[Sorcery] Novice's Weather Dome

[Sorenant]

Weather Dome from Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells is a pretty powerful ability as written. With it the Sorcerer and his friends could elegantly enjoy an afternoon tea during a category 5 hurricane. However this much power is overkill if all the mage wants is a magical tent.
What would be an appropriate build for a simple spell to protect against common weather?

Reducing total level might work but given it works on percentages I'm not entirely sure. Maybe -30% to bad weather is enough to stop rains, but it also might mean that it reduces the harshness of every weather by 30% and so 70% of the rain is still coming through.
On top of that, the spell would need to have Persistent and Extended Duration so the caster can sleep under its effect. This would further increase the cost of the spell.
Or maybe I could just call is Accessory (Tent) and be done with it, but that would be too cheap.

I'm not entirely sure how to deal with it so any help would be appreciated.

[Rupert]

Personally, I think the spell is of very limited use for most sorcerers, because the duration is 'indefinite', and that means it costs 1FP per minute. Also, while it's running, the sorcerer can't cast any other spells.

Weather effects you want to protect yourself from usually last hours.

For a persistent effect like you want, Accessory: Tent is what I'd consider too.

[Sorenant]

I chose to avoid commenting on the "indefinite spell" aspect directly because it's a core part of Sorcery and I assumed any archmage that can afford this somewhat niche yet very expensive ability would have a mean to deal with the FP cost (like Regeneration for FP).
Anyway that cost is the reason I mentioned Persistent and Extended Duration, it increases the cost of the spell but it's required to use it with a normal character. The Grease spell on Sorcery uses these modifiers on another Control ability, so it would still fit the Sorcery framework.

[Prince Charon]

I wonder how good an 'Accessory: Tent' spell or power could get before you'd need to start adding more points to it.

[CarrionPeacock]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Personally, I think the spell is of very limited use for most sorcerers, because the duration is 'indefinite', and that means it costs 1FP per minute. Also, while it's running, the sorcerer can't cast any other spells.

Weather effects you want to protect yourself from usually last hours.

For a persistent effect like you want, Accessory: Tent is what I'd consider too.

You can avoid paying the maintenance cost by using alternative rituals, but then your mage looks like a dunce as he makes body gestures and keep chanting the whole duration of the spell.

[zoncxs]

Tent

Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 60 points. +4 points per additional level level
Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: Self or 100 yards.
Duration: 90 minutes.


The area is protected by a transparent dome that negates all bad weather. It has a radius of 2 yards. Every additional level adds one yard to this. Works at a distance, and does not need to be maintained; it has a fixed, lasting duration.

Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Accessory (tent), +420%; Extended Duration, 30x, +60%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [60].


Tent: Control Weather 2 (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [10] + Control Weather 8 (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Does not increase area of effect, -50%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [32]
Additional levels add Control Weather (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Only increases area of effect, ‑50%; only increases area of effect, -50%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [4/level].
As a special effect, this forms a hemispherical dome, not a cylinder.

Still pricy, but does what you want.

[Rindis]

Actually, the Control Weather parts wouldn't get the Sorcery modifier (when done as an Affliction), just Magic -10 so it can be dispelled. There's probably no good reason for No Signature... and really there's no reason to go over to Affliction.

So, go straight to something like:

Control Weather 2 (Accessibility: Only to negate bad weather, -60%; Extended Duration, 300x, +100%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Fixed Location, +0%; Sorcery, -15%) + Control Weather 8 (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Does not increase area of effect, -50%; Extended Duration, 300x, +100%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Fixed Location, +0%; Sorcery, ‑15%)

That lets it last 15 hours, which is overkill, but the next step down is only 5, which isn't enough for a full night's sleep.

(Fixed Location is just to say that while the sorcerer sets up the tent where he is, it stays there instead of traveling with him.)

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

I wonder how good an 'Accessory: Tent' spell or power could get before you'd need to start adding more points to it.

As soon as it's any better than the sort of commercially available tent that anyone could buy.

