Appendix B| Appendix B |
GURPS Magic™ |
B.1 What is GURPS Magic™?GURPS Magic™ is a magic system for GURPS™ which was originally presented in the GURPS Fantasy™ worldbook and later extended into its own book. This appendix will deal with the system as it appeared in the earlier worldbook; the later system is an extension to this, so it will work on basically the same premises. A subset of this system is also included in later editions of the GURPS™ basic set.
In GURPS Magic™ all spells are individual skills, and many of these spell skills have other spell skills as prerequisites. Spellcasters are limited by their endurance in how many spells they may cast in one day without resting, but when they know a spell very well they can reduce, or even eliminate, the cost.
GURPS Magic™ is a little harder to adapt to Prism than Spell Law™ was because it makes references to many GURPS™-specific terms and because the principles behind it aren't always in harmony with those of Prism. Before reading this section, you should be familiar with some basic GURPS™ terms and the operative principles of GURPS Magic™. No attempt is made here to cover the rules of GURPS Magic™, only to describe those adaptations needed to use it with Prism, so you must get a copy of GURPS Magic™ or GURPS Fantasy™ and read it before you can use this section.
Use the stats as they are described in Prism. To be specific, Will is still the strength of magic, and Resistance is still used for resistance against magic.
Using GURPS Magic™ with Prism does not change the process of buying abilities and weaknesses. Note that in Prism, "Magery" is not an ability, but simply based on aptitudes, as described in the next section.
As described in Prism, your AV in MIND describes your aptitude at magic. Other aptitudes should be assigned as normal. For comparison purposes, "Magery" is equivalent to a MIND AV of 4; Magery 2 is a MIND AV of 2; and Magery 3 is a MIND AV of 1.
To allow a wizard character to be more proficient at some colleges of magic than others, you may allow players, when choosing their aptitudes, to assign Difficulty Modifiers of -3 to +3 for each college, so that all of them add up to 0. They must explain why each positive Diff Mod greater than one is there, so that they're not taking them just to allow themselves large minuses on others. This is more in the spirit of Prism than of GURPS Magic™.
Each GURPS Magic™ spell is an individual skill of category MI, stat W, and untrained penalty -50. None have any similar skills.
Optionally you can allow spellcasters to use any spell listed as a prerequisite as a similar skill at 1/5. This boosts the amount of magic available to more experienced characters.
All the spells listed in GURPS Magic™ are either Hard or Very Hard. These will translate to difficulty modifiers of -3 and -1. (If this seems odd, remember that GURPS™ has no aptitudes, so they make all spell skills hard to make it more demanding to be a wizard. Prism takes care of this by making MIND aptitudes more expensive.)
There are no special restrictions on how many GURPS Magic™ skills you can learn at one time, except the costs. However, there are quite a few types of prerequisites a spell may have. Each translates into a different type of prerequisite in Prism terms. The rest of this section describes how to determine if a certain prerequisite is met.
Many spells have other spells as a prerequisite, either specific spells or a certain number of spells in a certain college. In Prism terms, you must have developed these required skills to a total SV of 25 or more.
An option which is not quite in the spirit of GURPS Magic™ would require that a spellcaster have a higher SV in any prerequisite skill than in the skill that requires it. This works particularly well with the optional Similar Skill rule given above.
Some spell skills require Magery, Magery 2, or Magery 3. The Prism equivalents are having a MIND AV less than or equal to 4, 2, or 1, respectively. Any higher level of Magery required will require using the Prism Archmage advantage to get an effective MIND AV less than 1. In this case, subtract one from the maximum MIND AV for each point of Magery beyond the third required (e.g., Magery 5 requires MIND -1 or less).
If you are allowing players to assign Diff Mods for each college, they can use their MIND AV plus the Diff Mod for the college to see if they have an adequate Magery level.
A few spell skills have minimum stat requirements, usually IQ. This is not very harmonious with the principles of Prism; it seems GURPS Magic™ only requires these because it has no aptitudes to use as requirements instead. To remain as much in the spirit of Prism as possible, translate these into Magery requirements (IQ 13=Magery, IQ 15=Magery 2, IQ 17=Magery 3) and resolve as above. To remain as much in the spirit of GURPS Magic™ as possible, take the minimum GURPS™ stat, multiply it by 2.5, and subtract 25; this is the minimum in the equivalent Prism stat (ST=S, DX=D, IQ=I, HT=E).
Still more spells have specific advantage as prerequisites, or as alternate prerequisites (i.e., they can be substituted for something like Magery). The GM must decide if a character has a comparable ability. Furthermore, in some cases, a player may wish to petition the GM to allow an ability his character has, but which is not parallel to any standard GURPS™ advantage, to use it as a substitute similarly.
