Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Mage Sight was a good choice to renew by the minute, here's some other spells that ought to cost once per minute so they get some good RPing.

1. Silent Movement
2. Flight
3. Reveal Magic
4. Detect Enemies (Yes, make it a continuing spell, perhaps with IQ roll)
5. Eyes-Behind
6. Fireproofing

The enchantment list would be much longer

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

It is interesting how some spells, like Mage Sight, got a considerable boost in LE's ITL, while others were left behind.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Flight costing every minute would be a huge upgrade. A bit much, I think.

If Flight, why not Invisibility?

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Invisibility has no big drawbacks to its use like trying to fight from Flight does.


Perhaps a non-combat flight with limited maneuverability?

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I would be for reducing the cost of information gathering spells, like Mage Sight, or other spells that get little use. Although, any spell that is not info gathering and useful in combat should remain at a cost per turn.

These I like to be a cost per minute:

Silent Movement
Flight (not really a combat spell. replaces ladders/ropes)
Reveal Magic
Detect Enemies
Detect Life (if you are changing DE, then DL should also. Both DE & DL will have limited need for continuation, so I am not sure how much this gets you, but like I said I am for making info gathering spells more useful.)

These I think should remain at a cost per turn:

Eyes-Behind
Fireproofing

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Eyes-Behind with a sweeping weapon can be fun.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

In order to pull this off you need the ST and DX of an octopus.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I think the reason we have such limited timespans on any spell is because the game originated in arena battles.

I think that giving most spells long run times in the first place will increase playability.
But increasing renew time is the next best thing.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Great list Henry -- and a nice sequel to the Silent Movement discussion we started in the main forum.

With more latitude to talk about it here in House Rules, let me point out there is tremendous flexibility here for the GM to utilize. Because when extending the duration of a spell, one might also choose to raise the ST cost to temper the enhanced impact the longer version might have.

For example, you could say Silent Movement lasts 5 minutes, but make the cost 3 ST to cast instead of 1. Or for a spell that may have much more affect on combat situations, don't increase the duration as much while increasing the cost a little bit more. For example let the Flight spell last 1 minute, but costs 5 ST to cast. Much cheaper than 3+1 ST per Turn (14 ST for that minute), but still not so cheap that a PC would use it frivolously. The wizard should always be worried a bit about unexpected encounters, and going into battle down that many fatigue points.

Another plus of longer duration spells is a lot less bookkeeping, but the main advantage is the creation of more role-playing opportunities.

The last thing to decide is whether you prefer to allow those spells to continue for another interval by simply paying the ST cost again, or do you want to require a roll to re-cast them when the time is up? Do whichever you like, but probably stay consistent.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I like the list too.

This discussion highlights the difference between arena combat and longer dungeon adventures when it comes to spell cost for Wizards.

Some spells have a high ST cost to balance them in the arena, but are too expensive to use on an adventure.

Could we add lower cost/longer duration versions for these spells so they'd be useful on longer adventures, but not overpowered for combat.

For example, keep Flight the way it is, but add "Levitate" for 1ST/minute and MA 4, -2DX to attack and +2DX to attackers since you're floating around slowly and can't plant your feet for combat maneuvers.

Should they be separate spells, or should they be included with the existing version, and the caster specifies beforehand which he's using?

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Due to the DX minus, Flight tends to be non-combat.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

And it only gives a defensive advantage outdoors.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I concur with the distinction that you made for choosing which ones to extend renewal times.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I've been thinking along similar lines, though I took it a bit further. In the process of moving the spell list into my 'tiers' framework, I decided to re-evaluate duration (as well as ST costs) for many of them. I ended up aligning each spell to one of the following durations...

Immediate
Short - 15 seconds (3 turns)
Medium - 1 minute (12 turns)
Long - 1 hour
Very Long - 1 day
Permanent

@tomc has the right idea as well... there should be different design assumptions for spells in RPG vs. arena play.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I changed the various DETECT spells in the other direction, though... those are designated as 'immediate' spells.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Are there still continuing spells that are pay-by-the-turn?

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Yes, but that now kicks in after the initial 'short' duration. So for example, the wizard would start paying the maintenance cost to extend SUMMON WOLF on the spell’s 4th turn and each turn thereafter.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

Making enchantments cost per minute rather than per turn opens them up to use by heroes who lack the mana reserves of wizards.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I was thinking the same thing. Limited uses (per day?) is also worth considering.

Re: Spells that ought to cost every minute
 

I tend not to want Flight or Fireproofing to be THAT efficient to keep going for minutes at a time. If that's available, then walls and cliffs and chasms and great conflagrations (and fire magic) become MUCH less significant. And I prefer those to be significant, and at least require a significant use of energy to get past with magic.