Kung Fu with Melee spells?

[Dolarre]

I have a question. The description of melee spells specifies that the caster's hand or staff is charged. Is there any harm in allowing a martial-artist mage to charge his foot, then deliver the spell with a kick? Or charge the head and deliver the spell with a head but?

If not allowed by the letter of the rules, would a quirk be sufficient to allow it? If so should it be specialized by spell? By striking limb? Both?

I'm interested in the forum's opinions.

Thanks in advance.

[mlangsdorf]

I'd let a mage charge a Melee spell to any part of their body without restriction. If you're a sumo mage and prefer to Deathtouch people by slamming into them, or a talking dog mage that wants to inflict Burning Touch with bites, that's fine by me.

I think all the references to "hand" in melee spells are made under the assumption that most mages are going to prefer to attack people with their fists. The implied prohibition against using other body parts is an oversight, not a design decision.

[Refplace]

I agree with Mlangsdorf.

[vitruvian]

Agreed that this should be allowed within the meaning of the rules... after all, if we restricted it to 'hands' per se, what would Octopi mages do, or any other race with different limb options than humans, do?

In fact, I recall there was at least one example character in GURPS Wizards that made a lot of use of this concept, with Melee spells delivered using martial arts strikes and a bo staff enchanted with Staff (which allowed for greater reach). That was 3rd Ed, but the principle should still hold.

[AlexanderHowl]

A related question, could someone learn to 'hold' multiple melee spells in multiple limbs/weapons. Could I learn to 'hold' Deathtouch in both of my feet, both my hands, my head (for Headbutt), and my teeth (for Bite)?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

A related question, could someone learn to 'hold' multiple melee spells in multiple limbs/weapons. Could I learn to 'hold' Deathtouch in both of my feet, both my hands, my head (for Headbutt), and my teeth (for Bite)?

Hmm good question. The answer is normally no, see Magic p. 11 under Melee spells.
However if you have Compartmentalized Mind I would allow it as the inability to cast another spell plus the risk of accidental discharge are pretty serious.
I might allow extra castings of the same spell for a small UB cost, say 5 points and each additional casting would be at -1 for a spell "on".
It seems more than a perk to counter that drawback.

[mlangsdorf]

No and yes. Normally, casting a Melee spell or a Missile spell prevents you from casting an additional spell as long as you hold the charged spell. Melee Spell Mastery (Magical Styles p27) lets you cast other spells while holding a charged Melee spell. It's specialized by Melee spell.

It's not 100% clear to me if "cast other spells" means spells other than the specific melee spell, or just additional spells, including additional copies of the melee spell.

If you take the view that it allows you to cast additional spells, you take Melee Spell Mastery (Deathtouch) and go to town.

If you take the view that it allows you to cast other spells that are not the specific Melee spell, you could have Melee Spell Mastery (Burning Touch, Deathtouch, Icy Touch, Paralyze Limb, Total Paralysis, Shocking Touch) and distribute them around your hands, feet, heads, and teeth.

If you have access to Death Spells, you could also specialize in Doomtouch, Cremate, or Resuscitate, in case you have extra limbs or want to slam someone with a charged Melee spell.

You could in theory use Delay or Reflex to quick-cast multiple Melee spells, but since most Melee spells have a casting time of one second and Reflex'd spells take 1 second to activate and you have pay the energy cost at activation, I'm not sure why anyone would bother.