvious, I'd rather not have to think about such things when a sorcerer PC is trying to improvise something mid-session.

Critique is very much welcome. Aside from judgement calls I've made about pricing, and possible rules errors, I'd really like to get the "flavor" of canonical spells as close as possible.

Air Spells

Purify Air
6 points/level

This was a tricky one. I ended up deciding "air, including stale or contaminated air" is a small category, though you could make a case for a medium category. When in doubt, works in gas mixtures that contain a significant quantity of oxygen.

Create (Air, including stale or contaminated air; Medium; Transmutation Only, -50%; Ranged, +40%; Only to turn stale or contaminated air into good air, -20%; Magic, -10%) [6/level]

Create Air
7.5 points/level

This is just Create Air (Ranged, +40%; Reduced FP Cost 1, +20%; Magic, -10%) [7.5/level]. Air is free in most settings, so spending character points to stabilize it is unnecessary.

Shape Air
19 points/level

This appears to be nearly identical to Control Fire (Pyramid #3/63, p. 10), only for air. I considered lowering the value of the accessibility limitation, reasoning it’s less limiting for air than for fire, but I think it’s best left alone. Thus, this ability would be Control Air (Accessibility, Only to shape and move air, -30%; Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%) [19/level].

Breathe Water
30 points

One of the most non-obvious things about converting standard magic spells is what duration to give them. I decided it would make sense if Breathe Water had the same duration as Resist Pressure (GURPS Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells, p. 10). That makes this...

Affliction 1 (HT; Breathe Water, +80%; Extended Duration, 300x, +100%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [30]. Breathe Water is Doesn’t Breathe (Gills, -50%; Magic, -10%) [8].

Earth to Air
10 points/level

Normally, transmutation is between categories of the same size. “Normal air” is a very narrow category, so seems to justify a fairly large limitation value. The result is much cheaper than a “destroy earth” spell would be, even though for most practical purposes the result is similar. Arguably, it was a mistake for Powers to make Transmutation a big limitation while Destruction Only is +0%.

Create (Ranged, +40%; Transmutation Only, Earth to Air, -50%; Only to turn earth into normal air, -30%; Magic, -10%) [10/level].

Windstorm
19 points/level

I was unsure how to handle this one until I saw that Grease (GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery p. 22) sets the precedent that Control can be used for “make an attribute check or fall down” effects. Thus, this spell can be modeled as Control Air (Ranged, +40%; Accessibility, only to create a windstorm, -30%; Sorcery, -15%) [19/level]. Inside the affected area, DX rolls take a penalty equal to the spell level, and anyone there must make an ST roll penalized by spell level once per second to avoid falling down. Ranged attacks that pass through the area are also penalized by spell level, not the crazy-high penalty of the standard magic spell.

[Michael Thayne]

Communication and Empathy Spells

Mind-Reading
26 or 41 points

The basic version is just Mind Reading (Sorcery, -15%) [26]. Mind Reading (Improved) adds Universal, +50%, raising the cost to 41 points.

Mind-Search

25 or 35 points

The basic version is Mind Probe (Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%) [25]. Mind-Search (Improved) is Mind Probe (Ranged, +40%; Universal, +50%; Sorcery, -15%) [35].

Mind-Sending
26 points

This is just Telesend (Sorcery, -15%) [26].

Telepathy
85 points

This is Mind-Reading (Long-Range 1, +50%; Sensory, +20%; Projected Thoughts Only, -20%; Telecommunication, -20%; Sorcery, -15%) [35] + Telesend (Sensie, +80%; Sorcery, -15%) [50].

[lvalero]

You may want to read the sorcery index in the blog of Eggplant

https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com...index.html?m=0

He has converted a lot of spells from different sources

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by lvalero

You may want to read the sorcery index in the blog of Eggplant

https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com...index.html?m=0

He has converted a lot of spells from different sources

Wow. That's... impressive. My first reaction to this is to feel a bit silly. On the other hand, in many cases I like my builds better :). For example, I'm pretty free with the Ranged enhancement, making Regular spells only work at touch range seems wrong to me.

