In reply to Meranique de Beauchampierre (msg # 19):

Yes, I do this for games I play in. I used to write up everything in Google documents for games I GM in and then post them to RPOL, but posting them directly to the site helps me keep focused on the game.

Balahal is a Dunmer Guar herder with some basic farming and rural living skills.

I would describe him as a "utility" character currently, a smattering of useful skills but not really a specialist at this point.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:09, Mon 01 Aug 2022.

Meranique doesn't look too out of the ordinary at first glance; she's a conjurer, enchanter, and mystic with a side order of being really good at tailoring. It's only when you see what she does with these innocent-sounding skills that you realize what a piece of work she is. Rampaging guar needs to be immobilized? Conjure Daedric Straitjacket! Actually that Meran's answer to most problems.

Also, skooma. It's the nectar of creativity, don't you know~! Kitties like it too. Don't you kitty? Kitty kitty kitty~!

Fa'adiqq is a Khajiit, so... stealth and cat burglary and spying.  This one is trying not to play into the stereotype but there is only so much Fa'adiqq can do when they have a Stealth of 15 and a Climbing of 18 for only 1 point each... and then a small smattering of purely utility magic, because, thumbs.

Fa'adiqq might also end up either with a few extra Languages or Language spells, because that is very useful acquiring all the secrets.

In reply to Smitty (msg # 17):

Everyone else should have some of the racial stuff written down as well, if only for their characters to help with this. I had some of their info written down on paper.

Breton 41 points total
IQ 11 [20], Magery 0 [5], Damage Resistance: Magic (Destruction and Mind Control) 2 [6], Talent: Breton Magic (Alchemy, Herb Lore, Enchantment, Thaumatology, ?) [5]

Bosmer 77 points total
IQ 11 [20], DX 11 [20], Lifespan 1 [2], Resistance to Disease +8 [5], Speak to Animals [25], Talent: Woodborn (Stealth, Archery, ?, ?, ?) [5]

Argonian 82 points (97-15)
IQ 11 [20], DX 11 [20], some sort of cold weakness, don't remember Talent

Khajiit 66 points total (91-25)
DX 12 [40]

Dunmer 78 points total (88-10)
Magery 1, bonuses to destruction magic and sword, resistance to fire, I think their 10 point disadvantage was something like arrogance

For character builds, anyone have a support/buffing/healing type mage then?

Rayna is also a Breton, and a Mage. Though I'm planning to dip around in several schools, she will have an investment in Restoration, as well as Alchemy. So support-ish healer is a good role for her. :)

In reply to Smitty (msg # 25):

This is super helpful for me, Smitty! Thank you!

Sure thing!
I'm assuming that the players with Khajiit and Dunmer can help with those more.

Dunmer

IQ 11 [20]
DX 11 [20]

Damage Resistance 3 (Fire) [9]
Extended Lifespan 1 [2]
Magery 1 [15]
Talent - +2 (Bow) [4]
Talent - +2 (Broadsword) [4]
Talent - +2 (Destruction School) [4]

No Sense of Humor [-10]

I've adjusted some traits. I removed Speak With Animals from the Bosmer and replaced it with a Command Creature spell.

For characters with the Atronach birthsign, they can only recharge the magicka they use for spellcasting by absorbing it. Say a wizard with Atronach casts a spell and uses 3 ER and 1 FP. The ER will not recharge without absorbing it. The FP will recharge, but it may not be used for spellcasting until the wizard absorbs FP equal to what has been used before. I'll keep track of this on the character sheet.

I just finished with the Bosmer template. I still have four to go, and then I'll turn my attention to the character sheets that are still in progress. Thanks for your patience, everyone!

I was thinking that a list of spells by college would be helpful, so starting to make one here.

https://docs.google.com/spread...nBw/edit?usp=sharing

Nice! Thanks, Smitty. I might convert everything to a wiki at some point.

I'm used to using templates so it's taking a bit of work to figure out how to spend points lol.

Btw, any reason you choose smitty as my name? Was that an existing account or something?

This one understands that pain.  Fa'adiqq is currently paring down Skills, deciding what is important enough for 1 point and what can be defaulted, and what must have more than 1 point.  It is a daunting task, Fa'adiqq may end up unsatisfied...

Ok, I'm not sure how to figure out required levels of magery or whatever for spells with the modifications for this game. Let's take Sandstorm, which I don't know what college it would be in either--it's Druidic PI4, or wizard magery 0 plus some spell prereqs. What level of magery or college skill do you have to have to take it?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:21, Wed 03 Aug 2022.

Sandstorm might be either Destruction (it's an "elemental air/earth" damaging attack spell) or Conjuration (arguments could be made that it's "summoning in a sandstorm from somewhere").  The only requirement to cast it is that you take the required Path (and maybe Magery 1, Create Earth has Magery 1 as a prereq - Magery 0 is not required to cast spells in this game, it's High Mana).

So let's say bossman rules it's a Destruction Spell (that's where my money would go FWIW), it has 8 Spell prerequisites so unless you take it as a Technique and raise it, it will be -8 to your Destruction Path Skill to cast it (if it's Destruction).

Because we're usign the Ritual Magic system, you don;t have to learn individual spells, just the 'core' Path Skill, then all the Path Spells are defaults from it.

Now I don't know if Mad Mick is using the Simple or Complicated "Other Prerequisites" form, so you'll have to wait for him to answer that part.  Simple form says if you don't have a non-Spell prerequisite (in the case of Sandstorm that's Magery 1) you cannot cast the spell.  Complicated says for every full 10 points of missing non-Spell prerequisites, it's an additional -1 to cast (in this case not having Magery would add a further -1 to cast Sandstorm).