In this case, be generous. Since some GURPS™ abilities would be likely to show up in Prism in some other form, it's probably best to be liberal in interpreting these.
Magic Resistance
(C=MI, S=R, D=+3, U=0)
SIM: none
This skill gives you a resistance to magic. Not all GMs will allow this skill to be developed. This skill's SV becomes the character's Resistance to Magic/Psi.
Spellthrow
(C=MI, S=D, D=-1, U=0)
SIM: none
In GURPS Magic™ the normal Throwing skill is also used to determine the efficacy of elemental attacks. Since it is this author's opinion that skill at throwing objects need not be related to skill at launching magical missiles, this skill replaces it in all spell descriptions. It is used as a bonus to all elemental spell attack rolls. See section B.4.6 for more info.
GURPS™ uses one-second combat rounds, while Prism with IRIS uses a variable amount of time averaging 18 seconds and dependent on the combatant's speed and the type of action he has taken. Of course, if you prefer the GURPS™ ratio, all you need to do is consider phases to be shorter; for instance, a speed comparable to GURPS™ is achieved when 100 phases is 5 seconds, or 20 phases is one second. (Bleeding may occur at an unrealistically fast pace unless you decide that it only occurs every two, four, or some other number of upkeep phases. To match GURPS™ speed precisely, bleeding should occur every 600 phases, or half as much bleeding should occur every 300 phases. Of course, few combats last that long in GURPS™ so bleeding is virtually irrelevant.)
When casting GURPS Magic™ spells in Prism with IRIS, you spend a whole action casting a spell for each second the GURPS Magic™ spell requires. On the last such action, when the spell is to take place, you receive a +5 pushback, and when the pushback action comes around, the spell occurs. At this point, roll the next action with a -5 Delay Modifier. Note that the pushback and delay mod are only necessary on an action when the spell actually occurs, not on preparatory actions.
Because of the wide disparity between combat speeds, GURPS Magic™ spells sometimes need adjustment. The translation of one second into one action works fine in combat but often makes no sense out of combat, so spells that will be cast typically outside combats need fine-tuning. See the individual spell notes for details. The times to cast are just arbitrary; feel free to change them, so long as you are consistent.
A blocking spell is a spell used defensively, which takes no actions. You don't need to use an action to cast one, or even have a saved action. If you use a saved action to cast one anyway, it automatically occurs in time to take effect against the attack being made, with no further penalties. However, if no saved action was used, the GM must determine if the wizard could react in time, even if the spell itself only takes a split second to cast. A wizard with slow reflexes, after all, might not even finish deciding to cast the spell before the arrow hit; the speed of the spellcast is irrelevant in this case. If the wizard does cast in time, he must take an 8-phase pushback when his next action comes up. Furthermore, if he was in the middle of casting a multi-action spell, it must be started over from scratch.
GURPS Magic™ spells usually cause fatigue which counts against your endurance. When using GURPS Magic™ in Prism, spells will count against your Energy Reserve, which is equal to your Resistance plus 26, divided by 2.5 and rounded up. These points are regained one per ten minutes of rest. The GM must determine any fatiguing effect of using them up.
When a desperate wizard needs more energy than he has or can wait for, he may use his Hit Points instead. Every 2 Hp converts into one energy point. No specific damage (i.e., stuns, etc.) will be caused.
Even more desperate wizards might want to spend a bit of their permanent health; since they can gain so much energy this way, some excessively ambitious wizards tend to slowly "eat away" at themselves, and become physically fragile shells as they become more powerful as wizards. By spending a point of Endurance (which reduces the wizard's total character points) a wizard can gain 10 energy points. However, there is also a chance equal to (25-E)% that, after the spell is finished being cast the wizard will suffer an Attack Spell Fumble at +(50-E).
If your SV in a spell skill is greater than or equal to 50, you may reduce the effective cost of the spell by one. SVs greater than or equal to 75 reduce the cost by two; 100 or higher reduces by three; and so on. Spell costs can be reduced to zero using this rule.
GURPS Magic™ specifies that there are certain requirements to casting spells. One is an environment relatively free of distractions. GURPS Magic™ deals with this by making you make a roll to keep your concentration. In Prism it is easier to simply apply a penalty to your spellcasting roll.
In GURPS Magic™ you sometimes have to use ritual (e.g., speaking of magic words) to cast a spell. The GM should require that the caster use ritual of some sort unless she knows the spell with an SV of better than 50. Using ritual will add another action to the time to cast the spell.
When casting spells while maintaining other spells, you have a -15 to your spellcast rolls for each spell you must maintain concentration on, and -5 for spells you are maintaining without concentration.
