Turakian Age Questions

[tomasina]

I just got my books today and decided to tear into The Turakian Age, as it seems that this would be the easiest way to run an adventure (since the the world/rules are already designed for me).

After reading it for the last hour or so... my head is spinning! That book has a TON of information in it. I finally decided to just try and soak up the primary points... and then learn the rest as it is needed (I am hoping that this rule of thumb will help me remain sane in the long-run).

I was ecspecially interested in how the Turakian Age handled magic use... and was very excited to get to that section. While there was some cool stuff in that section, I was left with some blaring questions that I am sure you will all know the answers to. So, without further adue, here are some of my questions:

In creating a magic user, a character must take the Power skill in the desired arcana (which makes complete sense to me). Thus if a spellcaster really wants to cast a certain spell... they should make sure that they have the power skill in that school of arcana. I am assuming that you do not have a power skill in a certain arcana, you can not cast spells from the school... is this correct?
While Wizards, Mages, etc. all have a number of schools, clerics and paladins (if I understand it correctly) only use a single power skill called Faith when casting spells. It seems that this would give more power to a cleric or paladin (as compared to an arcane caster) since they can alot all of their points in a single power skill. Am I understanding this correctly? I feel like I am missing a balance factor.
There are a number of deity based spells in the back of the book... can you only cast these spells if you follow that particular deity... or do you need to a take a Faith power skill specific to that deity?
The spells in the book have a Total Cost and a Final Cost to Caster - where the second is cheaper. I am assuming that the Final Cost is what it costs to actually by the Power... but I do not understand why there is a difference in the costs. What is this difference?
It mentions that casters can buy END reserves. Does this apply to both arcane and divine casters? And where can I find the rules on how to purchase an END reserve (as well as find out what this exactly is).Thanks again to eveyone, I really appreciate the help!

[Admiral C]

I'm suprised no one got to you first about these. I'm a little fuzzy on a few of these but I'll try my best.

1. Correct. No power skill, no casting any spell that the Requires a Skill Roll limitation is on. However spells without this limitation, typical called the masters version have no such skill roll requirement and hence don't need the skill. To get the right cost for a masters version just recalculate the power without the Requires a skill roll limitation. For example if a wizard with fire arcana and a Power (Fire Magic) skill as well wanted one Earth arcana spell he could buy a more expensive masters version that didn't require a skill roll instead of buying a 'another' Power skill just to cast one spell. Masters version are an optional way of buying a spell so you need to check with you GM, if your not the GM that is.

A little something tells me that you might be asking if the Power skills themselves cast spells and they don't. They allow you to buy a Power/Spell bought seperately.

1b. If you don't, I highly recommend buying at least the first Hero System Grimoire, it's a massive time saver.

2. Yeah, it's just Power (Faith) and also the focus is usually their Holy Symbol and not weird components or expensive gems. As for balance consider this, most of those spells entail the limitation Only for the Gods or their Purposes or somesuch. That entails taking a Psychological Limitation like Devoted to the Gods and their Purposes which is 15-25 points, or even Watched by Church , something wizards don't have to do. Priests and Paladins are part of elaborate social orders that entail spending points on perks such as Clerical Investment such as titles and rank. Paladins have it harder too since they have to spread their points around for combat abilities as well.

3. I think either rename the ability for the god you are using if it's suitibly generic or you have to follow that god are some god along those lines. Can't worhsip Vabanak and take Scarlets Bane.

4. In the Grimoire and maybe somewhere in the Turakian Age book it says that spells have their final cost divided by three as long as it wasn't some sort of persistant defense. The divisor of three is simply imposed for game balance reasons. Those of us who played 4th Ed Fantasy Hero remember spells with costs in the 14-22 range that really made it hard to play a wizard. Note that the divisor of three is applied after the cost is finalized after limitations. It is not a -3 Limitation tacked on with the rest of the limitations to determine the final cost.

5. I don't recall seeing this but you could be right. I would assume you would just use the core END Reserve costs in the 5ER. If you wanted to put limitations on it like "only when meditating" or "only near a fire", you'd put them on the REC part of the Reserve and not the END since the END portion is cheap enough.

