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Old 05-27-2011, 11:02 PM   #1
Hohenstadt
 
Join Date: May 2011
Default Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

Hi all.

This is about a fantasy novel I read years and years and years (you get the idea) ago. The Magic was based on Channellers and Casters. The Casters could not channel any magic directly, had to have another person, a Channeller, to do that for them. They had to be within 10ft (IIRC) and LOS of each other. The Channeller had to be fairly equal to the Caster in ability and vice versa. If one was more powerful could result in excessive power drain (Channeller) or power overload (Caster) with bad results. From collasping because of exhaustion to death.

In GURPS, the Channeller would be the only Mana source available for a Caster. These Channellers could be generic for any Caster or speciallize in one school of magic, like Fire.

My question(s) is would this work in GURPS?

Thanks for any comments.

Make the Channeller or the Caster with the ability to speciallize?

Have a Channeller as a PC or NPC? I'm thinking either way.

Can a Magic User in GURPS have a Mana overload?
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Old 05-27-2011, 11:46 PM   #2
lexington
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hohenstadt View Post
Hi all.

This is about a fantasy novel I read years and years and years (you get the idea) ago. The Magic was based on Channellers and Casters. The Casters could not channel any magic directly, had to have another person, a Channeller, to do that for them. They had to be within 10ft (IIRC) and LOS of each other. The Channeller had to be fairly equal to the Caster in ability and vice versa. If one was more powerful could result in excessive power drain (Channeller) or power overload (Caster) with bad results. From collasping because of exhaustion to death.

In GURPS, the Channeller would be the only Mana source available for a Caster. These Channellers could be generic for any Caster or speciallize in one school of magic, like Fire.

My question(s) is would this work in GURPS?

Thanks for any comments.

Make the Channeller or the Caster with the ability to speciallize?

Have a Channeller as a PC or NPC? I'm thinking either way.

Can a Magic User in GURPS have a Mana overload?
The rule established in Thaumatology is to place limitations on Magery.

Specialization is just the One College Only limitation.

Needing to have a partner should be -40% (the same as Granted by Familiar) if there's only one particular Channeler they can work with, if they can use any Channeler that comes within range then it's probably more like -20%.

Using energy from another person (even being forced to) seems like it would be an enhancement but I'm not sure how to determine the value.
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Old 05-28-2011, 12:30 AM   #3
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Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

Darksword Trilogy, I think you mean. There's even a small roleplaying game based on it. :-)

Link to wiki page
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Old 05-28-2011, 01:18 AM   #4
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Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

Just an idle thought: What if you had a No-Mana world where you had either individuals with Magery or Mana Enhancer (with Area Effect), but never both. Then mages would have to find one of these fonts if they wanted to cast, or the fonts could get together in large groups (making it High or Very High Mana) to allow everyone to cast.

Not quite what the OP is talking about, but might make an interesting premise for a game.
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Old 05-28-2011, 03:38 AM   #5
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Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

You could also buy the Channelers with ER and mages can only use thier ER with no other source for FP.
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Old 05-28-2011, 02:08 PM   #6
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

It's tempting to make Channelling a levelled advantage, so that you can compare it against the caster's Magery for purposes of determining the overload. Equal levels work fine. Higher Magery than Channelling means any of extra ER expenditure on casting, chance of FP loss from the channeler, chance of HP loss. Higher Channelling than Magery would risk critical failures on the caster, perhaps a straight chance of FP/HP loss.

Larger differences produce worse results, either through a die roll mod or changing the category of result. (I'm not familiar with the source material, so I'm not sure exactly what ill effects would be appropriate.) If we assume the usual range is around 1..5, then that gives you +1, +2, up to +4 points of difference.

Another thought is for Channeling to be Magery (Affects Others). No one can buy Magery straight, so you can't cast without a Channeler nearby.
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Old 05-28-2011, 05:23 PM   #7
LoneWolf23k
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

That reminds me of a similar concept from the Troy series of French Graphic Novels. In the fantasy world of Troy, you have people with a talent for Magic, which more or less amounts to a single power, like heating metal, healing, or killing flies. A person's Power is entirely random and fixed, can occasionally have limitations on period of use (only during the day, etc), and some powers can be utterly useless, which leads to something of a Power Lottery. But these talents can only be used within the proximity of a Sage of Eckmul, who channel the energies of the source of all magic, allowing Gifted people to use it.

I'd simulate this by adding the limitation "Only in proximity of a Channeller" to magic powers and Magery.
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Old 05-29-2011, 11:11 AM   #8
starslayer
 
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Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

If you are going for the darksword trilogy of novels, mages COULD cast without channelers, but were radically limited in there fatigue pool. All Channelers were not made equal, and some were more powerful then others.

I would consider populating it as follows:
->Allow mages to purchase magery normally, but remove all non-fatigue sources of energy.
OR
->Allow mages to purchase a cosmic modular ability called 'spell-weaving' (or whatever) that can only purchase abilities that have 'Must have all positive modifiers removed by costs FP negative modifier AND has variably FP cost 1/level AND must be an applicable spell effect' (This is a pretty severe set of limitations even on a cosmic modular ability; so likely brings it down to the 4:1 range). This would allow a mage to bring about a 1d6 burning attack a few times without tiring; but throwing a 10d6 explosive fireball would cost at least 18 fatigue even if the mage had the 200 points spent on this spell-weaving advantage required.

THEN
Allow a second set of individuals called channelers (or whatever)- they have an affliction granting:
Some amount of ER
Extreme ER regeneration
With the modifiers
Reduced time (down to one second)
Requires concentration

So a channeler may be able to grant 50 extra fatigue, ALL 50 of that will recover every second, but the channeler is busy concentrating to keep the effecting going the whole time; the above mentioned mage could not only launch that 18FP explosive fireball every turn; they could make it cost 16 fatigue more to reduce cost by 80% (so a wizard with only 40 points in spell weaving could put together 10d6 explosive fireballs while being charged by a channeler)
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Old 05-30-2011, 11:38 AM   #9
Hohenstadt
 
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Default Re: Magic Channellers In GURPS, Maybe??

Thanks all for the comments.
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