Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

That's right, casting is automatic in Oblivion. The difference there is that the higher the skill, the less the spell costs in terms of mana (up to a point, of course, where it can't be cast any cheaper).

In Morrowind the costs are set from the beginning, but the lower the skill the less chance of successfully casting it.

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

And in Dagger Fall the magic was insane! Talk about a balance issue! I loved it ;) You could make any spell you wanted. My favorite was "Elemental Fury" I would set it up to do one or two points of every damage type for an insane duration. So you would actually be taking 10-20 damage every round unless you resisted some of them.

It seems with each game the magic becomes less powerful and with less options. Except the fact that the actual casting is really fast and easy in Oblivion to keep the interest of the younger X-Box generation. I believe in Oblivion though the more Armour you wear the more Mana you have to spend on the spell itself or the less Mana you posses, I can't quite remember.

I would suggest using Magic as Powers as well.

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

Well I looked at Powers and it certainly seams like it could work (plus it has the bonus of player made spell options, just like the game!). This is coming along quite nicely! I'm going to start with a template for Argonian, Thief (sign), and Nightblade. I'll post them as I get them done. Please feel free to make more suggestions! Thanks everyone! I decided to start with Oblivion stats just because its the more current game. I may add in stuff from Daggerfall and Morrowind later.

New question, how should I handle Personality as a +/- ? I didn't see charisma as an option any more (maybe I'm blind)

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

Great.

I think isn't needed to duplicate all TES attributes for achieving the desired flavour. BTW, a lot of flavor is also provided by . . . the graphics! ;)

Charisma (and variations of advantages for reaction rolls) is handled as an advantage (see Basic Set: Characters).

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

I would not go for a direct translation of magic from one of the games, but for a one loosely based on Morrowind. I would use magic as powers, with a mandatory Requires Attribute Roll limitation, and power talents corresponding to schools of magic from the game. Besides that, I'd leave my players free as to how expensive in terms of FP they would make their spells (but I'd still enforce at least one level of Costs Fatigue). And I'd probably use exclusively Energy Reserve for powering spells, not the character's FP.

In my opinion, this approach captures the most vital flavour of the magic system; spells are divided into the appropriate schools, and skill with those schools (as represented by Talents) affects their chance to be cast. Of course, this is according to Morrowind, but seems much neater to me than enforcing differing levels of Costs Fatigue depending on your skill, as in Oblivion.


Another thought; replace Requires Attribute Roll with Requires Skill Roll (you'd have to adjudicate a price break for it, as it does not exist in RAW), and use a separate IQ/H or VH skill for each school. This seems even better to me, now that I think of it. You could also use a reverse of Reliable (each level worth -5% gives you -1 on the activation roll) on your spells, to simulate that more powerful spells are harder to cast.

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

Actually, this is somewhere in Powers. Requires Hard Skill roll is worth -10%. I think it's under advice how to do Fantasy spells as abilities.

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

I had a hunch it existed in Powers, but my search turned up nothing :/


Oh, and if you use this approach the school skills could act as Thaumatology specialized for each school, but useless for others (except for perhaps some basic understanding of magic).

Also, you could use Magery 0 for sensitivity to magic, but disallow higher levels (they wouldn't serve a purpose anyway).

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

How would you handle Alchemy? As some sort of "quick and dirty" process, with ingredients providing mana? Maybe as gadgeteering, to be able to create potion combinations on the fly?

Don't forget to give your guards the advantage "can always spot wanted criminals".

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

Umm, as far as I know, alchemy in Elder Scrolls behaves no differently than Alchemy and Herb Lore in GURPS.

Re: Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)
 

Nope. Armor has no impact.

By the way, there's a way to "cheat" in the magic in Oblivion. You can drain hit points for 1 second, for instance (I think it's drain?), and it's really really cheap. But if you drain 100 HP at once, and make it an area effect, you can have the same thing as Power Word: Kill.

I had so much fun wiping out 100% of the enemy with a very cheap spell. And if it doesn't work at once, whittle the enemy down a bit and then try again.

Except that you can make nearly 100 potions in a single day?