From: dseal@armltd.co.uk (David Seal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS Spellcasting question
Date: 13 Apr 92 12:37:11 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: A.R.M. Ltd, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambs, UK

In article <1992Apr10.061712.18320@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
npb41275@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Noah Ban) writes:

>  I have a question about Spell-casting in GURPS.  Some non-Enchantment
> spells need an outrageous amount of mana to cast--e.g. Resurrection (300!).
>
> Obviously, a PC mage can't have this much, though there are some options:
>	 1) Ceremony, but that would take A LOT of people who knew the spell.
>	 2) trading skill for mana...but nowhere close enough.
>	 3) A HUGE amount of powerstones...
>
>Well, you get the picture.  My questions is, is there any way I'm missing
>for a single PC to cast powerful spells like that, no even after years
>of learning the spell?  What about spells with 30-50 mana cost or so?

With regard to something like Resurrection, no, there's no sensible way that
a single mage could cast it. The usual technique (if "usual" is the right
word for something as unusual as a GURPS resurrection :-) would be a
combination of (1) and (2) above, using a circle of about 10 mages, led by a
mage with a skill of about 25 in the spell (he's taking -1 for each
assistant) and with each mage using a moderate-sized Powerstone to boost the
power he can put into the spell. You would also normally try to get a
suitable congregation to provide "spectator power" - 100 extra points is not
to be sneezed at!

Note that a huge number of Powerstones will *not* help a single mage cast
the spell - you can only use one Powerstone for any particular casting. So
you need a Powerstone of about strength 280 for a single mage to be able to
cast the spell. Such a Powerstone should come into the "priceless, unique
artefact" category of treasure, if it exists at all. To enchant one, you
would have to start with an extremely valuable gem and cast Powerstone 280
times without a critical failure (a 0.53% chance). It would take an expected
190 attempts before you succeeded - so your outlay would be of the order 190
280-carat gems, tens of thousands of Powerstone enchantments, plus having to
survive nearly 200 spellcasting critical failures in the process!

Spells with a 30 mana cost can reasonably be performed by a single mage,
though he may have to work hard to do it. The technique would be to have a
reasonably high skill - say 25 - in the spell, allowing you to take 3 points
off its cost, then spend all your strength, all the mana in a reasonably
sized Powerstone (roughly 10 points will do) and as much health as you need
to finish the job. You will take minuses for the health you use, but your
skill is high enough that you can afford to do so. For a 50 point
enchantment, you'll need about a 30 point Powerstone - still possible, but
rather expensive!

This all assumes a completely lone mage. There are various ways of using
companions to boost your available strength short of a ceremonial cast. The
simplest is to have a fairly large familiar with the "ST source" advantage -
if you're lucky, your GM will allow you to use the familiar's strength *and*
a Powerstone (mine ruled that using a familiar's strength was just the same
as using a Powerstone's strength - I could only use one at a time, so my
familiar is effectively a fast-recharging Powerstone in game-mechanical
terms!). Another is that other mages can give you their strength with the
"Share Strength" spell - better than a ceremonial cast in many circumstances
because you don't suffer from the "16 always fails for ceremonial magic"
rule and you can cast the spell in the normal time, with the normal bonuses
for high skill.

>Can they be done during some kind of long-term casting like enchantment?
>I have GURPS MAGIC and it doesn't say anything about this.

There's no official rule I know of for this. On the other hand, it would
certainly make a reasonable house rule. Just make certain the body doesn't
decay during the 300 days you spend raising it :-)

David Seal
dseal@armltd.co.uk

All opinions are mine only...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp