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07-11-2018, 05:19 PM | #1 | |
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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Should all spells be equally easy to learn?
Hi all,
Some talents are easy to learn, (Horsemanship for example) and others are hard (Artist / Calligrapher). In the Experience thread, Steve wrote: Quote:
WHY? *** I would think that intellectually, learning a spell that twists reality; which can make the laws of physics sit up, beg, roll over, and play dead, would be harder than learning how to do artistry / calligraphy. A spell could be written thus: IQ 13 S Touch of Death (2) When the wizard touches his or her victim... (So touch of Death would be a Special spell which is twice as hard as a normal spell to learn.) The spell would still fit in a single memory slot (or perhaps not, artist / calligraphy takes 3 memory slots after all). Further there are a few spells that I think are too powerful or problematic in some way. (Discussed in next post.) This thread is for discussing should some spells be harder to learn, if some spells should take up more than one memory slot, and talking about if some spells are too powerful and or problematic for some reason. Warm regards, Rick. |
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07-11-2018, 05:36 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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Is the Trance Spell ideal?
Hi all,
The IQ 16 spell, Trance costs 10 fatigue ST (fST) to cast and gets to ask a yes / no question to the GM. There are a few thing about this, I don't like: -- It is the only real scrying spell in TFT. A few more would be welcome. -- It is unlike scrying spells in fantasy fiction. I've never seen a fantasy novel where a wizard casts a spell repeatedly in order to play a game of 20 questions. It does not feel magical. -- It is too powerful. A dictator can spend 10 fST and ask, "Is Joe planning to betray me?" I want magic that detects loyalty to be difficult and unreliable. -- It is too powerful. With a bunch of apprentices the wizard can cast this spell again and again. "Is my enemy, the wizard Zapper, north of the river Middlewash?" "Is Zapper east of Dwarfton? Is Zapper north of the Ironhills? ... -- The spell is too powerful. There is ZERO chance that the GM will give incorrect information. -- The spell is too powerful. There is no way to shield against a Trance with some sort of Scry guard spell. *** Some suggestions: -- Remove Trance. Replace it with more limited and interesting scrying spells. -- Make it so Trance (3) is three times more expensive than normal spells, in order to make it rarer. -- Make it so that Trance costs the wizard damage rather than fatigue (like the Death Spell). -- Make it so that Trance can only be cast every so often. (Once per hour or once per day.) Discussion is welcome. Warm regards, Rick. |
07-11-2018, 05:44 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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Insubstantiality - Make harder to learn.
Hi all,
I've never been fond of the Insubstantiality spell. Wizard casts it and sticks his head thru doors to see what is on other side. Wizard walks thru walls to avoid high security check points, etc. etc. It is an IQ 17 spell, cost 4 fatigue ST (fST) to cast and 2 fST per turn to maintain. So I don't feel it is too cheap, or unbalanced. IQ 17 spells should rock and double maintenance cost is significant. But I find that its use makes easy, a lot of things that I (as a GM) would prefer to stay hard. So I suggest that this spell, could be made: IQ 17 T Insubstantiality (2) ... and so, requires double effort to learn. (If it is decided that such spells require two memory IQ slots, that would not hurt my feelings either). Discussion is welcome. Rick Last edited by Rick_Smith; 07-13-2018 at 09:03 PM. |
07-11-2018, 05:50 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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Detect Enemies - Tweak?
Hi all,
The simple spell Detect Enemies is IQ 10, and costs only 3 fatigue ST to cover a wide area. It finds life with "general or specific hostile intent". The way this is worded it could be used by a Dictator to find out if Joe is loyal. There is no chance of getting incorrect information. *** I prefer that loyalty spells are difficult and unreliable. I suggest that this spell will only detect imminent violence. So if Joe is not loyal to the Dictator the spell misses him. But if Joe is currently planning immediate violence, (say within the next minute), then the spell would kick in. With this one tweak, I am happy. I don't feel further adjustments are needed to the spell. Discussion? Warm regards, Rick. |
07-11-2018, 07:08 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Geelong, Australia
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Re: Should all spells be equally easy to learn?
I don’t mind some tweaking of effects of spells but I’d be really reluctant to change the point cost of spells.
Keep it simple 1 spell - 1 point. |
07-11-2018, 07:51 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jul 2018
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Re: Should all spells be equally easy to learn?
In general, I think higher costs for some spells would be appropriate. In particular, I'd like to see a change to Remove Thrown Spell. It just seems too easy to remove an opponent's +5 armor protection or some similar thing for only 2 ST. I'm inclined to think that removing enchantments should either be a separate spell, or more difficult to throw on more strongly enchanted items.
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07-11-2018, 10:31 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jul 2018
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Re: Detect Enemies - Tweak?
Quote:
Last edited by John Brinegar; 07-11-2018 at 10:39 PM. Reason: Typo remival |
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07-11-2018, 10:44 PM | #8 | ||||
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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Re: Detect Enemies - Tweak?
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Warm regards, Rick. Last edited by Rick_Smith; 07-11-2018 at 11:00 PM. |
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07-12-2018, 12:37 AM | #9 |
Join Date: May 2018
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Re: Insubstantiality - Make harder to learn.
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07-12-2018, 02:45 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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Astral Projection - A powerful spell... not powerful enough?
Hi all, Zot.
I have mixed feelings about Astral Projection. I love the idea behind this spell, but I'm not happy with it as written. Astral Projection is such a neat idea, I would be happiest if it was dropped from the base book, but made a mini supplement of its own. Let us say on W23, there was a $2 *.pdf which gave 10 or 20 pages on this spell and the Astral Plane. It could go into... -- what the Astral Plane is like, -- how quickly and how deeply you could enter it, -- what dangers lurk on the Astral Plane, -- Astral Monsters, -- powerful 'time storms' on the Astral Plane, -- Mnoren artifacts powered with Astral Energies which could be found there and brought back, -- the dangers of losing connection with your body when in the Astral Plane, -- strange experiments that can be preformed on the Astral Plane, -- defences people can take to prevent astral spying, -- spells that only can be cast on the Astral Plane, etc. Basically, the spell cries for a small splat book. As it is, I find the Astral Projection spell a bit dull. I would be willing to write this if no one else is interested. Warm regards, Rick. |
Tags |
ease to learn, memory, problematic spell, spells, talents |
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