FP Problems
 

Do you guys know how to get more FP? I'm playing as a pure Mage and after using a simple Shape Earth or casting 2 Lighting my FP ends.

I have a 13pt Powerstone, Magery 3, 10 FP and my IQ is 11.


Is there a skill or something similar to help me?

Re: FP Problems
 

13 uses you mean 13 energy or 13 uses, how many energy per use? normally powerstones hold energy for spell casting, a 13 powerstone allows you to use up to 13 energy from it in a single casting or multiple as you sees fit, recovering such energy slowly according to mana level.

You may want to look at the Energy Reserve advantage, or ask your GM if you can get extra fatigue (maybe with the limitation of only for spell casting). The energy reserve may be even in "objects of power" similar to powerstones but depending on how you build the energy reserve it can be more flexible, it is basically gadget energy reserve.

Re: FP Problems
 

Having the powerstone gives you 13 FP. But you also have inherent FP equal to your HT; if you have HT 10, for example, you have a total of 23 FP. Are you taking that into account?

With IQ 11 and Magery 3, you get spells at -12 for 1 character point. But if you have a spell that's really worthwhile, you might buy it up to -15 for a total of 8 character points. That reduces the energy cost to cast it by 1 point. So, for example, Shape Earth would cost 1 to cast and 0 to maintain. It's not cheap but it's worth considering.

Re: FP Problems
 

Here on my CGS it says ''13 pt Powerstone'' So I don't know,I'm using it as if it were extra FP, but even so it still ends very quickly and after 2-3 turns I can no longer cast spells.

Re: FP Problems
 

Yes, I'm doing this calculation, I'm using the Powerstone as if it were an extra FP, but even so after 2-3 turns I already run out of FP

Re: FP Problems
 

Beyond the other advice -- buy FP, purchase more Powerstones, etc. -- you may just want to cultivate more efficiency in your gameplay. What exactly are you doing that you're flattening yourself to the tune of 23 FP in just a couple rounds? You ought not need to cast a 9d Lightning each and every engagement. You ought not need to cast a giant area Shape Earth each and every engagement. (And if you do, these need to be boss fights, not casual random encounter-type action that come up four times a session.)

Most mages don't rely on flattening their Powerstones each and every time; for one thing, they take too damn long to recharge. It's more that they're casting out of their personal fatigue and saving the Powerstones for must-cast situations. If you're genuinely having to toss around magic that much, that often, something's a bit hinky. We need to know a bit more: what's your spell list, at what levels, and what kind of opposition (and how often) is your GM throwing at you?

Re: FP Problems
 

The Recover Energy spell (p. 248 in the Basic Set) will help you recover FP you spend on magic faster. If you have it at skill 15, you recover 1FP every five minutes. Buying it up to that level will cost you 8 character points.

Buying up your skill with spells will reduce the cost to cast them: If you have skill 15 in a spell, the energy cost to cast it is reduced by 1, as described on pp. B236-37.

Becoming a truly skilful magician will require buying up your IQ and/or Magery. If the total of those is 17, you get skill 15 (and thus -1 to casting cost) for most spells for a cost of only a single character point per spell.

Re: FP Problems
 

GURPS Thaumatology explores this fairly in depth in "Energy Sources," starting on page 50. Probably the most immediately-available option there for your character (assuming you don't want to spend character points on things like Energy Reserve) is paut, which is essentially a mana potion. Thaumatology restricts you to drinking 1 ounce - restoring 1 FP per ounce - each second, but some other sources, such as the Dungeon Fantasy line (and later DFRPG) instead have 4 FP vials of paut that you can consume in one go, and I think there are indications that larger doses are possible. You'll need to ask your GM how they intend to handle paut - or if indeed it's even available.

Re: FP Problems
 

This is the way.

If IQ+Magery-2 isn't 15, you're looking at a glorified dabbler at best, and if it isn't 12, you'll need multiple points in a spell for it to count as a prerequisite and you likely shouldn't bother at all.

More FP is a losing battle, high skill leads to free maintenance and the path to true power!

Re: FP Problems
 

Well, My GCS is currently:

IQ = 11 (Other stats are at 10)
48 Points in Advantages, -26 in Disadvantages.

6 pts in Skills (among them: Thaumatology and Research)
22 Spells. Having the function of helping me with the FP problem are only Charge Powerstone and Steal Energy.
What is killing my FP the most is my use of Shape Earth which I normally use to Bury enemies into the ground.
One detail that after reading some answers I realized is that all my spells are at 12, which should explain why I always run out of FP, with the example of Shape earth, which being at 12, in a fight against a horde After burying 3-4 enemies it simply consumes almost all of my FP to use and I can keep it for a maximum of 2 turns to damage enemies by suffocation.

