(Following my prior post. This does NOT include the reordering of colleges I've done, the vast number of new spells, or me tearing down the prerequisite chains and rebuilding them more along the lines of "Cadence requires 6 Body Control spells instead of Grace+Haste.")
p. 6 Learning Magic, generally:
* Mages may not start with a higher level than Magery/3. They may improve Magery at double cost. My approval is required for Magery 5, and players should not expect to improve past Magery 6.
* Each wizardly order has “consonant” spell colleges. This affects both access and time required to learn spells. An Average Consonant spell requires a minimum of one week to learn (given proper materials, sources, and practice time), a Hard spell a minimum of two weeks, and a Very Hard spell four to six weeks. Non-Consonant spells require half again normal time. (These numbers are reduced, as per RAW, by 10% per the learner’s level of Magery.) Mages must learn no fewer than 50% of their spells in Consonant colleges. Defense, Knowledge and Enchantment spells count as “consonant” for purposes of learning time, but do not count as consonant for the 50% learning rule.
* Spells are further divided into three categories within their respective colleges: Unrestricted, Restricted and Secret. The only Restricted spells mages can learn are Consonant. Secret spells are mostly unknown to the wizarding population, and are often cult secrets of wizardly orders. Beyond that, many orders have proprietary secret spells unknown even to other orders using the same colleges of magic. Some colleges do not have Restricted spells: Defense, Knowledge, Enchantment, and (several of) the interdisciplinary elemental colleges.
* Learning new spells requires either finding a teacher (using appropriate Hireling rolls) or doing substantial research in a well-stocked magical library (requiring a Research roll and access to said library). Both approaches can be hit or miss.
* As a loose rule, I allow improving existing spells by a level per experience award, provided the spell was used in the preceding sessions. Please note that a skill level of 21 is rated expert, one of the best in all the land, and skill levels that reach -21 – never mind surpass it – must be justified by strong arguments and approved by me, which will not be easy. Skill-25 denotes, in my mind, around the best in the world, and I’ve allowed only two spellcasting PCs to reach that level (with a single spell each) in four decades.
* Magery/1 is a prerequisite to use most spells. Characters with Magery/0 can cast Average spells.
p. 6 Mana: Clarification: only mages can cast spells, period, regardless of the ambient mana level. There is no point to someone without Magery learning a spell, although I won't forbid it.
p. 7 Casting Spells: I require that players tell me what spells are being prepared and the target/s if any, without me having to prompt them. Failure to provide this information in full, at the time a Concentrate maneuver is taken, will mean that no spell is cast.
p. 7 Critical Success: Regardless of skill level, rolls of 3-4 is a critical success, a roll of 5 is an automatic success, a roll of 16 is an automatic failure, and rolls of 17-18 critical failures. In addition to there never being an energy cost for a Critically Successful spell, such spells do not have a maintenance cost, and can effectively be maintained for as long as the caster is awake to consciously continue the spell (at his or her discretion). The caster only needs to do so at the regular time of maintenance, so can keep spells with long-term durations going for quite some time. Such maintained spells do not count for -1 against ongoing spells.
There are special Critical Success charts for Missile Spells. Critical successes for the following types of spells have no Critical Success chart, but have the following effects:
Regular/Resisted/Special: Resistance rolls, if any, automatically fail. On a roll of 3, the caster may turn the spell into an area spell covering the entire megahex, if he or she wishes.
Blocking: A magical backlash stuns the aggressor until a roll at IQ (IQ-3 for a roll of 3) is made.
Area: The spell’s area may be increased by half again (double with a roll of 3) at the caster’s discretion with no extra fatigue cost; he or she may hold the area at any point short of the increased zone, and can have non-inclusive shapes. Resistance rolls, if any, automatically fail.
Enchantment: The item gains 1 point of Power for free. If it is already self-powering or does not need mana to make it work, then it gains an extra level of effect or loses a magical Quirk, at the caster’s discretion, as well as a special effect that does not improve the material quality of the item, per se, but is flashy, flamboyant or impressive. This special effect can be suppressed by a Concentration maneuver on the part of the wielder. On a roll of 3, the item gains the previous effects and abilities, as well as a random secondary enchantment (GM’s discretion) of a creation cost no greater than ¼th that of the base enchantment OR immunity from any future Quirks for subsequent enchantments.
Information: The caster gains significantly more information than the result would indicate.
p. 7 Critical Spell Failure Table: replaced with my own.
p. 8 Energy Cost: The Recover Strength spell does not exist.
