Spell backfire ideas

[hal]

Originally Posted by StevenH

I can imagine a spell critical success along the lines of "All of the variables in the base thaumatology of the spell casting line up perfectly for you. You cast the spell as if you had +1d Magery levels, and the spell has 5x the area of effect."
Sounds pretty cool, right? Until you factor in collateral damage, and the fact that because it was a surprise effect, there was no chance to modify the shape of that area. Friendly fire, anyone?
So even critical successes can have deleterious effects, in the same way that a crit fail might have effects that could be beneficial.

So, don't just throw the idea out there, develop it. **teasing grin**

You build a framework, fill in some ideas, then see where someone else can spark off of your idea, and add to it or like it as it is, or what have you.

In the end, the idea here is to share ideas so that others can steal it directly, or be inspired by it and make it fit their own needs by adding their own touch.

[hal]

Originally Posted by KarlKost

I am a Mage the Ascension player (I use gurps system thou), and this game has "Paradox", which is something like "Treshold Magic" from Thaumatology, basically after a while of exaggerating in your "reality warping" powers, reality smacks back.

But I make that to be a RANDOM effect, rather than just simply a bad one. I had a table for it, but it has been lost.

Anyway, I would totally be in favor for a crit success table, and I would add the -9 to +10 from the Mana levels to it too.

Same as I said to Steven. You have an idea in your mind, expand on it here and see if it sparks something at a synergistic level, or perhaps what you put forth is something a reader days/weeks/months/years later can say "Hey, I LOVE this - I'm stealing it"

:)

[hal]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Caster grows a useless/marginally useful body part, like a tail, boar-like tusks, or rabbit ears.

Caster acquires supernatural quirk (e.g., minor glowing aura, smoking coming from their ears, purple spotted skin).

Caster suffers irritating Affliction.

Caster can't cast, or has a penalty to cast, the same spell (or spells of the same college).

Severity of effects might vary depending on Magery level or prerequisite count of the spell or energy used to cast it. Duration of effects might be based similar factors (e.g., 1d + energy cost hours/days) or the caster's HT+Magery (e.g., 20-HT+Magery hours, minimum 1). Alternately, they might be permanent until cured using some form of magical "first aid" (e.g., Remove Curse).

If you want a Mage: The Ascension Paradox effect, you could assume that any CF results in a disadvantage worth -2d CP - energy cost of the spell, with the GM assigning suitable disadvantages like for badly failed Fright Checks.

I'm going to be mean to you. A 3d6 table with modifiers to the roll is still going to be a bell curve of sorts. For a crit success table, you might make it that a crit success in a mana high region of say, +8, gets the really outlandish effects. With a 3d6 table, a +8 means that the bell curve is centered at 18, lowest of 11, and highest of 26. So call it maybe at a natural 26, spell caster gains a lesser wish as a residual effect. Maybe if the roll is in a mana +10 zone, a 28 is a Greater wish. Fun thing might be, that you have to use those wishes within 24 hours or the energy fades. I'm not sayin that the table should have wishes - I'm simply suggesting that you flesh out a prototype listing of effects that are based on the mana level when the crit success or crit failure roll comes into play.

One thing I am thinking as an "Evolution" of concepts, is that All VARIANTS of a given spell, are treated as techniques of the original spell. It doesn't make sense (at least to me) that the spell that is Shapeshift Cougar, won't let you shape shift into a house hold tabby. But if you had the Shapeshift spell, and everything was a variant - you could put it in your critical effects table "Caster sees a revelation on a variation of the spell, and now knows it as a technique of the spell.

Just thinking outside the box here.

[StevenH]

Originally Posted by hal

So, don't just throw the idea out there, develop it. **teasing grin**

You build a framework, fill in some ideas, then see where someone else can spark off of your idea, and add to it or like it as it is, or what have you.

In the end, the idea here is to share ideas so that others can steal it directly, or be inspired by it and make it fit their own needs by adding their own touch.

I'm too busy trying to keep up with all of your threads about Magic and Society!



But maybe, instead of 2 sets of tables (crit fails and crit successes), perhaps just a single crit table that can act for either might be something to look into. A crit fail would skew the result to one side, a crit success would skew it to the other side, with a lot of overlap in between, and always the chance of getting a good result due to a crit fail, or a bad result due to a crit success.
(sighs) I'll try to find some time to work on a rough draft....

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by hal

So, what if mages who cast spells using spell ritual rules where they take 10 times longer, etc - but also utilize silver chalices and sea water to ground the negative energies involved in spell casting - could work to avoid "Occupational based spell back fires"?

That certainly would be a good fix, and better enable mass, repetitive spellcasting for societal purposes.

In fact, why not this: one can cast a spell ceremonially for a skill bonus (under the RAW rules) OR to negate critical failures, in the latter case at the cost of negating critical successes as well.