[DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Hi everyone,

My group just recently completed a 6 month GURPS Fallout/XCOM game, which was our first GURPS 4th Ed experience and, for most people, their first GURPS experience overall. You'll be happy to hear that everyone wants to stick with GURPS (at least when I GM) and it was received FAR better than the 4th Edition of That Other Game.

I have the opportunity to squeeze two weeks of a DF game into our schedule and I have pregenerated about 7 PCs at 150 points using the DFOntheCheap.pdf from Eric's website (great article--thanks for that, Eric!).

I want to give the players, all experienced roleplayers, a choice (and save some pregens for PC deaths), but nobody has played with GURPS in a low TL, magic-exists setting yet. As such, we have no experience with GURPS Magic. My questions are these:

1. For the cleric, should I use the standard magic system or try one of the Divine Favor flavors of cleric? If I use the Divine Favor version, does that make the DF: Clerics book useless?

2. For the wizard, what 20 or so spells would you choose if you were playing GURPS DF for the first time and had never played with a GURPS wizard before? The player who will likely take this PC does NOT need to be a blaster--he quite likes being subtle, sneaky, and intelligent about problems, so I'm not worried about him running into the "GURPS mages are not blasters" issue that I see discussed quite often. I want to make sure he has SOME ranged attack Missile Spells, but I also want to be sure that he gets the full flavor of GURPS Magic's versatility and adaptability.

If it matters, I've collected most 4th Edition sourcebooks over the past year, so don't let unusual rules or spells from other books deter your suggestions. I'm quite intrigued by Thaumatology: Magical Styles, but don't want to get too complicated for a "back up game" of DF. (The goal is to use DF when the "main campaign" has to be paused for some reason--either the GM is sick or too many people can't make it, etc).

Finally, even though it's not true to the thread title, what other advice would you have for me, running a 150 point DF game for the first time? THe reason I am using 150 points is that I wanted the PCs to face "standard" monsters at first--orcs, goblins, some zombies--and be challenged, rather than just plow through them.

We played our last game with "full powered GURPS" (for the most part), including Tactical Shooting, and bits and pieces of Martial Arts (which simply wasn't quite as relevant in a shooty game). DF is very heavily Basic Set based, but I assume there are no real issues incorporating Martial Arts rules into it?

Thanks!

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

By the way, I have reviewed the "Which Four PC Templates" thread. My pregens are: Knight, Thief, Scout, Wizard, Cleric, Barbarian and Ninja. The ninja doesn't seem to work as well at 150 points, but hey, people like ninja. I only have 5 players at max, and more like 4 for this DF game, so not all of these will be chosen. I'll probably recommend the "standard mix" of Knight, Cleric, Wizard and Scout/Thief to the group, but who am I to deny them a Ninja? :-)

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I am playing a Warrior-Saint in a DF game using Divine Favor. I recommend it unhesitatingly for flavor and Awesomeness.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I bought Divine Favor a few days ago and will make time to look it over. Would you recommend that I choose either Divine Favor OR standard Clerics, or do you think they can be combined in the same game setting fairly?

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I would build both so your PC can choose and has a backup Cleric of a different flavor if that one dies.
However the basic magic system is probably simpler and more unified with the Wizard so your group will be learning the same rules together.


This one is so tough!
It really depends on he flavor and what I would do would build several alternate spell lists based on the players I had in my game who were liekly to pick a Wizard.

