One College Magery tips

coronatiger · 04-11-2018, 02:48 AM

I'm building a TL3 fantasy wandering mage on around 150 points. He will be the only mage in the party, but is required to limit himself to spells from one college. (He may know and cast prerequisite spells, but not too many, because of both flavor and few points available.)

Which college should I choose, and why? The other characters are two warriors and one gadgeteer. I want to be versatile (if that is possible from one college) and not step on anyone's toes regarding fields of expertise. For example, I don't need to know many offensive spells.

coronatiger · 04-11-2018, 02:52 AM

By the way, the warriors are one fighter and one ranger in D&D terminology.

Myrion · 04-11-2018, 03:57 AM

Enchantment, because that requires you to have spells from almost everything else, so you can get around that pesky limitation?

No? Not in the spirit of the thing? okay... :P

There's a lot of versatility in the Air college, with some movement, some offensive spells, some utility and some control.

Similarly, Body Control offers a lot, but exchanges some of the offensive for more buffs.

Latro · 04-11-2018, 06:31 AM

Food. Never underestimate the value of the far-tasting specialist.

Bruno · 04-11-2018, 07:20 AM

Each of the elemental colleges has a good range of attacks, "crowd control" area effects, and "quality of life" environment shaping or modifying effects. Out of the four, Water may be less useful in a campaign away from the sea or large inland bodies of water, and Fire is pretty laser-focused on attack-y things (although).

Air and Earth are both solid, versatile colleges. Pun not intended.

Body Control and Mind Control are also of frequent good use. Mind Control has the limitation of not working so great on a fairly wide variety of enemies (Immunity to Mind Control is more common than Immunity to Body Control) but it can still buff and protect your own party's minds, and when you need that you really need it. For both, never underestimate the combat effectiveness of Stun/Mental Stun, and well placed Dazes can be a virtual death sentence.

Food, Healing, Knowledge, and Communication/Empathy are all very useful but not exactly versatile.

David Johnston2 · 04-11-2018, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coronatiger

I'm building a TL3 fantasy wandering mage on around 150 points. He will be the only mage in the party, but is required to limit himself to spells from one college. (He may know and cast prerequisite spells, but not too many, because of both flavor and few points available.)

Which college should I choose, and why? The other characters are two warriors and one gadgeteer. I want to be versatile (if that is possible from one college) and not step on anyone's toes regarding fields of expertise. For example, I don't need to know many offensive spells.

Honestly the single most party useful college is Healing. But Illusion and Creation is the most fun.

RyanW · 04-11-2018, 10:43 AM

Definitely going with Cheese.

Refplace · 04-11-2018, 11:32 AM

I prefer Illusion and Creation but Mind Control is way underestimated and I agree with Brunos breakdown all around.

Blind Mapmaker · 04-11-2018, 12:22 PM

As long you're looking for a mix of attacks and utility spells Water has more than double (69) the spells than Earth (28) and Fire (31). Air has a lot too (49), but tends more towards the offensive. Numbers probably won't matter much if your GM lets you buy regular Magery after a while, but it doesn't hurt to get the most bang out of your One-College Magery either.

Water is probably better for making you go places (weather magic, Breathe Water, Swim, Walk on Water, Create Water, Coolness, Melt Ice, Snow Shoes) and the out-of college prerequisites are good too.

Take note though that by RAW you may learn out-of-college prerequisites, but you may only cast them if you are in a high-mana zone.

Water is also good for non-lethal stuff (Water Jet, Icy Touch, Ice Slick) and the Acid sub-college gives you a lot of different stuff.

Shostak · 04-11-2018, 01:04 PM

Which college to recommend choosing from depends largely on two things: the focus activity of the campaign, and your vision for your character. If the adventures are going to feature a great deal of combat, the suggestion of Healing makes a lot of sense. However, being relegated to just patching people up might not be that fun. No matter how useful a role might be, it needs to be interesting to you, the player.

It could be worth your having a discussion with the other players (GM included) to determine if they are working under the assumption that the mage will bring healing to the party's collective assets and how this does or does not fit in with your desires for the character you want to play.

