From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re:  Ok, a few more Q's
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
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Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 23:06:22 GMT

Michael Y. asks:

> 1) When a mage disconnects, using his spell, he takes lotsa backlash damage.
> The question arises to how much.  If the mage has packages, that when he 
> disco's he lowers his stats (Ayslish Elven Mage), do you figure the Backlash
> with his higher, or lower stats?

Actually, unless he's casting a spell he doesn't know he won't take
any more backlash damage than he normally would if he screwed up a
spell; the backlash value is compared to the mages Mind to determine
damage if it is a spell that he has learned (if he hasn't learned the
spell then he is probably screwed though).

According to the latest Infiniverse the magical enhancement packages
of Aysle require a Magic axiom of 10, so it is possible for the elf to
disconnect on a spell but keep his enhancement packages.  

Figuring the backlash out once again brings up the argument of what
order things happen in.  Does the disconnection occur first and the
spell screwup second, or is it the other way around?  If the
disconnection occurs first, does the spell attempt even go off or is
it nipped in the bud fast enough that backlash doesn't even happen
because the spell never happened?  If it is the other way around, then
backlash damage would be based off of the enhanced attributes before
the mage disconnects.

My view is that the Everlaw of One is the biggest gun in the universe
so whenever it does something it gets to go first.  That means the
disconnection occurs first so backlash would be figured off of the
lowered attribute.  I believe that the backlash will still occur
because the event (casting the spell) still happened, just the effect
has been negated by the disconnection.

> 2) When you fail a Miracle, you lose the ability to cast that miracle for 24
> hours.  Plus, you lose faith for 24 hours.  Does that mean that the priest
> cannot use thier Faith Adds, or just cannot use miracles?  (The same goes for
> Unconsciousness from Faith-Faith battles with Focus and Faith)

I don't have the books with me but if I remember right (IDHTBWMBIIRR?8-) 
it is the person who provides the Faith that loses their Faith for
24 hours, so that can make a difference if the person performing the
miracle is doing it on a willing subject (who will then lose his
Faith).  The priest does lose that miracle but as long as he was not
providing the Faith for it can still perform other miracles.  If the
priest was providing the Faith then he would lose the ability to
perform the miracle and his Faith for 24 hours - this would mean that
the priest could still perform other miracles on willing subjects
though, since he only needs his Focus skill.  (Which doesn't seem
right to me but I don't have a fix handy just yet.)

I'd say that when someone "loses their faith in god" they would not
get to use their Faith adds for anything except perhaps Faith-Faith
battles (its that subconcious belief/denial thing).

> 3) In the orroshan book, there is a Miracle Called hellfire.  Are any other
> GM's out there having problems with excessive use of this Miracle?  If so, 
> what did you do to tone it down, or somesuch?

"Miracle abuse" is a common topic around here.  Generally, the GM must
remember to use the difficulty modifiers in the rulesbook (no
immediate need, priest providing Faith, etc etc).  This will help slow
down priests who believe that miracles are the same thing as magic.
There is an important difference; miracles are being provided by some
kind of entity (whatever you wish to call it), and if the use of those
miracles goes against what It wants then the priest is in for a lot of
trouble.  

I prefer "Unbeliever's Doom" myself (but I'm a mean GM 8-)....



Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg