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Thursday,August14,2014

Gamemaster'sGuidepost:AGM'sGuidetoRitualPathMagicSpellCreation

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GamemasteringRitualPathmagiccanbeslightlytaxingfornewusersofthesystem.Despiteit'snutsand
boltsapproachtomagicanditsbalancednatureitdoesrequireonethingtoworkwell:GMknowledgeofthe
system.Consideringthattheoriginalsystemwaspublishedineightfreakingpages(GURPSMonsterHunters
1:Champions)you'dthinkit'dbeeasytomaster...inaway,itis.Butit'stheedgecasesthatcancausethe
issues.I'mgoingtodiscussafewandhowIfeelaboutthem.

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AllSpells,GreatandSmall
It'stheGM'sjobtodecideifagivenspelleffectiseitherGreaterorLesser.Sometimesthat'sahardchoiceto
makethelineisjusttoofine.Thoughmanyhavesuggesteda"Moderate"effecttoclearupthisproblemallit
doesiscauseanotherbecausenowyouhavethreecategorieswhichtostuffitintonotjusttwo.Thankyou,
butno,I'lltakeabinaryproblemanydayoftheweekovermultipleflippingchoice.Sohowdoyoufigureout
ifaritualrequiresaGreatereffectornow?Iusethreesimplequestions:
Howdifficultisthetask?Couldanormalpersonaccomplishiteasily?Ifitso,thenmarkitasa
No.Ifitshard,markitasaYes.
Doesittakeequipmentorrequirealotoftime?
Arenaturallawsinthesettingviolatedbythespell?Ifitdoesthenmarkitas"Yes."Ifitdoesn't
markitas"No."
Ifyouhavehaveno"Yes"answersthanitisprobablyaLessereffectifyouhave2itcouldbeeitheror,but
goaheadandaironthesideofaGreatereffectifthisisthefirsttimeyou'veadjudicatedsuchaspelleffectif
youansweredallthreequestionswith"Yes"thenit'salmostcertainyouhaveaGreatereffect.Thisacidtest
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youansweredallthreequestionswith"Yes"thenit'salmostcertainyouhaveaGreatereffect.Thisacidtest
Gamemaster's
Guidepost:
isn'tfoolproof,butit'llhelpyougetintotherightframeofmind.

MetagameTraitsor
Impulse...

Gamemaster's
Guidepost:Cthulhu
MythosSpells,Par...

AlteredStatesforAlteredTraits
It'sbeenbroughtupmorethanonce:"Whydon'tIjustuseaGreaterTransform[Whatever]effectandgive
mytargetaInnateAttackinsteadofusingspellswiththeDamagemodifier?"or"Whydon'tIjustgivemyself
Flightasaadvantageinsteadofthespell?"Goodquestions.No,really,theyare.Sowhynotjustdon'tthat?
BecauseasSir_Puddingpointedout,AlteredTraitsshouldbealastresortandthat'sadamnfineattitudeto
have.AsaGMyoushouldprobablyrequireyourcasterstouseritualswiththeDamagemodifiervs.onethat
givesaInnateAttackorthelike,otherwiseyou'regoingtohaveglasscannons.Sure,suchahoppedup
wizardcanblastthebejesusoutofatargetagainandagain,buthecanalsoeasilylosethatabilitywitha
DispelMagicspellandthenhe'sscrewed.AsurefirewaytoknowifyouneedAlteredTraitsisthis:Doesyour
targethavecontroloftheabilityordoesthecaster?Ifit'sthetargetthenit'sprobablyAlteredTraits.Ifit'sthe
casterthenit'sprobablyjustaSpelleffect.Nowkeepinmindthatcharmsandconditionalschangethe
equationalittle(thoughnotmuch)inthatyoucangiveyouralliesdamagingspellsratherthansupercharge
themupwithaspellthatwillletyoudamageothers.

GURPS101:Howto
buildaTechnopath
CarpeBlogiem:10th
Anniversaryof
GURPS4thEditi...
Gamemaster's
Guidepost:I'mOn
theHuntandAfter
...
Gamemaster's
Guidepost:AGM's
GuidetoRitual
Pat...
GURPS101:Evaluation
AsaSkillRoll

ItCostsHowMuch?
BecauseofhowRitualPathmagicworks,itispossibletoonoccasioncreateaspellthatseemslikeitcoststoo
muchforwhatitdoes.Thismightbebecauseofhowthecampaignissetuporthemetaphysicsofthesetting.
Regardlessofreasonthereisonlyonethingyoucandotofixthissortofthing:changethecost.Ifthespell
requiresaGreatereffectthenchangeittoaLesserone.IfitrequiresAlteredTraitsofsomekind...requireonly
aspelleffect.Andsoon.Keepinmindthoughthatthiscanmakesomethingtoocheapthatwasnevermeant
tobeanditmightbreakagame.Thebestthingtodoisexperimentandhopeitpansoutthewayyouwant.

July2014(13)
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PickingOvertheBones

January2014(9)

WhenitcomesrightdowntoitthebestwaytounderstandRitualPathmagicistoknowthisonelittlefact:It
isaRuleZerosystem.Intheend,theGMmakesthecallonhowaspellisputtogetherorwhatisused.This
mightsetwellwithsomefolks,butIhaveitongoodauthoritythatthesystemwasdesignedthatwayfromthe
verybeginning,divorcingaarbiterfromspellcreationdecisionscouldresultinunbalancedritualsor
unforeseenconsequences.

Labels:Gamemaster'sGuidepost,gamingadvice,GURPS,magic,magicsystems,RitualPathMagic

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