Casting from horseback

[awesomenessofme1]

Has this ever been addressed? If you have enough skill that your ritual is simplified enough, it should be theoretically possible. Still, I don't think it should be possible to do it totally normally.

[Anaraxes]

What extra rules are you looking for?

RAW seems to provide for:

• Mages can't control their mount while casting. (The rider would have to take a Move Maneuver to do so, not Concentrate.) The mount can Move, but it's not likely to be inclined to go around corners, make jumps, etc, all on its own.
• Anything calling for a Riding roll (spooked mount, etc) likely counts as the Will-3 roll for distraction while casting
• Missile spells (ranged attack) capped at Riding skill
• Can't Aim if mount moves more than a Step
• You might possibly apply the melee penalty (-1 if difference in velocity >=7) to Thrown or area spells to reflect similar difficulty in targeting. But then, magic might just hit what you will it to hit. (Recall that you can target spells without even seeing the target, but just by describing what you imagine is on the other side of a door.)

There's not normally a penalty for mundane Concentration or skills needing motion (using a lariats, semaphore, sign language) from horseback or in vehicles in motion, so it's not obvious that spellcasting would call for one.

You can of course apply any TDM you like. Given the size of the "Tricks" penalties (e.g., -4 for turning around to shoot at enemies behind you; -6 to hang over the side and shoot under your horse), then a penalty for just sitting their waving your arms would seem to be minor. If there is a penlaty, it'd likely be modest. ("A Driving roll in a high-speed car chase on a busy freeway" only rates a -2, which to me sounds a lot more distracting than sitting on the back of a moving horse. The zero point for skills is assumed to be use under stressful adventuring conditions, after all. Easy circumstances call for bonuses, rather than the absence of penalties.)

[Prince Charon]

Casting from a chariot would probably be easier, as long as it's the classic 'one man drives, one man fights' sort of thing. If it's a Path/Book Magic variant where charms are fairly easy to set off, though (or a spell previously prepared with Delay, from GURPS Magic pp130-131), casting from horseback could work fairly well, being not too much different from firing a loaded gun from horseback.

Using standard spell-based magic from horseback is, as Anaraxes's post notes, rather difficult, though with the right skills, techniques, and perks, could be made more workable. There might be one or more Magical Styles in some settings designed for exactly that purpose, but without them, a spell-caster with a horse and the skill to ride one would be better off acting as mounted infantry.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

Has this ever been addressed? If you have enough skill that your ritual is simplified enough, it should be theoretically possible. Still, I don't think it should be possible to do it totally normally.

Using standard Magic and the ritual rules that apply to it the very low Skill Ritals that involve foot movements probably are excluded but by the time you get to "a word and a gesture" there should be no particular obstacle.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Casting from a chariot would probably be easier, as long as it's the classic 'one man drives, one man fights' sort of thing.

I was in a Banestorm where the GM allowed a small goblin mage standing in a saddlebag to cast spells at a slight penalty. The rider did have the make Riding rolls to not jostle the mage too much.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

There's not normally a penalty for mundane Concentration or skills needing motion (using a lariats, semaphore, sign language) from horseback or in vehicles in motion, so it's not obvious that spellcasting would call for one.

I imagine there might be some kind of penalty for keeping ahold of reigns while using hand gestures though.

[talonthehand]

Originally Posted by Plane

I imagine there might be some kind of penalty for keeping ahold of reigns while using hand gestures though.

You don’t need to hold reigns to ride a horse - it’s no different than controlling them with your legs while shooting a bow, so the same riding penalty would apply.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Plane

I imagine there might be some kind of penalty for keeping ahold of reigns while using hand gestures though.

You only need one hand on the reins as a rule though. Skill-10+ with a spell requires you "speak a few quiet words and make a gesture." One hand being free should be plenty to meet that. At skill-15+ it's "a word or two or a small gesture (a couple of fingers are enough)", and you could use the hand holding the reins if you couldn't speak.

At worst I would cap the spell's skill (not for FP reductions and ritual requirements - just for the casting) at the mage's Riding skill. As for missile spells, when throwing them they need no special rules - they're just like other projectile attacks.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Rupert

You only need one hand on the reins as a rule though. Skill-10+ with a spell requires you "speak a few quiet words and make a gesture." One hand being free should be plenty to meet that. At skill-15+ it's "a word or two or a small gesture (a couple of fingers are enough)", and you could use the hand holding the reins if you couldn't speak.

I like M9's optional "Alternate Magic Rituals"so there's still incentive for skilled casters to use ritual elements when they can bother to.

I mean sure, the "simply stare into space" for 20+ is something skilled casters should be able to do, but it might get boring to have them ALWAYS doing it because there's no incentive to flourish.

Using penalties, you could then have gesturing/footing/orating be important for keeping to minimal casting time / energy cost.

T8's "Flexible Rituals" approach rules that out, but I think variable energy/time is cool so maybe it could be a perk for those penalties not to alter them? Or maybe two: "Flexible Rituals penalties do not increase Energy Cost" and "Flexible Rituals penalties do not increase Casting Time" ?

M8's progression could still perhaps be used to determine how skilled you need to be to have the option to incur those penalties, but it's sort of self-solving since they're heavy enough to have 9 approaching 2 where you can't even attempt it.

9 or less (double casting time) who want a +1 would need x4 casting time if using that box.

With another +1 if all their Concentrates are instead defenceless All-Out Concentrates (optional "Mental Maneuvers" pg 11 of GURPS Psionic Powers: mentions can be done with spells)

Page 9 of GURPS Psionic Powers also uses something that might be useful for magic too:

At the GM’s option, non-attack abilities may be able to use the rules for time spent (p. B346) to reduce their activation time by taking a penalty.

If so, psis can also take extra time to get a skill bonus.

However, as these rules are supposed to be reserved for long actions, treat the base time as one minute or the ability’s activation time, whichever is longer.

It thus takes a minimum of 30 minutes to get a +5 bonus, even for abilities that normally require a second’s concentration.

The above doesn't appear to apply to the basic "double casting time" rule for AMR/FR (if so there would be a 2 minute minimum to get a +1) so I'm not sure if it should for the others (4x for +2, 8x for +3, 15x for +4, 30x for +5)

If it did then I would definitely hope this would help in decreasing energy costs, but obviously not casting time.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Plane

I like M9's optional "Alternate Magic Rituals"so there's still incentive for skilled casters to use ritual elements when they can bother to.

I mean sure, the "simply stare into space" for 20+ is something skilled casters should be able to do, but it might get boring to have them ALWAYS doing it because there's no incentive to flourish.

Using penalties, you could then have gesturing/footing/orating be important for keeping to minimal casting time / energy cost.

Given how fast normal spells accumulate range penalties, I dislike those rules, especially if they're being applied before high skill levels reduce costs and cast times. In combat if you're having to defend a strong case could be made for not being able to do footwork (-2), and unless you're using an enchanted staff as you weapon, having a weapon or shield is another -2, -4 with you've a weapon & shield combo, or a non-staff two-hander. That's fine if you want all mages to be 'pointy hat and staff' wizards, but not so fine otherwise.

I would certainly never apply these before calculating costs and cast times, and I'd would probably allow the +1 for double time and ostentatious rituals even when not using the rest of the box.