From: doug@abby.chem.ucla.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Clerics in GURPS (Was Re: a GURPS question)
Date: 28 Sep 92 19:08:09 GMT
Reply-To: doug@abby.chem.ucla.edu
Organization: Department of Chemistry, UCLA

In article <Bv5Kxp.47q@visix.com>, gray@visix.com (Gray Jones) writes:

[An excellent system for handling clerical "magic" deleted... go back and read
it!  Really!]

Hey, this is good!  It essentially forces the player to either be really
faithful or spend outrageous amounts of points....  One change I might want to
make is assigning (somehow... maybe based on prereqs, or perhaps just on
"feel") a difficulty to different spells which is a modifier to the miracle
roll... it ought to be trivial for even a normal Priest (miracle roll of 11) to
cast one of the more trivial spells, so maybe give a +3 to the needed roll for
casting Tell Time, but make it a serious penalty if you want to cast a big one!
This is obviously shaped by an assumption that a deity will be more likely to
shell out a small miracle than a big one, which may not be true in your world.

On the other hand, it might be easier to assign a (probably fractional, in
general, though that is some extra bookkeeping) different subsequent miracle
modifier instead of -1 for every miracle.  For play balance, non-damaging
offensive spells (like Daze) should probably get nothing less than -1... since
we have no range modifiers here, it'd be ugly otherwise!  (I limit this to
non-damaging because I don't feel that a battle priest who tosses fireballs
should be that limited, because a single fireball just doesn't have the
effectiveness of a Daze, particularly when you consider that we probably won't
have range penalties or, to a lesser extent, durations to worry about...
perhaps -1/4 per die?  Anyway...)  Upon further thought, I'm beginning to think
that if this method is used there needs to be a modifier to this modifier
(blech!  Ugly grammar, but I'm not going to waste time trying to rephrase it
now) for the "spheres of influence" you mention.  Perhaps a certain deity will
have a x3/4 factor for a particular sphere, a x2 for another, etc.  At any
rate, I'm probably trying to carry these ideas a bit too far at this point. 
I'll have to think about it more.  Unfortunately, my oral is next Wednesday, so
I'm probably not going to get much thinking on it done anytime soon... B^(

Also, how did you plan on handling Area spells?  An increase in the difficulty
of the roll or the subsequent miracle modifier, respectively, are obvious
methods for the mechanics I've suggested.  I think something needs to be done,
because otherwise some cleric could get an area 1000 Mass Sleep just as easily
as an area 2.  As yet another alternative, this could be based on how much the
cleric made the miracle roll by.

Maintenance should probably be handled on a case-by-case basis... the spell
lasts as long as the deity thinks it should!

I think this is an excellent beginning to a system of clerical magic that
feels, well, more MIRACULOUS.  It needs a bit of work, IMHO, but I really like
it.  While I think that given your mechanics, the players are charged too many
points for too little (unless you allow them to abuse Area spells, in which
case no number of points is too high to charge them), I also think it's a great
start.  For instance, I think making the success rolls 8, 10, 12, and 14 would
work better than the 6, 9, 11, and 15 you suggest.  This allows a lower rank
but more faithful cleric to outdo the High Priest who is more concerned with
his own power than the church's power... as I think clerical magic should be!

Whew.  I hadn't realized I'd written so much.  Anyway, I hope to see some good
discussion of this idea... I think it deserves some examination!


-Doug Gibson
 doug@abby.chem.ucla.edu

Neither UCLA nor the National Science Foundation has a clue what I am doing.
They just pay me to do it.

"We have to tear you to shreds because we care." - EAC
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc