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Old 05-07-2021, 01:44 AM   #29
StevenH
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Portland, Oregon
Default Re: Discussing Yrth History & Evolution of GURPS MAGIC

Given the mana costs, your three illusionists would be better served in scouting squads: smaller number of allies to hide/camouflage, and easier to influence enemy scouts. You don't need to fool an entire army; just make the data coming in from scouts incorrect.

Depending upon the local politics, changing some banners (assuming you don't have access to plain old cloth in the correct colors/design) might be useful by making it seem as if an ally changed sides or is at least aiding the enemy. It might throw confusion into the enemy camp. (A Dye spell could do the same, perhaps more easily).

While a Purify Water spell might go awry, a Purify Water Ring won't. It only costs 50pts to enchant, and takes an hour. And it would be easy to get enough soldiers in camp to help be spectators ("Who doesn't want dysentery? If you don't want watery bowels, focus on the success of Mage Bob over there, hold this candle, and chant 'oogabooga' over and over until Bob says stop.") Of course, smart militaries will have been doing this for decades, and have a big box of them in a warehouse somewhere, ready to hand out to each squad/platoon. Perhaps built into the fill opening of a 5 gallon jug that everyone fills their canteens from. (Filling it might require that each soldier put in 1-2 gallons every day.)

Darkness and Blackout also come to mind (although those are Light and Darkness spells, not illusion). Darkness exists in 1st Ed Fantasy; Blackout doesn't. They cost about the same as Illusion spells per hex, but the enchantments are by square foot (1st Edition Darkness is by hex, so it isn't as useful). If you allow enchantment by the square foot, then you can have a roll of cloth 6" wide and 12' long for Darkness for 72 pts with a Q&D enchantment. That gives you useful way to hide half a dozen archers. Blackout is a bit more expensive, at 90 pts for the same size, but it's slightly more effective at hiding the troops behind it.

Power is an issue with any war mage. There just isn't enough mana available to them for any real battlefield effects. It's got to be buffs, debuffs (if an enemy is in range), maybe some healing to get soldiers back in the fight, and maybe the occasional Missile Shield on an officer or two.
I haven't really been able to come up with anything that could affect a battlefield easily. Mages are outranged by missile weapons, since they take a -1 to skill for each yard of distance. Missile spells are spendy in the mana department, especially those that have a decent chance of going through armor. It was not uncommon for a professional soldier/mercenary in the 15th century to have gambeson+chain shirt+brigandine vest for armor, which is a pretty damn good combination that was only bested by the much more expensive full plate harness.


Doing the math, the basic magic system isn't really battlefield-ready. It's better for support. I still think it's one of the best magic systems out there*. Staff of Power helps, as do large powerstones and Paut potions. But battles can last all day, and even with several powerstones, a mage can be tapped out in less than 10 minutes. That means that an army can't count on a mage to be very helpful. So they have to be surgical. Perhaps as a stealthy, invisible assassin that sneaks into the enemy camp and kills the officers or poisons the water/ale supply or something.



*Context: I used to play Rolemaster, and loved it. When I saw GURPS Fantasy 1st ed, I rewrote the RM spells to the GURPS way, and used the GURPS magic system in my RM game for several years until I finally got tired of Chartmaster and went full GURPS.
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Warmest regards,

StevenH

My current worldbuilding project. You can find the Adventure Logs of the campaign here. I try to write them up as narrative prose, with illustrations. As such, they are "embellished" accounts of the play sessions.


Link of the moment: Bestiary of Plants. In a world of mana, plants evolved to use it as an energy source.



It is also the new home of the Alaconius Lectures, a series of essays about the various Colleges of Spells.
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