Limiting the Skill Bonus from Magery

Rupert · 07-13-2019, 04:31 PM

I'm generally suspicious of changes that lower Mages' skill levels in the standard magic system. Skill-15 in a spell is handy because it makes 1-point spells free to cast and/or maintain, and as for most mages energy is a fairly limited resource this is important - making mages have to pay energy for low-cost spells that they haven't specialised in is quite a large change. Also, Skill-15 isn't that much for any offensive spell, because it's resisted (assuming it even works) based on effective skill, and with a -1 per yard of range penalty, Skill-15 is probably more like a 12 most of the time, at which point magic that allows resistance isn't super-reliable.

Another effect is that, because just about all spells worth having requite Magery 1+, almost all a mage's spells that they want to be seriously skilled in (20+) now cost at least four more points. That adds up fast.

Now, let's also consider the 'dabbler' or 'mage/X' type, who knows a few spells to buff themselves or to do stuff that's handy in their line of work but tricky to do in mundane ways. They probably have Magery1-2 and IQ12-13, so they can get Skill-12 with their spells for a point or two. Your proposed change would cripple these concepts, and they are often already marginal because they've had to find the better part of 50 points for IQ+Magery that if their main skillset is DX-based they wouldn't have otherwise had to pay.

Overall, I think this would be a quite severe nerf to mages at most levels of power and point values.

If you made spells Average skills, Magery-1 spells would be back where they started, and making them Easy would buff them and make Magery-2 spells see no change. At that point low-end Mages see a buff, and high-end ones (who presumably find use for those Magery-3+ spells) are nerfed. This might be desirable, depending on the game you want.

07-13-2019, 04:31 PM	#11
Rupert Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Wellington, NZ	Re: Limiting the Skill Bonus from Magery I'm generally suspicious of changes that lower Mages' skill levels in the standard magic system. Skill-15 in a spell is handy because it makes 1-point spells free to cast and/or maintain, and as for most mages energy is a fairly limited resource this is important - making mages have to pay energy for low-cost spells that they haven't specialised in is quite a large change. Also, Skill-15 isn't that much for any offensive spell, because it's resisted (assuming it even works) based on effective skill, and with a -1 per yard of range penalty, Skill-15 is probably more like a 12 most of the time, at which point magic that allows resistance isn't super-reliable. Another effect is that, because just about all spells worth having requite Magery 1+, almost all a mage's spells that they want to be seriously skilled in (20+) now cost at least four more points. That adds up fast. Now, let's also consider the 'dabbler' or 'mage/X' type, who knows a few spells to buff themselves or to do stuff that's handy in their line of work but tricky to do in mundane ways. They probably have Magery1-2 and IQ12-13, so they can get Skill-12 with their spells for a point or two. Your proposed change would cripple these concepts, and they are often already marginal because they've had to find the better part of 50 points for IQ+Magery that if their main skillset is DX-based they wouldn't have otherwise had to pay. Overall, I think this would be a quite severe nerf to mages at most levels of power and point values. If you made spells Average skills, Magery-1 spells would be back where they started, and making them Easy would buff them and make Magery-2 spells see no change. At that point low-end Mages see a buff, and high-end ones (who presumably find use for those Magery-3+ spells) are nerfed. This might be desirable, depending on the game you want. __________________ Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history."