Re: FP Problems
 

That's 70 points total, if I'm calculating that right. 70 points is a fairly low point level character, where the Basic Set suggests 150 points to build an adventurer. At 70 points to build a character you pretty much are going to be limited to either a low level dabbler or a one-trick-pony where you buy up the level of one spell to be 15 or 20 so it's FP cost is reduced enough to be useful.

Re: FP Problems
 

So this is a 70pt character? This matters because in such a low point game you probably have too many spells at a low level rather than a few spells at a higher level. As some people have already explained 15 skill in a spell is the first sweet spot where you will see real dividends saving 1energy with every cast. Though you will get more use from this for some spells than others.

How big is the group you play with and what are their focus?

My snap judgement is you need to stop using Shape earth the way you are, or invest more in that spells skill to start saving some energy casting it.

I do have a question about how you are "burying hordes/enemies" given the relatively slow movement of the earth in that spell.

Re: FP Problems
 

The enemies we are facing are like zombies that are slow and have no reasoning, so the GM allows me to make a hole in the ground and cover it up, burying and suffocating them. My group currently has 5 players, 1 of which is a Ranger who uses a bow, a fighter who uses a little magic, a Knight, a Dwarf who fights with an ax and I who am the only one totally focused on pure magic.

Re: FP Problems
 

You're going to have to grind hard for another 30 to 50 CP before you start having an easier time not dying in basic fantasy combats. This sounds like a real "1st level old school D&D" campaign, where characters die a lot and you just roll up a new one - but in GURPS, it does take a good bit longer to make even a simple character, and players tend to be a bit more attached to their characters....

There are folks on this forum who really know how to play GURPS combat, and their advice might be much better than mine, but..... Here's what I would do. \

I'd spend the first 4 CP you get on the Shield skill and get at least a 2 DB shield for a solid defense so you can stay alive for a few sessions. Maybe next put a point or two into a melee skill.

I'd spend the next 8 CP you earn to buy Fireball up to 15 (getting prerequisite spells if necessary before that with 3 CP) so that you can cast a 1d burn fireball at no cost every other turn. Have a shield in your off-hand for a block and stay in the back behind the melee types. You can, if you need to, cast a stronger Fireball, but it'll take more time and energy. But being able to cast a 1d burn every other round puts you in the same league as the guy with a bow, at least.

After you have a reliable ranged attack, focus on a good Blocking spell. Iron Arm is great because it costs only 1 FP and gives you a much higher chance of succeeding at an Active Defense because you'll be rolling against skill instead of Skill/2 +3. You can't get rid of the FP cost to cast a Blocking spell with high skill... Iron Arm has a prereq count of 4 and DX 11 - so, again, it's going to take a while to get there....

You might also want to just invest in a basic melee skill like shortsword and some light armor and shield until you have more CP to make magic work better.

Re: FP Problems
 

you can buy FP at a discount if it's magic-only, or a Magic Energy Reserve w/ custom limitations to discount the cost there

Re: FP Problems
 

I don't know about the''Magic Energy Reserve'', is it in a book or is it something custom? Could you explain to me how it works?

Re: FP Problems
 

at 70 points you can't really call an armored warrior a knight either...

With these much points you are quite powerful killing 3 to 4 enemies with a single skill/spell! but that is a single event spaced by almost two weeks before trying again.

That is what you are doing by with your magic.

Try shooting a few light damage spells, create fire can do 1d-1 per turn to a target, for a full minute and cost 2 energy, do that each turn meanwhile the "knight" cover you. after a few turns you will kill 2 to 3 enemies just by using your personal fatigue, that recharges very fast compare to powerstones.

There are many ways a low level wizard can be helpful, just don't try to be a powerful wizard if you are not.

Re: FP Problems
 

70 point campaign, 22 spells? Yikes. You can't afford to have 22 spells.

If I were going to build a mage on 70 pts -- which is pretty damn painful, 4th edition -- you can neither afford 22 spells nor some of the other options people are suggesting, like putting points into melee skills. I wouldn't go for a mage who could inflict damage at all. If there are four fighters in the group, one of them would be tasked to be my meat shield, and I'd go completely for utility spells:

* Lend Energy, Recover Energy, Lend Vitality, Minor Healing, Major Healing; that's one track. Absolutely run Minor Healing to -15.
* Ignite Fire, Create Fire, Shield, Armor, Apportation; that completes the suite.
* I might go with Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, Truthsayer, Mind-Reading, but now we're getting into burning unavailable points.