I find picking a spell list to be easiest if I choose one or more high end spells then get the required spells. then with what I have left over I go for other stuff. The following may help.
GURPS Magic Spell Charts
(and long as I am looking for free stuff here is the Martial Arts Cheat Sheet

For sneaky and sheer versatility I like the Illusion and Light and Darkness colleges.
Air gives you some good combat with Lighting, Ball Lightning and Concussion for missile spells and some nice utility and defense.
Earth is nice but kind of price FP wise.
Protection and Warning gives you some good utility for not very many points.
Information is handy but can circumvent plots and not easily useful in a fight.
Fire is a classic, if overdone and IMHO kind of overrated.
Water also adds utility but is a lot like Fire, but handy for long term adventuring, as is Food.
Meta is awesome but really needs another college to work with and also kind of pricey so a good long term development kind of thing.
I also like Animal (A lot) and Plant but there more the Druids niche.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Just to avoid any disappointment or confusion, the warrior-saint is in Pyramid #36. It uses the Divine Favor rules, but the template isn't actually in Divine Favor.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Don't worry, I seem to have picked that up a few days ago as well when I started going through e23 and clicking "Add to Cart." I'm sure this "problem" is something many on this forum have experienced. It's just much more acute for me, since I didn't get back into GURPS until around November last year...and let's just say I've gone "all in." Extremely. ;-)

Edit: Now that I think about it, I think I bought the DF Pyramid first, on account of me running this game, saw the article on Divine Favor, then went and picked up Divine Favor itself. That makes more sense anyway.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

That's a good suggestion, thanks. I went through e23 and harvested all the free stuff back before I started buying books, and I'm pleased to get some use out of those Magic Charts. What are some good "high end" spells to focus on, without getting too combat focused?

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Something I'd like to try would be a Wizard specialized in the Movement college. Its basic spells are Apportation and Haste, both of which lead to an impressive array of useful utility and combat spells. Haste leads to Grease, Glue and Hinder for debuffing and battlefield control, and Great Haste is an incredibly potent buff on any fighter. Apportation opens up Locksmith (great for buffing the Thief to get through tricky locks), Levitation & Flight for mobility, Poltergeist & Winged Knife for direct fire capability, and Deflect Missile & Missile Shield for defense. The only downside is that Teleport and its ilk are generally banned for DF PCs, making the highest tier of Movement spells unusable.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

"Can I have Teleport? Please?? Pleeeeeeeease?"

"Sure, but you gain this minor disadvantage: Enemy (Watchers at the Edge of Time, Hunter, 12 or less), -60 points. Too bad for you that the disad limit is -50 points. You get this trait anyway. But at least you can Teleport!"

Mwahahahahahahaha. I'm sure some groups would take that.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Your welcome. Hmm
Light And Darkness Sunbolt and Blur.
Knowledge Glass Wall, Invisibility, Wizard Eye, Rember Path, History line,
Pathfinder can be rally handy.
Illusion & Creation Create Animal is the go to spell for me here. Lot of prerequistes but most of those lead to some useful spells.
Food I like to go for Season an Mature, maybe Preserve food. Not a lot of real utility but great campaign flavor. Just to say your eating good tasting food is nice, can even bring a few favors your way.
Earth Entombment is nice but Earth Vision has a lot of uses in delving.
Body Roundabout is fun. Good buffing/Debuffing college.
Animal I go for Rider within, Shapechange if I can afford it.
Air I really like ball Lightning. its just one of the fun missile spells and can be used for distraction and indirect fire. To get it you need Lightning which is a decent missile spell in itself and can handle some basic move the air around stuff.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Related question: what size Energy Reserve should DF wizards/clerics go for?

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Varies. High Skill is better for repeated combat, most say about the same as their HT so they are most efficient with Recover energy and resting.
DF introduces Power Objects and your doing this on the Cheap anyhow.
I would give them ER 3 [9] and let them buy it up later.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

As the writer of the Dungeon Saints article, I must say that Divine Favor requires a hefty investment in DF, meaning that at 150 points, regular clerics will have a significant edge, given that each spell only costs 1 point. I built and tested them for 250 points, you will need to come up with your variations to cut them down to 150 points. Warrior Saints will be little more than sub-par Knights until they get some more points, as they are already dividing their focus between acting as a divine channeler and as a warrior. Mind you, Holy Warriors aren't in a much better position. Build some, and see for yourself. I can help you optimize them though :-)

As for the usefulness of DF7:Clerics, it will be of limited use, but you can use the variant Holy Might powers as inspiration for miracles. I didn't have the space to include variant clerics in the article, as they would have required me to come up with a lot of new miracles. Mind you, you would still use the skill and advantage changes from the variant clerics when building variant saints, but the spell lists are one of the defining features of the book, and one you won't use.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Thanks for the warning on the 150 point limitations. The ninja seems a bit weak too. That's okay though, I will probably "level" these PCs very quickly.