[Michael Thayne]

Earth Spells

Seek Earth
8 or 12 points

You might think this would be based on Detect (Earth), but the spell looks for a specific type of Earth. Therefore you need Slotted Cosmic Power 1 (5) (Sorcery, -15%; Limited, Trait, Detect, -50%; Accessibility, only to detect specific types of earth, metal, or stone, -10%) [8]. Seek Earth (Improved) increases the slot to 8 points to allow for taking long-distance modifiers [12].

Shape Earth
19 points/level

Similar to Shape Air, this is Control Earth (Accessibility, Only to shape and move earth, -30%; Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%) [19/level].

Earth to Stone
54 points/level

This approach inspired by DFRPG’s one-day duration limit on potentially economy wrecking spells. The exact duration works out to 27 hours. Extended Duration isn’t normally allowed on Create, but I decided allowing it was a fair trade for making it so that the transmutation cannot be permanent.

Create Earth (Extended Duration, x10,000, +160%; Ranged, +40%; Transmutation Only, Earth to Earth or Earth to Metal, +0%; Accessibility, must turn soft earth into stone or metal, and stone into metal, -20%; Magical, -10%) [54/level]

Create Earth
64 points/level

See notes on Earth to Stone.

Create Earth (Extended Duration, x10,000, +160%; Ranged, +40%; Reduced FP Cost 1, +20%; Magical, -10%) [64/level]

Stone to Earth
21 points/level

This is automatically permanent for free, because it’s assumed to be turning more valuable materials into less valuable materials.

Create Earth (Ranged, +40%; Transmutation Only, Earth to Earth or Metal to Earth, +0%; Accessibility, must turn metal into earth or stone into soft earth, -20%; Magical, -10%) [21/level]

Stone to Flesh
15 points

This is an extremely specialized spell for removing Flesh to Stone. It’s basically Remove Curse, but with One Ability instead of Precise. This is a big, 50 point discount on Remove Curse, so it costs only 15 points.

Earth Vision
21 points for level 1 + 5 points/additional level

Level 1 is Affliction 1 (HT; Earth Vision 1, +50%; Extended Duration, 10x, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [21]. Each additional level grants 1 additional level of Earth Vision, which is Penetrating Vision (Specific, Earth, -40%; Magic, -10%) [5/level].

Earthquake
19 points/level

Similar to Windstorm, I’m taking my cues from Grease here. Rolls to stay on your feet are DX - spell level. Control Earth (Ranged, +40%; Only to create earthquakes, -30%; Sorcery, -15%) [19/level].

Stone Missile
4.25 points/level

This can be as simple as Crushing Attack (Sorcery, -15%) [4.25/level]. It would be nice to assign some kind of minor, flavorful nuisance effect to make the price an even 4 points per level, but I’m not sure what would be appropriate.

Rain of Stones
15 points (or more)

This is almost identical to Rain of Fire (see Pyramid #3/63, p. 9), but does Crushing damage instead of Burning damage.

[AlexanderHowl]

Extended Duration (Permanent) is +150% if the results can be dispelled or otherwise negated, so +160% for x10,000 is...odd.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Extended Duration (Permanent) is +150% if the results can be dispelled or otherwise negated, so +160% for x10,000 is...odd.

This is canonical. It's in Power-Ups 4. Also, it happens that my goal was to make the effect last over a day, not permanent until kissed by a princess. :)

[Michael Thayne]

Fire Spells

Flaming Weapon
14 points

Okay, so this section is more like “fire spell”, but I think a fairly important one got left out of the original Pyramid article...

Flaming Weapon is virtually identical to Icy Weapon (GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery, p. 25), minus the No Incendiary modifier on the burning damage. Noteworthy for being useful against foes vulnerable to fire.

Or when you want to light something on fire at long range using an arrow. Notably, the Sorcery build of Icy Weapon doesn’t seem limited to melee weapons (unlike its standard magic counterpart). So if we’re copying that build, “Flaming Missiles” is redundant.

Light and Darkness Spells

See Invisible
37 points

This is Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, See Invisible, +210%; Extended Duration x10, +40%; Increased 1/2D, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [37]. See Invisible is See Invisible (Cosmic, works on any source of invisibility, +50%; Magic, -10%) [21].

