Question regarding Magery

[Laughing Man]

I used Google and I used the forum search, but I just can't find an answer. Also I feel a little stupid asking this, but here I go...
Do you add Magery to your spell, if you want to cast it, if you are using the standard Spell Magic system? I know you add Magery to your IQ, if you learn a spell, if you learn Thaumaturgy and you add it to your perception, if you sense a magic item. I also know you add it to your skills if you are using the Ritual Magic system, because it is explicitly stated on page 200 of the GURPS Magic book. But I can't find a quote where this is stated for standard Spell Magic. And even no one else (in another forum) can show me a quote like this, everybody is adding Magery to their spells when they cast them.

Please? Anybody? Give me that quote? Or are the guys on the other forum just wrong?

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

Do you add Magery to your spell, if you want to cast it, if you are using the standard Spell Magic system?

Check page 6 of GURPS Magic - you explicitly learn spells based on your IQ + Magery level. You use that level as your base skill when casting a spell.

So if you have IQ 15 and Magery 3, and learn a Mental/Hard spell for 1 point, let's say Create Fire, your skill is Create Fire-16. You roll against a 16, plus or minus modifiers, to cast the spell. That's discussed on page 7.

Hope that helps.

[Laughing Man]

Originally Posted by Toadkiller_Dog

Check page 6 of GURPS Magic - you explicitly learn spells based on your IQ + Magery level. You use that level as your base skill when casting a spell.

So if you have IQ 15 and Magery 3, and learn a Mental/Hard spell for 1 point, let's say Create Fire, your skill is Create Fire-16. You roll against a 16, plus or minus modifiers, to cast the spell. That's discussed on page 7.

Hope that helps.

"Add your Magery to IQ when you learn spells. For instance, if you have IQ 13 and Magery 3, you learn spells as if you had IQ 15." - that is the part you are talking about? Just to be sure, because I fear my problem is the wording. I would have never thought that "learning the spell" has something to do with "casting a spell" and I am a little confused about this.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

"Add your Magery to IQ when you learn spells. For instance, if you have IQ 13 and Magery 3, you learn spells as if you had IQ 15." - that is the part you are talking about?

That's the part.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

I would have never thought that "learning the spell" has something to do with "casting a spell" and I am a little confused about this.

Learning the spell refers to how you determine your skill level, which is then used to cast the spell itself

[Laughing Man]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

Learning the spell refers to how you determine your skill level, which is then used to cast the spell itself

I would have NEVER understood it that way and I still understand it differently, but I guess I just have to believe it, since everybody is saying it :)

Thank you both for that clarification.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

I would have NEVER understood it that way and I still understand it differently, but I guess I just have to believe it, since everybody is saying it :).

It's quite clear when taken in concert with the rules for learning skills found in Basic. Look at the table on page 170 of Basic. That shows what skill level you get for each skill difficulty.

What Magery does is increase your attribute for the purpose of determining your final skill level.

So, if you have IQ 10 and Magery 2, then your attribute for determining your skill level on that table is 12. A Hard skill, such as a spell, would give your attribute-2 for one point. Since your attribute is 12, that would give you a final skill level of 10.


What other way could you interpret, "if you have IQ 12 and Magery 3, you learn spells as if you had IQ 15"?

What would that mean mechanically, if not that your attribute is 15 on that table on Basic page 170? Even in the 'Buying Skills' section, it uses the word learning to refer to purchasing skills and determining skill levels.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

I would have NEVER understood it that way and I still understand it differently, but I guess I just have to believe it, since everybody is saying it :)

Thank you both for that clarification.

If it helps: there's no roll to learn a spell - you just spend points on it. So the only thing to have a bonus to when you learn a spell is the final spell skill level itself

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Laughing Man

"Add your Magery to IQ when you learn spells. For instance, if you have IQ 13 and Magery 3, you learn spells as if you had IQ 15." - that is the part you are talking about? Just to be sure, because I fear my problem is the wording. I would have never thought that "learning the spell" has something to do with "casting a spell" and I am a little confused about this.

It doesn't have anything to do with casting the spell. You don't know the spell at 12 and then add three for your three levels of magery. You know the spell at 15 which includes your IQ+Magery.

[DouglasCole]

What am I missing that IQ 13 plus Magery 3 is 15 and not 16?

I assume the 15 is net of a point spent or something?