The spellcast roll is made to see if you can successfully cast the spell. Roll dô and add the caster's SV in the spell's skill. Various things can cause modifiers to the spellcast roll. If something in GURPS Magic™ gives a modifier, simply multiply it by five before using it. Feel free to use any of the sample modifiers in Prism Chapter 14 as well. Distraction may give a modifier. The GM should feel free to make up any other modifiers at will.
Consult the Static Maneuver chart with the result. It is recommended, to keep wizards from casting with impunity spells they barely know, that you make the "Fumble" result start at 25 rather than -5.
Extraordinary Failure causes a spell fumble at +50 and drains the caster's entire energy reserve.
Fumbles cause a spell fumble and cost the normal energy cost of the spell.
Failure indicates the spell did not work; if the spell would have cost any energy, it costs one, but otherwise costs nothing.
Partial Success means the spell didn't quite fail, and didn't quite succeed; instead, the wizard is still trying, and may begin the spellcast process again with a +25 this time. No energy has been spent so far.
Near Success indicates that the spell worked but not quite as well as might be expected; the GM should twist the spell slightly, to make it less useful or otherwise varied. The spell costs the full amount.
Unrelated Success indicates that the spell failed, but something else happened, perhaps some other spell or something unrelated.
Success indicates that it worked as described, costing the normal amount.
Critical Success means the spell worked as described, and costed nothing in energy terms.
Extraordinary Success means the spell came out much better than average, as well as costing nothing.
The GM may feel free to use the Spell Law™ spell fumble charts; alternately, he may make up the effects, as GURPS Magic™ suggests. He may wish to assign a flat percentage chance of using the charts or making up an effect, as well.
When using the charts, the GM should apply a positive modifier to the roll, ranging from 0 to 100, based on his impression of how "dangerous" the spell is. This is dependent on his idea of the way magic works. For instance, a fireball may be considered more dangerous than a stone missile, because the element of fire symbolically represents the possibility of getting out of control more than reliable earth. GMs should feel free to make up seemingly arbitrary but consistent rules for this. For example, in The Belgariad, spells of disintegration ("unmaking") were extremely dangerous, well nigh on to impossible, because the universe went to such trouble to make things, it would not allow anything to be unmade.
When resolving GURPS Magic™ Regular-class spells, remember that a GURPS™ "hex" is three feet in distance, or a circle of three feet in diameter, or approximately 10 square feet, or the equivalent. Treat all distances in hexes as distances in yards.
For Area-class spells, a "one-hex" area is a 2' radius, a "two-hex" area is a 5' radius, "three-hex" is 8', and so on. A one-hex area is always large enough to hold any man-sized creature, but many larger animals (tiger size and up) will be multiple hexes.
Whenever, in GURPS Magic™, a spell would be "resisted" by the target making a roll against a skill or stat (in particular, for all spells of the class "Resisted") you should use a potency roll. The potency is usually equal to the SV with which the spell was originally cast. Sometimes, the notes for a spell indicate it is resisted by something specific, such as a stat or skill; that means that that stat or skill value is used as a minus to the roll.
A number of GURPS Magic™ spells are Missile-class. The notes below will explain which Spell Law™ chart to use, and any other factors to consider. You will probably want to use the GURPS Magic™ distance modifiers, rather than those on the Spell Law™ charts, but some GMs will want to use the Spell Law™ distance modifiers instead. Note that the target may apply his DB, but rarely can he parry (unless the GM rules that he can). Missile attack spells that simply either strike or fail to strike (rather than doing specific damage) may instead use the Moving Maneuver table where the attack chart might have been used.
B.4.7 Ceremonial MagicTo use a spell in a ceremonial "circle," as described in GURPS Magic™, you need to know it to a total SV of 75 or more. If additional energy is put in by participants, use the percentage of extra energy provided as a bonus to the spellcast roll directly. Divide all negative modifiers caused by distraction in half when in a ceremonial circle. When wizards enter or leave a ceremonial circle, someone must remain present through each change; however, he or she can leave in a subsequent change. All other GURPS Magic™ rules for ceremonial magic work as specified, according to the provisions of the previous sections.
When discussing the "Power" of an item, we will use a percentile number, equal to the SV of the caster who created the item (using the procedures given in GURPS Magic™). In the rules listed in GURPS Magic™, multiply all references to Power values by five before applying. Use the Power as an effective SV when casting spells off items as normal.
The following sections give an overview of the spells in the original GURPS Fantasy™ book which need revision, adaptation, or interpretation before they can be used with Prism. Some abbreviations used are: e refers to the amount of energy spent on the spell (but E usually refers to the Endurance stat); D is the duration of the spell; T2C stands for "time to cast" in actions (if another time is listed in parentheses, it is the time to cast the spell when not in combat).