Hope that helps. Though someone has probably beaten me to the answers.

[tomasina]

Thanks for the answers, I appreciate the help!


I would assume you would just use the core END Reserve costs in the 5ER

I must have totally missed this in the core book... I will go and look it up.

Thanks,

Tom

-- Update --

I found the Energy Reserve Power. I had been looking in Sidekick (it is easier to maneuver through) and I do not think it is in there (at least I couldn't find it). I found it easilly in the main 5ER book. Thanks again!

[tancred]

Tomasina, good luck with your game.
I'm running the Turakian Age right now, and having a blast with it.

I second the call to get at least the first Fantasy Hero Grimoire; it contains the vast majority of the spells that you will want to use.
It also contains some magic items, which will be helpful. If you want a LOT of magic items, order the Enchanted Items book; it has a ton of them, all designed specifically for the setting.

I had forgotten the bit about divine casters only having to buy a single Power Skill; we haven't used any divine casters yet.
That does sound like a bit of a balance issue, since arcane casters have to spend so many points on Power Skills if they want to be proficient at multiple arcana. I will clearly need to look at that further.

One thing I've allowed in my game is to allow my (so far, one-and-only) PC caster to use the Expert Skill Enhancer (from Dark Champions) on his Power Skills. That gives him a break of 1 point each off the cost of them. Not a huge savings, but it does add up.

And yes, it is a little tricky to get used to the divide by 3 factor, as the costs shown in the books DON'T include that.
If you're doing the spells up in Hero Designer, you can turn on the option for Cost Multipliers and put in 0.3333333 as the Multiplier and it will calculate the cost correctly for you.
(If you bought the Turakian Age HD pack, it has that already entered for the spells.)

[ghost-angel]

Short Form:

1. yes.
2. Correct, but they must act in accordance with their Deities general temperament, meaning some spells may be denied them as they annoy one Deity or another with their casting.
3. Since TA Faith puts all the Deities under one church (there are no specific Deity Churches) any Faith Based Spell may be cast by any Cleric or Paladin.

The biggest thing about Turakian Age Faith is that it's not like Classic D&D Faith. You don't have Paladin's of God X warring against Paladin's of God Y. You only have Paladin's Of The Church. Any given person of Faith may lean one way or another (prefer to invoke certain Deities), but that's not the standard method.

4. Turakian Age spells have their cost divided by 3 to determine the Character Cost.
5. It applies to any Caster.

[Spyritwind]

Interesting. I haven't bought any of the world books yet for fantasy hero. Does Steve implement the /3 for all the fantasy hero campain worlds or just this one? I must admit I was tempted to just let people make multipowers. The initial cost would be high, but each spell after that would be cheap. I suppose that wouldn't work very well for the character that wanted just a spell or two though.

[Steve Long]

Does Steve implement the /3 for all the fantasy hero campain worlds or just this one?

Just that one. Each of our other major Fantasy settings -- The Valdorian Age, The Atlantean Age, Tuala Morn -- has its own full magic system specifically tailored to it. For that matter, three of the four mini-settings in Urban Fantasy Hero have their own full magic systems as well. So there are plenty of options out there for you to choose from. ;)

[Spyritwind]

I know I'm not one of the all time poster champions on here (used to post on here years ago, but have gotten away from pen & paper rpg's for a bit and some what from the hero system :( too many dnd players), but there is some thing very kewl about the top dog of the company responding to posts :D

I have a lot of catching up to do on some of the new material (have about 7 books since 5red) and have some deciding to do; just can't quite afford it all. I'm also trying to encourage a friend of mine to run fantasy hero and I'd most likely help him out with the mechanics. The whole idea may wait until 9th comes out since he doesn't even have 5red yet. He still has the BBB. NEway ... I'm rambling.

Most of all; ty for keeping Hero alive all these years. Hopefully it will grow and become even more popular again. I'll try to help nudge that along again myself.