dificulty modifiers

[chimchim]

i am sorry if this is covered in the rules but i am at work and dont have my books available to me but do task dificulty modifiers apply to magic spells?
Does say an iq10 wizard with magery 0 and 4pts in ignite fire (skill 10) get a bonus to his ignite fire roll if he tries to light his BBQ with the spell on a sunny summers evening as opposed to using it to try to light the fuse on a molatov cocktail in combat?

[zorg]

If you impose a penalty for spells used in combat, all combat spells will be MUCH harder to cast. You will never use "Killing Touch of Outer Hell" on your friends, so it's always combat use. I don't think that's a good idea.

If, on the other hand, the mage is currently drunk, on fire, hallucinating and hanging uposide down, I would agree that some penalties are appropriate.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by chimchim

i am sorry if this is covered in the rules but i am at work and dont have my books available to me but do task dificulty modifiers apply to magic spells?
Does say an iq10 wizard with magery 0 and 4pts in ignite fire (skill 10) get a bonus to his ignite fire roll if he tries to light his BBQ with the spell on a sunny summers evening as opposed to using it to try to light the fuse on a molatov cocktail in combat?

Yes. In Campaigns, p.345 there is a discussion of modifiers to checks for the overall difficulty. Lighting the BBQ would seem to be, at worst, an Easy task, and would get a +4 or +5. It might even get a +6 for being Very Easy.

Lighting that Molotov, OTOH, would be at +0 (assuming no other factors, like range, shock, and so on), because combat and streeful adventuring situations are the default.

[roguebfl]

As GURPS Magic lists a Spell at 12 is good enough to hold down a job with. and this is the same with "mundane" skills, and Spells are considered skills in general. it does follow that the same taks modierfier rules apply.

ie normal use in combat. rotien non combat ussage gains a +4. [ie using in Heat to warm your morning cup of klah]

[Kromm]

I don't see any good reason not to let mages get the same modifiers as everyone else for really easy, non-adventuring tasks. It's simply cruel to require a skill-12 wizard to roll vs. Ignite Fire at -5 for a dark room and being unable to see the candle on the table in his own house, and another -3 for distance to the candle, thereby rolling at 4 and possibly blowing himself up or summoning a demon. It's his home, the candle is where it always is, and there's no stress . . . he's just trying to turn on the lights so he can stow his staff and hat for the night.

I'd give a big bonus to make sure that this kind of thing usually succeeds, should I even require a roll. If one needs an in-game excuse for it, assume that rote uses done exactly the same way on exactly the same subject for years and years impart a local, hyper-specific mana aspect that gives +5 or +10 to that one task. And of course a lurking intruder or dire emergency would disturb the balance, so the bonus wouldn't apply then.

[Der Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I don't see any good reason not to let mages get the same modifiers as everyone else for really easy, non-adventuring tasks. It's simply cruel to require a skill-12 wizard to roll vs. Ignite Fire at -5 for a dark room and being unable to see the candle on the table in his own house, and another -3 for distance to the candle, thereby rolling at 4 and possibly blowing himself up or summoning a demon. It's his home, the candle is where it always is, and there's no stress . . . he's just trying to turn on the lights so he can stow his staff and hat for the night.

I'd give a big bonus to make sure that this kind of thing usually succeeds, should I even require a roll. If one needs an in-game excuse for it, assume that rote uses done exactly the same way on exactly the same subject for years and years impart a local, hyper-specific mana aspect that gives +5 or +10 to that one task. And of course a lurking intruder or dire emergency would disturb the balance, so the bonus wouldn't apply then.

Does a mage also get bonus for enchanting, when he is safe in his workshop far away from all the troubles...

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Der Wanderer

Does a mage also get bonus for enchanting, when he is safe in his workshop far away from all the troubles...

Well Consider Enchantment works of of base skill, not effective skill, does it really matter? 8)

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Der Wanderer

Does a mage also get bonus for enchanting, when he is safe in his workshop far away from all the troubles...

Nope. All enchanting is by definition a "stressful" use, because there are serious consequences to failure and because there's a huge investment of time and energy.

[Der Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Nope. All enchanting is by definition a "stressful" use, because there are serious consequences to failure and because there's a huge investment of time and energy.

Wait..., I created a Enchanter who had Magery (Useless under stress), does that still work?