Shape Earth: "Burying" takes effect 25 phases later; the target may have escaped by then, if an action has come up for him or he took a saved action, etc. To crawl out when buried, you must have the earth make a potency roll against your Strength. A character can hold his breath for (E*2+70) seconds, and then loses 1 Hp every upkeep phase until dead.
Stone Missile: Use the Fall/Crush attack chart; for e=1 use Small, e=2 use Medium, or e=3 use Large.
Earthquake: Make DX rolls into D rolls; multiply all mods to these rolls by 5. T2C=9 (3 min)
Summon Elemental: T2C=2 (30 sec)
Control Elemental: The cost ranges from 1 (tiny) to 9 (huge) and up for "monsters." This is at the GM's discretion, depending on the monster descriptions he is using. Creatures & Treasures™ elementals cost 8 for weak, 16 for strong, for example. D=2 min.
Create Elemental: The cost is double that of Control Elemental above. T2C=the cost in actions.
Air Jet: For non-vaporous creatures, roll 3d6 and multiply by 3/8 (0.375) to find the number of feet of knockback. For vaporous creatures, do e separate C Impact crits.
Body of Air: Destroy Air does a C Impact crit.
Destroy Air: Does an A Impact crit if potency roll overcomes target's Endurance.
Walk on Air: The 5-yard fall described uses the Fall/Crush chart with an OB of 8.
Clouds: T2C=2 (1 min)
Rain: T2C=4 (2 min)
Lightning: if e=1, use Shock Bolt chart; if e=2, use Shock Bolt at +50; if e=3, use Lightning Bolt chart.
Note on Burning Clothes: Any heat crit caused by a spell in this college that causes 8 or more additional hits (beyond those caused by the attack chart itself) lights clothes on fire, doing an A heat crit each upkeep phase. 25 or more points lights all clothes, which takes two actions of rolling to put out, and does a B heat crit each upkeep phase.
Shape Fire: When spreading fire into multiple hexes, divide the crit rolls caused by fire in those hexes by the number of hexes that fire has been spread into. For instance, if someone is in a hex which is flaming with fire that has been spread over three hexes, divide the critical roll by three before looking up its effects.
Heat: T2C: each action changes temperature by 10oF.
Cold: As Heat.
Fireball: if e=1, use Firebolt chart; if e=2, use Firebolt chart at +50; if e=3, use Fireball chart.
Explosive Fireball: As Fireball for damage, but divide e by 2 before using.
Flame Jet: Use Firebolt attack chart with OB=30 x e.
Breathe Fire: Use Fireball chart with OB=20 x e.
Flaming Weapon: Weapon does an additional A heat crit, or "Slaying" crit to watery creatures. D=2 min.
Essential Flame: Does 1 crit level higher, or an additional "Slaying" crit to watery creatures.
Purify Water: T2C=exactly as stated.
Dehydrate: Attack does an A, C, or E heat crit (for 1, 2, or 3 e); you must interpret to make the dehydration equivalent of the effect listed.
Walk on Water: T2C=1.
Fog: Causes -5 to all Fireball-type attacks; does A cold crit to fiery creatures. D=2 min.
Water Jet: If e=1, use Shockbolt chart; if e=2, use Shockbolt chart at +40; if e=3, use Waterbolt chart. In all cases, use only impact crits.
Icy Weapon: Does an additional A cold crit, or "Slaying" crit to fire creatures. D=2 min.
Ice Sphere: If e=1, use Icebolt chart; if e=2, use Icebolt at +50; if e=3, use Coldball chart.
Ice Dagger: As Ice Sphere; replace any crit scored with two crits: a one-level-lower (or -20) puncture, and a two-levels-lower (or -40) cold crit.
Thunderclap: Make a potency roll against target's Endurance plus his Resistance to Magic. If successful, reroll each hour to keep target from recovering. This roll should be made at -10 against the caster as well.
Weaken: The GM must determine the effects of damage on an object; a Weaken spell is equivalent to one good solid bash by a heavy object such as a battering ram. T2C=3 (1 min)
Shatter: Does up to triple the damage of Weaken (depending on e spent), but if that's not enough to break it, does nothing.
Rejoin: T2C=1 (20 sec) per 10 pounds.
Repair: T2C=1 (20 sec) per pound.
Light: Movement speed is 15 ft/sec.
Flash: Make potency roll against D+E; remember, hexes are 3'.
Blur: Each point of e gives +5 to target's DB. T2C=2 (40 sec); D=2 min.
Hide: T2C=2 (1 min)
Invisibility: DB increases by 35. T2C=2 (1 min)
B.5.8 Illusion and Creation SpellsSimple Illusion: "Disbelieving" requires a potency roll (using I+P+R) against the SV of the spell.
