Is this Working as Intended or did i messed things up?

[Refplace]

As long as your considering alternate magery bonus ideas here is another.
Instead of a +1/level make it based ff the Size/Speed Range table.
So higher levels have less dramatic an effect, or use the Trained ST idea from Technical Grappling.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by A Ladder

Reduce his pool of available FP for spells that can't be recovered with Recovery Energy.

So.... FP lost to sleep or hunger...

Not at all useful. Especially once you factor in the Character's Energy Reserve.

Originally Posted by A Ladder

I like to have my magic resistance to be innate personally. Hobgoblins in my game world are magic resistant.

This is also what Ogres can be good for. Large size (SM+1 or greater) so the spells are more expensive and MR so the spell might not even function.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Darakai

...

The biggest problem in my case was that i am GMing for 3 friends, one of them never played gurps, and his Charachter sheet is super Basic, a monster strenght barbarian with SM+1, the other friend has some experience but idk why the hell build a psi warrior super poorly, his 300 CP warrior can be bested by a 150 well built one, and the third one is the mage who has over 12 years of experience with gurps and RPG in general, he plays since he was 6 and is now 18, his dad played for 20+ years too so he has some experience under his belt.

This is my first time GMing, and until now people seem to be having a lot of fun, but this lack of balance is worrying me a lot. ...

Originally Posted by Darakai

That is the case, for the most part, the other 2 players are not resenting the wizard, but after every session we do a debate, and i have each player give me at leat 1 point of negative feedback, i love positive feedback, but i think we grow more with constructive criticism than with compliments.

I thought a lot about it before coming to the forums, and i talked to the player even before the adventure began, he was suposed to be a showcase to the magic system, and that he is... but it is getting out of hand, he is that kind of guy that is very smart but has little social touch, he sometimes does stuff without noticing, he overshadowed the other 2 only trying to help, almost all of his spells are suport/utility, in 3 sessions he has cast 1 explosive fireball .....

Am right in thinking that he's often way ahead with what his character is going to do that maybe the table as a whole is in any going situation? (that's not a criticism, this is your first time GMing after all!)

Ok my first thought here is to ask the way more experienced player if they would like to apply their knowledge elsewhere in the game than just running their showcase character. As they seem to want to help but maybe get a bit caught up in the moment?

If it's not awkward maybe he could help the other players, even if it just with book keeping. You could even ask him what he would suggest for helping out in the game, that doesn't involve him taking direct action through his character.


Basically this chap maybe an asset to you and the game since by the sound of it he has a lot of system knowledge and experience of it in play. The trick here is to ensure that doesn't become a source of disruption when the dice start to fly.

[Darakai]

Originally Posted by Tomsdad

Am right in thinking that he's often way ahead with what his character is going to do that maybe the table as a whole is in any going situation? (that's not a criticism, this is your first time GMing after all!)

If i understood your question right, the answer would be no. So there is the Mage, The Barbarian and the Psi Warrior, The barbarian is the alpha male kind of guy, so he pushes the plot foward the most, a lot of times interpreting his charachter like a impulsive dumb brute, that reflects perfectly his charachter sheet, and most of the time he will be just charging foward knocking doors down taking stuff from people and punching faster than the mage can ask, so the mage ended up in a situation where he is OP, he is by far the strongest in the team but somehow because of his personality has to deal with the 2 other like they are todlers and he runs behind cleaning up the mess.

The whole problem is, he is too good at cleaning the mess xD.

Before we continue let me be clear, there is no problem with the players, all 3 of them are model-players, they Roleplay, don't metagame, each go at their turns fast and don't waste a lot of time, they have their **** together (the barbarian doesn't fully know the system, but it never became a problem, he says what he wants do to and i say what to roll and the modifiers).

Right now, with all the advice i got from this thread, i think i will be able to tailor the situation much better and keep the magic swiss knife "under control", meaning i will prepare anti-magic solutions and situations where magic isn't the answer.

