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09-28-2020, 11:26 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The Hall of Fallen Columns
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What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
I've got GURPS Thaumatology, GURPS Magic, most of the Vol. 3 Pyramids, and all of the Magic/Thaum spinoff supplement books for GURPS 4th Edition.
My scenario: The PCs are going to free a dark godling from its slumber and they have to defeat it. They could do this by sealing it away and dropping its Cradle into the Void, or they could try to fight it. The godling is not intended to be omnipotent - it's intended to be around as tough a fight as a large dragon. Theologically, it is strongly associated with undeath, void, destruction, creation (especially deceptive creation such as illusions) and mind control (especially rage, fear, disgust). I'd rather not go through the standard Magic system (spells-as-skills), since I'd prefer for a godling to have a very flexible and powerful spellcasting ability. The spellcasting should be rather akin to the godling warping and rearranging its own proximal reality. Of the remaining systems, I can see four faintly-related systems giving flexibility: Syntactic Magic (from Thaumatology) for Verb/Noun costs, Realm Magic (ibid) for conceptual divisions of existence, Ritual Path Magic (which seems like a worked version of Syntactic), and finally Dungeon Fantasy's Incantation Magic (which seems like an action version of RPM, exchanging the time commitment instead for a cumulative skill penalty). I'd like to showcase a godling who could wield magic with extreme flexibility (albeit in a limited number of theological associated realms) for one combat, after which the godling will be destroyed or sealed away. Which system would be best for this? I'm leaning towards:
I'm thinking that I could give the godling arbitrarily high levels of skill in the Incantation framework, which could balance out almost any spell effect desired, and then use the Incantation Verb/Noun definitions to suit whatever combat need arises. The godling would still have an Energy Reserve and would still have to spend it during spellcasting, but this is more a means of keeping track of ultimate power exhaustion in the encounter, than a means of limiting what it's capable of actually doing per spellcasting. Any thoughts? Has anybody actually gamed with the four systems and could they offer any insights as to how they play? |
09-28-2020, 11:39 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
Ritual Path Magic is the most high-powered system out there. Give the godling all the Ritual Adept things and go nuts.
Or you could just go with the most flexible system of all - GM fiat. "Yeah, he does this. No, you don't know how he did it."
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09-28-2020, 12:17 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2016
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Re: What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
Just define the powers the god can use without worrying about point costs or magic systems. It’s a god with powers the PCs can’t mimic, so the details on how it does what it does are irrelevant to the game.
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09-28-2020, 12:47 PM | #4 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
FWIW, I make my living selling you (or trying to sell you!) GURPS stuff . . . and I'm with the people recommending that you go with "gods just do stuff, no need to justify how to the players." The moment you stick a rules system on what gods, even minor ones, can do, these things happen:
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09-28-2020, 02:15 PM | #5 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
Well, if he's only a big and bad as a large dragon, he's unlikely to be an bona fide God, just a little spirit shaped a bit like a Diety.
I've used RPM quite a bit, and I've used Realm magic a fair amount. My take-aways:
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09-28-2020, 04:35 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
A minor deity with IQ 20 [200], Magery 12 (RPM) [125], Modular Ability 1 (Cosmic Powers; Trait-Limited, Ritual Mastery Perk Only, -50%) [5], Modular Abilities 24 (Slotted Cosmic Powers; Magical Skills Only, -20%) [102], Path Adept [40], Path of Magic (VH) IQ+4 [24]-24, and Thaumatology (VH) IQ+4 [24]-24 is a phenomenal magician. With the investment of 520 CP, they are capable of performing most single Path rituals (or Path of Magic plus another Path) at an effective skill of 26 (they can also create potions with an effective skill of 26). They have an energy reserve of 36 mana points and can support 36 conditional rituals.
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09-28-2020, 04:46 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: The Hall of Fallen Columns
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Re: What's the best GURPS thaumatology system for a minor godlike boss being?
Thanks for the speedy responses and the admonitions against statting up omnipotent beings. I fully understand Rule Zero and all the standard waivers of GM liability therein. I still wish to proceed with this stress test of the gaming system (edit: especially since official GURPS publications have already statted up god-level beings before - see The Sad Lost God and "The Annihilator").
The godling's backstory actually fits Kromm's admonitions rather well ("watch out or mere mortals could level up to godhood!"). In-story, it's a false god, created by unwitting wishful thinking by a group of worshippers fooled into following a constructed religion. So it pretty much appeared out of thin air, gained power from prayers, and now exists as a grotesque stillborn godling (what D&D might call an Atropal). As EricTheRed correctly puts it, this boss monster is only around the power level of a big dragon in combat - it has traits that make it a deity (but only in the sense that it derives power from others' wishful thinking, and can grant these back to worshippers occasionally as Advantages). The PCs must be able to feasibly kill it, either by picking up certain backstoried artifacts to counter it, or through brute force. My current build for it (sans spellcasting) is around 1,000 CP total, which is comparable to some of the Third Edition GURPS Monsters stuff, so hardly ineffable power levels, though challenging. On magic systems Crunchwise, it looks like RPM's system is hard coded to expect time expenditure (in addition to an expense of ER/FP and skill penalties for rush casting) - the flavor being of an occultist in their circle gathering background mana while the fangs pace around them. Realm magic, by contrast, has the level 6 which by itself seems like it would suggest a demigod-like level of power. This seems like it would be an ER-intensive spellcasting system, but potentially quite quick. So if the demigod has excess ER to burn, it could do so and cast many powerful spells back to back (tailored as the situation requires). Then once it runs out of ER, it would have to rest and wait for its faithful's collective prayers to regenerate it again. So, canny PCs could cause the godling to exhaust its ER in spells to which they are immune (perhaps due to artifacts carried) and then they can dispose of it while its magical resources are empty. Last edited by SolemnGolem; 11-01-2020 at 08:44 AM. |
Tags |
incantation, magic, ritual path magic, thaumatology |
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