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Old 09-24-2012, 01:05 PM   #1
Drifter99
 
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Default Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

IF I make a character with Ritual magic and symbol drawing, with out any magery at all , is it still possible for her to cast spells? What would replace mana if anything? Is there a system for it somewhere that I haven't seen?
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Old 09-24-2012, 06:51 PM   #2
starslayer
 
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Default Re: Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

A lot of this is 'it depends'.

What type of magic normally exists in that world? (IE Path/book, RPM, regular magical system, some system using ritual magic and symbol drawing?). Are ritual magic and symbol drawing all that is normally required to cast spells in the setting?

Manna- nothing replaces manna, magic uses manna, and use of magic remains tied to manna levels.

If you don't have magery you get one, several, or all of the following problems:
1. Your maximum skill has a very low cap
2. Your skill with magical spells will be very low
3. You will only be able to put a trivial amount of energy, if any, into certain spells.
4. You will not have any innate ability to see magic or manna (so something like counter-spell is useless)
5. You will not be able to cast some spells (ones that require magery, magery 2, or magery 3)
6. Only be able to cast in areas of high manna or greater.


Details on what magery does, and what you can do without magery is specified in GURPS: Magic (for the normal spell system) and GURPS: Thaumatology for alternate magic systems
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Old 09-24-2012, 07:48 PM   #3
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Default Re: Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

There are two things that could replace mana. The first is Sanctity, which is mentioned in Magic and detailed in Thaumatology. The other is a Threshold, also detailed in Thaumatology.

Sanctity is based on if god(s) and/or spirits (call them angels, demons, djinn, daemons, geists, or whatever) grant power, and whether spells will work in areas where an entity's power is not as prominent (or even absent). It has the same basic levels as mana, but is also usually tied to Power Investiture rather than Magery.

Threshold is slightly different, where magic is based on how much physical stress the caster can take. Others grok it better than I do.


Your character has Ritual Magery and Symbol Drawing, yes? It is theoretically possible for this character to cast spells in areas of high mana (or sanctity). Whether s/he can cast in areas of normal or lower mana is entirely up to the GM. There are options in the Path/Book Magic section of Thaumatology to permit non-mages to cast, albeit at a penalty; it wouldn't take much to transfer that to other magic systems, I think.
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Old 09-24-2012, 08:54 PM   #4
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Default Re: Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbrock1031 View Post
There are two things that could replace mana. The first is Sanctity, which is mentioned in Magic and detailed in Thaumatology. The other is a Threshold, also detailed in Thaumatology.

Sanctity is based on if god(s) and/or spirits (call them angels, demons, djinn, daemons, geists, or whatever) grant power, and whether spells will work in areas where an entity's power is not as prominent (or even absent). It has the same basic levels as mana, but is also usually tied to Power Investiture rather than Magery.

Threshold is slightly different, where magic is based on how much physical stress the caster can take. Others grok it better than I do.


Your character has Ritual Magery and Symbol Drawing, yes? It is theoretically possible for this character to cast spells in areas of high mana (or sanctity). Whether s/he can cast in areas of normal or lower mana is entirely up to the GM. There are options in the Path/Book Magic section of Thaumatology to permit non-mages to cast, albeit at a penalty; it wouldn't take much to transfer that to other magic systems, I think.
Threshold replaces fatigue, not manna levels.

Sanctity is just 'manna levels with another name/power origin' (depending on the setting sanctity might be much more variable and easy to up or down depending on actions, but this is not always true). It is also powered by power investiture, rather then magery, but spells within are normally not used with ritual magic and symbol drawing.
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Old 09-25-2012, 06:34 AM   #5
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Default Re: Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

Thaumatology, page 168, box at bottom, Symbol Magery:
Quote:
The standard symbol-magic system doesn’t require Magery and gives no benefits for that advantage.
It goes on to explain how to make Magery beneficial or prerequisite.
I don't get the Ritual Magery link - isn't Symbol Magery almost a form of variance on the idea, where you have key skills that allow you to caste any spell?
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Old 09-25-2012, 07:28 AM   #6
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Default Re: Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by starslayer View Post
Manna- nothing replaces manna, magic uses manna, and use of magic remains tied to manna levels.
On the other hand, a world with only one mana level and no way to change it is functionally identical to a world with mana-independent magic.

Incidentally, manna is food from heaven, mana is magical energy (Polynesian word for life force, really).
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Old 09-25-2012, 11:02 AM   #7
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Default Re: Ritual magic / symbol drawing skills ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW View Post
Incidentally, manna is food from heaven, mana is magical energy (Polynesian word for life force, really).
Yea sorry about that, firefox Canadian spellcheck does not contain the word mana by default, and I must have just corrected everything that was underlined. I've now added it to the dictionary.
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