Spellcasting that breaks mana

[Sombreiro]

Back again, this time I have a question to make about mana and spellcasting... I've searched thaumatology and powers and found nothing about, maybe I overlooked something, dont know.

I'd like to make a House of Mages whose spell style as prohibited because it causes the loss of mana around the caster. But I don't know how to handle the ingame mechanics. I was thinking of assigning to an area a particular amount of FP possible for magic, and other styles would not change much of it, 'cause part of the energy comes from the caster himself. But, in this family's case, they wouldnt employ their inner mana, rather would use area's mana.

I don't know how much of a limitation would it be to have a magery that ALWAYS destroys mana around you. Someday you would be unable to cast spells.

[Nereidalbel]

Sounds like a twisted form of Threshold-Limited Magery, except the Threshold is for the land and not the caster. This can also be weaponized, if you think about it.

[starslayer]

Three questions:

1. Does the manna ever come back?
2. Can they use it 'safely' without damaging things?
3. Why have normal mages not hunted them to extinction?

Sounds a bit like the D&D preserver/defiler from dark sun

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by starslayer

3. Why have normal mages not hunted them to extinction?

Mages tend to have issues with people who can make no mana zones whenever and wherever they want.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Mages tend to have issues with people who can make no mana zones whenever and wherever they want.

Yeah, it puts Terminally Ill on the Template of such people.

Even if you dodge al then irate regular Mages it's self-defeating since even they can't cast spells in the same place twice. If it's a Limitation it probably hits the -80% max.

[Sombreiro]

1. Does the manna ever come back?

Yes, it does, but not on a human-life span; Once in the past, a group of powerfull mages destroyed all mana about 40% of a continent, turning the whole thing into a desert(mana, in our setting, is what makes the world alive and makes all things move, having no mana on a place means that place is unable to evolve, stuck on a cycling destiny of never development, until mana starts to come back from the living which inhabit there, bit by bit);
But it can be brought back artificialy, our PC's did it in their first adventure; So, it has just begun do have mages again;

2. Can they use it 'safely' without damaging things?

No, that's their unique way of casting, so there's no hiding it once they cast even a Seek Water spell, things around him tend to die out; On a Large scale probably even twist time and space; But nevermind that, not human-scale;

3. Why have normal mages not hunted them to extinction?

As I've said on first quote, mages are just appearing, so these guys are learning old texts in secret;

[Sombreiro]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Sounds like a twisted form of Threshold-Limited Magery, except the Threshold is for the land and not the caster. This can also be weaponized, if you think about it.

Well, this is a cool way to go! But this might be the case of another kind of mage family, thanks!

Yet, I'd like to have a No-mana future if this Mana-Breaker Family doesn't get stopped; They will have high bounties, but I would also like to make them crazy strong as a consequence of their sick spellcasting style;

[starslayer]

Ok, so they have the advantage of afflicting an affliction on the land.

Lets assume that the land has:
Manna enhancer (since the land has a default manna level).

These guys can steal CP from the earth for energy, so a normal manna zone can provide 200 CP, or 5000 energy for spellcasting.

If no one is going to be learning this 'on the chopping block' art, then there's no reason to price that out.

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Sounds like a twisted form of Threshold-Limited Magery, except the Threshold is for the land and not the caster. This can also be weaponized, if you think about it.

I toyed with doing something like this for Druids in one campaign I was planning, they had a personal Tally, but the Threshold was tied to the land, with high Thresholds in extremely green, lush areas, and low ones in barren areas. This was the defining feature of Druids in that game, they could cast quick, powerful spells of any time, but had to deal with Thresholds based on the land, whilst Mages were slower and slightly weaker, but didn't have to worry about Thresholds.

I think it would have worked rather well, but I never got to test it.

[Bruno]

Ritual Path Magic has the option to draw energy from the land, blighting it. That sounds much like what you are looking for...