REPLY - SORCERY

From: Burton Choinski (burt@ptltd.com)
Date: Fri 27 Aug 1993 - 05:47:34 EEST


Wayne Shaw asks...
%% > This metheod allows you to sacrifice time to gain great effect, rather
%% > then try and burn all your power. You could spend 1 round each on
%% > ceremony for range and duration and get a R-4 and D-4 (on average)
%% > effect at about 7 less points of magic. But it means that spell is
%% > fired once every 3 rounds instead of once a round. Your call. :)
%%
%% Could you go over this again? I'm not sure I understood what you meant
%% the first time, and it seems an interesting approach.

  Gladly.

  The problem is durations and ranges that are way to long for too little
  effort. But you don't want to completely emasculate sorcerers either.

  WHat I have done is to replace the doubling tables for sorcery with a
  square table. Thus, a range 10 produces a value of 100 (10^2), not 1024
  (2^10). To counterbalance this reduction, there is no such thing as
  "free-int" to worry about. So if you have the mana to pump a Duration
  30 spell, go for it.

  Now, most sorcery has been "Wham-bang", do it in a round type stuff.
  What I have been trying is that you can use the ceremony rules in the
  back to simulate the trade-off of time for power.

  Take for example a Sorcerer who wants to inflict some nasty spell on some
  poor sod who pissed him off. He wants a good duration, to make it linger
  nice and long. He decides to invest 10 MP of his own into duration, and
  uses his ceremony to perform archane rites and add some more to it.
  Let us say he performs these rites for 89 rounds, which gains him 10d6
  added to his 10 already in Duration. He rolls good, getting 40.

  So, by investing ~15 minutes of time (890 seconds) he gets a duration
  of 50, which when squared is 2500 x10 minutes, or 25000 minutes. The
  target is gonna be miserable for quite a while, about 17 days.

  Now, with the old table, Duration 10 is 1024 x10 minutes, or 10240.
  But in the old way, he could ignore studying up his ceremony. And
  Perhaps certain materials would be required by the GM for the ceremony.

  Another example: The same sorcerer is fighting for his life, and low on
  magic. He needs range, but can cover the mana. So he casts the spell,
  Mumbles archane rites (ceremony) for 3 rounds (all he can spare) and gets
  a ceremony 3d6 roll of 10. 10 gives him a value of 100, which is 1000m.
  Hopefully that's enough.

  What I have tried to show is that rather than Sorcerers being nearly
  worthless, blowing all their magic to get decent effects, they can
  be a little more useful.

  Granted, effects that last years are not very possible. But then, anything
  that needs more then a month should be ritualized with enchant and demand
  personal POW.

  Did that help? We have tried it, and my sorcerer likes the square table
  fine. At present he has not used the ceremony additions, since I came up
  with it after he left for the summer. I'm sure he'll like them too. :)
       -- Burton


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