[ThaumaLOLogy]Fearsome Magic--a septuple-edged sword?

[NorphTehDwarf]

Thaumatology is probably my favorite GURPS book and I like leafing through it for ideas about magical variants to chuck at my players. Recently I stumbled on the idea of Fearsome Magic (box on p. 32); in essence, learning or possibly casting certain spells (or even ALL spells) would require the wizard to make Fright checks. A prerequisite count-based variation is listed, too.

This is all fine and dandy, but what if you want to make this an optional limitation instead? How much should the various levels of the limitation knock off Magery? I've got a rough idea but I'd love input from someone else:

Fearsome Tutelage 1: Every time the mage learns a spell, he must make a fright check. -20%

Fearsome Tutelage 2: Every time the mage learns a spell, he must make a fright check with a penalty of half the spell's prerequisite count, rounded down. -35%

Fearsome Tutelage 3: Every time the mage learns a spell, he must make a fright check with a penalty equal to the spell's prerequisite count. -50%

Fearsome Casting 1: Every time the mage casts a spell he must make a fright check. -20%

Fearsome Casting 2: Every time the mage casts a spell, he must make a fright check with a penalty of half the spell's prerequisite count, rounded down. -35%

Fearsome Casting 3: Every time the mage casts a spell, he must make a fright check with a penalty equal to the spell's prerequisite count. -50%

These limitations can be applied together, and it usually makes logical sense to pair Fearsome Casting with Fearsome Tutelage since a spell that is frightening to cast must be terrifying to learn. This limitation can be applied to single colleges, as well: For each college that Fearsome limitations apply to, the limitation is worth 1/4th of its normal value.

Example: Primus the Second is an accomplished thaumaturge, but oddly squeamish about certain workings. He has unmodified Magery 0 [5] and Magery 4 (Fearsome Tutelage 1--Gate and Necromantic colleges only -10%) [45]. Primus can learn any spell he meets the prerequisite for but must make unmodified fright checks every time he wants to put the first point into a spell from the Necromantic or Gate colleges.

In DF, consider changing the limitation names to Terrifying Tutelage and Creepy Casting to fit with the alliterative nature of Dungeon Fantasy. Both limitations are perhaps appropriate to the Necromancers or Demonologists from DF: Summoners.

But horrifying magic isn't all bad. Any mage who takes these limitations could qualify for the Frightening Side Effects perk for any spell that he can cast (Thaumatology: Magical Styles 25), regardless of how many points he's put into a style and whether or not the Fearsome limitation applies to that spell, and could also take Frightening Side Effects as a 10-point advantage to have it apply to all of his spells. It's best if the GM allows the player to trade-in his Frightening Side Effect perks for the advantage if he has the points.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Do you think the percentage values are too high? Too low? Any other comments are certainly welcome.

[Gudiomen]

It's been a while since I meddled with magic, so I'll keep my comments on the most obvious stuff:

You only learn a spell once (in general), and you cast it several times (ditto). It seems wrong that the value of the limitation is the same. Fright Checks on casting are much more limiting than Frich Checks on learning. The values should not be the same.

The values also sound a little high to me, any sane mage will strive to mitigate this with auto-hypnosis and IQ/Will reinforcing spells, elixirs, whatever he can get his hands on.

The FC on learning bit is rubbing me the wrong way, it might be just that the values are high, but it doesn't sound an awful lot limiting to me. Specially if the mage starts with spells, then he's just getting a discount for nothing, he might decide to live with the spells he's got and that's free points right there. But there are precedents...

I'd make it so that he has to make a fright check whenever he studies the spell and invests points into it:
1 point = Fright Check at -2;
2 points = Fright Check at -4;
4 points = Fright Check at -8.

[isf]

I'd pair this with some enhancements to magery to make it worthwhile or give this kind of magic access to unique spells. Another idea might be to allow a magery cap to be exceeded with this kind of magery.

[PK]

I'd reduce the value of your "Every time the mage learns a spell..." limitations to -1%, -3%, and -5%, respectively. Seriously. That's so minor that it wouldn't even quality as a nuisance effect until at its worst level, and then only because there's the slight chance of a permanent effect.

Any result other than a permanent effect is pretty much nothing but color. The mage is sitting in a room with his teacher, studying -- he finally completes his understanding and he's stunned for 3d seconds! Oh noes! And... then he recovers, closes the book, and thanks the teacher. Since spells aren't typically learned in the middle of a dangerous situation, Fright Checks in such a situation are an annoyance at worst.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

I'd reduce the value of your "Every time the mage learns a spell..." limitations to -1%, -3%, and -5%, respectively. Seriously. That's so minor that it wouldn't even quality as a nuisance effect until at its worst level, and then only because there's the slight chance of a permanent effect.

Any result other than a permanent effect is pretty much nothing but color. The mage is sitting in a room with his teacher, studying -- he finally completes his understanding and he's stunned for 3d seconds! Oh noes! And... then he recovers, closes the book, and thanks the teacher. Since spells aren't typically learned in the middle of a dangerous situation, Fright Checks in such a situation are an annoyance at worst.

No disagreement that this is a trivial drawback... I would just call it a Quirk for most cases.