Sorcery: Wizardly Study
Am I ever going to stop? The previous post about the wizardry rework got some feedback as well, and one of the suggestions was to come up with my own Modular Ability to use instead of Sorcerous Empowerment. And I thought - why not? I did that with Clerical/Divine Empowerment, after all (and I might need to rework those too).
For those who don't know that, the guidelines for new Modular Abilities creation can be found on page 63 of GURPS Powers.
First, I have to define the base cost that depends on the scope. Just like for sorcery, I pick 5 points that represents "everything that the GM defines as a spell". Then, I have to define the "per point" cost that depends on how costly and slow the point rearrangement is, and on how easy it is to interfere with it. I think that 3 points is fine here - point rearrangement is slow and requires a reference work (a spellbook).
And... I basically reinvented Super-Memorization (p. B71). Since many spells are built as physical abilities, I have to add Physical, +100%. Let's not forget the Magical, -10% power modifier. Since the spells are built via advantages, I'll have to also add Limited, Advantages Only, -10%. That's what Sorcerous Empowerment has, aside from Reduced Time 1, +20% that I do not want to add.
Sorcerous Empowerment does not allow for multiple slots, why not make things different and allow wizards to have multiple slots?
Anyway, the final cost per slot of Wizardly Study is: 9 points base + 5.4 points per point of abilities.
I think it would be fair to let Wizardly Study accept scope limitations the same way Sorcerous Empowerment does - by treating it as a premade ability. So, if you want to limit your wizard only to fire spells, then you apply -40% to 9 points, not to 5 points. You do not insert these into the internal construction.
Wizardly Study - 9 points base + 5.4 points per point of abilities
By reading spellbooks, scrolls, or other spellcasting manuals, you can temporarily learn magic spells.
Each Wizardly Study slot can hold one spell at a time. To fill the slot with a spell, you must study a suitable work for a second per character point. If you have "learned" spells bought as alternative abilities to Wizardly Study, then you might need to switch to Wizardly Study as a Ready maneuver before you begin the study.
Maximum points are the lower of the points you have in the slot and the full cost of the spell being memorized. A Speed-Reading roll halves study time, but the GM rolls in secret and any failure means your memory fails you the first time you try to use your memorized spell! To be able to cast it properly, you will have to study the work again. As with all Modular Abilities, switching points into a new spell means losing the one to which those points were previously assigned.
Even if I don't use the ideas presented here, I always like to ready your reasoning for choosing determined rules and construct pathways. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you enjoy it!
DeleteI've tried to understand how it works and still feel like that I'm not really close to some truthful conception of wizardly study
ReplyDeleteLike if wizard wants to be able to cast 5 cp spell he have to buy advantage wizardly study for 9+5*(5.4) cp?
If it works so I don't really understand balance in comparison with default sorcery system where we do not need to spend such a great numbers of cp
Buying 9+5*(5.4) points of Wizardly Study would allow the wizard to improvise the 5-point spell in question. To learn a spell (i.e. to buy it as an alternative ability), you would only need 5 points in Wizardly Study (and 9 is the minimum, so one level will do the job).
Delete>and 9 is the minimum
DeleteI meant 9+5.4
Thank you so much, I've finally got how it works
DeleteSorry I'm struggling to grasp something. At character creation, when making a Wizard, you would buy known spells just as you would when making a Sorcerer. Where known Spells can be prepared into any available Wizardly Study slot. If a wizard finds a scroll, adding it to his spell book, he can then also prepare from that as well as his list of known spells bought with character points? He would not have to buy the spell into his list of known spells as a sorcerer would, with the balance trade off being that the sorcerer can improvise more easily?
ReplyDeleteWhen the wizards finds a scroll and transcribes it into his spellbook, he becomes able to improvise it (with either normal improvisation or hardcore improvisation). In case of normal improvisation - yes, he will be able to "prepare" it into one of his slots, whereas with hardcore improvisation, it's just a single casting. Normal sorcerers can improvise spells without all this spellbook mechanic, but Sorcerous Empowerment costs much more; and since the "per level" cost of Wizardly Study is much lower, wizards are actually better at improvising spells than sorcerers are.
DeleteWhen you mention letting Wizards buy additional slots. Id this paying 9 additional points for a 2nd slot of the same "cost and level" or is this a separate advantage that must be bought at it's own level?
ReplyDeleteAnd by proxy, when you buy known spells as alternate abilities do they all "share a folder" or is it a set of alternates for each spell slot?
DeleteBasically, you buy the same advantage an additional time, and if you want, you can have it have a different level. So, you can have Wizardly Study 6 [42] and Wizardly Study 4 [31] and have two different slots. The known spells do "share a folder", but you would only be able to have a spell ready in a particular slot if the full cost of the spell allows for that. For example, if you have a spell that costs 40 points, you would only be able to put it into the first slot, but not the second. If you have a spell that costs 30 points, you can put it into the first or second slot. You can also have both the 40-point and 30-point spells "active" by putting them into these two slots (well, that's the main purpose of having multiple slots, after all). Or you could have a 40-point spell in the first slot and use improvisation to improvise a 4-point spell in the second slot. The system is flexible.
DeleteAwesome! I assumed it was the seperate instances but having them share spells makes it such a fun system. Deciding between multiple slots or one insane slot will be a tough debate for my players lol
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