Control Illusion: Make potency rolls using the SV of the Control Illusion spell trying to overcome the SV of the original illusion spell.
Dispel Illusion: As Control Illusion.
Create Servant: All stats are -5; Brutes have S=+15, all others -10. D=3 min.
Create Warrior: Stats are: I, W, R=0, all others +5, SV in weapon 80. Brute warrior has S of +15 instead, and thus SV of 90 if weapon is one that uses S as a stat. T2C=3 (2 min); D=2 min.
Control Creation: As Control Illusion.
Truthsayer: Make a potency roll against the R of the target.
Mind-Reading: Make a potency roll against P or R, whichever is higher. T2C=2 (1 min)
Soul Rider: Make a potency roll against R.
Mindsearch: T2C=4 (2 min)
Mind-Sending: T2C=2 (40 sec.)
Persuasion: Make potency roll against I with a bonus of 2.5 x e.
Control Person: T2C=6 (3 min.)
Possession: T2C=10 (4 min.)
Permanent Possession: Damage affects caster unless a potency roll against caster's Endurance fails. The potency in this roll is assigned by the GM based on the severity of the damage, and ranges from 30 to 100. T2C=5 minutes or a lot of actions.
Exchange Bodies: I, W, R, AVs, skills, some abilities, magic go with the mind; all else remains with the body.
Exorcism: T2C=3 (1 min)
Lend Language: SV gain in language skill is 20. T2C=1 (10 sec)
Borrow Language: As Lend Language.
Note on Durations: The spells in this college that have a listed duration of 1 minute will have a 3 minute duration.
Shield: This spell acts as a shield, providing DB bonuses. Each point of e is worth +2.5 to DB (round up), to a maximum of 10 points. D=3 min.
Armor: Since armor is done totally differently in Prism, this spell must be changed considerably. Every two points of e spent can increase the AT of the target by one within an armor category; five points of e will increase the AT to the same position in the next category; these may be combined. A category consists of four armor types (the categories are skin/clothing, soft leather/LBA, rigid leather/ABS Pliable, chain/ABS Mesh, and plate/AEX; see the Maneuvering in Armor skill), and the position within a category tells which of the four armor types in that category the armor is: the first, second, third, or fourth. For instance, to change from AT 5 to AT 8 would involve three moves within a category, and cost 6 points; AT 5 to AT 9 would be the same position but moved up one category, and so cost 5 points; AT 5 to AT 12 would be one category (5 points) plus three moves within a category (6 points) for a total of 11 points. It is important to remember that a higher number armor type does not necessarily mean a better armor; for instance, full chain (AT 16) is better than a metal breastplate (AT 17). Caster may not spend more points than 1/10 of his SV in this skill. D=3 min.
Watchdog: T2C=2 (1 min)
Magelock: T2C=3 (1 min)
Note on Healing Spells: GURPS™ itself has a very limited number of ways damage can be accrued, the most significant of which is loss of HT. Using Arms Law & Claw Law™ and Spacemaster™ gives a much wider variety of forms of damage. As a consequence, I have changed or generalized some of the spells, and added in two additional spells described after the notes on the existing spells.
Lend Strength: If cast on another wizard, the caster may send points to his Energy Reserve according to the spell's normal description. Alternately, the caster may simply refresh fatigue with this spell, in which case the GM should assign a number of points of fatigue, in GURPS™ terms, the target is suffering from (where 10 is enough to exhaust an average person, and a very healthy person might be able to get through up to 18 before becoming exhausted), and arbitrate the results of undoing some of these fatigue points. Note that this spell can be learned to as high a level as desired, but there are no reductions to energy cost because of skill.
Lend Health: This spell can be learned to as high an SV as desired, but there are no reductions to energy costs because of skill. For each point of energy used, the target gains three hit points, temporarily.
Recover Strength: Having the skill at a 15 means an SV of 50 or higher; 20 means an SV of 75. The GM must decide if rest of this type is also useful for sleep, healing, and tiredness in general, or if it is only used for gaining energy reserve.
Awaken: If this spell is used to cancel stuns, stuns/no-parry, or rounds of must-parry, it can only be cast on one person at a time, and has a cost equal to the number of actions the target is stunned for. A potency roll against the lower of I, P, or E must be made against any target of either form of this spell.
Minor Healing: This restores up to 8 Hp, but does not heal any other effects, such as stuns, bleeding, torn muscles, etc. The Physician skill must be at a total SV of 75 or more to turn critical failures into regular failures, or extraordinary failures into critical failures. Each point of energy spent is worth 2 Hp, to a maximum of four points spent.
