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Old 08-10-2020, 08:43 PM   #41
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
I favor the second option. That way, mages cannot destroy the local economy with fakes (other mages can detect the forgeries, as can some magical items, and tossing the forgery into a no mana zone would have them revert).
Given that the legal/police systems of most countries, even in low-tech societies, are already set up to handle mundane counterfeiting, I don't really see magical counterfeiting at this scale as being able to break most local economies.

If nothing else, if the mage stays in one place and always seems to have money despite not holding a job, people will get suspicious...

Edit: Plus, at some point (probably not too far off), someone's going to make their roll versus the counterfeit. So I see this as more useful for a mage who needs spare cash now, and is a little lax on the legalities.
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Old 08-10-2020, 08:49 PM   #42
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

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Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade View Post
While each GM is of course free to make their own decision, I would lean very heavily against an IQ/A enchantment. Enchantment is IQ/VH and requires Magery 2 and at least one spell from 10 different colleges. It's one of the most powerful spells in GURPS Magic. To me, it's virtually the defining spell of a powerful mage.
I didn't say Enchant, though. I said Temporary Enchantment (see GURPS Magic pp56-57), which is for creating items that only have a few 'charges' in them, for a lower energy cost (e.g. a temporary Wand of Light with one charge costs 15% of the cost of making a permanent Wand of Light, and one with four charges costs 60% as much).

It would need different prerequisites, if it had any, but it already needs different prerequisites, since it's less effective than Enchant, but has Enchant as a prerequisite (most likely because the writers came up with Enchant long before coming up with Temporary Enchantment).
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Old 08-10-2020, 09:02 PM   #43
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

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Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad! View Post
Given that the legal/police systems of most countries, even in low-tech societies, are already set up to handle mundane counterfeiting, I don't really see magical counterfeiting at this scale as being able to break most local economies.

If nothing else, if the mage stays in one place and always seems to have money despite not holding a job, people will get suspicious...

Edit: Plus, at some point (probably not too far off), someone's going to make their roll versus the counterfeit. So I see this as more useful for a mage who needs spare cash now, and is a little lax on the legalities.
Of course, which is why I mentioned emergency cash.
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Old 08-10-2020, 09:55 PM   #44
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

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Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1 View Post
Did you see my suggestion for a weaker variant of Enchant specifically designed for putting least spells into objects? It's not exactly what you're talking about, but I thought it was pretty good, and it got caught in the flow.
I did. I have mixed feelings about items of most of the IQ/A examples, but it's a notion...

(What I'm talking about really is more like making Talisman or maybe even Amulet into IQ/A magic and stripping off the prerequisites. Which would be a big 'our magic diverges from GURPS Magic standards' decision.)
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Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
I didn't say Enchant, though. I said Temporary Enchantment (see GURPS Magic pp56-57), which is for creating items that only have a few 'charges' in them, for a lower energy cost (e.g. a temporary Wand of Light with one charge costs 15% of the cost of making a permanent Wand of Light, and one with four charges costs 60% as much).

It would need different prerequisites, if it had any, but it already needs different prerequisites, since it's less effective than Enchant, but has Enchant as a prerequisite (most likely because the writers came up with Enchant long before coming up with Temporary Enchantment).
Not sure this is true at all.

Temporary Enchantment is less of a grand spell than Enchantment, but what it does isn't 'Enchantment but worse'. It's 'Enchantment much cheaper, but it doesn't last'. That's a limited-value bargain if the goal is adding Cool Stuff to your gear list, but it might be quite helpful if you're actually trying to use it to solve an immediate adventuring problem.

