Spell Circle

[teh bunneh]

For my fantasy game, I'm trying to come up with a mechanic for a "Spell Circle." In a Spell Circle, a group of wizards stand in a circle around a "Circle Leader" (generally the mightiest of them). Each wizard casts his most powerful spell, but the spell does not actually take effect -- instead, the energy of the spell goes to make the Circle Leader more powerful for a short period of time (typically 1 day to 1 week).

In my campaign, spells are purchased individually as part of a Multipower. All spells have the Gestures, Incantations, Focus, and Skill Roll limitations. All wizards can participate in a Spell Circle; no one has to pay points to do so.

My thought is to make the Spell Circle an Aid to the Circle Leader's Multipower, with a delayed fade rate. That's pretty straightforward. But the Spell Circle is most effective if it's made up of skilled wizards casting their most powerful spells, rather than barely-competent apprentices casting cantrips; so how do y'all recommend I represent this in game terms?

Some thoughts would be appreciated!

Bill.

[ghost-angel]

You could take the active points of the Spell being cast as part of the circle and convert that to Active Points of an AID to the leaders MultiPower.

Add up all the AP of the spells being cast and then "create" the Aid that will be applied and then use that.

ex:
Four wizards are in a circle to cast on a fifth wizard, one casts a 60AP spell, another a 40, the other two 35 AP spells. They add up to 170 Active Points. Which then turns to a 6D6 Aid that fades at 5Points/Week.

Most of this concept is Plot Device unless you had each wizard build a spell specifically to add onto another's Mulitpower pool.

[JmOz]

Or make each wizard take an Aid in there MP. You need to figure out how you want to handle the max effect rule however in this situation...

[Dust Raven]

This is a powerful, and potentially unbalancing rule. Personally, I'd either make all wizards buy the Aid as part of their Multipower (and waive the maximum effect, but the Aid only gets one roll, similar to Healing), or Plot Device it to say that the wizards granting power to their circle leader lose that much magic until their leader uses it. That will cut down on wizards running around granting ultimate power to each other left and right (sure it requires a complex ritual to do it, but the effects lasts for up to a week). Imagine of a group of six wizards all took an afternoon off to take turn being circle leader...

I'm sure it wouldn't really work that way, but unless you work in a reason why, some munchkin might try it.

[teh bunneh]

This is a powerful, and potentially unbalancing rule. Personally, I'd either make all wizards buy the Aid as part of their Multipower (and waive the maximum effect, but the Aid only gets one roll, similar to Healing), or Plot Device it to say that the wizards granting power to their circle leader lose that much magic until their leader uses it. That will cut down on wizards running around granting ultimate power to each other left and right (sure it requires a complex ritual to do it, but the effects lasts for up to a week). Imagine of a group of six wizards all took an afternoon off to take turn being circle leader...

I don't think it will work this way. I'm putting Extra Time (6 hours), Concentrate (0 DCV throughout), and Ritual (3 participants minimum) limitations on it, just to begin with... so it's not something that a couple of guys can say, "we're going out exploring in an hour, let's use a Spell Circle to juice ourselves up." In my campaign, the Spell Circle is used to power-up before particularly arduous ritual castings or magic item creation.

Also, my gaming group is made up of a great group of role-players... all of whom know I'll slap 'em silly if they try that kind of crud.

But thanx for the advice! It's good to keep these things in perspective.

Bill.

[Fenixcrest]

The Magic Circle can be built as a magical "computer", with a big-ass Absorb against the SFX magic. When it absorbs that magic, the points go to boost the amount of the absorb, and to also to power up a gigantic Aid. That Aid then gets used on the Circle Leader.

That's how I'd do it, if we're not going plot-device mode.

[Blue Jogger]

I would do it the other way around.

Have the "Circle Leader" buy a Perk: Circle Leader, the perk costs one-fifth the amount that he can add to his spells. To add 50 active points, cost 10 points. (GM must decide what is a reasonable upper limit.)

To get the full benefit, this also requires a suitable circle. The GM is final say so on whether a circle is big enough and whether the spells are powerful enough to assist the Circle Leader and how long the effects last.

[Dust Raven]

I would do it the other way around.

Have the "Circle Leader" buy a Perk: Circle Leader, the perk costs one-fifth the amount that he can add to his spells. To add 50 active points, cost 10 points. (GM must decide what is a reasonable upper limit.)

To get the full benefit, this also requires a suitable circle. The GM is final say so on whether a circle is big enough and whether the spells are powerful enough to assist the Circle Leader and how long the effects last.

The only think I wouldn't like about using a Perk is determining how you gain and lose it. Every other Perk has a method of gaining it and losing it. Being Circle Leader seems more arbitrary; it's the guy at the head of the circle. Anyone can do it.

Unless becoming Circle Leaders requires some rite and initiation and can somehow be revoked, I just don't see as a Perk.

[Dust Raven]

I don't think it will work this way. I'm putting Extra Time (6 hours), Concentrate (0 DCV throughout), and Ritual (3 participants minimum) limitations on it, just to begin with... so it's not something that a couple of guys can say, "we're going out exploring in an hour, let's use a Spell Circle to juice ourselves up." In my campaign, the Spell Circle is used to power-up before particularly arduous ritual castings or magic item creation.

Also, my gaming group is made up of a great group of role-players... all of whom know I'll slap 'em silly if they try that kind of crud.

But thanx for the advice! It's good to keep these things in perspective.

Bill.

That would work. But are you actually writing it up as a construct? Who pays for it? Is it linked to some place or organization, or is it just something wizards can do?

Personally, I think it would be fair to somehow charge the characters for this ability. You don't see Fighters getting all rialed up before a bit fight (well, you do see that I guess) and suddenly have higher STR and sharper swords. The only thing that comes close is a berserker, and they pay points for that.

Just another slot in the Multipower would do it, and if it's at the max AP of the MP you've got your mechanics covered.

[Blue Jogger]

Unless becoming Circle Leaders requires some rite and initiation and can somehow be revoked, I just don't see as a Perk.

I'll agree. If it's more like, Harry gets to be Leader because we need to boost one of his spells, but we could have boosted Ron if one of his spells needs boosting then I wouldn't use the Perk model unless both Harry and Ron was Circle Leaders.