Invisibility
92 points

This is Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Invisibility, +760%; Extended Duration x10, +40%; Increased 1/2D, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [92]. Invisibility is Invisibility (Can Carry Objects, Heavy, +100%; Magical, -10%) [76].

Knowledge Spells

Find Direction
5 points

This is just Absolute Direction (Sorcery, -15%) [5].

Seeker
7 or 11 points

Similar to the ESP ability Seekersense, but can't attune to a general type of object, and FP cost replaces the Per role for attuning.

The basic version is Super-Memorization 1 (5) (Sorcery, -15%; Limited, Trait, Detect, -50%) [7]. Seeker (Improved) uses long-range modifiers; increase the slot to 8 points [11].

[Michael Thayne]

Mind Control Spells

Wisdom
32 points for level 1 + 16 points/additional level

Level 1 is Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Wisdom 1, +160%; Extended Duration x10, +40%; Increased 1/2D, x10, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [32]. Wisdom is IQ Bonus (Accessibility, Doesn’t aid spellcasting, -10%; Magic, -10%) [16/level]. Additional levels of the spell add larger IQ bonuses.

Strengthen Will
20 points for level 1 + 4 points/additional level

Will can be pretty important for sorcerers (e.g. in hardcore improvisation), so I thought it was in the spirit of the "magic can't make you better at magic" rule to limit this the same way Wisdom is. Thus:

Level 1 is Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Strengthened Will 1, +40%; Extended Duration x10, +40%; Increased 1/2D, x10, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [32]. Strengthened Will is Will Bonus (Accessibility, Doesn’t aid spellcasting, -10%; Magic, -10%) [4/level]. Additional levels of the spell add larger Will bonuses.

Charm
63 points

This and similar spells (like Emotion Control and Suggestion) don’t map quite as cleanly to varieties of the Mind Control as I initially hoped. However, I think this one could be Mind Control (Fixed Duration, +0%; Independent, +70%; Accessibility, requires a shared language, -20%; Sense-Based, Hearing or Vision, -15%; Sorcery, -15%) [60].

Movement Spells

Apportation
5 points for level 1 + 4 points/additional level

Apportation is pretty limited compared to the full Telekinesis advantage: you can’t do damage with it, and objects are limited to Move 1. There’s no standard price for these limitations, but here’s my personal judgement calls:

Apportation 1 is Telekinesis 1 (Increased Range, LOS, +70%; Cannot Attack, -20%; Requires IQ vs. Will roll, -20%; Short-Range 2, -20%; Sorcery, -15%) [5]. Additional levels are Telekinesis (Cannot Attack, -20%; Doesn’t increase object’s Move, -15%; Increased Range, LOS, +70%; Requires IQ vs. Will roll, -20%; Short-Range 2, -20%; Sorcery, -15%) [4/level]

Haste
30 points for level 1 + 18 points/additional level

This is more debatable than Great Haste (below), but a Basic Speed bonus should probably be seen as almost purely a combat buff, and canonical examples of pure combat buffs seem to consistently last for three minutes. That makes Haste As these are powerful combat buffs, I’d limit the duration to 3 minutes. That makes Haste Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Basic Speed +1.00 with Magical, +180%; Increased 1/2D x10, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [30] for the first level. Additional levels cost +18 points/point of Basic Speed.

Great Haste
102 points

This is a powerful combat buff, so should only be three minutes. Great Haste is Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Altered Time Rate 1 with Magical, +900%; Increased 1/2D x10, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [102].

Technology Spells

I’m not going to bother spelling out the statistics for these, but GURPS seems to consider “Metal” and “Plastic” to be categories that are about as important as Earth, so a number of technology spells in the “metal and plastic” sub-category will have the same cost as their Earth counterparts. Specifically, this is true of Shape Metal, Shape Plastic, Metal Vision, and Plastic Vision.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

What's your opinion on the Sorcery version of No-Smell? It seems very expensive for what it does; my thinking is that it might not need some of its enhancements, and the "Personal Smell only" limitation on Obscure might be worth more than -5%.