Roleplayer #19, April 1990
Improvisational Magic as the Only Magic
Alternate Spell Rules for GURPS Magic and GURPS
Supers
by Steffan O'Sullivan
When I wrote the Improvisational Magic rules for GURPS
Magic, I assumed that improvising a spell was the magical
equivalent of the default system. Those rules allow a mage to improvise
a spell at roughly the same odds a fighter would have of improvising an
acrobatics maneuver he had never tried. The rules as written work very well
from that standpoint: mages who are specialists can often improvise spells
with about 50% chance of success. The system does shortchange generalists,
though, perhaps unfairly.
Those rules also discourage the use of improvisational magic in combat.
This was deliberate, as the threat of bodily injury diminishes one's ability
to improvise. In addition, the GURPS advanced
combat rules are already time-consuming. Since GMing "improv"
requires some thought and page-flipping, it was decided that improvising
combat spells would slow things down too much.
However, in the months that GURPS Magic has been
out, there has been a lot of feedback from players who want to be able to
improvise spells more quickly and surely. And now that GURPS
Supers is recommending the technique, it is time for some
rules on Improvisational Magic as the only magic in a gaming world. The
current rules in GURPS Magic are fine for improvising
in a world where the spell lists are known, but don't attempt to cover any
other situation, unless you want to introduce Rune Magic.
The Rules for GURPS Magic
If Improvisational Magic is the only magic in a fantasy gaming world, some
sections of Chapter 4 in GURPS Magic will need
major changes. If something is not listed below, assume the improvisational
rules in GURPS Magic still hold true.
Summary of Changes
There is no spell list. Instead, skill with a given Word is studied
directly -- see below. There are no memorized spells -- as in Rune Magic,
no specific combination may be perfected. Each casting is improvised, even
if the desired results have been achieved before.
There are no prerequisites, except that the GM may require Magery
2 or 3 as a prerequisite for any given spell -- see below.
There is no extra time to cast improvised spells. Most spells require
only a second to cast -- use GURPS Magic as a
guideline. If a spell in Magic requires longer,
so should the improvised version, unless it is significantly reduced in
effectiveness.
There is no extra fatigue if Improvised Spells are the only magic
system. Fatigue costs are the same as appropriate spells in Magic.
Use the guidelines in Chapter 4 to estimate spell costs and time to cast,
but do not add 2 fatigue to that amount. This includes Control and Transform
-- there is no additional fatigue for casting spells with either of these
verbs.
The rules for automatic and critical failure follow the normal rules in
the Basic Set. 16 is not an automatic failure,
and 17 is a critical failure only if your skill is 15 or less.
Totally failed spell rolls do cost 1 point of fatigue, as if the
mage had failed while attempting a regular GURPS Magic
spell.
Optional One-Roll Spells
If Improvisational Magic is the only magic, the GM may allow the players
to roll only once per spell, instead of once per Word. The final skill level
is determined by averaging the levels of all the Words involved in the spell,
rounding down. This makes it slightly easier to cast spells, as the odds
of failing rise as more rolls are required. The GM may use this rule to
govern the level of magic in his world. For more effective magic, average
the rolls.
There is a ceiling for determining average rolls. No average roll may be
more than 3 levels higher than the lowest skill involved in the spell. Thus,
if a mage knows Weaken at 20 and Body at 10, the averaged roll would be
13, not 15. Likewise, if he knew Weaken at 20 and Earth at 6, the averaged
roll would be treated as 9, not 13.
As examples of One-Roll spells, Morris's Waterproofing spell on p. M76 would
require a single roll at skill 14, and his Weaken Air/Body skill on p. M78
would depend on his Body Word skill, which is not listed. Assuming it is
11, 12, or 13, his level in that spell would be 12. If his Body skill were
15, though, he would roll once at 13 (11 + 14+15=40, 40/3 rounds down to
13).
Learning Words
The list of Magic Words on p. M77 contains all the Words that can be learned.
(Note: Create, Control and Transform are covered below.) If the GM wills,
Darkness can be learned as a separate Word, or simply handled by Weaken
Light.
Magery is not added to IQ to determine skill levels when the campaign
uses Improvisational Magic as the only magic system.
