The Least of Magic + Ritual Magic?

DataPacRat · 07-23-2021, 04:44 PM

I'm throwing together a magic system, working out how to set the crunch to match the fluff, and have settled on a variant of Ritual Magic (the system where casters learn Thaumatology/VH, College/VH skills capping at the Thau skill (and defaulting to it at -6), and individual spells as Techniques (which default to their College skill, minus the number of prerequisite spells in standard GURPS magic)).

I've just read The Least of Magic, and want to throw in those minor effects as options for the wizardly types. But I'm having some trouble deciding on the best rules. Simplest might be to just treat them as ordinary spells, with 0 prerequisites, so they can be cast at their College's skill at -0. But they're also only Average difficulty, compared to other spells being at least Hard... so maybe they could be cast at the College skill-level +1? Or maybe I should keep them at -0, but give a break on FP cost?

How would you mesh the two sorts of magic?

ravenfish · 07-23-2021, 04:58 PM

My thoughts would be, since Very Hard spells take a -1 to cast them with Ritual Magic compared to Hard spells, Average spells are cast at a comparative +1. No need to make things more complicated than they need to be.

DataPacRat · 07-23-2021, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Very Hard spells take a -1 to cast them with Ritual Magic compared to Hard spells

They do? I'm not seeing that in either Basic p242, Magic p200, or Thaumatology p72-6. Do you have a reference for that?

ravenfish · 07-23-2021, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

They do? I'm not seeing that in either Basic p242, Magic p200, or Thaumatology p72-6. Do you have a reference for that?

Huh. Now that I go to look, I don't see it either. I don't know how I got the idea.

DataPacRat · 07-23-2021, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Huh. Now that I go to look, I don't see it either. I don't know how I got the idea.

It's a cromulent houserule, at the least; I wouldn't have been surprised to read it in any of the official rules. And as in your first suggestion, it makes it easy to think of throwing in -1 when rolling for /VH spells and +1 for /A spells.

07-23-2021, 04:44 PM	#1
DataPacRat Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Niagara, Canada	The Least of Magic + Ritual Magic? I'm throwing together a magic system, working out how to set the crunch to match the fluff, and have settled on a variant of Ritual Magic (the system where casters learn Thaumatology/VH, College/VH skills capping at the Thau skill (and defaulting to it at -6), and individual spells as Techniques (which default to their College skill, minus the number of prerequisite spells in standard GURPS magic)). I've just read The Least of Magic, and want to throw in those minor effects as options for the wizardly types. But I'm having some trouble deciding on the best rules. Simplest might be to just treat them as ordinary spells, with 0 prerequisites, so they can be cast at their College's skill at -0. But they're also only Average difficulty, compared to other spells being at least Hard... so maybe they could be cast at the College skill-level +1? Or maybe I should keep them at -0, but give a break on FP cost? How would you mesh the two sorts of magic? __________________ Thank you for your time, -- DataPacRat "Then again, maybe I'm wrong."

07-23-2021, 04:58 PM	#2
ravenfish Join Date: May 2007	Re: The Least of Magic + Ritual Magic? My thoughts would be, since Very Hard spells take a -1 to cast them with Ritual Magic compared to Hard spells, Average spells are cast at a comparative +1. No need to make things more complicated than they need to be. __________________ I predicted GURPS:Dungeon Fantasy several hours before it came out and all I got was this lousy sig.

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