Elder Scrolls Conversion to GURPS 4e (Help Please!)

[t@nya]

Originally Posted by yffub

I would also suggest using Powers, since the spells are so customizable in Elder Scrolls. I would suggest requiring Costs FP and other limitations based on the skill level the player has in the underlying college. For example, if you have Illusion at a low level, your Invisibility spell will cost lots of FP and last only a few seconds before it needs to be recast; if you have a very high level it would be cheaper to cast and last longer.

If you are going for the feel of the older games, you might have Requires Skill Roll, and roll against the underlying college skill every time you cast a spell. But in Oblivion casting was automatic (I think, it's been a while); there was no risk of spell failure.

That's right, casting is automatic in Oblivion. The difference there is that the higher the skill, the less the spell costs in terms of mana (up to a point, of course, where it can't be cast any cheaper).

In Morrowind the costs are set from the beginning, but the lower the skill the less chance of successfully casting it.

[Highland_Piper]

And in Dagger Fall the magic was insane! Talk about a balance issue! I loved it ;) You could make any spell you wanted. My favorite was "Elemental Fury" I would set it up to do one or two points of every damage type for an insane duration. So you would actually be taking 10-20 damage every round unless you resisted some of them.

It seems with each game the magic becomes less powerful and with less options. Except the fact that the actual casting is really fast and easy in Oblivion to keep the interest of the younger X-Box generation. I believe in Oblivion though the more Armour you wear the more Mana you have to spend on the spell itself or the less Mana you posses, I can't quite remember.

I would suggest using Magic as Powers as well.

[MortonStromgal]

Well I looked at Powers and it certainly seams like it could work (plus it has the bonus of player made spell options, just like the game!). This is coming along quite nicely! I'm going to start with a template for Argonian, Thief (sign), and Nightblade. I'll post them as I get them done. Please feel free to make more suggestions! Thanks everyone! I decided to start with Oblivion stats just because its the more current game. I may add in stuff from Daggerfall and Morrowind later.

New question, how should I handle Personality as a +/- ? I didn't see charisma as an option any more (maybe I'm blind)

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by MortonStromgal

Well I looked at Powers and it certainly seams like it could work

Great.

New question, how should I handle Personality as a +/- ? I didn't see charisma as an option any more (maybe I'm blind)

I think isn't needed to duplicate all TES attributes for achieving the desired flavour. BTW, a lot of flavor is also provided by . . . the graphics! ;)

Charisma (and variations of advantages for reaction rolls) is handled as an advantage (see Basic Set: Characters).

[Exxar]

I would not go for a direct translation of magic from one of the games, but for a one loosely based on Morrowind. I would use magic as powers, with a mandatory Requires Attribute Roll limitation, and power talents corresponding to schools of magic from the game. Besides that, I'd leave my players free as to how expensive in terms of FP they would make their spells (but I'd still enforce at least one level of Costs Fatigue). And I'd probably use exclusively Energy Reserve for powering spells, not the character's FP.

In my opinion, this approach captures the most vital flavour of the magic system; spells are divided into the appropriate schools, and skill with those schools (as represented by Talents) affects their chance to be cast. Of course, this is according to Morrowind, but seems much neater to me than enforcing differing levels of Costs Fatigue depending on your skill, as in Oblivion.


Another thought; replace Requires Attribute Roll with Requires Skill Roll (you'd have to adjudicate a price break for it, as it does not exist in RAW), and use a separate IQ/H or VH skill for each school. This seems even better to me, now that I think of it. You could also use a reverse of Reliable (each level worth -5% gives you -1 on the activation roll) on your spells, to simulate that more powerful spells are harder to cast.

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Exxar

Another thought; replace Requires Attribute Roll with Requires Skill Roll (you'd have to adjudicate a price break for it, as it does not exist in RAW)

Actually, this is somewhere in Powers. Requires Hard Skill roll is worth -10%. I think it's under advice how to do Fantasy spells as abilities.

[Exxar]

I had a hunch it existed in Powers, but my search turned up nothing :/


Oh, and if you use this approach the school skills could act as Thaumatology specialized for each school, but useless for others (except for perhaps some basic understanding of magic).

Also, you could use Magery 0 for sensitivity to magic, but disallow higher levels (they wouldn't serve a purpose anyway).

[SuperGamera]

How would you handle Alchemy? As some sort of "quick and dirty" process, with ingredients providing mana? Maybe as gadgeteering, to be able to create potion combinations on the fly?

Don't forget to give your guards the advantage "can always spot wanted criminals".

[Exxar]

Originally Posted by SuperGamera

How would you handle Alchemy? As some sort of "quick and dirty" process, with ingredients providing mana? Maybe as gadgeteering, to be able to create potion combinations on the fly?

Umm, as far as I know, alchemy in Elder Scrolls behaves no differently than Alchemy and Herb Lore in GURPS.

[Lonewulf]

Originally Posted by Highland_Piper

And in Dagger Fall the magic was insane! Talk about a balance issue! I loved it ;) You could make any spell you wanted. My favorite was "Elemental Fury" I would set it up to do one or two points of every damage type for an insane duration. So you would actually be taking 10-20 damage every round unless you resisted some of them.

It seems with each game the magic becomes less powerful and with less options. Except the fact that the actual casting is really fast and easy in Oblivion to keep the interest of the younger X-Box generation. I believe in Oblivion though the more Armour you wear the more Mana you have to spend on the spell itself or the less Mana you posses, I can't quite remember.

I would suggest using Magic as Powers as well.

Nope. Armor has no impact.

By the way, there's a way to "cheat" in the magic in Oblivion. You can drain hit points for 1 second, for instance (I think it's drain?), and it's really really cheap. But if you drain 100 HP at once, and make it an area effect, you can have the same thing as Power Word: Kill.

I had so much fun wiping out 100% of the enemy with a very cheap spell. And if it doesn't work at once, whittle the enemy down a bit and then try again.

Originally Posted by Exxar

Umm, as far as I know, alchemy in Elder Scrolls behaves no differently than Alchemy and Herb Lore in GURPS.

Except that you can make nearly 100 potions in a single day?