Modular abilities Magic

[Aigol]

Hi I'm trying to build a magic system for my upcoming fantasy game and I'm basing it around modular abilities and had some questions.

Is there a good rule of thumb for setting which point cost of slotted cosmic to use? How easy is easy to change and such.


How would you go about settin modular abilities totake extra time to change but allowing for a skill check to reduce the time you need to swap things?

[Jasonft]

I've been wondering along these lines myself since my Super with Modular just found someone to teach him magic.

Different limitations on the Modular and on the Power it replicates just felt weird to me somehow.

[Anaraxes]

The slot type (and cost) are a large part of the "feel" of a Modular Ability. That should be dictated by the setting. Can mages act on pretty much any desire, just "the Will and the Word"? Do they have to study each dawn for fifteen minutes per "spell level" to memorize a spell and can't change it thereafter?

Basic cites some example slot costs which stake out a few points in the large space of possible slots. But there's not really a "slot cost design system" to produce custom ones. Comparison with the existing ones leads to a judgement call on the cost of a custom one with the properties you want. Describe the details, and I'm sure people will opine on a cost.

For small amounts of extra time, there's "Takes Extra Time" (applied to the slot cost, not the use of the ability). For longer periods, you probably want "Immediate Preparation Required" (once a PK house rule, now official in Psionic Powers).

[Angle]

There are a lot of threads about this popping up all of a sudden. I had a thread on Tattoo Magic, and some other guy s asking about applying this to sorcerers. I wrote up a system for wizards a while back.

Here's what I have for my Wizardly Vancian Magic:

Modular Abilities 5 base + 5 per level (Magical, -10%, Minimum Duration: 12 hours, -10%, Maximum Duration: 12 Hours, -5%, Immediate Preparation Required: 10 Minutes, -45%, Requires IQ Roll, -10%) [1 +1/level]

For reducing the time with a skill check, I have no idea.

For figuring out Modular Abilities, check Powers. hey have a section on that. The relevant bit is:

The GM may invent other forms. Set the per-slot cost to reflect the scope of available traits: 4 points for a short list, 5 points for a lengthy catalog, 6 points for nearly anything, and 7 points for anything. Cost per point in a slot should be 2 points if rearranging points is costly, slow, and subject to external interference; 3 points if just two of those; 4 points if only one of those; and 5 points if none of those.

[Anders]

*** WARNING! THIS POST SHOULD BE READ IN THE CONTEXT OF MY TOTAL IGNORANCE ON THE SUBJECT ***

We'd really need to compare different Modular Abilities from different books, but I'm not sure how far we can go with posting published material. Probably not very far... :(

[Angle]

What, really? It's just a paragraph.

[Anders]

I may be overly cautious. Do not take anything I say as official. I will change my post to reflect this. Contact Kromm, I've pestered him enough... :)

[gilbertocarlos]

I like the idea of limiting the maximum number of points spent, so, let's say you have up to 50 points to spend on modular abilities, a "D&D sorcerer" can have 5 points of cosmic power, while a book wizard can have 11 points of super memorization.

Or, instead, give a limit based on IQ, maybe 5 points/IQ.

The idea behind it is to make spells variable but not as powerful, so a wizard will have to play smart, while the knight has very powerful combat abilities, a wizard may be able to use the terrain for light magic, Like ST2 of telekinesis or a low damage fireball. The most important part is that the wizard is versatile out of combat as well. Sure, his ST2 telekinesis doesn't seem much, but if all you need is to grab a key while in a cell, it's the best thing to have.

[Aigol]

I guess to better define what I'm doing is that magic users in my world instead of casting conventional spells can imbue themselves with a degree of power that can be pretty much anything. So they would have a small cosmic pool with requires skill roll to represent crafting the effect.

This pool grows slowly so they make use of magical tools such as staves or wands that are more limited to what effects you can create with them such as fire only or sensory effects only and so would have a discount and be gadgets for another discount. I've been toying with the idea of the magical tool points being slotted cosmis modular abilities as each tool can only hold one effect at a time.

I want more skilled people to be able to rearrange abilities more quickly and i wasn't sure how to go about reducing the time based on margin of success of the skill roll