Major Healing: As Minor Healing, but each point of energy (up to five) is worth 5 hit points.
Sterilize: This does 5d10 hit points of damage, but no critical damage of any sort.
Suspended Animation: T2C=4 (1.5 min)
Cure Disease: T2C=as stated.
Restoration: This spell can be used on broken bones, torn muscles and tendons, nervous system damage, and any organ damage when the target can live without the organs for the time required. If the body part is only at a penalty, not useless, its function will be regained gradually over the month (divide the penalty by 30; this is the amount regained daily) but excessive use can reverse the healing, so slings, casts, or splints are recommended. T2C=2 (1 min)
Regeneration: T2C=3 minutes.
Resurrection: The resurrected target has 1 Hp and is extremely fatigued; a few days in hospital might be in order. The penalty is -5 per day since death, or 0 if death occurred in the last 24 hours. GMs should be warned against reducing the seemingly absurd high cost; this requires a ceremonial circle which can provide very interesting plot complications. Remember the possibility of non-wizards, or inadequately skilled wizards, contributing energy to a circle as well.
Burn/Frost Repair (Regular): Repairs burns or frost, and all hits caused thereby. If target is burned, this will remove scar tissue only if cast within a few minutes of the burning, and will not help smoke inhalation, though it will heal internal burns to the lungs and throat. (The GM must determine the effects as if the target had, instead of being burned, inhaled a large quantity of cool smoke in a short time: dizziness, fatigue, and possible poisoning effects are likely.) If target is suffering from hypothermia, this spell will restore him to a normal body temperature, but remember that a wet person in the cold can die within minutes without treatment. In any case, the spell does nothing about the conditions that caused the burn or frost (being on fire, or soaked and outdoors in winter, for instance). Duration: Permanent. Cost: Divide the percentage of the target's body affected by 10, round up, and apply as a cost. Particularly large targets will cost more proportionally to how much larger they are than average human size. Prerequisite: Minor Healing, and Lend Strength or Lend Health. Item: Wand or staff, decorated in a snake pattern. Usable only by mages (MIND AV of 4 or better). Subject must be touched by item. Energy cost to create: 2,000.
Bloodstop (Regular): Stops bleeding effects. For every point of energy spent, one point per round of bleeding is clotted. Alternately, for four points of energy, one point per round can be completely stopped. Clotted wounds can be worked open again by serious exertion, such as combat. If this spell is used to partially clot a wound, but not eliminate it, first aid must also be applied to keep the clot thus formed from being broken by the action of the still-flowing blood. Partially sealing a wound acts normally. If the caster is attempting a clot, and he receives a critical success, the wound seals as if he'd been attempting a sealing. This spell can be combined with First Aid skill rolls. Duration: Permanent, but clotted wounds can reopen if jarred or agitated. Cost: One per point of bleeding if clotting, or four per point if sealing. Prerequisite: Minor Healing, or Lend Strength and Lend Health. Item: Wand or staff, decorated in a snake pattern. Usable only by mages (MIND AV of 4 or better). Subject must be touched by item. Energy cost to create: 1,500.
B.5.12 Necromantic SpellsDeath Vision: Each action, this spell makes a potency roll against the better of the target's I or R to recover; meanwhile, he is considered "stunned/no-parry." T2C=3 (1 min)
Zombie: T2C=3 (1 min)
Control Zombie: Make a potency roll against the original spell to take over.
Turn Zombie: Does an A Krush crit on each minor undead, and has a one in six chance of making target flee for one day, incapable of attack. The GM is encouraged to allow "holy status" to be used as a prerequisite, without being too strict.
Animate: The summoned spirit has an I of -5. T2C=4 (2 min)
Skull-Spirit: The GM should choose an undead creature from his own bestiary of choice to represent the Skull-Spirit. The skull itself becomes a part of the spirit, and is destroyed when the spirit is (or when the spell runs out).
Steal Strength: If stealing energy from a wizard, you gain one point of e for every three you take. If stealing fatigue, the GM must judge, but the target suffers three times as much fatigue as you gain. See the Lend Strength spell for more notes. T2C=2 (40 sec) for every three points of energy, or the equivalent in fatigue, you drain.
Steal Health: For every 3 Hp you drain, you gain one Hp. You cannot drain past -1 Hp, at which point the caster is incapacitated. T2C=2 (40 sec) for each 3 Hp drained.
Pestilence: T2C=6 (2 min)
Summon Demon: The attempt to control is made as a potency roll, using the caster's SV in this skill plus his W and R (even though his W was already added in to the SV!) against the demon's S plus W plus R. The GM must consider what types of demons exist in his world, and choose one at random if no name is used. Note that some pretty powerful demons can be called with this spell, but as the GURPS Magic™ description notes, the ability of a spellcaster to get "out of balance" is greatly reduced by the ability of the demon to get out of control or twist the wording of a command.
