I need some help and suggestions

[DEFCON Clown]

Okay so I'm working on a new Fantasy world and I hae decided that I want people who use magic to have to draw power(END) from force lines before they can cast any spells, burning Stun is not an option. What would be the best way to simulate drawing and then using power from your surroundings? I was thinking of doing it like this;

All those who want to use magic get the following powers for free.

Draw Power End Reserve (0 END 0 REC)
Draw Power 1d6 Aid End Reserve (All goes to END), all effects completely fade at the end of Phase 12

From what I understand of Aid and how it will relate to End Reserve if they roll a 3 on their Aid die they will get 30 END in their End Reserve. Is that right?

Now I also want advanced magic users to be able to store the power they draw from the surroundings. I had thought of using End Reserve for this too but I can't think of a good way to do this. Any suggestions for this? Or any suggestions on a better way to do what I outlined above?

EDIT: It should be noted that they can't use their own personal END to power magic.

[Curufea]

I just use a skill roll with modifiers for distance. "Tap Leyline" I call it.
If they succeed by too much, they also run the risk of overpowering the spell. For which I have the skill "Magic Control".

http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/WS:Casting_Spells

[Hugh Neilson]

From what I understand of Aid and how it will relate to End Reserve if they roll a 3 on their Aid die they will get 30 END in their End Reserve. Is that right?

I believe the technical rule is that END in an END reserve is treated as normal END for purposes of adjustment powers, so this would be 6 END. That said, you're giving it to them for free, so there's no reason the ability you give them for free can't provide END in the reserve at 10:1 instead of 2:1.

You should consider how other Adjustment powers will impact the battery, though. Would a Transfer move END in a 10:1 ratio, or a Drain deduct it that fast? I'd stick with adjustment powers at a 2:1 ratio to avoid overpowering them when used in this context.

Now I also want advanced magic users to be able to store the power they draw from the surroundings. I had thought of using End Reserve for this too but I can't think of a good way to do this. Any suggestions for this? Or any suggestions on a better way to do what I outlined above?

Well, the first step is buying some END for their reserve so it will stick around. They could buy REC that's only usable when they're in appropriate range of a Ley line. [That limitation may also belong on that free Aid power.] Alternatively, the recovery could use Healing rather than REC if you want them to have to actively recharge their batteries.

[Rapier]

I've done similar things a time or two. I've just purchased an END Reserve and given it either zero or about 10 END in the Reserve (on a 35 or 40 END Total). You purchase the REC with RSR (some type of Draw Power skill), Extra Time and Requires Access to Ley Line.

It's a little bit smoother this way.

[Erkenfresh]

I'm not sure if I understand your intent here. Are you wanting the mages to have to draw power on the turn which they plan to cast the spell? As written, the Aid would be a half-phase action which basically means all your END powered spells would require two half-phase actions, one to draw the power in and one to cast.

In other words, you could simply put the Extra Time, Full Phase limitation on all the spells and end up with the same end effect.

So, the question about advanced mages being able to store the energy for later? This is simply a way to buy off the Extra Time limitation. You could do this as a Naked Power Advantage, figuring out how many points are normally saved by the Extra Time limitation. So, if most spells are 60 AP and the limitation is -1/2 (I think it is), then you save 20 points which should then be the cost of your "advanced mage training to store energy for later".

[mayapuppies]

I really like this idea. How would you represent this same effect but in addition, the drawing of magic from the surrounding area also damages the area (including peeps)? Side Effect?

[Robyn]

I really like this idea. How would you represent this same effect but in addition, the drawing of magic from the surrounding area also damages the area (including peeps)? Side Effect?

Perhaps a Transfer, only on scenic flora, Body to END reserve?

[Thia Halmades]

There are a lot of directions in general that this can go, from the "best" way to simulate the draw, to the best way to simulate storage, and so on. So.

First, yes, you would buy an END Battery normally; it would have a heavily defined REC of: 0. It doesn't recover. However, the Battery is linked to the power, Transfer. The battery doesn't recover, but the Transfer isn't concerned about that. Now here's the problem using RAW to do this.

First, you are in fact talking about moving a thing (END, basically) from one place, to you. The only power that does this is, in fact, Transfer. Drain simply makes it go away, and AID sort of defeats the purpose. The difficult bit is that it's 15 points for one die of Transfer, AND, more amusing, like many powers of the same type, you can only Transfer up to max total of dice you have (i.e., 4d6 is 60 points and allows for a 24 point Transfer).

Buying AID to do this doesn't create as many problems, but requires the Hand Wave, since you're effectively saying that the Ley Line is a special effect of Aid, Self Only (-1/2), Only When in Presence of a Ley Line (-1/4), Delayed Fade Rate (Handwave, +2, points only fade upon use) or you're going to have casters using their Draw ability every turn instead of slinging spells.

If you're going to do that, then I strongly suggest building in the limits for the amount of Aid/Transfer you want people to have, make them aware of the max they can get in their pool, and then start fiddling with spells and such. Building a magic system is a massive undertaking - I'm afraid if you really want the proper look & feel, building this piece is only the beginning.