I wouldn't bother with most spells for which there were mundane solutions. No need to get the Light spell when a torch will suffice, for instance.

There's also no way I'd go as low as -26 points of Disadvantages. You just can't afford that. I'd reduce STR to 9, make sure I have as many Quirks as the GM allows, and do my level best to force IQ higher than 11.

In the end, I'd really try to talk the GM into a more reasonable point total for the campaign. 70 would have been damn onerous in 3rd edition, and it's damn near impossible for 4th. I've been starting parties at 135 in recent years.

Re: FP Problems
 

Energy Reserve (Source) from GURPS Powers p. 119.

Basically it's FP bought at 3 points that can only be spent using abilities/powers connected to whatever the 'Source' is. In your case Magic. The interesting parts is that the ER points are recovered separately from your FP, effectively doubling your 'mana' recovery, and that you can pile on the Limitations like 'Special Recharge' -70% (You only recover your ER points via the 'Source') and 'Abilities Only -10% (The ER points can only be used to power spells) for a whopping -80% discount that 'limits' the use of your ER to only be used in the only way you need it for and only to be recharged in the best way to recharge it. 3 character points for 5 points of 'mana' is a bargain. Depending on your GM/Group this might be shameless powergaming or just sensible character building.

However, raising your available 'mana' is, as other have said a losing proposition if you want your character to keep taking out enemies (less so if you take on more of a support role - make your best fighter invisible, lean back and crack open a beer...). Getting the skill of your go-to spells to 15 where you can keep pinging away with 1d attacks forever is the way to go.

Re: FP Problems
 

[22] out of [70] in spells is pretty extreme. For reference, DFRPG templates are fairly well-optimized for adventuring and combat, and using Delvers to Grow [22] is more akin to what a [125] wizard (the Journeyman level) would have (they tend to have between [21] and [25] in spells). The [62] wizards (the Novice level) there instead tend to have between [9] and [13] in spells.

I'm not certain what you mean by "only recover via the Source," but that's not what Special Recharge -70% does. Rather, it makes it so your ER doesn't recover over time but only from singular events that would restore FP - it explicitly mentions DR with Absorption, Leech, and the Steal Energy spell. I would allow Lend Energy to work as well. It's up to the GM if paut would work.

Re: FP Problems
 

It also shows up in several other books after the general idea was introduced in Powers, including Thaumatology p. 50, Dungeon Fantasy 3 p. 38-39, and likely several other places. Energy Reserve has become a staple advantage that would likely be incorporated into the base rules in a new edition.

Re: FP Problems
 

Paut sounds like a good idea given how much work it takes to make them and how there's daily limits and stuff.

Basically those "Alternate Power Stores" in Thaumatology (T52) or anything classified as "External Energy" (the "can't use" limitation on T23 or "External Sources Only" on T24) sounds like a good bet for that.

Lend Energy is an interesting thing since there's actually nothing I can find preventing you from self-casting it as a rapid-regeneration hack, or of building out-of-body energy stores that can return to you later via Hang Spell and similar. It's way easier to use than Steal Energy that's for sure.

Re: FP Problems
 

In 4th Edition, 70 points doesn't make anybody an "adventurer." They're basically working schmucks who go to regular jobs, every day. A journeyman (*not* a master) blacksmith who spends most of his time making horseshoes, nails, fasteners and buckles; a yeoman farmer with rights to enough land that he can feed a family and owes his lord one day of labor per week; a young peasant woman with a couple of kids who tends a garden, spins fibers into yarn and once a month or so brews up a barrel of ale and has a "tavern" night where she trades drinks for eggs and such.

A 70-point campaign is "small town local heroes" at best where the whole town turns out to fight a half-dozen orcs, and the arrival of a boat-load of vikings is cause for blind, screaming terror.

For my Facets campaign that ended a couple of years back, I wanted characters equivalent to those in the pilot episode of an action-adventure TV show -- the ones who didn't get killed off to demonstrate the danger of the situation in which they unexpectedly found themselves.

At about 125 points, modern-day characters can be pretty good at their current jobs, and have either military experience, university educations or oddball hobbies (but probably only one of those three options) that give them a survival edge.

So, I went with that point total, and then I dropped Magery 0 on each character by GM fiat after the first couple of game sessions, since that was the point of the whole campaign.