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Darakai

If i understood your question right, the answer would be no. So there is the Mage, The Barbarian and the Psi Warrior, The barbarian is the alpha male kind of guy, so he pushes the plot foward the most, a lot of times interpreting his charachter like a impulsive dumb brute, that reflects perfectly his charachter sheet, and most of the time he will be just charging foward knocking doors down taking stuff from people and punching faster than the mage can ask, so the mage ended up in a situation where he is OP, he is by far the strongest in the team but somehow because of his personality has to deal with the 2 other like they are todlers and he runs behind cleaning up the mess.

The whole problem is, he is too good at cleaning the mess xD.

Before we continue let me be clear, there is no problem with the players, all 3 of them are model-players, they Roleplay, don't metagame, each go at their turns fast and don't waste a lot of time, they have their **** together (the barbarian doesn't fully know the system, but it never became a problem, he says what he wants do to and i say what to roll and the modifiers).

Right now, with all the advice i got from this thread, i think i will be able to tailor the situation much better and keep the magic swiss knife "under control", meaning i will prepare anti-magic solutions and situations where magic isn't the answer.

Cool, good luck and let us know how it goes

Cheers

TD

[ericthered]

The character has 180 points in IQ, 45 points in magery, more than 100 points in spells, and a bunch more points in energy recovery and Energy reserve.

He's pushing a total of at least 350 points in just magic, and what you are describing him doing his completely normal for 350 point builds using a supernatural system the player understands. Actually, 350 points can build warriors that start tearing through obstacles like paper if they're done by someone who really knows the system.

Standard magic does get a little more unwieldy than many of the other magic options at the highest levels. There is a lot of advice on this around the forum. Some of the best has been given to you above, particularly for your exact situation. Another common route is restricting access to spells by guild membership, school of study, and type of magic.

[Anaraxes]

When contemplating a campaign at higher point levels (300 is getting there; 500 definitely starts to verge on super-powered), then it's worth considering whether or not your game needs any caps on attributes. Magery has a standard cap of 3 levels. Many people like to cap attributes at fairly low levels, usually to try to enforce their notion of realism. At the 150-point level, you don't have to worry too much because the extreme builds aren't really very reachable, but at higher point levels, it's something to anticipate. (You'll run into similar problems with the DX 19 Weapon Master Heroic Archer putting arrows through every enemy's eyeslit before they get within 50 yards of the party.)

One-trick ponies like hyper-focused characters call for challenges outside of their realm of competence, not just force-on-force head-butting. Mages are of course very general with a broad spell list, but with all those points sunk into just magic, there should be a lot of weaknesses in physical and social challenges. There's also just plain running down all the mana batteries with enough mooks. (The player paid to be able to slaughter hordes of mooks, so one simple option is to let him do so -- just don't make that the actual main point, rather than something to let him feel awesome.)

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

ambitious mages challenging them to magical duels all the time to prove who's the best

For instance, these ambitious challengers might not be nearly as good as they'd need to be, or as they think they are. And that winning these duels by smoking all those wanna-bes might be the wrong thing to do. The PC might not wind up being admired for his prowess, but hated or feared for his bloodthirsty nature, not to mention getting on the wrong side of those nobles that don't care for him having offed their cousin in some duel. (Even if duelling is legal and he was legitimately challenged, people don't always just let things slide because it was all fair and legal.)

[Darakai]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The character has 180 points in IQ, 45 points in magery, more than 100 points in spells, and a bunch more points in energy recovery and Energy reserve.

He's pushing a total of at least 350 points in just magic, and what you are describing him doing his completely normal for 350 point builds using a supernatural system the player understands. Actually, 350 points can build warriors that start tearing through obstacles like paper if they're done by someone who really knows the system.

Yes, i know that a warrior can be devastating, but the problem never was the player killing stuff that he shouldn't kill, the problem laid more on he discovering any trap, recovering any info, opening every lock, disarming every trap, solving all the problems. and to boost having an absurd IQ lvl that not only improves his magic, but IQ based skills, and that was bothering me a little.

SO i would like criticism now. Please, tear my teory apart.

As in the rules, you add your magery to your IQ to learn spells, + Magery has all those nice effects that are magic related.

This leads to Mages Wanting to boost their IQ only to get good NH on spells, but this also makes them too good at a lot of other stuff and magic becomes something that anyone smart enough can pick up and learn, if this suits your world ok, but i like magic to be a bit more special.

