Favorite Magery 0 spells for low point characters

[edk926]

I guess it wouldn't necessarily be a low point character overall, just a total novice mage or even a magical kid, but the question still works:

If you were to have a character with Magery 0, IQ of like 12 or so, a little above average FP for spells, and say 20 points to spend on spells, what spells would you view as 'must take'?

[Shostak]

The answer to your question depends on what sort of magic your character is interested in. Flashy? Subtle? Plant magic? Healing? Communication? What are the demands the campaign going to place on the PC? Is this for a dungeon crawl, or something more like Game of Thrones or the Dresden Files? Answering some of those questions for PC might help you determine what would be "must haves" for that character.

[weby]

That magery 0 is a real limiter, personally I would in many cases prefer magery 1 and only 10 spells at 1 point instead of magery 0 and 20 spells. Overall the low resulting skill will heavily limit the usefulness of the spells too and there the magery 1 helps too.

But some things to have as magery 0 spells assuming a normal fantasy type world. A different type world would result in a different thing.

Haste for move and dodge
Sound->silence->hush for sneaking around
Purify Air->Shape Air->Walk on Air and ->Body of Air air mobility and the great defense spell with the problem that you need someone to carry your gear. fly+Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) makes it hard for low tech opponents to damage you seriously.
Seek Earth->Shape Earth->Earth Vision for great treasure finding and excavation, along with utility uses for the shape.
Light->Continual Light->Flash the area attack spell where you do not need high skill to effect targets and of course continual light is very useful utility spell.
(above+one other light/dark spell)->darkness->Blur->Invisibility for defense and infiltration.
Simple Illusion-> Complex Illusion, ->Independence and ->Illusion Disguise so much fun and profit with illusions...
Ignite Fire->Extinguish Fire->Fireproof->Resist Fire for when playing with fire..
above and Shape Fire ->smoke for a persistent area of effect attack.
Seek Water->Purify Water->Create Water->Shape Water utility use and to open most of the other water spells...
above and ->Walk on Water utility
above and ->Water Vision utility
above and ->Fog defense/confuse
above and ->Whirlpool if you spend a lot of time at watery places this is a nice area effect spell against pursuing boats and similar.

Of course you cannot have all so you need to mostly likely limit the elemental colleges and only take some of them..

[edk926]

Originally Posted by Shostak

The answer to your question depends on what sort of magic your character is interested in. Flashy? Subtle? Plant magic? Healing? Communication? What are the demands the campaign going to place on the PC? Is this for a dungeon crawl, or something more like Game of Thrones or the Dresden Files? Answering some of those questions for PC might help you determine what would be "must haves" for that character.

I didn't really have a specific idea when I made the thread. Let's just go with generic fantasy adventurer for now. Feel free to make themed novices though.

[patchwork]

<digs until notebook from old high-mana fantasy campaign is excavated>

and if they have Empathy, take Lesser Healing.

Bravo: Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Ignite Fire, Create Fire, Shape Fire, Fire Jet
Farmer: Seek Plant, Identify Plant, Heal Plant, Bless Plants, Shape Plant, Plant Growth
Stockman: Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Persuasion, Beast-Soother, Mammal Control, Beast Summoning
Servant: Tell Time, Alarm, Measurement, Ignite Fire, Extinguish Fire, Purify Air
Craftsman: Seek Earth, Shape Earth, Earth Vision, Shape Stone, Measurement, Light
Entertainer: Simple Illusion, Sound, Complex Illusion, Independence, Sense Foes, Sense Emotion
Augment: Itch, Spasm, Clumsiness, Dexterity, Haste, Keen Eyes

Sergeant: Ignite Fire, Create Fire, Shape Fire, Fire Jet, Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Persuasion, Truthsayer, Haste, Glue, Fear, Bravery
Chamberlain: Tell Time, Alarm, Measurement, Ignite Fire, Extinguish Fire, Fireproof, Purify Air, Test Food, Haste, Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, No-Smell
Communicator: Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Truthsayer, Mind Reading, Mind Sending, Telepathy, Control Person, Lend Language, Borrow Language, Mind Search, Persuasion, Hide Thoughts
Mind Augment: Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Fear, Bravery, Keen Eyes, Keen Ears, Loyalty, Emotion Control, Wisdom, Alertness, Suggestion, Mass Suggestion
Engineer: Seek Earth, Shape Earth, Earth Vision, Shape Stone, Measurement, Ignite Fire, Seek Water, Purify Air, Light, Find Weakness, Extinguish Fire, Fireproof
Village Elder: Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Truthsayer, Hide Thoughts, Measurement, Persuasion, Seek Plant, Identify Plant, Heal Plant, Bless Plants, Shape Plant, Plant Growth
Junior Weatherman: Purify Air, Create Air, Shape Air, Windstorm, Predict Weather, Seek Water, Purify Water, Create Water, Frost, Clouds, Rain, Snow

Those were my default spell lists for random/averageman NPCs in the core culture area. Other, tailored lists existed for more skilled or talented NPCs and cultures other than the core one.

Takeaways: Persuasion and Sense Emotion are cheap and easy enough that a lot of people learn them, making for a bit of a social arms race at the lower levels (and an overall decrease in direct conflict). Fire Jet is the easiest attack spell to learn, and the rougher parts of society are a contest between Fire Jet and Fireproof, with Sense Foes common enough to make concealing hostile intent difficult.

[hal]

The fun thing about this thread, is that it makes me think about how life in general would be for mages in a fantasy environment. If only 2% of a given population has magery, and magery 0 outnumbers the rest by 10 to 1, a population 5,000 city would have about 100 mages, of which 90 should be magery 0.

Why not go with that and see the different mage types that might come into existence?

When I get a chance, I'll post a few. What tech level are you interested in?

[edk926]

Originally Posted by hal

The fun thing about this thread, is that it makes me think about how life in general would be for mages in a fantasy environment. If only 2% of a given population has magery, and magery 0 outnumbers the rest by 10 to 1, a population 5,000 city would have about 100 mages, of which 90 should be magery 0.

Why not go with that and see the different mage types that might come into existence?

When I get a chance, I'll post a few. What tech level are you interested in?

Nice lists so far. Put it at TL3, which is probably the most common fantasy magical world TL.

Also maybe throw in a few near-future post-apocalypse characters that discovered they have the ability to use magic but haven't had the time or opportunity to real hone in their skills yet. That's a fairly common trope too. :)

[ericbsmith]

My list of 20 spells for every Mage includes:
Apportation, Continual Light, Create Air, Fear, Haste, Ignite Fire, Keen Vision, Lend Energy, Light, Purify Air, Purify Water, Recover Energy, Seek Earth, Seek Food, Seek Water, Sense Emotion, Sense Foes, Shape Earth, Shape Fire, Test Food

This has a nice mix of useful and survival spells, as well as covers 10 colleges with two spells each. It does include three spells which require Magery 1: Apportation, Lend Energy, and Recover Energy - and those are three spells that every full Mage should have. Recover Energy is just too useful, and requires Lend Energy; Apportation may be the single most used prerequisite in the book as it is needed for virtually any spell that requires movement of any kind as part of the spell effect. The remainder of the list is still a useful mix of spells for even a Magery 0 Mage.