Learning Magic Words is treated like learning Super Skills in GURPS
Supers. The level a given Word is known at is determined on
the Super Skill Cost Table, reprinted here from p. SU15:
Final Skill Level.....Cost.....Final Skill Level.....Cost
IQ-4...........................1..............IQ.....................12
IQ-3...........................2..............IQ+1.................16
IQ-2...........................4..............IQ+2.................20
IQ-1...........................8..............IQ+3.................24
(IQ-4 is the minimum level for Words; IQ+3 is the maximum level for Words)
Thus, an IQ 14 mage who puts 12 points into the Word Move, and 20 points
into Body will know them at 14 and 16, respectively. He would have to have
at least Magery 2 to know Body 2 levels higher than his IQ, however -- see
below.
Divide the number of points put into learning Words by 4 to determine point
values for age purposes. Thus, someone who has 12 points into each of two
different Words and 16 points in another two Words has spent 14 points toward
the "minimum age equals points divided by 2" guideline.
Literacy and Eidetic Memory
The rules above assume a mage can read. If a mage is illiterate, treat his
IQ as one less than it is for learning spells.
Likewise, first-level Eidetic Memory grants a +1 to IQ for learning Words,
and second-level Eidetic Memory grants a +2. It grants no other bonus toward
learning Words.
The Role of Magery
Note that the level of Magery is not added to IQ to determine the level
that a Word is known. Aside from aiding in identifying magic items, magery
does grant three benefits:
The player determines which Words his character can learn, unless the GM
wishes to restrict certain Words.
As in GURPS Magic, the maximum level a mage may
know any Word is equal to IQ + Magery or 20, whichever is less. In high-level
magic campaigns, the GM may extend this to 25 or IQ + Magery + 5, or any
other limit he desires.
The GM may rule that a certain level of magery is a prerequisite for casting
the more powerful spells -- use GURPS Magic as
a guideline.
Special Verbs
Control is handled much as it is in GURPS Magic.
This verb is not studied as a separate Word, but is treated as an inherent
aspect of learning any other Word. Thus, a spell to Control someone's Mind
is made at Mind skill with a penalty of 5.
There is no extra fatigue for casting a Control spell, however.
Nor is there any extra automatic failure rule. This is also true for Transform
-- fatigue costs and failure levels are as for all other spells.
Create and Transform are Words that can be learned under this system.
Create has four prerequisites: the mage must know each of the four
elemental Words -- Earth, Air, Fire and Water -- at level 12 or better.
Learning the Word Create grants the mage the ability to cast the Create
Object spell, exactly as it appears on p. M46. This is done with a single
roll against Create skill.
Create may also be used as a regular verb with other Magic nouns, as the
GM allows. Thus, the Create Servant spell could be simulated by Create,
Body and Mind.
Transform is treated as any other verb, except that two nouns are
required if the transformation is between two different substances. In that
case, three rolls are needed, one against Transform and one for each of
the nouns. There is no penalty to any of the rolls.
If the starting and ending material are both governed by the same noun,
only two rolls are needed (Transform and the noun), but the lesser
skill is at -2. The rest of the discussion on Transform on p. M80 is still
valid.
Multiple Nouns or Verbs
Chapter 4 of GURPS Magic treats each spell as
two rolls -- one for a verb, one for a noun. It is possible to borrow the
rule from Rune Magic that more than two Words may be used in a spell. This
is detailed at the top of p. M82, and works well in this system.
Basically, the GM should require that Body be used in spells that
are to act directly on the Body, as in the Weaken Air example on p. M78.
Likewise, Transformations between substances requires three Words -- see
above. The GM may specify a third (or even a fourth) Word at any time he
deems it necessary. Otherwise, use of additional Words is optional.
If an additional Word is required by the GM, there is no negative modifier,
but if the player voluntarily uses additional Words, there is a -1 per Word
over 2 used. The Words must make sense in the spell -- the player may not
simply add a Word to a spell because he has a high level in it and wishes
to raise the average! Doubling casting time per Word over two is also recommended.
If the spell succeeds, the GM should be generous with results.