Note on Potency Rolls: All spells in this college which can be resisted by IQ, or which require targets to "make IQ rolls," will involve potency rolls against Resistance to Magic or Resistance, unless otherwise specified. Spells that are resisted by HT will use potency rolls against the highest of Resistance against Magic, Resistance, and Endurance.
Foolishness: Because many Prism skills use an average of several stats, we simplify this process by amending the effects of this spell. Each point of energy (maximum five) reduces the target's effective I stat by three points, and gives target a -2 to all "mental" skills.
Drunkenness: Reduces effective I by two points per point of energy spent; D and Q by three points per point of energy; and gives a -2 or -3 per point of energy spent to all skills that would be affected by drunkenness (GM decides based on how severely drunkenness affects the skill), as Foolishness above.
Sickness: T2C=3 (1 min); D=3 min.
Forgetfulness: T2C=4 (1.5 min)
Permanent Forgetfulness: T2C=as stated.
Daze: A dazed target is considered "stunned/no-parry." D=2 min.
Sleep: T2C=2 (1 min)
Mass Sleep: T2C=1 (20 sec) per hex of radius.
Madness: GMs are encouraged to come up with more and more varied forms of madness. D=2 min.
Charm: D=2 min.
Wisdom: Each point of e is worth one point of Intelligence; this affects any skill as a permanent increase in Intelligence would (note: this does not include spells, of course), if the player is willing to figure out the new SV.
Greater Geas: A critical failure will cost the caster a point each of I and W (reducing character points) and have a regular spell fumble as well.
Rear Vision: D=3 min.
Detect Magic: T2C=2 (30 sec)
History: T2C=1 action for a day, two for a week, three for a month.
Invisible Wizard Eye: Has a total DB of 200.
Mammal Control: If used on an intelligent target, apply a -10 to the potency roll against R.
Rider Within: T2C=2 (1 min)
Beast Possession: T2C=4 (1.5 min); D=2 min.
Shapeshifting: Each half hour, make a potency roll, potency dependent on how unusual or nonhuman the form taken is (from 30 to 100), against W, to lose a point of I. When I reaches -25, the caster is hopelessly enmeshed in the animal form, unless Remove Curse is used on him or her. T2C=3 (1 min)
Poison Food: If the food is eaten, make a potency roll with a potency of 25 (or higher if there was a critical success in the spellcasting) against the victim's Resistance to Poison; near success or partial success does some Hp damage but not much, and Failure only gives a sense of nausea but no damage. Success, however, causes painful stomach cramps, a loss of 15 hits, and a penalty of -15 to all skills until all 15 hits are regained (5 hours normally).
Haste: Increase MV by 20 feet per action for each point of energy spent, up to 3. D=3 min.
Great Haste: Target gets an effective -15 Delay modifier every action along with any others that might apply. D=1 min; T2C=2 (40 sec)
Poltergeist: The effect is as if it were hurled by a man with ST +15; generally, you should use the Fall/Crush chart with an OB of 30-100 depending on how heavy, hard, sharp-edged, and otherwise nasty the object is. The caster may also apply half his SV for any relevant throwing skill (such as Throwing) to the roll. If the object hurled is alive, make a potency roll against its Resistance to Magic. Items may be up to 50 pounds (very high SVs might be able to do better).
Lockmaster: T2C=2 (40 sec).
Air-Golem: T2C=10 sec.
Levitation: Any physical skill is at -15 unless target is skilled in Free Fall Maneuvers or is the caster. Make a potency roll against the better of R or D.
Teleport: If you achieve near success with this spell, you take 10 points of damage and are stunned/no-parry for 2 actions. Normal failure means you did teleport, but not where you wanted; the GM should consider how much you failed by when deciding how far away you end up. The GM should also make a "perversity roll" to see how perverse and annoying this location is; i.e., a low amount of failure but a high perversity roll might place you only ten feet from your target, but straight up; a high amount of failure and a low perversity roll could put you miles away, but along a road leading to where you were trying to go.
Winged Knife: This essentially allows any impaling weapon to be thrown with the range modifiers of a shortbow, and strike at +25.
Note on Resisting Effects: Many of these spells will require rolls against IQ, HT, or DX; these should simply be replaced by potency rolls (usually using the spell's SV as a potency) against whatever the most appropriate Prism stat (not always I, E, or D).
Clumsiness: All physical skills are at -2, and skills based on D are at -4, per point of energy spent. D=2 min.
Dexterity: As Clumsiness but in reverse. D=2min.
Climbing: Each point of energy is worth a +5 to Treeclimbing, Mountain Climbing, and Wallclimbing skills.