Would it be okay to use both kinds of clerics in my game? In other words, you can be cleric but you could also make a Saint or Warrior Saint? They'd just be another variation of divine magic, right?

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Ooh, Temporary Disadvantage: Enemy... I'm going to have to use that at some point.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Both kids of clerics can coexist without issues, I've done that, and it works. Of course having both in a party will mean that they cover the same niche. Douglass Cole is playing a Warrior Saint in a party that includes a cleric, I will let him tell you what issues, if any, he had.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

A wizard-cleric and a scholar-cleric, now, actually.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Ah, Cadmus' story.

Firstly, the ground rules. There are a few house rules in play that Crakkerjakk can tell you about, but the number of allowed disads was pretty low relative to basic DF. But we also got some more points. We wound up about 280-point characters with something like -30 points in disads. Net of 250 still, so it worked out.

Here's Cadmus, hidden behind a "Spoiler" tag because the printout is so darn long.


Issues: You have to know how to use your stuff. Not just "I hit him with my mace" (or in my case, "axe"), but the Warrior Saint is really built around Learned Prayers. And the really good ones, the ones that give you your niche, require Divine Favor of 6-9, which is PRICEY. It's worth it in the situations where you can just, say, lay down SMITE awesomeness on a bunch of undead, but it's still, as they say in my neck of the woods, "spendy."

You're a Jack-of-two-Trades. You can fight, but not nearly as well as a real fighter like a Knight or Barbarian. You can heal . . . actually, you can heal pretty well. You take Lay on Hands (DivFav 8 required, IIRC) and (very important) Flesh Wounds. You take others' damage into yourself, but heal it up at 1 HP per 10 min with Flesh wounds.

What you lose, relative to spell-clerics, is versatility. The "real" Cleric (as sir_pudding said, Wizard-Cleric) in our group (he might not just be a cleric) has some really generically useful smackdown he can throw around (Stunball is a favorite).

You also need to realize that what you lack in "yes, I can cast this spell, or use that prayer, with regularity" you gain in unreliable but occasionally truly mighty General or Specific prayers.

Thus far, Cadmus has asked his God (Pharasma, from Paizo's world):

* Let their journey through a swamp be eased. It was granted, and the normally deep and tiring swamp was like a rubberized track - spongy but not tiring. Clothes were not soaked, mosquitos didn't stop for lunch, etc. We arrived a lot faster and a lot more refreshed than otherwise.

* He prayed for Smite to destroy an undead super-samurai guy who was doing a really good impression of a Cuisinart. It was granted, and Smite earns its name.

* He prayed to exorcise a spirit; that worked, but the spirit repulsed him

* He prayed for guidance in an upcoming battle; he rolled pretty well, and got a divinely inspired "tug" that got the party out of a really confusing bind as to what to do next

There were a few other examples, some of which failed.

So, he's versatile, but sometimes he can really help the group out.

The points sunk into Divine Favor and Learned Prayers, though, are many. I've got 67 points there, which means my Holy Warrior! skill ain't all that great, and my fighting ability (on a DF scale) is above average, but not great. I don't have a lot of room for really cool stuff, so I lop off heads a lot with TA. Functional, but not as narratively varied as I like.