There are reasons for both forms, Simple is simpler, Complicated means anyone can try to cast any spell.  Complicated fits Elder Scrolls better than Simple... though... it will mean some spells get complicated (but this is PbP, so we've got time for figuring out the complex).


There is no Power Investiture available to PCs at this time as I understand it.

I thought he said that the only prereq to spells is having the college skill the spell is under, like Destruction 1 to be able to have anything that is Magery/PI/CI 1. I don't understand all that stuff about negatives to casting. Druid and cleric spells don't even have prereqs outside of investiture so that's not even balanced.

Illusion is the other school I'm thinking, since it seems to be the debuff/control group. Unless Alteration can include offensive spells.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:56, Wed 03 Aug 2022.

All spells (that are allowed) are defaults from a Path.  You don't learn a spell separately, unless you want to as a Technique.


There are no "Druid/Cleric" spells in this game, just like in Basic Magic, it's all just magic, and since it's High Mana, everyone can learn Paths and cast spells.

And I just double checked the Char Gen thread adn Mad Mick has already answered teh Magery question:
"Nirn is a High Mana world. Anyone can learn any spell, provided that they have a suitable teacher. Normal prerequisites apply, including Magery for more difficult spells."

So you'll need Magery 1 to cast Sandstorm, unless Mad Mick changes this.  (And I might need a few extra languages for Comprehend Languages.)


"Debuff/control" has a lot of meanings.  It's probably simpler to list the spells you want in and ask the GM what Path's they're in.  I've done that for a a few already (like Mind Reading).

Why are you "unsatisfied" Fa'adiqq?

In reply to Fa'adiqq The Unsatisfied (msg # 39):


Ok, so spells that are listed as druidic or clerical can still be used, but what requirements to they have instead of investiture? They don't have paths of prereqs like wizard spells. Just the negatives from the investiture level applied to casting I guess, is that balanced vs wizard spells?

I think seeing a built character with magic in it would help to see how points are used.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:44, Wed 03 Aug 2022.

A lot to answer here! I love it!

Smitty, I like to preserve anonymity in my games. I chose "Smitty" for you since Telchar is a famous Noldor smith who forged Narsil, Elendil's sword that eventually got passed down to Aragorn.

For spells, let me know what you want to take.

Fa'adiqq has the right of it.

We're using a modified form of Ritual Magic. Each magic school is a Very Hard skill. Spells default to their college as Hard techniques minus their prerequisite counts. In the back of GURPS Magic, there's a list of spells with a number for their prerequisties. Fireball, for instance, has 3 prerequisites, so it defaults to the Destruction school -3.

Also, to cast a spell, a wizard has to know it. Spending 1 pt buys that spell at the default level. The highest a spell can be is the School level + Magery level.

We're using the simple form of the prerequisites Fa'adiqq is referring to. Any character can learn any spell, but to cast it, they'll need the appropriate Magery required. For Fireball, that's Magery 1.

Fa'adiqq is correct. There's no Power Investiture. Priests would have Clerical Rank, but they have no Power Investiture, and they would cast spells as any other mage would.

For druidic and clerical spells, are you going off spell lists from Dungeon Fantasy, perhaps? I'm mainly using GURPS Magic. I'd be open to using other magic systems, much as a mod might introduce a new way of casting.

Here's a sample Healer. (Please let me know if I'm getting the math wrong here. Also, I'd appreciate feedback on whether this is broken compared to default GURPS Magic.)

IQ 12 [40]
Magery 3 [35]


Skill name         Type  Level  Points

Restoration school (VH)  IQ     [8] - 16*

*(Includes +3 from Magery 3)


Spells             Type  Pts. Level   Prerequites (Count)

Minor Healing      (H)    1    14      (2)
Major Healing      (H)    1    13      Magery 1 (3)
Great Healing      (H)    1    12      Magery 3 (4)


Minor Healing defaults to Restoration-2. A mage can spend 1 point to buy Minor Healing at default or find a teacher in play to learn the spell.

For extra points, rename the spell to an Elder Scrolls counterpart.

Minor Healing = Balyna's Soothing Balm
Major Healing = Balyna's Efficacious Balm
Great Healing = Balyna's Perfect Balm
(Though yes, those spells are to heal self.

In my experience, roleplaying games are at their most fun when they're at least a little bit broken. So don't sweat it!
This message was last edited by the player at 17:55, Wed 03 Aug 2022.

Too true! A GM called WraithChild ran a GURPS arena game once where one of the goals was to see how much the players could break the system. I think there was one hobgoblin beast of a fighter who managed to do four attacks in one turn by the end.\

I had a question about languages. Yes, there are other languages available, but most won't come up unless the PCs leave Morrowind for another province. I'll list the other monster languages that are available, but most of those monsters will be present in other provinces. I'll note where each monster can be found in the languages section.

I'll make a few more notes about languages in that post as well.

Like Mad Mick said, we're using GURPS Basic or GURPS Magic (which has a Spell List with prereq counts).  GURPS Thaumatology also has a spell listing with a prereq count.

And then Nathan's Page (https://sites.google.com/site/...shomepage/Home/gurps) has a google doc (https://docs.google.com/viewer...MzMjc2MzQ2YmI5MWJhYw) with the spells sorted by prereq count, and lastly Rev. PKitty (Jason Levine) made the age old posts of prereq counts ripped from GCA in the GURPS forums (http://forums.sjgames.com/show...=1064297#post1064297).




No more broken than GURPS Magic (aka "vanilla" magic or as I call it "Spells as Skills").