One could see temporary enchantments as the slapdash work of a hasty novice, but it's not unreasonable to instead cast them as the (hasty) work of somebody who knows exactly what corners to cut to deliver what they actually need rather than building for the ages every time. The latter fits reasonably well with how Magic handles it, though I don't know if that's actually related to how it came to be written!
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Old 08-10-2020, 10:06 PM   #45
Tyneras
 
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

Basic Maintenance
Regular Spell, Technology College
Casting Time: 30 seconds
Cost: 1 per 200 lbs (minimum 2)
Duration: Instantaneous


The caster targets an item and casts the spell, which performs all standard maintenance instantly once the casting is complete. Any replacement parts must be on hand and will be swapped out with worn components, but the effects of basic tools for the job are provided by the spell. This spell cannot refuel or repair damage but can restore the Malfunction rating to normal if it is due to lack of maintenance.

There is a different Basic Maintenance spell for each small group of related items: Basic Maintenance (mechanical clocks), Basic Maintenance (Flintlock pistols), Basic Maintenance (nuclear jetpacks).
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Last edited by Tyneras; 08-11-2020 at 08:01 AM.
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Old 08-10-2020, 11:50 PM   #46
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

Basic Maintenance (Destroyer) would allow a group of twenty technicians to maintain a destroyer without difficulty through ceremonial casting (Regular spells multiply cost by SM), so I do not think of that as a lesser spell. Perhaps 1 energy per ton (minimum 2 energy) instead?
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Old 08-11-2020, 12:33 AM   #47
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Basic Maintenance (Destroyer) would allow a group of twenty technicians to maintain a destroyer without difficulty through ceremonial casting (Regular spells multiply cost by SM), so I do not think of that as a lesser spell. Perhaps 1 energy per ton (minimum 2 energy) instead?
Hmm... limiting it to the basic maintenance that the caster could do on their own using mundane, readily-available tools might work.
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Old 08-11-2020, 06:17 AM   #48
Gumby Bush
 
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

Another take on Least Enchanting:

Least Enchantment
College: Enchantment

Casting Time: as for Enchant
Cost: as for Enchant
Duration: until the item has been used once or 1 month, whichever is longer. Duration can be increased by a multiple equal to a multiplier on energy cost for Least Enchantment

Allows enchanting Least Spells into items, but is only temporary for the same energy cost as regular Enchant. Cost for such items should be reduced as such enchanters are more common, the items are less valuable, and so the enchanters should receive a lower wage.

Prerequisites: Optionally, one might still require spells from 10 different colleges, but permit Least Spells to fill this role.

Enchanting (Spell)
College: Enchantment, same as specialized spell.

Allows you to learn a spell, but only for the purposes of enchanting, and only for use with Minor Enchant. It's energy cost remains as for the original spell: it does not use the standard enchantment costs of Least Spells. Specializations of VH spells may count as H and require Magery, at the GM's option.

This second is essentially using the Optional Specialization route, which I think AlexanderHowl came up with.

Prerequisites: as original spell, but prerequisite spells may optionally be replaced with Enchanting (Prerequisite).



A whole ecology of spells which only work with other Least Spells could be built up. For instance:

Least Dispelling
Area; College: Meta

As Dispel Magic, but only works on Least Spells. Optionally, it may also work on any spell where the caster has given you direct and explicit permission to dispel the spell, making it a Magic Cleanup spell for lackeys of overzealous enchanters. It might also work at -5 against spells cast by dead (not undead) wizards.

Casting Time: 2 seconds per energy point spent
Base Cost: 2
Duration: Instantaneous.
Prerequisites: A GM might require prerequisites (12-15 other spells, perhaps), or leave it open as a cheap Magic-cleaning spell.
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Old 08-11-2020, 07:59 AM   #49
Tyneras
 
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

Edited the energy cost of Basic Maintenance to 1 per 200 lbs, minimum 2. This puts the limit of what an individual hedge mage could handle around 1 ton.
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Old 08-11-2020, 08:00 AM   #50
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Default Re: [Magic] New IQ/A Spells

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Originally Posted by Tyneras View Post
Edited the energy cost of Basic Maintenance to 1 per 200 lbs, minimum 2. This puts the limit of what an individual hedge mage could handle around 1 ton.
Which includes most cars. :)
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