Realm Magic Energy Costs & other questions

[finneddy]

So I'm trying to figure out a Realm Magic system based on the Hermetic decans for a Cabal game (got the idea from a thread on here.)

But the main thing I'm wondering about is the seemingly really high energy costs.

For example, the spell Wither Plant has a base energy cost of 2, while with this system I'd use Harpax/2 and Kurtael/3, which equals an energy cost of 7. This seems like it would make this kind of magic more tiring than is reasonable.

GURPS Thaumatology says that under no circumstances should high skill reduce energy costs, but what about Hermetic correspondences? Is there any way to make those affect energy cost in addition to/as an optional alternative to skill modifiers? Or is that unfeasible in game mechanics, or in Hermetic magic's style?

Another unrelated question I have is how hard would using Realm magic be for a beginning GM? And does anybody have any things they use to make it easier to handle?

And would it be a good idea to have the Cabal use both Realm magic and non-Realm magic or would that make the game unbalanced?

Finally, has anybody actually used a system similar to this (either Decanic Realm Magic, or Realm Magic with a lot of somewhat ambiguous Realms)? If so, how did it work for you?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

ETA: I forgot to add, for people who don't have GURPS Thaumatology that the calculation for Realm Magic energy cost is the Realm level x2 added to the level of any other realms involved.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by finneddy

Is there any way to make those affect energy cost in addition to/as an optional alternative to skill modifiers? Or is that unfeasible in game mechanics, or in Hermetic magic's style?

I'd do it in a game running realms whether or not it actually seems to fit the real world ideal of hermetic magic's style... that is I'd use the modifiers in the back of the book as FP modifications

[finneddy]

Originally Posted by Dwarf99

I'd do it in a game running realms whether or not it actually seems to fit the real world ideal of hermetic magic's style... that is I'd use the modifiers in the back of the book as FP modifications

So you would just use it for FP modifiers? Because that doesn't seem like a good idea in a GURPS Cabal game where the material world is at -5 to skill. I definitely want them to affect skill, too. I was just wondering if there was a way to do both. Like maybe being able to choose which it does?

Also, how exactly would you calculate the FP modifiers? I assume things can't go as far as they go with skill modifiers or you'd rapidly end up with everything being at the minimum energy cost... hmm, yeah, I'm not sure how this will work.

It seems like the better idea might be to figure out an alternative system/calculation for calculating energy costs in the Realm system.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by finneddy

GURPS Thaumatology says that under no circumstances should high skill reduce energy costs

My suggestion would be to disregard what the book says here; allowing high skill to reduce energy costs as if it were a normal magic spell. As the simplest possible fix, it would give realm magic casters the same endurance as a normal magic caster.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by finneddy

So you would just use it for FP modifiers? Because that doesn't seem like a good idea in a GURPS Cabal game where the material world is at -5 to skill. I definitely want them to affect skill, too. I was just wondering if there was a way to do both. Like maybe being able to choose which it does?

Hand Wavium

Originally Posted by finneddy

Also, how exactly would you calculate the FP modifiers?

The tables in the back are to be used for either FP or Skill Mods. It isn't unfeasible to let both fly.

Originally Posted by finneddy

I assume things can't go as far as they go with skill modifiers or you'd rapidly end up with everything being at the minimum energy cost... hmm, yeah, I'm not sure how this will work.

Actually the negative used for the skill modifier is the positive for FP costs

[Refplace]

the Quintesence reserve advantage helps here too.
The cabal will be doing a lot of mass rituals and that should help aslo.

[finneddy]

Thanks, everyone! This was really helpful.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

My suggestion would be to disregard what the book says here; allowing high skill to reduce energy costs as if it were a normal magic spell. As the simplest possible fix, it would give realm magic casters the same endurance as a normal magic caster.

That's another reason not to do it. Caball/Decanic magic is supposed to be hard and take a lot out of a mortal human being, so they save using it for crucial parts of their activities. If you want to be able to do more magic on a regular basis, you are expected to do whatever necessary to accumulate the additional resources. Attaining greater magical power is supposed to be struggle, otherwise everyone would be secretly controlling the world(s).

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

That's another reason not to do it. Caball/Decanic magic is supposed to be hard and take a lot out of a mortal human being, so they save using it for crucial parts of their activities. If you want to be able to do more magic on a regular basis, you are expected to do whatever necessary to accumulate the additional resources. Attaining greater magical power is supposed to be struggle, otherwise everyone would be secretly controlling the world(s).

If the GM wants something to work one way for their game, and a published rule contradicts them ... the rule should be ignored or changed. :)

Fluff-wise, I disagree. If that were true, then, ignoring for a moment that the material world in the Cabal setting is a Low Mana setting, then the standard spell system would also be modified to be more difficult. As it isn't ... Heh.

[nanoboy]

PCs could take penalties to cast in exchange for reductions in FP cost. I'd do maybe -2 to skill per -1 to cost. That would cut down on the cost of really cheap spells substantially, but it wouldn't make much of a dent into big spells.