07-30-2020, 01:23 PM | #61 | |||
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
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07-30-2020, 01:33 PM | #62 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
Also remember that in settings where ordinary wizards typically have Magery 1 [15] to be able to do more than cast a few simple spells, equally-gifted hedge magicians have Hedge Magician 3 [15], so the average professional will have around 15, and 18 would be for exceptional people. And people with Hedge Magician 7 [35] will be about as common as wizards with Magery 3 [35], and go around casting at 16 with just a point, 19 if they studied as much as someone with a Professional Skill at 12, or 22 if they are exceptional.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
07-30-2020, 01:33 PM | #63 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
Test requires a valid understanding of the causes of disease in that world. If you develop a Test Spell for "Excess of yellow humours" then yellow humours better be the actual cause of something. An Echo of out timeline that differed only in Mana level could Test for yellow humours all day long and never do any good with it.
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07-30-2020, 01:40 PM | #64 | |
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
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For general "ordinary Joe" casters, it's less relevant . . . but things like Test for the usual STDs would be appreciated in many corners of society, and of course Test (Alcohol) would serve as a low-tech breathalyzer in societies that are strict about that kind of thing. Plus you don't need germ theory to want to cast, say, Test (The Plague) on each and every person boarding your ship. The important thing is that Test does not have a /TL notation or require scientific understanding. It just tests for something your society can put a name to.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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07-30-2020, 01:44 PM | #65 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
If I want to introduce these in Dungeon Fantasy, I assume the clerical ones would all be Power Investiture 1?
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07-30-2020, 01:49 PM | #66 |
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
Nope. "Anybody" means anybody: "minor prayers work for anyone" etc. If you put these spells into Dungeon Fantasy, all characters can learn them regardless of their profession or the spell's provenance. Of course, people with proper spellcasting talents will be better at the trivial spells associated with their sphere of magic.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
07-30-2020, 03:24 PM | #67 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
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If Sowing reduces the required amount of seed by 20%, that's also quite a leap for early medieval farming, where up to 1/4 of the crop might be needed as seed for the next year's. Going from 75% to 80% of the yield being useful for food is quite a bump up. Between them they could easily justify a 50% increase in urban populations if most farm workers knew them and could cast them, especially as 2FP per hour for them is no more than they'd be burning sowing or harvesting anyway (and less than the men with the scythe would be expending).
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07-30-2020, 04:07 PM | #68 |
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Kentucky, USA
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
While a 20% boost would be a serious boon, it runs into the problem of the spell's FP cost. It costs 2 per hour, and even with enough skill to drop that to 1 per hour, I'm unsure how hard that impacts the farmer. Sowing and harvesting are sun up to sun down jobs, and effectively reducing each hour one can work by 10 minutes is a 16% productivity reduction, and 20 minutes a 33% reduction.
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07-30-2020, 06:10 PM | #69 | |
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
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07-30-2020, 06:21 PM | #70 | |
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Re: GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells
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magic, trivial spells |
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