Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
I don't really want to go round and round about this but I will speak briefly.
I went back to Magic 1e because you set such importance on what you appear to deem critical mistakes in the updating of Magic for 4e.
Workign from Magic 4e now though the box on p.12 about Ceremonial Magic begins with saying that "If you know a spell at 15 or higher" . I find "know" to be unamibiguous. It means IQ+Magery+cp spent on the spell adds up to 15 before any temporary modifiers.
This is a limiter before you can even get started. It appears clear to me that you may not start at a level below 15 and then accumulate bonuses to get you up to 15.
You explicitly can use trading Energy for Skill to raise an items Power but this will not let you circumvent the requiremnt to _know_ the requisite Spell at 15+.
It also seems clear to me that the -5 for Low Mana is deemed a temporary modifier. It would follow from that that any bonus gained from local mana level if one was using Continuous Mana from Thaumatology would also be a temporary modifier.
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Understanding your desire NOT to go round and round on this, I shall respect your wishes. I will also agree that GURPS MAGIC for 4e does word things differently. I will also note that in the previous incarnations of GURPS MAGIC or even GURPS FANTASY 1st edition in which magic was first introduced, one could not pull a spectator off the street and simply cast ceremonial magic without issue. Under the newer 4e rules, this is precisely what can be done.
So yes, Magic for use with 4e has evolved. What was present in GURPS MAGIC, or GURPS FANTASY 1st edition has changed. Good? Bad? Indifferent? That is largely up to anyone who even cares (and my bet is that many do not). Few even care about the evolution of a spell like COPY in GURPS MAGIC for 4e and note how it changed from GURPS FANTASY 1st edition.
So, trying to use GURPS 4e as a means of clarifying things in 3e strikes me as a bad way to go simply because the evolution does not necessarily stem from an attempt to clarify as simply an attempt to either simplify, or even to ease the complaints of several that the spell wasn't "useful" enough.
How many point to GURPS MAGIC for 4e and complain that it is one of the worst "upgrades" from 3e to 4e ever produced?
So, with the comment that you don't want to get into it etc - I would be wise to drop it entirely.
:)