Magic Combat Help

[Lameth]

Hello All, I have a very basic question for everyone.

Mage 1, has a melee spell. She wants to charge her staff. Is this right? TURN1. Concentration on Spell. TURN2. Hit with Spell with her staff, and nothing else. TURN3. Concentration again on new spell. And so on.

So basically a wizard, well trained, skilled, can only get off a combat spell every other turn, correct? And if its a 1 turn spell, and that player is at the top on the intuitive, and there are still three goons on her, she can be attacked. Does this mean her spell can be interrupted? It says, and instant spell cant be. So Goon 1 that goes after her takes a Attack Maneuver and attacks her, can her spell be interrupted in the case by Goon1 or 2 or 3?

Sorry have some issues understanding it. If possible can someone flesh this out and maybe give me a turn by turn of a mage combat so I can "see" it in my head. thank you.

The main reason I ask this, besides not understanding is that I have a image in my head from a movie and I am trying to duplicate it in gurps in my head. The scene is from Battle of the Five Armies when Saruman and Elrond came to save Gandalf. They seem to use spell effects at the same time their staffs hit the ringwraiths. So they seem to get a spell every second. And I know this is not a good example, its only the issue that started the conversation with my players on how a wizard look like that in GURPS, and not be deific beings of cosmic power. lol.

thank you all

[Aldric]

As far as I know, yes, the Mage concentrates on the first turn, and hits with the staff on the second. So, one attack every other round.
The spell cannot be interrupted since it's already cast at the end of the concentrate maneuver. Round by round depends mostly on the kind of spell and the result of the attack and defense rolls.

[Maz]

Yes. Only every other round.

Regarding the scene in the movie, I don't remember it that well. But it could be an imbuement (Powers). It could also simply be a spell that keeps the staff charged, so you do not have to recast it all the time. I am sure you can replicate this with some rules.

[Aldric]

Imbuements (with high skill) would definitely let u you do that kind of things, but I regard them as expensive (not that your example included any 150 points mage)
Jet spells can also be used to attack every round, but most have that Jedi feel about them...

I'm not sure some level of Compartmentalized Mind could help you with your problem, but that too is not for the average (150-200) pt character...

[VariousRen]

The cast-attack-cast-attack is the rhythm of any sort of attack mage, it also applies to missile spells where you have to charge one round and cast the next. For something that lasted between rounds, you may want to look at the spell Sharpen. It applies to cutting weapons, but you may be able to convince your GM to let you start with a force version for crushing weapons. Cast once then you're good to go for the fight. If you can't start with it, see if your GM would let you spend time and cash inventing one yourself using the thaumatology skill.

Looking at the Hobbit example, they may have a spell like the one above cast on their spell or they may have a Ghost Weapon staff that allows them to affect insubstantial opponents.

[Anaraxes]

See Characters, page 240.

Originally Posted by B240

To cast a Melee spell, concentrate for the required time, roll against spell skill at the end of the final turn of concentration, and pay the energy cost. There is no distance modifier – you are casting the spell on yourself! On a success, you energize your hand or staff with the spell’s magic. On your next turn, you must do one of two things with your spell: hold it or attack with it.

On the bright side, the staff attack is a normal attack, and you'd get the damage for the staff (or fist) as well.

Compartmentalized Mind would give you an extra Maneuver to use for mental actions, like casting a spell, so that would let you cast, then attack. It's a bit cheaper than Altered Time Rate, at least. 50 points is doable on the standard 150-point budget, but you'll have to sacrifice a bit. On the Gandalf scale, it's not much.

This sequence perhaps should have been revised along with the 4e changes to have spells take effect in the turn of casting and increase the charge rate / cap of Missile spells.