[Magic] Using ceremonial magic to create an unassailable magical fortress

Michael Thayne · 06-14-2019, 01:07 PM

In GURPS Magic, it seems that ceremonial magic is nearly useless on the offense, but extremely powerful on the defense. This is because the presence of any significant number of individuals opposed to the casting ruins the spell. So with a few exceptions (Bravery is a notable one), big ceremonial castings of area spells only make sense before the battle is joined, when you expect the enemy to come to you. Once they do come to you, if there's a big area spell waiting for them, there usually won't be much they can do about it if the defenders used Spellguard and put extra energy into the spell to boost skill for purposes of resisting Dispel Magic. Ceremonial casting of Dispel Magic so the attackers can get their own skill boost doesn't work as long as the defenders stay put to oppose said ceremonial casting. Waiting for the spells to expire and opposing attempts to ceremonially recast them can be countered by recasting spells at unpredictable times from behind non-magical fortifications, and possibly illusions that obscure what's going on. What spells do you do this with? The single most powerful one is probably Mystic Mist. Other similar long-duration area spells include Alter Terrain, Glow, Nightingale, Wall of Light, Watchdog. Avoid and Lure are limited by their one hour duration, but have the potential to be very effective if cast just as the enemy is marching on your camp.

Of course, you can always try to wait out the defenders just as you would to deal with any other enemy in a fortified position. But being able to establish an impregnable magical fortress with minutes of ceremonial casting rather than doing the much more time-consuming work of erecting physical barriers seems like a big deal. Unless I'm misreading a rule somewhere, or have some other flaw in my logic. Thoughts?

06-14-2019, 01:07 PM	#1
Michael Thayne Join Date: May 2010	[Magic] Using ceremonial magic to create an unassailable magical fortress In *GURPS Magic*, it seems that ceremonial magic is nearly useless on the offense, but extremely powerful on the defense. This is because the presence of any significant number of individuals opposed to the casting ruins the spell. So with a few exceptions (Bravery is a notable one), big ceremonial castings of area spells only make sense before the battle is joined, when you expect the enemy to come to you. Once they do come to you, if there's a big area spell waiting for them, there usually won't be much they can do about it if the defenders used Spellguard and put extra energy into the spell to boost skill for purposes of resisting Dispel Magic. Ceremonial casting of Dispel Magic so the attackers can get their own skill boost doesn't work as long as the defenders stay put to oppose said ceremonial casting. Waiting for the spells to expire and opposing attempts to ceremonially recast them can be countered by recasting spells at unpredictable times from behind non-magical fortifications, and possibly illusions that obscure what's going on. What spells do you do this with? The single most powerful one is probably Mystic Mist. Other similar long-duration area spells include Alter Terrain, Glow, Nightingale, Wall of Light, Watchdog. Avoid and Lure are limited by their one hour duration, but have the potential to be very effective if cast just as the enemy is marching on your camp. Of course, you can always try to wait out the defenders just as you would to deal with any other enemy in a fortified position. But being able to establish an impregnable magical fortress with minutes of ceremonial casting rather than doing the much more time-consuming work of erecting physical barriers seems like a big deal. Unless I'm misreading a rule somewhere, or have some other flaw in my logic. Thoughts?