Mages can draw mana from outside of Consensual Reality (i.e., other than from personal fatigue, HT or Powerstones) to cast their spells. When doing so, if mages exceed their “Threshold Rating” — normally zero, but see below — they must roll on the Magical Calamity Table, adding +1 for every full 5 points of “extra” fatigue drawn to power the spell. The following two new advantages are used for this system:
Increased Threshold 5/level
For each level of Increased Threshold that you have, add 6 to the Threshold Rating.
Safer Excess 5/level
Your Calamity rolls for overstrength magic use are at +1 for every 10 points of excess, instead of +1 per 5. Every additional level doubles this effect (+1 per 20, +1 per 40).
p. 8 Magic Rituals: The implication is that for skill 10-14, you can’t move 1 hex on a Concentrate maneuver. I allow a hex of movement nonetheless.
p. 8 Magic Ingredients: I don’t require them.
p. 9 Alternate Magic Rituals: I don’t allow mages to omit required words or actions at a penalty. I do allow the +1 to skill for a double-time, very loud and showy incantation; this can be combined with a Ceremonial casting (see below).
p. 10 Changing Maintained Spells: I don’t allow this.
p. 10 Canceling Spells: While it doesn’t specify, I’ve always allowed this as a free-time action.
p. 11 Regular Spells: The penalty for distance is -1/three hexes.
p. 11 Area Spells:
* The base area starts at a megahex, not a hex.
* A caster can not create an area with “holes” in it. He can only reduce the area inclusively, so that a straight line can’t be drawn between two points in the area to a point outside the area, except that a Wall spell may be in a curved line. This means that a caster is subject to his own spell if he’s within the area at the time of casting, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the spell description.
p. 12 Ceremonial Magic: Assistants can also contribute by the Lend Energy spell, in an alternative to the other procedures. Energy thus provided needs to be discharged within a minute, or it vanishes.
p. 14 Long-Distance Modifiers: Touching the subject – unless the spell requires it – adds +4 to skill level, as per BSII.
p. 15 Player-Created Spells: I don’t use this system. Speak to me if you’re interested.
p. 15 Designing Wizard Characters: The -10% “Usable only for spellcasting” limitation on Fatigue Points can not be bought.
p. 17 Power of a Magic Item: I don’t use this, and items generally work just fine in a low-mana zone.
p. 18 Slow and Sure Enchantment: Reduce the number of mage-days to make an item four-fold. A great many item costs throughout the book have been changed; take no listed enchantment cost for gospel.
p. 19 Using Magic Items: Substitute the enchanter’s effective skill level for Power. Beyond that, every magic item has 1 free FP of energy, as if it were enchanted with Power-1.
p. 19 Multiply Enchanted Items: I use the old Fantasy Trip Rule of 5: a person may only have up to five:
* ... active spells on him at any one time. Casting another spell on him will shut down the oldest friendly spell, in my exclusive judgment. Hostile spells cannot be canceled, and any further attempt to cast spells on a subject already affected by five hostile spells will not work. However, this cannot be used to “dispel” spells on a hostile target through casting petty spells on him.
* ... or magical items on his person at any one time. If the limit is exceeded, none will work. The “not working” might last a while after the number is reduced back down to five. It could last quite a long while. Powerstones count against this limit. A Powerstone can, however, be embedded into an item that has five spells, and if it is designated an Exclusive Powerstone, it and the item are treated as a unitary item and the embedded Powerstone does not count against the Rule of Five.
* A magical item may only be enchanted with up to five spells (but see above). An attempt to place any further enchantments on it will simply fail. The only exception is an item with the Staff or Wizard’s Staff enchantments, or an Exclusive Powerstone as cited above, none of which count against the limit.
p. F71 - Magical Legality Classes: GURPS Fantasy sets this list out:
MLC 4: Spells of healing, perception, knowledge, communication, crop fertility, food production.
MLC 3: Spells of movement, protection, illusion, concealment; temporary incapacitation spells; spells that shape materials or control natural forces or living creatures; spells that inflict injury or break material objects.
MLC 2: Spells of mind control, flight, necromancy; permanent incapacitation spells; spells of elemental summoning and control.
MLC 1: Curses; spells for teleportation, Gate creation, invisibility and perception through physical barriers.
MLC 0: Large-scale destructive spells, large-scale mind-control spells, large-scale curses.
For the most part, Celduin polities are at least MLC 3. MLC 2 is usually restricted to licensed College members, and almost always tightly controlled. Individual Orders may (if under the table) teach at MLC 1, but the practice of these spells is usually illegal, and at level best strictly controlled.