Strike Blind: D=20 sec (at least one action).
Strike Deaf: D=20 sec (at least one action).
Strike Dumb: D=20 sec (at least one action).
Curse-Missile: Using the range mods of a shortbow, make a moving maneuver; success means the missile hits. Use all defensive factors (DB, parry, etc.) against the MM roll as well. The Spellthrow skill (specialized appropriately) can be used to throw. The caster casts the curse spell when it hits, so he doesn't know if it will succeed until then. However, he doesn't have to spend the actions to cast it, only the e cost.
Paralyze Limb: D=4 min.
Total Paralysis: D=4 min.
Wither Limb: Target takes 3d6 Hp of damage as well as the lost limb.
Deathtouch: For each point of energy, the target takes 3d6 Hp damage. Armor does not protect against this.
Fatigue: Loss of S is equal to e; this affects any skill that uses S, forcing recalculation of their SVs. D=3 min.
Hinder: For each point of energy, the target's MV is reduced by 20 feet, to a maximum of four points spent. D=3 min.
Rooted Feet: The target's DB is reduced by 10, to a minimum of zero, and all non-ranged weapon skills are reduced by 10 as well. (The GM may wish to determine this based on weapon type; logically, a polearm might not suffer at all or even improve, while a rapier might be almost useless.) Every action of the target's requires a potency roll (potency 50) against S to keep the target from breaking free; if the target spends his action doing nothing but struggling to get free, the spell receives -25 to this roll.
Resist Pain: The target cannot be stunned, forced to lose initiative or parry, or affected by Spasm and similar spells. D=3 min.
Link: T2C=2 (40 sec)
Spellbreak: T2C=2 (40 sec)
Conceal Magic: All information spells are at -(10 x e).
Scryguard: Any information spells must make a potency roll against this spell's SV to succeed. T2C=4 (1.5 min)
Scrywall: T2C=1 (20 sec) per point of e.
Magic Resistance: Each point of e is worth a -5 to all spells cast on the target, and to all potency rolls against the target. D=3 min.
Spell Shield: A spell that makes a potency roll against this spell's SV to get in reduces this spell's effective SV by 5. D=2 min.
Counterspell: T2C=4 (2 min).
Dispel Magic: T2C=1 (30 sec) for each hex of radius of the area this is being cast on.
Pentagram: If a magical creature tries to force a pentagram, he makes a potency roll with his S+W against the pentagram's SV. T2C=1 (20 sec) per hex protected, which cannot be reduced by high skill.
Bless: All die rolls are modified by 5 per point of blessing. T2C=as stated.
Curse: As Bless above. T2C=2 (1 min) per point of cursing.
Drain Mana: Critical failure will reduce the caster's MIND AV by about four points. Don't forget the resulting loss of character points. (Ow!)
Note on Weapon and Armor Enchantments: A GURPS™ +1 translates into a Prism +5. For Armor enchantments, you should keep track of the total number of C or higher criticals scored on or through it, and when this reaches a number equal to twice its armor type, the enchantment ends.
Great Wish: Any failure will cost all involved in the casting 2 points each of I and W and do an Attack Spell Fumble at +50. A spell fumble will be disastrous; an extraordinary failure is both disastrous and instantly fatal.
Puissance: The equivalent of +1 is an enchantment to do an additional crit two levels lower (or at -40) than the actual rolled one; a +2 does a crit one level lower or -20; a +3 does an additional crit of the same level. Crits are of the same type. Against large and super-large creatures, a +1 is "magic", a +2 is "holy", and +3 is "mithril."
Quick-Draw: The weapon requires no pushback to be drawn and ready, if using the IRIS Initiative System.
Dancing Weapon: This has a skill of 75, an MV of 100, and a Delay of 30 plus its weapon speed.
Loyal Sword: The weapon, if thrown, returns with an MV of 150 per upkeep phase. If someone tries to catch it, they must make a potency roll with D+Q against a flat -50 to catch it.
Bane: Casting a Bane with a Puissance spell of +3 and spending an additional 100 points can make the weapon "of slaying" (i.e. it does "slaying" criticals to foes that meet the Bane criterion.
Fortify: See the Armor skill to see how an increase in DR translates into an increase in armor type. When you cast the Fortify spell, take double the amount of the plus you earned, and consider that the amount of e you spent on an imaginary Armor spell; the effect that Armor spell would have had is now permanent. Fortify can also be cast on objects to make them stronger; the GM will determine the effect thereof.
Deflect: This simply adds DB to armor or shields.
Lighten: In addition to cutting the weight, this enchantment also reduces the Minimum and Maximum Penalty values for using the armor by the same amount.
