Spells: Broken, but how broken?

[David L Pulver]

My issues with GURPS Magic come down to three things:

(1). Lack of Focus

The spells in Magic are essentially a grab bag of "things that can happen" while saying they're magic spells. This grab bag includes:

- a psionics system (communication/empathy and mind control spells)
- a set of spells that duplicate "wonder" effects traditionally ascribed to magic (stuff like Zombie or Illusion or Soul Jar or Flesh to Stone; some of the spells from Arabian Nights, etc.)
- a set of spells that duplicate modern fantasy / D&D effects (stuff like fireball) and/or manipulate various classical substances and elements (move earth, etc.).
- a set of spells that duplicate advantages with magic
- a set of spells that basically take a mish-mash of skill tasks, technological effects, cool stuff and say "this is magic."

The problem is that the spell list is basically a thing in itself. Only a fraction of it emulates legendary or the majority of high fantasy magic. As a whole, it does a decent job of emulating "anything goes" magic like Harry Potter or AD&D, though it is really too crowded with mundane spells for the latter.

This is annoying because it provides little guidance for the GM. If you're running a campaign that isn't, well, Yrth or Technomancer, you'll probably have a huge mass of stuff that will unbalance the campaign or ruin the feel.

Why this is more annoying in MAGIC then in, say, a tech book, is that most of the magic spells are simply arbitrary collections of gee-whiz powers loosely organized by college. Also, the tech books have TL and Superscience to organize them.

(2) Bloat
The basic magic system is a nice extension of the skill system. The prerequisite system, fatigue costs, casting times, etc. all work reasonably well. However, the problem is that they were designed for a much smaller list of spells (the original GURPS Fantasy list). The spell list is now bloated with the GRIMOIRE spells and other expansions, and the prerequisite chains to have magicians who know a good selection of potent spells vastly clutter the character sheet with masses of boring spells. It's icky.

WHAT I'D RECOMMEND

(a) Sub-Organize the Spell Lists to provide Genre Help

Spells should be better organized by genre and use.

(a) There should be a fundamental core of "traditional" spells that provide the sort of effects suitable for most campaigns that use magic. Demon summoning, divination, glamor, zombie, weather control, suggestion, etc. These are the spells suitable for low-fantasy, horror, modern-day magic, etc. games. They are spells that primarily either produce subtle effects or effects that are clearly traditionally necromantic or supernatural. In general, these spells are those that you would not find out of place reading about in a horror story, a medieval legend, Lord of the Rings, etc.

(b) There should be a second tier of spells that cover the flashier fantasy effects. These spells are those that would not be out of place in an Arabian Nights tale, a D&D campaign, a supers campaign, etc. Mark them with the magical equivalent of a Superscience tag or a separate chapter. Flight, teleport, etc.

(c) There are a whole mess of spells that basically amount to "spend a few seconds and a FP to do something already covered by another skill" - spells for things like cutting your hair or writing or whatever. DUMP THEM and replace them with some more generalized spells for "servant spirits" or "minor cantrip." In general, take the spells that may be useful but are fundamentally BORING and BLAND and combine them together or dump them completely.

(d) Shorten the prerequisite chains
- In general, set up spells so they have more OPTIONS for prerequisites. I don't want my necromancer to have to buy an entire college of, say, making and breaking (or whatever) just because one important spell had it.
- if a spell is powerful, balance it with a high Fatigue cost or casting time. Go through MAGIC and try to make sure most spells have only a maximum 3 spell prerequisite chain or include alternatives like "or Magery 3+" or "or IQ 14+".