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Old 09-02-2020, 12:12 PM   #1
Plane
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Link and Maintain Spell

M131 lower right:
Base cost: 8; linked spells cannot be maintained.
Seems to line up with what is said in 2nd par of 3rd col:
No maintenance of a Link is required, either for the Link itself, the
linked spells, or any information spells cast on the Link to tell it when to trigger.
Although "not required" and "not allowed" are slightly different. The 2nd-last paragraph seems to operate outside this restriction though:
In that case, the linked spell will last only while the caster maintains it, but the Link itself requires no maintenance.
In this latter case (where Link stops a spell) should the option to use Maintain Spell be open as usual?

Or could Maintain Spell maybe be cast as part of the "Limit package" to give longer durations, due to the ban on manually limiting it later once they're triggered?

I'm not sure if "to stop one or more spells" is intended to mean permanently (like Counterspell) or temporarily (like Suspend Spell). The former would be like a one-time trigger ("enemies enter my lair") whereas the latter would be like a continuous trigger ("enemies are present in my lair")

The latter seems to resemble how "Continual Light" is treated ("when 168 hours of light have been used") but I don't know if that earlier use is meant to be inverted here.

The reference to "information spells" confused me until I looked earlier ("governed like Delay"):
if an Information spell has been added, it is also on.
The "spells on" issue is one why Link is such a superior investment to Delay: you need 2 spells on per delay, 3 if you package an info spell. Link ignores the spell(s), ignores the info spell(s) and even Link itself (which is maintenance free) won't give a penalty unless you have 3+ on

Prior to the 1st paragraph of M131 the relevant text suggesting this is I think on M130:
If the Delay is to be triggered by a more esoteric event, an appropriate
spell such as Mage Sight may be cast on the Delay.
so in theory any "information spell" could be an "appropriate spell".

Link's other advantage is packaging multiple spells (Delay can only package 1). I initially thought "I will link a thousand spells!" but M130 has a built in limit:
Linked spells must be cast by the same person who cast the linking spell, and must be cast within one minute after the linking spell is cast.
This would limit most mages to linking 60 (or 59?) spells unless they had the means of casting multiple spells per second such as Compartmentalized Mind.

It might be interesting to allow extending that using Thaumatology enhancements (Extended Duration) to extend the window of time for you to cast followups. Too powerful?

That 60 second window is another nice thing about Link over Delay, since Delay requires:
cast one after the other, with no delays between spells.
Link OTOH you might take a pause after casting Link to walk 5 hexes to grab a 2nd powerstone or something to help you cast the next one. No time for that with Delay! (M132 Reflex has the same problem)

Delay also requires an 'item' as a focus, whereas Link is cast on an 'area'. This probably makes Link harder to tamper with:

1) if you have Delay cast on "the Door of Elves" where trigger is "a dwarf comes within eyesight of the door: cast Ignite Fire on the dwarf's beard" then it would be possible for a dwarf to just send a human to remove the door (take it off the hinges) and toss it in a pit somewhere.

2) if you have Link cast on "the tunnel of elves" where trgger is "a dwarf comes within eyesight of the path: cast Ignite Fire on the dwarf's beard" then a human can't exactly "remove the tunnel" (it's an AREA) so there wouldn't be any way to clear the path for the dwarves short of using meta spells to nullify it.
M132's Enchantment option for Link...
a sword might be Linked with a Light spell
I'm thinking the only way to do that per M110 would either be:
1) a temporary Light spell (lasts 1 minute, costs 1 energy, can't be maintained)
2) an "Always On" Light spell, first requiring 100 energy (that says wand/staff/jewelry though, no SWORD option...) then Power (500 energy) per M57 "If Power reduces the cost to cast to zero, the item is “always on” for all purposes"

Given that "Light" creates a standalone Light, M132 probably meant "Continual Light" since that (also M110) is cast on an object, such as a sword. It makes sense this is cheaper than Power since the previous combo would let you make lights everywhere and CL on an item would only allow that one item to glow.

Since it's "small object" or "small part of a larger object" you might need it to be cast multiple times.

It's pretty clear the "orcs" reference is a shoutout to the two swords in Hobbit (Thorin's "Biter" Orcrist and Gandalf's "Beater" Glamdring). Assuming all of them glowed, the first Continual Light might just target the tip of the sword or the handle, and you keep casting it until enough 1lb incremenets cover the entire thing?

Bilbo/Frodo's "Sting" was just a dagger so one casting might be enough. Since it glowed BLUE you might need some kind of limiting enchantment like Limit or Link (not sure which one) to have the non-blue components of white light not broadcast.
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glamdring, link, linking spells, maintain spell, orcrist

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