In a more traditional fantasy setting, 125 points means a man-at-arms with some decent martial skills (enough to not get turned into chutney on the battle-field, and likely to prevail in a bar-fight), and maybe a decent chain hauberk over his leather armor; an archer/ranger who can actually make a living as a huntsman for a noble; a decent spy/second-story man; or a mage who makes a decent living brewing potions and casting minor enchantments, while also able to roast somebody if he or she absolutely must.

Four or five such characters might be able to take out a half-dozen combat-optimized orcs with lots of ST and HT, high-pain thresholds, decent armor and good weapon skills; and seven or so might be able to defend a village of peasants against a couple dozen 70-90 point bandits -- if they come up with a good plan and have enough time to make preparations.

Re: FP Problems
 

I haven't found that to be the case. My lowest point campaign had a base of 75 points. That was a test run of my setting Worminghall (available as a supplement) in which all the player characters were magic students at a medieval university; I allowed them up to 37 points in disadvantages. Of course, they weren't going out and fighting monsters or having adventures, at least not frequently! Some of them started out with no spells, and learned some in the course of play; some of them had from 1 to 4 points in spells at start. My players seemed to enjoy the campaign!

(By the time the campaign ended they had an average of 29 points from experience and 10 points from training.)

But I do agree with the narrower point that adventurer-grade characters should be built on about twice as many points as the OP mentions.

Re: FP Problems
 

IIRC, zombies don't breathe so you can't suffocate them. Burying them will do the trick though, not necessarily forever.

"Totally focused on pure magic" will be a very tough row to hoe with a 70pt character. A staff is a reasonable weapon if you use the 2 yard reach and techniques (ie, take down) to your advantage. Additionally, it has +2 to parry. Don't try and kill everything with magic.

It sounds like your GM might be an old school D&D player. I wonder if he still has has Basic Set gear.

--Outlaw

Re: FP Problems
 

I did a demonstration one-shot with 75-point normals against a horde of zombies who attacked a parking garage where an illegal "Fight Club" meeting was taking place.

That worked out okay, but the characters weren't there to try to fight all the zombies. They had to get to their vehicles, ram them through the horde without losing control, and knock off any zombies who got good holds on the cars.

The players had a good time because the situation was (barely) manageable, and everybody understood the goal was to escape, not to take out all the zombies.

Re: FP Problems
 

I read that "Skills connected to the ER’s source can help replenish it. For
instance, the Recover Energy spell (p. B248) improves the recharge rate
of ER (Magic). Abilities of that source can also help." means that skills and abilities of a specific source can be used to regain ER points of the same source.

In the case of Special Recharge and Recover Energy you are correct. No recovery 'over time', is still no recovery 'over time' even if the time ticks are dropped from 10 to 5 or 2...

Re: FP Problems
 

To the OP, it sounds like you might be using a "bad" spell for attacking the undead. It has a high fp cost. Try using a spell that might be more efficient.
Try using stone missile, for 2fp you can do 2d+2cr damage.

Re: FP Problems
 

If you want an Energy Reserve at a discount, you can also try gadget limitations to make a quasi-powerstone. It'll recharge in parallel with your FP and any innate ER, which can be handy, and much faster than powerstones. Another thing to consider is a few more small powerstones. A common trick is to give other PCs a powerstone each so that they charge in parellel, and the mage can put two powerstones at each end of a six foot staff to make them both charge in parallel to. Several 2-3 point powerstones are the fuel a mage uses for day to day work, because they'll get topped out quickly. Save your 13 point stone for big spells.

Ask your GM if sacrifices for mana are allowed in your magic system, especially financial sacrifices if your game's society is squeamish. Losing your gold ring might be worth it to cast a lifesaving spell for your group.

Re: FP Problems
 

Using the spell differently may also help. Burying the zombies only waist-deep - so long as they're buried rather than just dropping into a waist-deep hole (that is, they'll have to shift the dirt around to actually get out) - should cost roughly half as much and will likely immobilize them long enough for your allies to deal with their buddies, and those who fail to climb out on their own before their buddies are done for are primed to have their exposed skulls bashed in.

Re: FP Problems
 

Well, sure ... people can have fun campaigns at pretty much any point level. A lot of my wife's private sessions involve her being a happy housefrau in a gypsy camp (her husband slumming as a blacksmith there), or managing her modest country estate. Alright, the character's north of 750 pts, after 21 years of play, but she could do that at a tenth the point level.

I just figure the OP's group wouldn't care for a style where the resolution to the session's action is to find a good job for a young buddy of the PC's son, so that he can offer marriage to his sweetie, so she doesn't get married off to some rich fellow ...