Sorcery: Machine Spells II

Sorcery: Machine Spells II

Let's continue with the machine spells from GURPS Magic! Reveal Function is great when exploring high-tech dungeons. Machine Control allows the caster to take over a machine, while keeping his consciousness in his own body. Machine Summoning is useful when you badly need a car. Machine Speech is useful when you feel lonely on a long car trip.

Machine Control

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 80 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: 1 minute.

The caster controls the actions of any machine of IQ 6 or lower.

To control a machine, the caster must concentrate for one second and physically touch it. The caster must be aware of the machine’s functions to control it. The spell does not supply the skill to use the machine – the caster must use his own skill at Gunner, Computer Operation, Driving, and so on.

If the caster loses or ties, he is mentally stunned for 1d seconds. In addition, he may never attempt to control that machine again – the machine is “immune” to him. If the caster wins, he takes over the machine, completely controlling its actions. The spell acts through the machine’s triggers and controls, mechanical or electrical. A mage could use the spell to make a camera snap a picture, a robot strangle its evil creator, or a gun discharge all of its ammunition. He could not aim the object, or move it, unless it was self-aiming or self-propelled.

If something else has control (an AI in a vehicle or a human operator at the driver’s seat, for instance), then he/it may dispute control of the machine every second with a Quick Contest of the caster’s IQ + Talent vs. the operator’s skill (or Will+TL for cybernetic control).

The caster can only exercise fine control over either his body or the machine at a time, though. He must state whether he is prioritizing his body or the machine (in combat, he must do this at the start of each turn). All actions taken by the lower-priority body – including attack, defense, and Sense rolls – are at -4. This makes it useful when the machine being controlled has its own set of sensors, otherwise the caster will have to use his own penalized senses to exercise fine control.

Statistics: Possession (Accessibility, Non-Sentient Machines Only, -30%; Maximum Duration, 1 minute, -65%; No Memory Access, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Telecontrol 2, +100%) [80].

Machine Speech

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 17 points.

Casting Roll: IQ - Complexity.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

Speak with the subject machine in its language. In effect, the caster can force the machine to answer any one specific question that it can answer with a brief sentence.

If the casting is successful, the caster gets the answer from the machine. The answer is what the subject believes to be true – if it doesn’t know, it’ll tell the caster. If the casting has failed, the caster may try again, at a cumulative -2 per repeated attempt to ask the same (or very similar) question in the past hour. Should he critically fail, he cannot talk with that machine again for 24 hours.

This spell may be used to ask as many questions as the caster wishes, but each question is a new casting.

Statistics: Mind Probe (Cybernetic Only, -50%; Sorcery, -15%; Universal, +50%) [17].

Machine Summoning

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 88 points.

Casting Roll: Per to detect, IQ to analyze, IQ to assume control.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: 3 minutes.

After casting, the GM rolls against the sorcerer’s Per, with a penalty based on the distance to the nearest machine (anything under IQ 6) of the named type. The caster then can make an IQ roll to analyze the target (determine its qualities, and such). This spell uses long-distance modifiers. If successful, the caster knows the exact distance and direction to the machine, and may make a follow-up IQ roll with the same penalty to call it to himself. It moves towards the caster as fast as it can, until the spell ends or the machine reaches the immediate vicinity of the caster.

Of course, the machine may not be very good at finding its way, or it may run out of fuel or power, and it should be able to move at all, etc. For example, a TL7 car would proceed in a straight line at top speed, unaware of obstacles such as pedestrians, ditches, lampposts, etc.

Once the machine reaches the caster, it stays nearby, without attacking, until the spell ends. The spell is broken if the caster or one of his companions attacks the machine.

Statistics: Detect Machine (Link, +10%; Lock-On, +50%; Long-Range 1, +50%; Precise, +100%; Selective Effect, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [63] + Mind Control (Accessibility, Non-Sentient Machines Only, -30%; Accessibility, Only to make the machine travel to you, -80%; Cybernetic Only, -50%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Independent, +70%; Link, +10%; Long-Range 1, +50%; Magical, -10%; Terminal Condition, Broken if attacked, -10%) [25].

Reveal Function

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 9 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

When cast on any machine, this spell lets the caster determine its functions. If the subject has more than one function, the spell reveals them in order of complexity (simplest first), and tells the caster “there are more functions.” Later castings will reveal the remaining functions.

On a success, you learn one function per point of margin of success. On a critical success, you learn all functions.

On a failure, you do not learn anything, and cannot attempt to read that machine again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Psychometry (Accessibility, Machines Only, -20%; Accessibility, Only to reveal functions, -30%; Active Only, -20%; Sensitive, +30%; Sorcery, -15%) [9].