A few questions on magic...

[Dinadon]

Originally Posted by SynnerSaint

Area Spells (specfically the various Wall of XXXX spells) - All area spells seem to be cast in a circle but what if you want to block a corridor with a wall of lightning? Can you cast the spell in a straight line? What would the mana cost be? Divide the length you want to stretch by 2*pi?

Go reread the rules on area spells. You pay for the maximum radius you can affect. What parts of the area are affected is up to you when you cast the spell. You don't need to buy anything to achieve this, aside from the spell itself.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Anthony

In 4e, a set of 100 minions (1/4 PC total) who show up on a 9- costs you 12 points, showing up on 12- costs you 24.

GURPS MAGIC for 4e also changed the wording on the proceedures involved with ceremonial magic. Lots of things changed in 4e relative to 3e - some good, some bad.

In the long run, all any GM can do is look the rules set for his campaign world, see what he likes about the rules or hates about the rules, change them to suit his/her campaign, and then - play it.

Me? I pretty much hate the idea of society's mages being an "afterthought" where the GM (or game designer for that matter) fails to consider "what happened before the now of the campaign time?"

For instance? What if Mage born individuals are automatically enslaved and made to serve the King of a kingdom? They may be pampered slaves, and might have a really NICE life as slaves - but they are slaves to the King's will. What would that do to the Mages as they endure under such a rule?

What if mageborn had unfettered access to spells, and as a consequence, used their spells to rule the region. Imagine rulers who had the Enslave spell cast upon them, and the mages are puppet rulers of a the realm? How might that interact with society in general?

Then you have to ask "If someone could enslave your soul, how might you view such and individual - would you fear them? Would you flee them? Would you make every effort to wipe them out so that they could never enslave the people again?"

One of my favorite series of books is the Dyrini Series by Katherine Kurtz (I hope I'm remembering that correctly!). The Adept Series also by Katherine Kurtz - the Harry Dresden Files series is another such books that I like. These are all nice background style books that should be read just to have an idea of how one wants society to interact with mages and vice versa.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by hal

GURPS MAGIC for 4e also changed the wording on the proceedures involved with ceremonial magic. .

Can you specify what those chnges are? I ask becasue I need to kieep track of such things.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by hal

the Dyrini Series by Katherine Kurtz

"Deryni", just in case anyone wants to look them up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deryni_novels

I enjoyed the first two sets of three. The later ones turn into too much of a soap opera for my taste.

[hal]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Can you specify what those chnges are? I ask becasue I need to kieep track of such things.

MAGIC for GURPS 3e:

"Each spectator contributes one and only one energy point to each spell cast, up to a maximum of 100 “spectator” energy points per spell. Sincere belief and desire to help is required; you cannot collect a crowd off the street, pay them a fee, and use them for spectators."

MAGIC for GURPS 4e:

"Each unskilled spectator who supports the casting (by chanting, holding andles, etc.): 1 point, to a maximum of 100 points from all spectators."

Note now, that the use of spectators in GURPS MAGIC for 4e no longer has stringent restrictions on who may or may not participate within a ceremony. In theory? You can take any 100 people off the street, offer them money, but only on the condition that the spell succeeds. As long as they participate and do not oppose the spell casting, by definition, they qualify as spectators. In the old definition, you could NOT just take a crowd off the street, pay them money, and expect them to contribute a point of energy.

In my opinion, this makes using crowds as an energy source far too easy and permits those things that were difficult in the past, to be done more easily.

I mentioned to Sean (Kromm) that a mage who can utilize people on a regular basis should be paying for these "on call" people as if they were allies - if he, the mage, can count on having them by means of custom, law, or social status. Privately, he agreed, but publically, never mentioned anything regarding that (ie any clarifications etc). So, private versus public pretty much to me means "Sean the Man" versus "Kromm the Editor". ;)

One thing I did mention relative to the ceremonial casting, is that anyone who participates in the ceremony that suffers a spell backfire, should be targeted by the spell backfire results - either they're part of the process, or they are not. Problem is, the written rules do not support nor oppose this interpretation, leaving it strictly in the realm of "GM interpretation". Since no one has stridently called for a clarification on the issue - I doubt it will ever be "clarified" either way.

Another thing to keep in the back of your mind, that has changed the flavor of magic in GURPS, is the manner in which Powerstones have been changed. In the past, the biggest limit upon how large a powerstone could be, was its carat size. Now? It matters not one whit. Even the use of gemstones is no longer mandatory in GURPS 4e (not that I used the rules in GURPS 3e as written!). 80 Energy used to cast a single powerstone enchantment on any old piece of stone - is far better an investment than using gemstones in general. Why? Because the cost for 80 enchantment energy is linear while the cost for a powerstone gemstone goes up with the square of the energy level it can hold. In addition, having no "cap" on how much energy a given item can hold, effectively changes the picture in any campaign on what a mage can or cannot achieve.

If I were part of an ongoing campaign in someone's campaign, I would definitely be crafting a mage whose primary abilities lie in the realm of enchantments as a scholarly mage rather than as a battle mage outright. Why? See my next post...

[hal]

A scholarly mage with unfettered access to numerous spells, is generally more useful to the party than an outright powerful battle mage. Imagine if you will, having a mage who satisifies the conditions required to have the enchantment spell itself, and has taken Powerstone as a spell. Then imagine said mage having taken the spell that permits him to manufacture items and/or People. Create a person on the other side of a door, and its bolted status no longer is an issue. Need a rope? The mage creates a rope and presto - the party now has access to equipment that was not present earlier. GURPS 4e banished the ability to have animals as constant companions because maintaining the animal is no longer a freebie. In MAGIC for 3e, it was possible to create a wolf, and then maintain it for free, such that its existence was relatively forever (ie, until the casting mage went to sleep).

However, in all of this, the key aspect for the party mage being a scholor is the fact that for 48 energy, he can begin to craft one college powerstones that have no limit to the "amount" of energy the item in question can store. All that matters in this case, is how long can the player roll for enchantements without rolling a 16+ that either ruins the enchantment, or imbues it with a quirk. A single player character mage in one of my campaigns was able to get up to a touch over 50 points before the item quirked.

In any event, one college powerstones are a real benefit for mage player characters, and I'm surprised that this option isn't utilized more often.