(Kind of by definition; an "Accessory" Perk is basically just 1 CP worth of Signature Gear with just enough Payload that you can ignore the size and weight of the real thing. It doesn't let you have things that you couldn't buy, like a laser rangefinder in a pseudo-medieval DF game, or a Mr. Fusion powerplant for your 1985 DeLorean. Sure, there are magical abilities so trivial you really shouldn't charge more than 1 CP for them, but that's not the really same thing as an Accessory Perk, especially if it exceeds setting tech, historical constraints, or customs. On the flip side, just because you call something an "Accessory" for the sake of the easy build doesn't mean the munchkin Sorcerors get to pull out Ultra-Tech and claim they have that entire catalog of gear in the form of Accessory Perk spells.

Accessory Perk is a general version of the common suggestion / houserule that you should only pay for exotic abilities when they exceed the local mundane tech. Don't think a 35-CP Innate Attack in a Monster Hunters game is worthwhile when you can just carry a 7D assault rifle? Then don't charge for the first 35 CP worth; anybody can have that. It's just 1 CP. The 10D version would carry an upcharge.)

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by Rindis

Actually, the Control Weather parts wouldn't get the Sorcery modifier (when done as an Affliction), just Magic -10 so it can be dispelled. There's probably no good reason for No Signature... and really there's no reason to go over to Affliction.

I forgot about the magical part for afflictions, but the No signature is needed as per page 9 of Sorcery. Its so that the casting of the spell is not obvious.

Sorcery page 9
"...No Signature to avoid being obvious. In effect, the spell is an invisible “beam attack” which must strike the subject."

Originally Posted by Rindis

So, go straight to something like:

Control Weather 2 (Accessibility: Only to negate bad weather, -60%; Extended Duration, 300x, +100%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Fixed Location, +0%; Sorcery, -15%) [50] + Control Weather 8 (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Does not increase area of effect, -50%; Extended Duration, 300x, +100%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Fixed Location, +0%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [120]

That lets it last 15 hours, which is overkill, but the next step down is only 5, which isn't enough for a full night's sleep.

(Fixed Location is just to say that while the sorcerer sets up the tent where he is, it stays there instead of traveling with him.)

But that costs way more than needed, It cost more than the weather dome spell which at level 1 is 130 points, yours is 170 points at level 1.



I went with affliction to mirror the umbrella spell which has 2 levels. The first only mattering to you (Its just the perk) and must be maintained, and the second allowing you to cast it on a target or on you but has a fixed duration. I do like the fixed location bit, I will add it to the spell. So now what that means is that when you cast the spell it will create a "tent" at that location with a radius of 1+spell level. So level 1 is a radius of 2 yards tent.

I added visible to the underlying spell so that the area it effects is always obviously a tent. Increase the duration to 5 hours as well.


Tent

Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 60 points. +4 points per additional level level
Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: Self or 100 yards.
Duration: 5 hours.

The area is protected by a transparent dome that negates all bad weather. It has a radius of 2 yards. Every additional level adds one yard to this. Works at a distance, and does not need to be maintained; it has a fixed, lasting duration.

Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Accessory (tent), +400%; Extended Duration, 100x, +80%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, ‑15%; Fixed Location, +0%) [60].

Tent: Control Weather 2 (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Visible, -10%; Magical, -10%) [8] + Control Weather 8 (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Does not increase area of effect, -50%; Visible, -10%; Magical, -10%) [32]
Additional levels add Control Weather (Accessibility, Only to negate bad weather, ‑60%; Only increases area of effect, ‑50%; Visible, -10%; Magical, -10%) [4/level].
As a special effect, this forms a hemispherical dome, not a cylinder.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

As soon as it's any better than the sort of commercially available tent that anyone could buy.

Well, yes, but I'm not sure how the really high-quality modern tents are built in GURPS, and I suspect that the bigger/heavier ones might be disallowed for the perk (like, I as a GM would be reluctant to allow an Accessory perk equivalent to an item that the character would have difficulty carrying without help, and some high-end tents are pretty heavy and bulky).