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Old 07-01-2018, 10:24 AM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Energy Accumulation Realm Magic

So, I was thinking about integrating the Energy Accumulation rules from Path/Book Magic into Realm Magic. Each ritual has a base cost as per Realm Magic, but it receives skill bonuses for ritual elements and modifies the base cost for ritual parameters under the rules for Energy Accumulation Path/Book Magic (Symbol Drawing gives the standard bonus). Since the rituals are much slower than the normal spells for Realm Magic, the Realms have a base CP cost of 30 points, modified by the number of Realms and the number of levels per Realm as per the rules for Realm Magic.

Practitioners may attempt to increase their effective Realm level by one when perfoming a ritual by doubling the final energy cost, meaning that pactitioners may access level one in a Realm by only learning the appropriate skill and accepting the increased energy cost. They are incapable of casting rituals whose final cost exceeds Skill +5.

Energy Accumulation Realm Magic uses Ritual Magic as the base skill and each Realm has a Realm Skill that defaults from Ritual Magic at -6 and Realm Skill cannot exceed Ritual Magic. It does not require Magery, in fact Magery does not add to skill, but maximum Path Skill is equal to 14 plus (2×Magery). Magery 0 allows practitioners to purchase the Ritual Adept advantage and each level of Magery over 0 reduces the base energy cost of any rituals by two energy points.

Practitioners may purchase Magery after character creation, but they require Ritual Magic-14 for Magery 0, 16 for Magery 1, 18 for Magery 2, 20 for Magery 3, etc. Practitioners require Realm Skill-14 to purchase level 1 in a Realm, 16 to purchase level 2, 18 to purchase level 3, 20 to purchase level 4, etc.

So, what do you think? Would anyone want to dabble with Energy Accumulation Ritual Magic or would it seem too limited (or too powerful)? What changes do you think would make it better?

Last edited by AlexanderHowl; 07-01-2018 at 10:32 AM.
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Old 07-01-2018, 04:06 PM   #2
johndallman
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: Energy Accumulation Realm Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Practitioners may attempt to increase their effective Realm level by one when perfoming a ritual by doubling the final energy cost, meaning that pactitioners may access level one in a Realm by only learning the appropriate skill and accepting the increased energy cost. They are incapable of casting rituals whose final cost exceeds Skill +5.
I'm rather dubious about this. Given that casting is slow anyway, making it slower may not disadvantage users much. For example, if I have level 2 in a realm and want to fo a single-realm working as if I had level 3, my cost appears to be 3 x 2 x 2 = 12.

I have seen a GM allow players to exceed their Realm level by accepting penalties to target numbers, and it amounted in practice to giving every magician +1 to all Realms.
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Old 07-01-2018, 05:37 PM   #3
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Energy Accumulation Realm Magic

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
I'm rather dubious about this. Given that casting is slow anyway, making it slower may not disadvantage users much. For example, if I have level 2 in a realm and want to fo a single-realm working as if I had level 3, my cost appears to be 3 x 2 x 2 = 12.

I have seen a GM allow players to exceed their Realm level by accepting penalties to target numbers, and it amounted in practice to giving every magician +1 to all Realms.
Thank you for the feedback. I would note that the base energy cost is increased by the ritual parameters before doubling. For example, if someone possessed the first level of a Realm within a six level Realm division, they could accept energy cost doubling to allow them to access the second level of a Realm, which would allow them to do damage to a target within the purview of the Realm.

Let us say that they wanted to deal 3d damage to a target one mile away with a ritual. The base cost would be '4' for the Realm, plus '8' for the ritual parameter cost for 3d damage and '2' for the ritual parameter cost for one mile of distance, for a final cost of '14'. Since they are exceeding their Realm level though, their final cost is doubled and their modified final cost would be '28', meaning that they would need a minimum Realm Skill of 23 to even attempt the working. Of course, a practitioner with Magery 2 would reduce the base cost to '0' and would reduce the final modified cost to '20', so someone with Magery 2 could get attempt the ritual with only a Realm Skill of 15.

In consideration though, I do agree that the original rules were a bit generous. I think that when practitioners exceed their Realm level in Energy Accumulation Realm Magic, failures on energy accumulation rolls should count as critical failures. On natural critical failures, practitioners should roll twice on the critical failure table and apply both results. In any case, practitioners should only exceed their Realm level in emergencies, as any practitioner that makes a habit of it will not be long for the world.

Last edited by AlexanderHowl; 07-01-2018 at 05:48 PM.
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Old 07-01-2018, 11:55 PM   #4
dataweaver
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Energy Accumulation Realm Magic

My thought: Keep it simple. I'd rather see Flexible Path/Book Magic than Energy-Accumulating Realm Magic — that is, start with Path/Book Magic, but replace the preset list of Rituals for each Path with an RPM-style system for designing whatever Ritual you want — within the scope of the Path, of course. Tie it into Realm Magic by saying that you need to take an Advantage for each Path to unlock the ability to improvise Rituals, with said Advantage following one of the schema for Realm levels; but don't try doing the “dividing up reality” thing that the Flexible Magic systems seem to insist on: you already have a “division” in the form of the existing Paths. Instead, just assume a x1 multiplier to the cost after dividing it among the levels.

I'm not sure that I'd start from a base of 30 points instead of 60: sure, it's slower; but its effects tend to be more widespread. Realm Magic lets you transcend distance with the inclusion of an appropriate Realm; Path/Book Magic lets you do that automatically. Areas in Path/Book Magic exchange more quickly. And far more powerful effects are possible in the Energy-Accumulating model simply because you can gather the energy over time.

I think that's all that you need; other than the ability to make up rituals as you go, the system would function exactly like Path/Book Magic does.
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