Lastly, you have to watch out for the high-move or ranged types in your own party. They can get to the battle and end it before you get to engage, so if you want to get your kicks being more SMITE than HEAL, the straight-up Holy Warrior might be more your cup of tea. Either that or buy a horse. A FAST horse. That being said, your biggest niche will be (with DivFav 9, especially) laying waste to undead types, and your'e a very, very powerful healer with the right learned prayers.

TL; DR. He's a hoot to play. But if you want to be both Warrior AND Cleric, you're going to need 350-400 points to make it feel like you're good at both. And at that level, any dedicated template will, of course, be better in their own niche.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Big?

Also notice the Item of Power thing, or whatever it is called, in DF1. They don't recharge, except when you pay $$$$ in the town, though, so innate FP and ER should be relied upon the most.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Doug, you took mostly defensive/support learned prayers. Had you taken more combat oriented learned prayers, such as Guide My Hand or Righteous Fury, you would have more ability to kick nonundead ass in the name of the lord. Those prayers in my article where created specifically for the Warrior Saint, because baseline, Divine Favor is a little too defensive/pacifist for DF.

I'm not saying that you're doing it wrong, I'm saying that yours isn't the only viable build.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Not at all; my healing focus was somewhat steered by the group needs, and so I took the defensive bent for learned prayers. I recently picked up Protection from Evil (Enhanced), which can definitely be used offensively, and saving up for DivFav 9, Guide My Hand, and Smite is a long-term but desired goal.

Edited to Add: The key is really to start with "what parts of the Divine Favor/Warrior Saint package shall I focus on?" If you say "healing," you get a build like mine. If you say "kicking butt," then you'll get a different build. In no cases,however, will you be better than the dedicated warrior, the dedicated cleric, or the dedicated magical smackdown artist. You're "multi-class," and you pay for breadth with depth.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Poor Cadmus is stuck in a party with two unusually mobile characters (a gargoyle who cheats by flying, and a scout who ran the first adventure with No Encumbrance and a base Move of 7 - but cloth "armor"), one of whom was also ranged (the scout, obviously). So this particular problem is really acute for him.

The two really mobile melee templates are Barbarian and Swashbuckler (note, both lightly armored!) Going for a mobile holy warrior in decent armor requires investing money and points in a mount and the skills required to use it in combat, or investing the points in a racial template like Gargoyle or Winged Elf (and some Flying related skills!). Both of these will naturally suck points away from your Holy Warrior-ness/Warrior-Saint-ness. Or you just buy a lot of ST and Move, but again, that costs - the ST does double duty for smashing in combat but you have to divert from cool holy stuff to do that.

A solution for mobile holy warriors is to go without heavy armor, but that can be tricky :)

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I should also add that the encounters in question were nearly all "open field" type of battles, where either through my own inexperience or tendencies, or just how it went down, the premium was placed on movement.

Case 1: A lone guy crosses a bridge, and gets attacked by a snake. The fast party members fly/swoop over and between the victim successfully grappling a frackin' PYTHON (very good rolls!) and the mobile characters, the battle was over before I got there, walking along at encumbered Move 4.

Case 2: We were ambushed by goblins or something. Our GM said "position yourselves" on the map. I took a position that was a few steps away from the nearest foe. Others got right up in their faces; this also happened to (1) block my approach, and (2) they were such effective killers, as befits their niche, that by the time I had my turn, all that group were dead.

Case 3: Any time Bruno's scout is involved. :-)

Sorta kidding. Staver (her character) is very good at double-shooting arrows, and that tactic has been pretty effective against the mook-level foes we have faced in the past. Again, that's Staver's niche, and he's good at filling it.

Is this a "problem" with the Warrior-Saint, or even with Cadmus' build?

Not really. We had a hard fight vs. a nasty undead Samurai with a two-handed no-dachi and Broadsword-22 or something. Cadmus used Protection from Evil to push the guy around (taking wounds, since you need PoE(Enhanced) to drive him away at Reach 2+) and keep him from the fellow party members, and eventually used a prayer for Smite (not a learned prayer) to do 11 injury to the guy, killing him after he'd been whittled a bit.

