Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Counterspell / Suspend spell vs 0-cost spells

Anaraxes · 08-31-2020, 05:12 PM

For the spells that have a "native" cost of 0, there seems to be two obvious choices:
(a) Go ahead and do the fraction-of-cost calculation, which is to say 0, just like the base spell
(b) Borrowing from the "generic" rule for stopping spells, just charge a flat 1 FP. You might also add a benny to this rule to use the skill in Counterspell as a discount, so 0 FP for base skill 15+ (making it the same as (a)).

You might prefer (a) if you're worried about a dueling situation where the Steal FP guy wins because he can keep casting for free while his opponent has to waste an FP to stop every cast. (b) is more the TANSTAAFL attitude -- though there are plenty of not-so-minor magical effects that you can do for free, with enough skill.

FWIW, I always interpreted Steal Energy as draining FP at that 3 per minute rate, with the effects occurring at the end of every minute, rather than having some pre-declared amount to drain with the total transfer happening in one lump at the end of the total time. It's a "cast" time because the vampire mage is concentrating on his vampire thing for all that time. Read literally, though, it's a one-time lump-sum transfer at the end of a very long cast time. It's a non-combat-time spell either way, so the difference is only whether you think the victim should be partially drained if the vampire mage has been at it a while before they can interrupt hiim. To me, it seems more dramatic for that drain to be ticking away rather than just a looming Bad Thing in the future, but one where nothing bad happens if you cut the blue wire with 3 seconds remaining in the final minute.

08-31-2020, 05:12 PM	#6
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Counterspell / Suspend spell vs 0-cost spells For the spells that have a "native" cost of 0, there seems to be two obvious choices: (a) Go ahead and do the fraction-of-cost calculation, which is to say 0, just like the base spell (b) Borrowing from the "generic" rule for stopping spells, just charge a flat 1 FP. You might also add a benny to this rule to use the skill in Counterspell as a discount, so 0 FP for base skill 15+ (making it the same as (a)). You might prefer (a) if you're worried about a dueling situation where the Steal FP guy wins because he can keep casting for free while his opponent has to waste an FP to stop every cast. (b) is more the TANSTAAFL attitude -- though there are plenty of not-so-minor magical effects that you can do for free, with enough skill. FWIW, I always interpreted Steal Energy as draining FP at that 3 per minute rate, with the effects occurring at the end of every minute, rather than having some pre-declared amount to drain with the total transfer happening in one lump at the end of the total time. It's a "cast" time because the vampire mage is concentrating on his vampire thing for all that time. Read literally, though, it's a one-time lump-sum transfer at the end of a very long cast time. It's a non-combat-time spell either way, so the difference is only whether you think the victim should be partially drained if the vampire mage has been at it a while before they can interrupt hiim. To me, it seems more dramatic for that drain to be ticking away rather than just a looming Bad Thing in the future, but one where nothing bad happens if you cut the blue wire with 3 seconds remaining in the final minute.