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Old 05-04-2021, 09:50 AM   #28
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Discussing Yrth History & Evolution of GURPS MAGIC

Just for giggles:

Illusion Mage using strictly only GURPS FANTASY 1st edition spells.

ST 10, DX 10, IQ 13 HT 10 - costs 30 of 100 character points. Magery 3 costs another 35 character points. Net cost for this character is 65 points. Assuming 30 points in spells, another 5 points elsewhere - we're able to buff up the character by taking up to 40 points in disadvantages and 5 in quirks.

For now, relative IQ is 16, and we have 30 points in spells. Note - per original "demographics" in GURPS FANTASY 1st edition, Mages with Magery 1 were more common than mages with magery 2, who in turn were more common than mages with magery 3. In general, Magery 3 mages are more valuable for other spells and tasks, but not everyone goes the route of learning the best spells... ;)

Spell list where 1st value before the slash is points spent, send value after the slash is skill level:

Illusion 2/15
Sound 1/14
Complex Illusion 2/15
Perfect Illusion 2/15
Illusion Disguise 2/15
Control Illusion 1/14
Dispell Illusion 1/14
Create Earth 1/14
Create Object 2/15

Create Animal 2/15

Seek Water 1/14
Purify water 1/14
Create Water 1/14

Seek Earth 1/14
Shape Earth 1/14
Earth to Stone 1/14
Create Earth 1/14

Sense Foes 1/14
Truthsayer 1/14
Mind-Reading 1/14
Mind-Sending 4/16

So, this character is capable of participating in ceremonial spell casting. Let's further stipulate that each of these mages has a 10 point powerstone. I almost mentioned "Wizard's staff" but it appears that Wizard's staff wasn't "invented" until GURPS MAGIC came out.

So, what can you do with Illusion that three mages in a circle can cast with a combined energy of 27 fatigue (9 points from each of them) plus 30 from three power stones? Note that All illusion spells have a duration of 1 minute, half that to maintain. A 7 hex diameter illusion would have a cost equal to 3x the base cost of the spell less 1 fatigue (due to skill being 15). So, if Base cost is 1 per hex radius, a 3 hex radius would cost a total energy of 2 instead of 3, and only cost half that to maintain. The rules also specify that the maintenace cost is also reduced by 1, so that would drop our cost to mainain down to 1 fatigue per minute.

I suspect that Black Company use of Illusions to hide a large region of battlefield would not be practical in GURPS MAGIC, but it could be used to hide a relatively small number of pit traps, caltrops, etc. But for t his example, 3 mages couldn't really engage in that level of magic use with illusions.

Now the Mind Sending spell. That has good applications. For 4 energy, the character has a 50/50 chance of getting their spell off for where they can send a message to someone within 100 miles. This permits one to converse one way, for a message of 60 seconds worth in duration. Any army that learns to communicate in code, could easily enough pack a fair amount of information in such a tightly packed code.

Being able to create pure water from nothing permits the soldiers to have potable water providing they do not journey into a mana dead region. However, it should be noted that critical failures can strike under unexpected circumstances. Forgetting the spell as a result of a crit failure is bad enough, but having pure water become tainted as a result of a critical failure could also be bad.
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