[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Note that you'll usually have to soak the -5 to -10 for Mana Level and a -1 to -5 for imperfectly consecrated space, when casting spells on adventures. They'll need the high bonuses from Mandatory and Significant Modifiers, Symbol Drawing and the like.

Are you using Natural Caster to help with those?

Originally Posted by Icelander

That being said, I don't really mind if spellcasting in their private sanctums, with all possible bonuses, takes a couple of minutes instead of a couple of hours, assuming they gather enough modifiers to have an adjusted skill level high enough to soak penalties for casting faster.

Why not consider allowing practiced casters to purchase something like "Ritual Adept (Anchored, One Site, Movable, 1 minute, -50%) [20]" Anchored is borrowed from Warp and in this case would allow the caster to function as an adept in one place, but could move that to another place with concentration and such. If you wanted the time to go up more, figure the price as for Immediate Preparation Required and subtract 20 from the final cost.

Originally Posted by Icelander

At the start, at least, no PC will have Magery higher than 3. So far, no one has opted for Magery without some pretty strict Limitations, but that might be because I stated that the more powerful someone is magically, the more his magic interfered with technology.

Interesting. I assume that is a feature of the setting vs. a limitation you've added to magic. This for all magic?

Originally Posted by Icelander

Spellcasting PCs experience problems with late TL8 devices, at minimum, with anything later than TL4 being suspect, really. It's expressed by traits like Aspected Unluckiness and Lifebane (Technology) and while the medium with minor Path of Spirit rituals and the magical artificer have fairly mild versions, a mage with unlimited Magery 3 would probably have to live as a Luddite to avoid major complications.

You may wish to look at Pyramid #3/78: Unleash Your Soul (p. 30) - I wrote up a tech bane anti-talent that may be of use.

Originally Posted by Icelander

A side effect is that technological objects make magic use harder around them, with up to -4 possible for someone loaded up with late TL8 gadgetry. Of course, scientific laboratories and similar high-tech areas are generally No Mana anyway, unless something odd is happening.

Where did you get that number from?

Originally Posted by Icelander

I figure a general -5 to -10 penalty that applies across the board most of the time will make the extra bonuses from Mandatory and Significant Modifiers and Symbol Drawing a lot more balanced.

Also note that Symbol Drawing can be used to consecrate a space and let you ignore penalties for that. So it's a good investment.

Originally Posted by Icelander

In the strange realms where the Mana Levels are not so limited, I guess magic is a frightening force indeed, with all of these possible bonuses and no penalties to absorb, but that's a feature, not a bug.

As it should be.

Originally Posted by Icelander

The other worlds will bleed into Earth until their eldritch energies and uncanny inhabitants have made it into something unrecognizable to us. And many of those who live in the other realms are hostile or at least callously indifferent to humanity.

Nifty.