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07-24-2020, 01:35 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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[Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
'Magery et al' in this context means all those advantages that let you do magic or make it easier to do magic (or something that might as well be magic, like Chi or Psi). So, Magery 0 and the Magery talent, Sorcerous Empowerment, Path/Book Adept (or Ritual Adept), Trained by a Master/Weapon Master, Power Talents, et cetra (even outliers like Gadgeteer or Illuminated could work for this, if you want to go there).
I don't recall seeing any of these used with temporary disadvantages in a game, but I think doing so could be quite interesting, and I'm wondering if anyone has done it, or is likely to. For example, you have Magery 0 and Magery 1 without limitations, but you also have Magery 3 (Fire College Only, -40%; Temporary Disadvantage: Pyromania (6), -10%); you're capable of being very good at Fire spells, but if you use that bonus (or use Fire magic at all, depending on how your GM decides this works), you have a lot of trouble not just setting things on fire for the sheer joy of it, rather than only igniting the things you really need to. Path/Book Adept with 'Temporary Disadvantage: Megalomania, -10%' would allow the magician to cast more conveniently, while also changing their attitude towards the other characters, and which rituals they might want to cast (and if Time is on the list and you're using Effect Shaping, they may not have time to realize that you're performing the wrong ritual, if they even have the skill to know it), while Ritual Adept with 'Temporary Disadvantage: Weirdness Magnet, -15%' means that even if you don't roll a critical failure, something interesting is bound to happen if you need to use it. In a setting where Temporary Disadvantages are common limitations on Magery, P/B A, and/or other such advantages, this could change the attitudes people take towards magi, especially if specific TDs are both common and inconvenient. So, what do you think? Has it been done in your games? What effects do you think it might have in a setting?
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
07-24-2020, 03:51 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
Backlash would also be an interesting modifier for Magery 1+ (it becomes problematic for Magery 0, at least if you ever want to use magical items). For example, you could have a setting with unmodified Magery 0 but each additional level is Magery (Nuisance Effect, Backlash, Ecstasy, Resisted by HT, -50%) [5/level]. As long as a mage refrains from drawing upon Magery above 0, they are able to cast without consequences, but they start having to resist being overwhelmed by ecstasy when they use their Magery 1+ (this also fits for settings where magic is additive). In the case of the above Magery, I would allow up to Magery 6 in a 'normal' fantasy setting, as it would offer greater temptation for the mage.
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07-24-2020, 05:45 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: FL
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
Temporary Disads: Confused, Weirdness Magnet, and/or Phantom Voices
As you open yourself to the forces of the beyond... Temporary Disad, Quadriplegic, could be interesting. I don't have in mind a particular explanation, but do note that it's a possibility. Perhaps better: One Arm, as you shake your fist full of magical power! Temporary Disad, Lifebane, as you draw power from the living things around you. Temporary Disad, Disturbing Voice, Ugly, and Unnatural Features 2 as your demeanor takes on the cast of a terrible being. Temporary Disad, Partial Amnesia, where you never remember *why* you cast that last spell... Yeah, there are a lot of possibilities here.
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Formerly known as fighting_gumby. |
07-24-2020, 05:52 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
There were a couple fantasy books where mages used their own energy to power spells. A powerful spell meant the mage went from looking like a sumo wrestler to looking like the 98 pound weakling in the body builder ads. Hiring one for something major meant not just pay but months of room and board after to get back to casting weight.
Could work in a game but needs to have lots of time skips between adventures. |
07-24-2020, 08:31 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Dec 2013
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
Quote:
* The effects I recall, mostly of the energy blast variety, were rather... anemic if they were supposed to represent conversion of mass to energy... * This also left the problem of where all that fat *went*, since, as I recall, it basically just visibly disappeared as the mages cast. Mages were not described in the same terms as a smokestack, so... |
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07-24-2020, 11:27 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
Robin Hobb's Soldier's Son series uses that premise.
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07-26-2020, 09:24 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
Quote:
Other options beside switchable enhancement are things that turn it switchable like Costs Fatigue and I think a couple others but I'm not sure. |
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07-26-2020, 01:15 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: FL
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
You are correct. Otherwise it acts as a shutdown switch.
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Formerly known as fighting_gumby. |
07-28-2020, 08:30 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: [Magic] Magery et al with Temporary Disadvantages
speaking of shutdowns switches, I think you can effectievly get "Controllable Limitations" (similar to Controllable Disadvantages) by combining Limited Enhancements with Selectivity.
A mage who tied a something like F129 "Impermanent Magery" (aka T24 "Fading Spell Effects") limitation to a cheap enhancement like Switchable (reducing it to +8%) or Usually On (reducing to +4%) could flip to a mode where spell effects might be dispelled without needing to pay 1 FP to cancel them prematurely, or even stuff that you normally can't dispel like healing. T24's FSE says it doesn't apply to healing while F168's elaboration on IM says it DOES though, making me unsure as to how to treat healing unless these same-priced similar limitations aren't entirely the same. |
Tags |
magic, path/book magic, thaumatolgy |
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