Perk: Countermagical training?

[Blind Mapmaker]

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.

I didn't find the specific perk unless you mean Magical School Familiarity which has the ability to Ward or Counterspell all the style's spells as one of its benefits. I agree that a perk that gives you the ability to Ward or Counterspell a whole college is probably balanced against Magical School Familiarity. Consider it stolen.

[BaHalus]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

I didn't find the specific perk unless you mean Magical School Familiarity which has the ability to Ward or Counterspell all the style's spells as one of its benefits. I agree that a perk that gives you the ability to Ward or Counterspell a whole college is probably balanced against Magical School Familiarity. Consider it stolen.

how many of such perk would be balanced? One or two? More than that would still be balanced?

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

I didn't find the specific perk unless you mean Magical School Familiarity which has the ability to Ward or Counterspell all the style's spells as one of its benefits. I agree that a perk that gives you the ability to Ward or Counterspell a whole college is probably balanced against Magical School Familiarity. Consider it stolen.

That one, away from my PDFs ATM, so I didn't remember the name

Originally Posted by BaHalus

how many of such perk would be balanced? One or two? More than that would still be balanced?

You get one magical perk per 20 points in spells. As long as you follow this guideline, I would have no issue with you slowly taking all possible colleges with this.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

That one, away from my PDFs ATM, so I didn't remember the name

You get one magical perk per 20 points in spells. As long as you follow this guideline, I would have no issue with you slowly taking all possible colleges with this.

Plus another style perk per 10 points in the style...so belonging to a style (in worlds that have them) can be worth it just to get the second track for extra perks...even tho the style will likely have a limited range of perks that they teach...

(so if you are a mage with 40 pts in your style...you would get 4 style perk slots...plus 2 general perk slots)

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Witchking

Plus another style perk per 10 points in the style...so belonging to a style (in worlds that have them) can be worth it just to get the second track for extra perks...even tho the style will likely have a limited range of perks that they teach...

(so if you are a mage with 40 pts in your style...you would get 4 style perk slots...plus 2 general perk slots)

Yeah, should a style offer "Expert countermagic" for any college as a style per, then yeah, it would be possible to get 6 of such perks with 40 points in spells. The again, if you're playing with styles, then you should just use styles and magical style familiarity. If not using them, then no style will give you this perk, as there are no styles.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Yeah, should a style offer "Expert countermagic" for any college as a style per, then yeah, it would be possible to get 6 of such perks with 40 points in spells. The again, if you're playing with styles, then you should just use styles and magical style familiarity. If not using them, then no style will give you this perk, as there are no styles.

Hmmm...I can see a mix of both...for example Colleges that are outside of any of the Known Styles...(Healing or Necromacy or Gate whatever depending on setting).

Usually taking the style familiarity perk will be more efficent but I would not take the College Familarity perk off the board...

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by somecallmetim

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

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

I'm positive of it:

Heh, did that change?
(I'm a little far from my books and I always tailor magic to fit settings, not the other way around...)

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

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.

The only thing I'd add to this, is that the perk should fit the setting, so if it's Colleges, Styles, or Aspects, it's more than fair to allow this type of perk as long as it's tailored by the GM to setting.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Heh, did that change?
(I'm a little far from my books and I always tailor magic to fit settings, not the other way around...)

Not that I know of. That rule existed in Magic 2e almost exactly as written, except that the prerequisite spell needed to be at level 12 instead of one point (the level 12 requirement was switched out in GURPS 4e for one point).

Perhaps you're thinking of the rule that says that a non-Mage may learn spells that don't require Magery, but cannot cast them except in High Mana areas?

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

The only thing I'd add to this, is that the perk should fit the setting, so if it's Colleges, Styles, or Aspects, it's more than fair to allow this type of perk as long as it's tailored by the GM to setting.

Agreed.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

Not that I know of. That rule existed in Magic 2e almost exactly as written, except that the prerequisite spell needed to be at level 12 instead of one point (the level 12 requirement was switched out in GURPS 4e for one point).

Perhaps you're thinking of the rule that says that a non-Mage may learn spells that don't require Magery, but cannot cast them except in High Mana areas?

Could very well be the rule I was thinking of, then again, often the settings I've run which have magic in them also have wards and counters, so as I said, I tend to make the magic fit the setting, I don't warp the setting to fit someone else's magic.