04-11-2018, 02:48 AM	#1
coronatiger Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Trondheim, Norway	One College Magery tips I'm building a TL3 fantasy wandering mage on around 150 points. He will be the only mage in the party, but is required to limit himself to spells from one college. (He may know and cast prerequisite spells, but not too many, because of both flavor and few points available.) Which college should I choose, and why? The other characters are two warriors and one gadgeteer. I want to be versatile (if that is possible from one college) and not step on anyone's toes regarding fields of expertise. For example, I don't need to know many offensive spells.

04-11-2018, 02:52 AM	#2
coronatiger Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Trondheim, Norway	Re: One College Magery tips By the way, the warriors are one fighter and one ranger in D&D terminology.

04-11-2018, 03:57 AM	#3
Myrion Join Date: Jan 2011	Re: One College Magery tips Enchantment, because that requires you to have spells from almost everything else, so you can get around that pesky limitation? No? Not in the spirit of the thing? okay... :P There's a lot of versatility in the Air college, with some movement, some offensive spells, some utility and some control. Similarly, Body Control offers a lot, but exchanges some of the offensive for more buffs. __________________ A Literate Programmer's Blog: My blog about whatever comes to mind, including GURPS.

04-11-2018, 06:31 AM	#4
Latro Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Kansas City, MO	Re: One College Magery tips Food. Never underestimate the value of the far-tasting specialist.

04-11-2018, 07:20 AM	#5
Bruno Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Canada	Re: One College Magery tips Each of the elemental colleges has a good range of attacks, "crowd control" area effects, and "quality of life" environment shaping or modifying effects. Out of the four, Water may be less useful in a campaign away from the sea or large inland bodies of water, and Fire is pretty laser-focused on attack-y things (although). Air and Earth are both solid, versatile colleges. Pun not intended. Body Control and Mind Control are also of frequent good use. Mind Control has the limitation of not working so great on a fairly wide variety of enemies (Immunity to Mind Control is more common than Immunity to Body Control) but it can still buff and protect your own party's minds, and when you need that you really need it. For both, never underestimate the combat effectiveness of Stun/Mental Stun, and well placed Dazes can be a virtual death sentence. Food, Healing, Knowledge, and Communication/Empathy are all very useful but not exactly versatile. __________________ All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog

04-11-2018, 10:43 AM	#7
RyanW ☣ Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Southeast NC	Re: One College Magery tips Definitely going with Cheese. __________________ RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats.

04-11-2018, 11:32 AM	#8
Refplace Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Yukon, OK	Re: One College Magery tips I prefer Illusion and Creation but Mind Control is way underestimated and I agree with Brunos breakdown all around. __________________ My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries

04-11-2018, 12:22 PM	#9
Blind Mapmaker Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Mannheim, Baden	Re: One College Magery tips As long you're looking for a mix of attacks and utility spells Water has more than double (69) the spells than Earth (28) and Fire (31). Air has a lot too (49), but tends more towards the offensive. Numbers probably won't matter much if your GM lets you buy regular Magery after a while, but it doesn't hurt to get the most bang out of your One-College Magery either. Water is probably better for making you go places (weather magic, Breathe Water, Swim, Walk on Water, Create Water, Coolness, Melt Ice, Snow Shoes) and the out-of college prerequisites are good too. Take note though that by RAW you may learn out-of-college prerequisites, but you may only cast them if you are in a high-mana zone. Water is also good for non-lethal stuff (Water Jet, Icy Touch, Ice Slick) and the Acid sub-college gives you a lot of different stuff. __________________ My GURPS and mapmaking blog: The Blind Mapmaker

04-11-2018, 01:04 PM	#10
Shostak Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: New England	Re: One College Magery tips Which college to recommend choosing from depends largely on two things: the focus activity of the campaign, and your vision for your character. If the adventures are going to feature a great deal of combat, the suggestion of Healing makes a lot of sense. However, being relegated to just patching people up might not be that fun. No matter how useful a role might be, it needs to be interesting to you, the player. It could be worth your having a discussion with the other players (GM included) to determine if they are working under the assumption that the mage will bring healing to the party's collective assets and how this does or does not fit in with your desires for the character you want to play.