RPM Blocking Spells/Instant Gathering

[JulianLW]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Correct. You can make any number of gathering rolls, with all that that entails, but as soon as you fail or gather enough energy you're done.

Thanks for the responses! Based on the forum discussions of RPM I've read so far, I suspected you'd show up when the RPM signal appeared in the sky.

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

I'd probably say "No" as a GM. Blocking spells should be spelled out as to what they are when made. Not every spell can just be instantly performed like this. Otherwise you're going to get casters who always roll at -10 to gather and cast instantly and that is obviously broken.

But you can roll in one second at -4, right? Let's say you have a small spell, and one roll at -4 is all it takes to gather enough energy - that spell would be cast on that same turn, right? as soon as the energy was gathered?

Example: My Ignite spell is just Lesser Control Energy (5), Cost: 5. I have Path of Energy at 19. I cut my gathering roll to one second for -4 and roll an 8, gathering 7 energy. As soon as that's done, I've lit my fire, correct? In theory, this makes for a one-turn spell - though not instant.

But I could NOT gather energy at -4 three times in that second, as I could when rolling -10 for instant gathering with a blocking spell, right? Or could I? (I think this is a no.)

The -4 for fast-casting means that I can roll that Path of Energy skill at 15 to gather for 3 seconds in a row, then at 14 for 3 more seconds, etc., to come up with ~27 energy in 6 seconds, correct?

So (and I'm sure this has been asked before) is there any way to get a more powerful one-second spell?

Could you do, like, "Rapid Strike Gathering" in one second at -6 on top of the -4? That is, could you take a -10 penalty on two gathering rolls (or -16 on three rolls) to make them in the same second?

Finally, would your "Spellslinger" advantage in Pyramid 3/66 cut that penalty to -3, for -7 for 2 gathering rolls in a second or -10 for 3 gathering rolls in a second?