Perk: Countermagical training?

[somecallmetim]

Would being able to counter a specific spell you don't know with Ward be a worthwhile and balanced Perk? I'm thinking it would grant effective skill of IQ+Magery for the resisted spell.

Thanks.

[Diomedes]

Sounds balanced, given that the same point investment would get you the spell itself, if it was available, though at IQ+Magery-2.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by somecallmetim

Would being able to counter a specific spell you don't know with Ward be a worthwhile and balanced Perk? I'm thinking it would grant effective skill of IQ+Magery for the resisted spell.

Thanks.

If you're spending 1 point on a specific Perk, you might as well spend it on the spell.

If you're saying 1 point for a Perk to Ward all spells using the spell Ward, then sure, that'd be balanced, but you'd be rolling against your Ward spell skill, like when blocking any spell you know.

[Edman]

Actually, you can't just out and buy the spell, considering the prerequisite chains which can make spells that you just want to defend against pretty damn expensive to get. If you want to be a competent abjurer, you would have to pay craptons of points to get to spells which aren't in-character to use, but you would want to be able to deal with.

[Kuroshima]

There's a magical perk that gives you this for a given magical style. I say that, if not using magical styles, one perk per GURPS Magic college would be suitable.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Edman

Actually, you can't just out and buy the spell, considering the prerequisite chains which can make spells that you just want to defend against pretty damn expensive to get. If you want to be a competent abjurer, you would have to pay craptons of points to get to spells which aren't in-character to use, but you would want to be able to deal with.

Ward doesn't require that you can cast the spell you're warding, only that you know it at skill 12.

Knowing a spell only requires a single point being spent, you can't cast it without the prereqs, but the standard way of being able to ward against say Fireball if you're a Water Mage, is simply by learning Fireball, one point.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

You could always allow this for, say, 3 spells. You don't know these spells, but you learned the counters for Ward, Great Ward, or Counterspell. It's less powerful than familiarity in a rival magical style, which gives a similar benefit, and it's a bargain if you don't expect to learn those spells anyway.

[somecallmetim]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Ward doesn't require that you can cast the spell you're warding, only that you know it at skill 12.

Knowing a spell only requires a single point being spent, you can't cast it without the prereqs, but the standard way of being able to ward against say Fireball if you're a Water Mage, is simply by learning Fireball, one point.

I'm fairly certain you can't spend points on a skill you don't have the prerequisites for.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

There's a magical perk that gives you this for a given magical style. I say that, if not using magical styles, one perk per GURPS Magic college would be suitable.

Seconded. Can someone call the question?

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Knowing a spell only requires a single point being spent, you can't cast it without the prereqs, but the standard way of being able to ward against say Fireball if you're a Water Mage, is simply by learning Fireball, one point.

Originally Posted by somecallmetim

I'm fairly certain you can't spend points on a skill you don't have the prerequisites for.

I'm positive of it:

Originally Posted by Basic, p. 235: PREREQUISITES

Any spell but the most basic has one or more prerequisites: requirements you must meet in order to learn the spell. If the prerequisite is another spell, you must have at least one point in the prerequisite spell before you can study the advanced spell.

However, there is a Perk in Power-Ups 2: Perks (p. 19) called Charms which allows you to bypass all prerequisite requirements (including Magery). This means spending 2 points, not 1, to gain access to the spell but using that Perk for the purposes of counter-magic seems perfectly legitimate to me (plus, it actually gives you the ability to cast the spell).

OTOH, the Perk to be able to countermagic a spell seems like a good idea. I think I'm with Kuroshima on this being an appropriate perk per college of spells.