He's also got DR 4-6 on every limb, and DR 9 or so on his head; he's got the ability to stay standing for quite a while in a hot fight.

He pays for this in mobility, weapon skills. Tthey're not bad, as you can see . . . but I like to try tricky stuff, like grappling, Sweeps, and alternate locations rather than TA(Neck); that's a play-style thing. It limits my effectiveness because I am not always rolling vs. my highest skill.

Also, I assumed we'd do more front-line formation tactics; this group hasn't had to do a lot of that yet. That only cost me a couple of quirks,though (Shield Wall tactics, mostly) as of this time. It may well come in handy later.




All of this is true, and reinforces Kuroshima's comment about how I selected my build. You just can't do everything well on 250 points with a mixed template. Such is life.

It would probably mean that instead of being an Axe-and-Shield fighter, I'd need to rely on my mobility to be something like a mounted lancer (requires an expensive horse using the rules we have, around $2500 to $4000), or an archery specialist to strike from a distance, and then KEEP your distance. One could also focus on the shield as a defense.

Or, which is what I'm going to do, save up money to buy something like Lightened Orichalcum Medium Plate. That's like DR 10 AND 3 lbs. Win/win.

:-D

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I should also note that when it comes to the after-battle patch-up, I think Cadmus has proved to be more than the "backup" healer he was billed as. Given (say) four hours of time, I can heal 24 HP worth of injury and come out fully refreshed at the end of it. Given a day of down-time (say, 12 hours), I can increase this to 72 HP.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

What about inventing some variant Learned Prayers that give DR only when the character isn't wearing metal armour?

Of course, of ordinary clothing can be Enchanted with +5 DR as cheaply as can mail, then it's not a very big Limitation, but it should still be able to shave off a few CP.

And it's a fairly reasonable world house rule that it costs more to Enchant DR into light armour than into heavy armour, and still more again to Enchant it into non-armour clothing.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

When I created the Warrior Saints, I made some test builds. You can make a decent melee fighter, if it's all you can do, with 250 points. By decent I mean equal or better than a combat focused barbarian, and almost as good as the pure melee (Knight and Swashbuckler). You can also make a decent healer, but your fighting ability will be quite subpar. Finally, I think you can make a halfway decent anti-undead/anti-demons guy. You won't heal or fight well here.

Mind you, the beauty of Divine Favor is that no matter what, you can try to fill those niches in times of need, if the dice are with you. In fact, you can be a "good enough" backup healer with just divine favor, as long as you don't want to heal in combat (take your time, make a theology roll and pray loudly, to get +2 or +3 to petition rolls. If the need is great, the party is wounded and the main healer is bleeding out, you may get a bonus to reaction just because. With both, it's quite likely that you'll get at least Lay on Hands to get the main healer up and running)

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Cadmus is our primary healer AFAIK. Michel has, I think, only Minor Healing and Healing Slumber and Elessar only Minor Healing (and of course he could use Wild Talent for Great Healing, once).

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

This is how it wound up, but during character creation, I was definitely given the impression Cadmus was backup. By the time I got done shifting points, with Divine Favor 8, Lay on Hands, and Flesh Wounds, he wound up being the primary in terms of effectiveness, but I didn't know that until we actively discussed it.

Cadmus' role was originally scoped as part of the "front line" of fighters, who can heal when the primary healer, whose name currently escapes me, got tuckered out.

In fact, we've never formed a line of battle, and Cadmus' healing gifts are substantial. Plus the general "buff" he can occasionally (if unreliably) give the party . . . the "treat a thigh-deep swamp like ankle-deep grass" thing was subtle but very cool.

