RPM question

[nudj]

Originally Posted by Varyon

A few important things to note, here. Fireball does External Damage, meaning you're looking at 3d damage without any energy invested in Damage and +3 damage per +1 to base energy, but have to deal with DR (External Damage is reduced by DR and requires you to basically throw the projectile at the foe, but does triple damage). A Lesser Destroy Body is going to be Internal Damage, meaning you're looking at a base of 1d damage, and +1 to damage per +1 to base energy (+4 energy per +1d, I have no idea where you're getting +2 energy per +1d from). With the Greater Effect multiplier, you wind up looking at the same energy costs to increase damage for a Greater Effect that does external damage as a Lesser Effect that causes internal damage - +3 energy per +3 to damage (personally, while it isn't in the RAW, I would allow for fractional base energy boosts for external damage - at +1 damage per +1/3 energy - which with a single Greater Effect will mean simply +1 total energy per +1 damage).

That 3d base fireball winds up calling for 18 energy - Create Energy has a base cost of 6, and the Greater Effects multiplier for 1 greater effect is x3. If 3d internal damage can be caused with a Lesser Destroy Body in your setting, that would be Lesser Destroy Body (5) + Damage, Internal Toxic 3d (8, for +2d damage) + Subject Weight, 300 lb (3), for a total of 16 energy - which turns out to be right around the same ballpark as that fireball.

Generally speaking, gathering energy for a ritual during combat isn't really an option with baseline RPM (the Effect Shaping variant from Pyramid #3/66 is a potential exception; I believe it was also the basis of Incantation Magic for Dungeon Fantasy). Instead, mages who are expecting trouble will typically have some Conditional Rituals and/or Charms prepared to handle it for them - rather than gathering up something like 46 energy to create a 10d fireball, you create a Conditional Ritual, gathering the energy ahead of time and setting an appropriate trigger - "When I extend the index finger of my right hand and say 'Ignius!', activate this spell." Or you create a Charm by binding the Conditional Ritual to some object, to activate when you manipulate it in some way (traditionally by snapping it in half, but there are other options). Conditional Rituals do cost a bit more, as they add on Lesser Control Magic (which also means you need Path of Magic at a level that matches your main Path/Paths to get full use out of it/them), but being able to deploy them more-or-less instantly is a huge boon. For example, an adept with an impressive Path of Energy 20 would take around 25 to 30 seconds (rolling 5 or 6 times) on average to gather the 46 energy necessary to cast that 10d fireball. If the character instead took half an hour or so to create a Charm ahead of time (and had comparable Path of Magic skill), he or she would have an item that would let the character cast the spell instantly so long as it was in the hand (and Fast Draw (Charm) can make it fast indeed to get it into one's hand).

Thanks, I missed the external vs internal damage thing.