Magic Rituals
Do not use the GURPS Magic ritual rules in the
main text on page M7. Instead, use the Alternate Magic Ritual Rules
in the sidebar on that same page. Penalties apply to every roll needed to
cast a spell. Thus, if Morris the Mage, who knows Move at 17 and Plant at
15, wanted to cast a Move Plant spell without speaking, he would roll against
13 and 11 instead of 17 and 15.
Reduced Time and Cost to Cast
A mage may attempt to cast any spell in reduced time or for reduced cost.
However, this is not automatic at level 15. Instead, use the Time,
Energy and Cost Tradeoffs option on p. M109.
In brief, this means that for every -3 to skill (applied to every roll in
a given spell), a mage may reduce the time to cast by half. If improvisational
magic is the only magic in a campaign, time to cast may be reduced
to instantaneous -- "No Concentration."
Likewise, each -3 to skill reduces fatigue by 1. This will also affect maintaining
the spell. This is a separate modifier from the -3 to reduce time to cast.
Example: Morris knows the Word Move at 17 and Animal at 12. An
improvised spell to increase his horse's speed would require two rolls,
one at 17, one at 12. Fatigue cost and time would be similar to Haste, as
figured for a 3-hex creature. If Morris wanted to cast it for one less fatigue,
he would have to roll a 14 for Move and 9 for Animal. This would reduce
the fatigue by 1. To reduce it by 2, he would have to roll against 11 and
6 -- something he's not ready to try!
Taking extra time to grant a bonus to skill or fatigue is also possible,
but the maximum bonus should be limited to +3 skill or -3 fatigue if extra
time is taken.
Penalties apply to every roll necessary to cast the spell. Bonuses
accrue only if all rolls are eligible. Thus, to get each of two
rolls at a +1 to skill, the mage would need to concentrate four
times as long as normal! Likewise, to get 1 fatigue reduced on a spell with
two rolls, the mage would need to concentrate four times as long or take
a -3 to each skill roll. It is possible to take a -3 to one of
the skill rolls, and a doubling of time for the other (which, of course,
affects the whole spell) to achieve -1 fatigue.
If the Words are averaged to arrive at one skill roll, doubling time to
cast is sufficient to grant a +1 to skill or -1 to fatigue.
Improvised Magic in GURPS Supers
GURPS Supers recommends that the Words be learned
by spending 5 points per level, not as Super Skills. While creating a 500-point
character with the system described above would indeed be abusive, 5 points
per level is too expensive. In order to get 6 Words at level 14 (not an
unreasonable request) the mage would have to spend 420 points just on those
six magic words!
The 5-point-per-level system does not take IQ into account, either -- the
levels cost the same for morons and geniuses. As written in Supers,
you can make a better mage with IQ 8 than with IQ 14 by using the points
saved to raise skill levels! Obviously, something must change if you use
the Improvisational Option listed in Supers.
A better approach is to use the Super Skill table, but to make each Word
a special Level 6 Enhancement. Thus, it would cost 36 points to get one
Word at IQ level. An IQ 14 mage could then spend 216 points to get 6 Words
at level 14 -- a much more reasonable amount. If this system is used, the
lowest amount that could be spent on any Word would still be IQ-5
-- 16 points each in this case! This would be reduced if Limitations are
taken.
Limitations may be taken for individual Words, but such limitations affect
the whole spell if that Word is used in any spell. If one Word is limited
with "Accessible only while flying," and another is limited by
"Touch only," then use of those Words together can only be done
while flying and touching the subject. Note that "Accessible
while saying Magic Word" is not appropriate as a limitation, and should
be disallowed -- see the discussion on Ritual, above. The GM may disallow
other limitations on Words as he sees fit.
All spells would then be run as suggested in Supers,
as modified by the rules above. P. SU42 is correct in recommending that
each spell take only a single turn, to keep magic in line with the other
powers. "No Concentration" can be handled by the guidelines above,
or the GM may follow the No Concentration enhancement rules in Supers. If
that were the case, all words in a spell must have the enhancement
in order for it to be cast instantly. This would also be true of other Enhancements
-- they do not apply unless all Words have the same enhancement. If an enhancement's
effect may be halved, the GM may allow that result if only one Word has
the enhancement.
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