The real moral of this story is that I should focus on what my character's sheet actually says, and "do the math." He can basically heal 1 HP every 10 minutes with LoH/Flesh Wounds . . . like recovering Fatigue (but it's not). He can push Undead away with (effectively) True Faith. He can ensure fallen foes can't rise as undead. And he carries enough DR that mundane foes by and large won't put him out in one shot, while being a good-enough fighter that you can't ignore him. His damage is 2d+2 cut (crush with an opposed hammer) with his primary weapon, so he's a one-to-three shot killer; more so if he chooses to go for his Targeted Attack (Neck/Axe swing).

Where he has thus far lacked is
* Mobility. He has had a bad time getting to the fight. That's been my fault as a player, more often than not.
* Inevitability. Even vs. mooks, his preferred fighting style starts with non-lethal blows and moves up to head-removal in stages. This is part of his Code of Honor, but it leads him to try stuff based off of Wrestling-13 rather than Axe/Mace-18. I will be fixing this by bumping up his grappling skills and techniques over time.

He's a FUN character to play. Dungeon Fantasy and the Warrior Saint both are somewhat new to me. I've not PLAYED a GURPS (or any other system) game in YEARS . . . I'm rusty.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I get the impression this is a forum game. Is it open to viewing by the public?

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Ours? No, we just met through the forums.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I'm having trouble following your math here...

In Divine Favor, on page 9 it says that Flesh Wounds allows you to heal 1 HP/min for 10 minutes...then you must wait 15 min to invoke it again. Mathematically, your would be able to recover 30 HP in a single hour with Flesh Wounds (10 regen + 15 wait + 10 regen + 15 wait + 10 regen = 60 min).

So, you could heal up to 120 points with Lay on Hands over the 4 hours and come out at the same HP you started with...am I mistaken?

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

I just mis-remembered. So 10 HP every 25 min, which is even more powerful than I'd stated.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

It's pretty awesome indeed! I had to go check DF cause the number seemed low at 6/hour...I just wasn't sure if there was another variable I missed somewhere. Thanks for clarifying!

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Not that I've been around lately, but Michel has Major Healing, 'cause I am not an idiot.

At least at start, Cadmus and Michel were roughly equivalent healers. Michel was the go to guy for healing in combat situations: losing his damage output for a turn was less harmful, and Cadmus' healing leaves him very vulnerable to further damage. Out of damage, it's a bit of a wash, though Michel's FP can generally be used for other things (See Secrets, Detect Magic, etc.) while Cadmus can regenerate and do other things.

Cadmus was backup mostly in the sense of "bring 2 of everything important" and not in the sense of "less capable". I didn't want a group that would die if the lone healer got taken down, especially since my character was the healer!

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

One important difference between healing spells and Divine Favor healing is that you can heal at range with spells, but you need to be in melee range for Divine Favor healing to work.

BTW, if Cadmus wants to become a healing powerhouse, he should invest in extra HP (up to HP 20), so he regens twice as fast, and so has twice as much HP to burn to heal.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

And incidentally becomes tougher in combat too. ^.^

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Major Healing wasn't an option for Elessar, I think it's PI4 for Messenger/Rogue. :( Or I'm an idiot. Either is possible.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

PI5, actually (but hey, Great Haste at PI4!).

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

More than anything specific, I'd recommend that any pregens use elements with which you are familiar, or at least you can handle. This might mean sticking to tried-and-true spells with easy-to-grasp uses, like fireball, or sticking with rules systems which which you are familiar or at least understand.

For all its warts, GURPS Magic, at its basic level, is easy for anyone running GURPS to grasp. Divine Favor, no matter how cool it is (and yes, it is), might not be, especially the more open-ended results.

Re: [DF][First Time] Advice in pregenerating the cleric and wizard
 

Yeah, but if the player is not familiar with GURPS Magic, Divine Favor, with a handful of learned prayers, each with a copy-pasted description, and then an "pray for something general" ability (Divine Favor) will be easier on the player than a long list of spells.

The GM will need to be familiar with what each reaction level gives, and what learned prayers exist, but he will make all the rolls for general Divine Favor use, so it's transparent for the player.