Conjoined spells

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by JLV

Why rename something just for the sake of renaming it? Everyone already is familiar with XP...

Well, we are talking about making a change to the system, so somebody (if not everybody) is going to have to learn something new. It seems to me rather simple to have characters earn CP instead of XP, so you never have to cash in one for the other and have one fewer item to track. A concern was raised about how the desire to acquire additional spells forces characters to increase IQ to heady heights, and some solutions were proposed. I'm advocating that the problem is not the spell system, but the limit on skill (spell) number dictated by IQ. Characters are already based on points--just let skills count as points instead of being determined by IQ.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Shostak

Well, we are talking about making a change to the system, so somebody (if not everybody) is going to have to learn something new. It seems to me rather simple to have characters earn CP instead of XP, so you never have to cash in one for the other and have one fewer item to track. A concern was raised about how the desire to acquire additional spells forces characters to increase IQ to heady heights, and some solutions were proposed. I'm advocating that the problem is not the spell system, but the limit on skill (spell) number dictated by IQ. Characters are already based on points--just let skills count as points instead of being determined by IQ.

You're preaching to the choir, but my question stands. Why create some new kind of "point" to do the job when you could do the exact same thing with just plain old XP? It costs N XP to add an attribute, and S XP to add a skill/talent, and P XP to add a spell, and L XP to add a language. No need at all to convert everything into "Character Points"...

[BrotherBill]

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

Create the conjoined spell as a new spell that requires the component spells as prerequisites. A caster who knows the prerequisites can learn the conjoined spell when they meet the requirements, but it's not automatic; maybe they have to research it, or otherwise spend IQ/experience points. And they wouldn't automatically forget the previous spells just because they learned the combined versions.

You can make them spend the effort to forget the prior spells, the point is that the slot would open allowing an additional spell to be learned. You could make Control Animal a prerequisite for Control Person, and when they learned person, they could forget and free up the animal slot.