I wish to start setting where Common Magic is not available for free but particular characters would have opportunity to buy it as Advanced Skill (like rulebook suggests at page 23). Question is, with how many spells that characters will start? Rule at page 33 is says there is 6 points for starting spells but only when Common Magic is freely available, so should i use this rule in my case too?
Creating character with Common Magic as Advanced Skill
- Thread starter jesussan
- Start date
Bifford
Banded Mongoose
Well, personally I would do it as the GM's discretion but also I would base it on two things:
1. Their Age and therefore wisdom, and;
2. How long they had been studying "Common" magic.
So if your character starts the game at age 16 he may have been learning common magic for only 3 or 4 years, and therefore can only be expected to know the rudimentary basics - maybe two easy spells.
But if your character is 19 or 20 then they may have had 6 or 7 years learning and therefore know 2 or 3 mid level spells and maybe one harder one, along with the basic ones s/he'd learnt.
Taking into account point 1, you should pull this level up or down depending on their wisdom/pow. So a lad or lass with little wisdom and 9 or 10 pow would learn less than someone with greater wisdom and 13 or 14 pow.
At the end of the day it is at your discretion what you let them have. It also depends in part as to who their teacher is, how dedicated is the training (part time/full time/casual etc) and how much effort is put in.
I hope that helps you somewhat
Sam / Bifford
1. Their Age and therefore wisdom, and;
2. How long they had been studying "Common" magic.
So if your character starts the game at age 16 he may have been learning common magic for only 3 or 4 years, and therefore can only be expected to know the rudimentary basics - maybe two easy spells.
But if your character is 19 or 20 then they may have had 6 or 7 years learning and therefore know 2 or 3 mid level spells and maybe one harder one, along with the basic ones s/he'd learnt.
Taking into account point 1, you should pull this level up or down depending on their wisdom/pow. So a lad or lass with little wisdom and 9 or 10 pow would learn less than someone with greater wisdom and 13 or 14 pow.
At the end of the day it is at your discretion what you let them have. It also depends in part as to who their teacher is, how dedicated is the training (part time/full time/casual etc) and how much effort is put in.
I hope that helps you somewhat
Sam / Bifford
medievaladventures
Banded Mongoose
If it helps, RQ6 has it set up so that characters that start with magic know a number of spells equal to 1/20 (p. 177) of the starting skill value. E.g. 60% would be 3 spells. However, it also states in the Folk Magic (Common Magic) section (p. 184) to use 1/10 instead of the 1/20 for characters who learn Folk Magic as part of their career (profession) and to use 1/20 if it's not part of their career. The hitch is that in RQ6 Folk Magic doesn't have levels of magnitude for its spells. Maybe # of spells could equal "points" to spend.
Xxyyllyyxxyyrr
Mongoose
I'm taking the same approach (limited access, advanced skill). I have my players roll 2d10 and add them up. Subtract this amount from their POW. If the result is negative, no starting common magic. If positive, divide by 2 to determine the amount of 'Magnitude's' they start with to determine common magic. Then they roll on a Common Magic chart to determine the first spell, choose the second (if they have Magnitude left), roll for the third, choose the fourth, etc. For progressive spells players can decide what level of magnitude they want in it up to a max of POW/6 (i.e. magnitude 1,2 or 3).
For example, Alaric has POW 16 and rolls 2d10 getting 5 and 4 for a total of 9. POW of 16 - roll of 9 nets 7, which is divided by 2 resulting in 4 magnitudes. He rolls on the chart and gets Abacus (magnitude 1). That leaves him 3 magnitudes left. He then chooses his second spell, taking Bandit's Cloak (progressive). He can take it at up to magnitude level 3 (POW 16 / 6 = 2.67 rounded to 3). He takes it at magnitude 2 leaving him 1 magnitude left. He rolls again and gets Befuddle (magnitude 2) - as this is more than the number of magnitudes left he cannot take it. He then chooses Countermagic as his last spell and gets it at 1 as that's all the magnitudes he has left.
In determining spells I always alternate between roll and choice so that if, as in the example above, the roll results in a spell which has a higher magnitude than what's left, the player can't take it but his/her next spell is a choice.
This approach rewards higher POW, provides some flexibility for players but also limits the number of initialc ommon magic spells available. The max you could get, assuming an 18 POW and a snake eyes roll of 1+1=2 would be 8. (POW 18 - Roll 2 = 16 / 2 = 8).
X
For example, Alaric has POW 16 and rolls 2d10 getting 5 and 4 for a total of 9. POW of 16 - roll of 9 nets 7, which is divided by 2 resulting in 4 magnitudes. He rolls on the chart and gets Abacus (magnitude 1). That leaves him 3 magnitudes left. He then chooses his second spell, taking Bandit's Cloak (progressive). He can take it at up to magnitude level 3 (POW 16 / 6 = 2.67 rounded to 3). He takes it at magnitude 2 leaving him 1 magnitude left. He rolls again and gets Befuddle (magnitude 2) - as this is more than the number of magnitudes left he cannot take it. He then chooses Countermagic as his last spell and gets it at 1 as that's all the magnitudes he has left.
In determining spells I always alternate between roll and choice so that if, as in the example above, the roll results in a spell which has a higher magnitude than what's left, the player can't take it but his/her next spell is a choice.
This approach rewards higher POW, provides some flexibility for players but also limits the number of initialc ommon magic spells available. The max you could get, assuming an 18 POW and a snake eyes roll of 1+1=2 would be 8. (POW 18 - Roll 2 = 16 / 2 = 8).
X
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