pachristian
Mongoose
Idea: Some spells take a penalty to the chance to cast, but give a bonus to the power of the spell. Likewise, some spells have a bonus to cast, but suffer a penalty on the power and manipulation ability of the spell. This gives an expert sorcerer greater than normal power, while allowing an apprentice the ability to reliable cast less powerful spells.
How it works:
Normally, the chance to cast a spell is equal to the sorcerer's Grimoire skill. The power of the spell is 1/10 the sorcerer's grimoire skill. His manipulation limit is 1/10 his Manipulation skill.
A "Difficult" spell has a cast chance equal to Grimoire skill -20%, but a +1 Power.
A "Hard" spell is -40% to cast, but +2 to Power.
etc.
A "Simple" spell has a cast chance equal to Grimoire skill +20%, but -2 to Power and manipulation.
An "Easy" spell is +40% to cast, but -4 to Power and manipulation.
And so on.
Example
So Aziza the Seer has the Grimoire of the Night Eye at 113%. This normally gives her a Power of 12. She casts the Very Hard spell Spell Resistance on herself from this grimoire. Her cast chance is 73%, but the power of the spell is 14; it will block any spell of magnitude 14 or less.
Tamer the Apprentice has Grimoire of the Beginner at 32%. This normally gives him a Power of 4. He casts the Simple spell Spell Resistance on himself from this grimoire. His cast chance is 52%, but the spell power is only 2 (i.e. it will block any spell of magnitude 2 or less).
I can see four ways to distribute these variant spells:
(1) An entire Grimoire could either give a penalty to cast and boost to power, or a boost to cast with concurrent penalty to power.
(2) Individual spells within a grimoire could be identified as having a different difficulty. A grimoire then might have multiple versions of the same spell within it.
(3) A sorcerer could choose, when casting, whether or not to take a penalty, or a bonus, to their cast chance, with the power of the spell be adjusted accordingly.
(4) The boost or penalty could be randomly rolled at the time of casting, based on outside events such as astrologic sign, whims of the gods of chaos, and so on. This option is only viable for games which celebrate such randomness.
Comments or ideas anyone?
How it works:
Normally, the chance to cast a spell is equal to the sorcerer's Grimoire skill. The power of the spell is 1/10 the sorcerer's grimoire skill. His manipulation limit is 1/10 his Manipulation skill.
A "Difficult" spell has a cast chance equal to Grimoire skill -20%, but a +1 Power.
A "Hard" spell is -40% to cast, but +2 to Power.
etc.
A "Simple" spell has a cast chance equal to Grimoire skill +20%, but -2 to Power and manipulation.
An "Easy" spell is +40% to cast, but -4 to Power and manipulation.
And so on.
Example
So Aziza the Seer has the Grimoire of the Night Eye at 113%. This normally gives her a Power of 12. She casts the Very Hard spell Spell Resistance on herself from this grimoire. Her cast chance is 73%, but the power of the spell is 14; it will block any spell of magnitude 14 or less.
Tamer the Apprentice has Grimoire of the Beginner at 32%. This normally gives him a Power of 4. He casts the Simple spell Spell Resistance on himself from this grimoire. His cast chance is 52%, but the spell power is only 2 (i.e. it will block any spell of magnitude 2 or less).
I can see four ways to distribute these variant spells:
(1) An entire Grimoire could either give a penalty to cast and boost to power, or a boost to cast with concurrent penalty to power.
(2) Individual spells within a grimoire could be identified as having a different difficulty. A grimoire then might have multiple versions of the same spell within it.
(3) A sorcerer could choose, when casting, whether or not to take a penalty, or a bonus, to their cast chance, with the power of the spell be adjusted accordingly.
(4) The boost or penalty could be randomly rolled at the time of casting, based on outside events such as astrologic sign, whims of the gods of chaos, and so on. This option is only viable for games which celebrate such randomness.
Comments or ideas anyone?