So i am tinkering with the option of a little change in RULES as follow.

Instead of learning spells with IQ+Magery, it becomes 10+ 2xMagery, AND Magery is now caped at IQ - 10.
Max Magery lvl = 5

What will change?
For the ones who max out their magery lvl nothing changes.

IQ 13 + Magery 3
IQ 15+ Magery 5

those 2 will represent the ones smart enough to learn AND born with the talent. You see, someone with IQ 15 and Magery 1 will have to struggle a lot more to learn spells, since he has no vocation, he is merely smart.

Relation Between stats.

IQ is needed to boost high lvls of Magery.

Magery is needed to learn spells at high level.

you can have charachters that have huge IQ differences and the fight would be mostly fair, lets face an IQ 15 Mag 5 wizard against an IQ 20 Mag 5 wizard would cast spells equally well, the difference would be if the GM allow more lvls of magery the IQ 20 would be able to acquire them, while the IQ 15 is capped, + the IQ 20 wiz will resist better against any WILL based spell, be better at any of the IQ related Skills.

What is wrong with this theory? how is it worse than RAW, and Why shouldn't I change? Any criticism is welcomed, and if you need to call me dumb, please do, BUT give me the reason and explain where i f*** up.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Actually, 350 points can build warriors that start tearing through obstacles like paper if they're done by someone who really knows the system.

Exactly. I've a 250 point Ogress Barbarian in a DF game, and the only reason she isn't an unstoppable damage machine is that she's a wrestler and the GM has been throwing stuff at us that it's best not to touch... and even so she's still an unbalancing engine of destruction*.


* But then DR 10/12 (Tough Skin/Tough Skin Crushing only) and 3d+3 punches will do that (not to mention the 5d+5 Neck Snaps and Wrench Limbs) and the back up axe/mace for Things Ogres Shouldn't Touch and doors what need broken (5d+7 cut/5d+9 cr).

If she ever gets gauntlets†... look out stupid FP-draining undead!

† Gauntlets of Ogress Power naturally...

[Kallatari]

If you're in a "dungeon" in which the defenders are bothering to make traps and place good locks, then it's reasonable to assume they will also take precaution against magic. They would likely have hired their own magical wizards to set up defenses as well (e.g., magical traps). And, if they could afford it, would also want it so magic can't easily defeat it.

While No Mana zones might naturally be relatively rare, a defender can make any area he wants No Mana with the Drain Mana spell (GURPS Magic p. 127). So you don't have to randomly roll; if it makes strategic sense to be there to help the defenses, it can be. I'd save the random roll for those who couldn't afford mages to help then in their defenses and are trying to take advantage of one of those rare area of no mana.

As another option, use spells like Spellguard, False Aura, or Conceal Magic to make things harder to detect with magic, or to give him a false reading.

If you really want to get tricky, start using "Aspected mana" (from GURPS Fantasy). Basically, you can set up different levels of mana for different types of magic, so perhaps you have a "No Knowledge Mana" zone where all magic except knowledge spells works normally, but knowledge spells - that would, for example include See Secrets - don't work at all. From there, a simple and realistic house rule can create a Drain Aspected Mana spell variant, allowing defensive mages to have selective pockets of aspected no mana... they want their own magic to work, but don't want any knowledge/divination magic to scry their fortress, detect their traps, and sense how many foes are there. It makes perfect tactical sense to have those types of No "X" Mana defenses in place (if you can afford it). Just remember, if the enemy (i.e., the PCs) makes it into the fortress/dungeon, then the defenders can't use their own divination to track them down either though... and for other types of aspected no mana, the defenders would need to be able to have a non-magical way of getting around their own traps as well.

Using Aspected No Mana zones that has the advantage of letting your mage PC still use his magic for other things, like combat, but not short-circuit the adventure by finding all the secret doors, traps, solving puzzles, etc. So you're not completely nerfing his abilities, but he can't solve everything all by himself.

Now, there is a the Restore Mana spell which can get rid of No Mana Zones, whether natural ones or area drained by the Drain Mana spell. Thankfully, they take an hour to cast and are expensive in Energy, so it would take a really long time to undo a room... so unlikely to be used in a dungeon crawling with monsters.