[GURPS Magic] instantaneous Spells

[robertsconley]

Going over the GURPS rules with my group. Why was the change made to remove instantaneous spells.

His specific objection was

" they should still have reaction speed for mental abilities what if i was a Psionics and have real low physical but could blow things up with my mind and was super int. some guy with a knife is going to swing and kill me before i can think about blowing him up"

Thanks
Rob Conley

[zorg]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

" they should still have reaction speed for mental abilities what if i was a Psionics and have real low physical but could blow things up with my mind and was super int. some guy with a knife is going to swing and kill me before i can think about blowing him up"

Speed (Accessibility: Psionics Only -20%)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

Going over the GURPS rules with my group. Why was the change made to remove instantaneous spells.

Blocking spells are still instantaneous. If you want to make any spell a blocking spell, simply learn Reflex (Magic 132).

" they should still have reaction speed for mental abilities what if i was a Psionics and have real low physical but could blow things up with my mind and was super int. some guy with a knife is going to swing and kill me before i can think about blowing him up"

I'm not sure I really understand this. Is he asking how you could make a character with an Innate Attack that is usable as an Active Defense?

[Kaldrin]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

Going over the GURPS rules with my group. Why was the change made to remove instantaneous spells.

His specific objection was

" they should still have reaction speed for mental abilities what if i was a Psionics and have real low physical but could blow things up with my mind and was super int. some guy with a knife is going to swing and kill me before i can think about blowing him up"

Thanks
Rob Conley

Probably to prevent people from abusing the magic system with super high skills.

My personal rule is to never have a spell more than 5 skill levels higher than the average, unless it involves prereqs from schools the character can't cast.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by robertsconley

Going over the GURPS rules with my group. Why was the change made to remove instantaneous spells.

His specific objection was

" they should still have reaction speed for mental abilities what if i was a Psionics and have real low physical but could blow things up with my mind and was super int. some guy with a knife is going to swing and kill me before i can think about blowing him up"

Thanks
Rob Conley

Spells go off on the turn you cast them now, instead of at the beginning of hte next turn. .

THe guy with a drawn sword has the advantage, but it's the same advantage as he'd have going up against an axe wielder who has to draw his weapon firts.

Keep your wizard out of melee or use Blink Other on the attacker to move him from you. Blocking spells don't have delay issues.

If you want to keep a spell ready for melee, consider some jet spells. At skill 15 you can maintain flame jet at 0 energy It's visible but ready for com bat immediately. Have a defensive spell on. Your mage stays out of melee. Very effecitve technique for keeping helathy.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kaldrin

My personal rule is to never have a spell more than 5 skill levels higher than the average, unless it involves prereqs from schools the character can't cast.

The average of what?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

Spells go off on the turn you cast them now, instead of at the beginning of hte next turn.

That's a huge change I'm not sure I like. Given most spells take 1 second to cast, most spells are now interruptable only if your opponent declared a wait maneuver on his last turn, and your active defenses aren't going to be limited by the risk of losing concentration on one.
The one that took me by suprise was Missile Shield - mages can now get it up on their first turn, so if your weapon takes a ready action on your first turn, you basically don't get a shot at them at all like you would've when the spell didn't start until their second turn did.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by malloyd

The one that took me by suprise was Missile Shield - mages can now get it up on their first turn, so if your weapon takes a ready action on your first turn, you basically don't get a shot at them at all like you would've when the spell didn't start until their second turn did.

Assuming 1) The Mage knows you're starting the attack (so gets a regular action instead of Do Nothing)
2) Your missile wasn't already ready or
3) You didn't fast-draw the weapon (and there's only a few missile weapons which can be readied in only one turn anyway - axe/mace & knife basically)

[transmetahuman]

Originally Posted by malloyd

...most spells are now interruptable only if your opponent declared a wait maneuver on his last turn...

And remember that you have to be waiting for something specific - "if he starts casting a spell" or something to that effect. Makes it harder for the guys who can cast without any visible sign of it, though I guess you could possibly specify "if he pauses and looks like he's concentrating on something" with a cooperative GM.

I just noticed that you can't turn a Wait maneuver into a Concentrate maneuver, though, so it's really hard for a wizard to interrupt another wizard's's 1 second spells with a spell. Maybe impossible - even Blocking spells seem to take 1 second to cast if you're not reacting to an attack.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by transmetahuman

I just noticed that you can't turn a Wait maneuver into a Concentrate maneuver, though, so it's really hard for a wizard to interrupt another wizard's's 1 second spells with a spell. Maybe impossible - even Blocking spells seem to take 1 second to cast if you're not reacting to an attack.

Ward can interrupt any spell, subject to the usual rules for counterspell. Blocking spells are defensive in nature, however - so except for Ward they're no good for interrupting anyways.

However, you can cast a Fireball spell, and hold the conjured fireball with a Wait action. "When I see him casting a spell, I hit him with the fireball!" is valid - it's an Attack.

EDIT: I forgot Fumble, which can explicitly be used to interrupt as well.