From: boris (mabeyke@batman.b11.ingr.com)
Date: Wed 09 Jun 1993 - 22:56:20 EEST
vvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Curtis Shenton:
> I don't know if this has been discussed to death before so please bear
> with me. My question is, do we have to keep spirit magic the way it is?
< much deleted>
> Spirit magic as it stands now is 1)Vey mechanical and 2) works too
> reliably. If this topic has been beaten to death please feel free to
> ignore me. :)
Not beaten to death here, but I posted thoughts much to the same effect
to the RQ Daily last week (in response to comments by you and Paul Snow;
I guess *we're* all in agreement, anyway). Did you see Nick Brooke's
excellent reply (which I threatened to post here anyway)? If so, skip
down past the *****, but I'll repeat it here for those who missed it.
*********************************************************
Nick Brooke wrote:
> Boris Mikey:
> > Magic, even in a magic rich world such as Glorantha,
> > should be mysterious and uncertain.
>
> Agree with the sentiment and the approach. This looks like a good moment
> to chuck in my ha'penn'orth (mechanics, I'm afraid). Something we tested
> last Sunday was a Spirit Magic casting die-roll of 1D20 against POW (rather
> than the old POWx5 +- Magic Bonus - ENC on 1D100). Similar to some
> Pendragon mechanics. My original idea was this:
>
> Success (roll < POW) meant you could cast up to the number of points of
> spell you had rolled on the die. So if you wanted to cast Bladesharp 6 but
> rolled a "2", you could only put up two points. If you were trying for a
> hefty fixed-cost spell (Lightwall at four points), you'd need to roll
> between 4 and your POW to succeed.
>
> Critical success (roll = POW) meant you could cast as many points of the
> spell as you owned, for one Magic Point only.
>
> Failure (roll > POW) was no trouble.
>
> Fumble (roll = 20) meant you wasted a Magic Point.
>
> This could be trimmed to fit your own conceptions: Failure might cost 1 MP
> and Fumble the full number you were meaning to cast, if you like penalising
> people for screwing up.
>
> Chuck in the new Magic skill of "Focus" (gives +1 to effective POW per 5%
> of skill for the purposes of spirit spell casting only), and you can tell
> the professional spirit magicians from the amateurs. Get a high enough
> skill at Focussing, and you can cruise through magical engagements under
> your own Power (all those critical rolls).
*********************************************************
Now, for those who don't want to give up their 1d00 rolls, the following
is mostly equivalent. Instead of a straight POWx5% or less roll, roll
(POW - magic points in spell) x5% + Focusing skill
If it's a variable spell, rolling over this will get a smaller version of
the spell. If you don't like a focus spell (or even if you do) you could
include your idea of taking extra time, but that's already covered by the
ceremony rules (albeit in a bloodless manner, but a good GM and hopefully
RQ4 will give lots of examples of the types of ceremonies done).
For those who want even more unpredictable magic, Nick also gave the idea
of adding the total points of spells you have running to the points of
spell you are casting. To adapt it to 1d100, you would roll
(POW - MPs in spell - MPs in spells running) x5% + Focusing skill
If you roll between this and the previous figure, then you can cast a
the spell, but only if you drop some of your running magic.
BTW, I'd like to chime in now and express my hope that, whatever form
Spirit Magic takes in RQ4, they will drop the silly POWx5% on 1d100 and
just roll POW on a d20. Functionally identical, and simpler. And it's
not as the game doesn't use d20's already.
vvvvvvvvvvv
Paul Reilly:
Loved your sorcery system. I'd recommend using the rule of one point of
PRE per point intensity of spell maintained. Though the other would be
more useful to beginning sorceror characters.
A hybrid approach would rule would be to require at least one PRE to
maintain each long duration spell, but that any such spell can be dispelled
as if it's intensity were one. More PRE can be used to back it, up to it's
intensity, to increase the power require to dispel it.
--
(*) ZZ [] (.) @ e K| o8- |> oK <>< )o 3 8 <|
It's an ill wind that was healed by Chalana Arroy.
Lightbringer saying.
Boris
|><| +- (| >- .: K * =|= <- (O) ( ) (o) (|) X-
0,,
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