From: Graeme A Lindsell (gal502@cscgpo.anu.edu.au)
Date: Wed 16 Jun 1993 - 22:01:52 EEST
(Replying to George Harris' reasoned discussion of sorcery)
I agree completely with your evaluation of RQIII sorcery, and
your points about the RQIV draft. When I have played a sorcerer,
the interesting part dealt with the long range/duration spells,
and the inherently different sorcery spells, with the strong
emphasis on the resistance tables and which needed lots of magic
points to become effective, but which were very powerful at those
intensities.
The RQIV draft attempts to play balance sorcerers by eliminating
those elements: long duration/range is made practically impossible,
and many of the spells are made to work similarly to spirit magic.
In a word: dull. The interesting parts of RQIII (I agree the powerful
aspects) are eliminated, and the dull parts (one skill per spell, lack
of a "magical aspect") are left in.
I also agree that DI and saints are hose jobs. I happen to think that
one-use rune magic for initiates is also a hose job, giving very little
bang for the buck compared with enchantments, which is why I support some
sort of recoverable rune magic for them. (A note in passing: does anyone
know why a completely new mechanic was proposed for saints? They could
easily have been treated as the usual RQ god, with one non-recoverable
rune spell and the ability to give DI only in their areas ie Arkat could
only give DI for fighting chaos. They seem to reach sainthood in much the
same way polytheistic mortals become gods ie the Seven Mothers)
Of the major changes to sorcery being promulgated on this list I would
prefer Paul's Twin idea if we were completely rewriting sorcery. It
has a mystical aspect that the purely skill based system lacks. The
1 pt of Twin = 1 pt of maintained intensity would be too limiting
IMHO using the current 1 spell = 1 skill system, IMHO, but would
be fine for an area/rune based system.
The long duration=ritual is easier for a system which just modifies
the RQIII system, but even with skill limited manipulation it is
still capable of being exploited too easily. The 85% skill sorcerer
only has to produce a few duration enhancing matrices for his
favourite spells to be back in the selling 2 year damage boosting
business.
I agree that the twin as currently described seems much less
valuable than a fetch in its ability and power. I think that
a sorcerer should be balanced against a shaman in terms of ability.
The shaman has the ability to get any spirit magic spell he wants
with little difficulty, can use his fetch to bind other spirit allies,
gets to use the fetch to store and cast spells. Since the sorcerer gets
to use his Twin, which is just as diffcult to produce, for less, I
think he should be able to produce a wider range of magical effects
without needing to learn the vast number of skills a RQIII/RQIVbeta
sorcerer to learn.
As for the Vows, I think people are just trying to put some more
colour into sorcerers. Paul has said that they are to be kept out
of his core rules: they are a cultural aspect. Personally, I would
like all magicians to have some "Aura" effects associated with their
power. I could see the sun being somehow brighter when a Yelm priest
is near, shadows being darker around the troll priestess, jokes
funnier around the trickster. I would prefer this to the magical
special effects that have been added in the RQIV draft for casting
spirit magic. If I wanted impressive visual effects, I'd be playing
Star Wars and give the players blasters!
Graeme Lindsell a.k.a gal502@huxley.anu.edu.au
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