Turakian Age Magic/Special Ability Costs

[mallet]

Starting work on a new Turakian Age game (its been a few years since I last GM'd a Fantasy Hero game and that was more of a mini-campaign) and an "issue" I had thought of back then, but then forgotten, has come back to vex me, so any thoughts or input would be welcome. 

 

Given the magic system of the setting where the final cost of spells is divided by 3, do you think that Special Abilities of non-magic users should also get a similar discount? 

 

I do understand why spells get the discount, powers can be very/prohibitively expensive in a generally low point game like most fantasy hero campaigns, and by reducing the cost it allows the mages to have access to a wider variety of spells, but if a non-mage character wants to have a similar ability that is not magic based, should he/she be made to pay full cost?

 

By the rules spells only need to have the Spell Limitation (-1/2) with other limitations being advised, but still optional. And from what I can tell the Spell limitation really only amounts to being the same as the Requires a Skill Roll limitation, as in the Turakian Age magic system you need to have the magic skill that matches the arcana of the spell you are casting. Limitations like Gestures, Incantations, Focus, are all optional in the magic system, but even if they are "enforced", if a non-mage character put a similar amount of limitations (if not exactly the same ones) on their ability they still wouldn't "qualify" for the super reduced cost. 

 

So a very base and basic spell might be:

 

Spell of Spider Climb: Clinging (20 STR) (14 Active Points); Spell (-1/2); real cost: 9 (Cost to character: 3)

 

But is that so different from a Thief character who wants to be super skilled at climbing walls and buys the power:

 

Spider Climb: Clinging (20 STR) (14 Active Points); Requires A Climbing Roll  (-1/2); real Cost: 9

 

You could say that the mage had to spend 3 points to learn the proper magic skills to cast the spell, but the Thief had to spend 3 cp to learn climbing. Even if you factor in the action it takes the mage to cast the spell by making the Thieves ability have a Delayed Phase limitation (1/4), the thieve's ability still costs 8 points. 

 

So I dislike how the same ability is so much cheaper for a spell caster. And since hero doesn't have a "class" system that restricts any character from learning spells, I feel that this will eventually lead all players to start learning magic as a way of "keeping up" with the mages.

 

Has anyone else had this issue in long running Turakian Age campaigns? 

 

Any thoughts, pro or con, on giving a cost break to non-mages wanting to learn super skills or special abilities? 

 

 

[Cantriped]

I played a mage in a Turakian Age campaign once. My opinion is that the Magic System is highly unbalancing... In a typical party of warriors, one warrior-mage, and myself as a "pure mage", my character was both overpoweringly effective (I singlehandedly curb stomped several major encounters), and the first to die (I failed one magic skill roll and was turned into a pincushion during an ambush).

 

That being said...

If I recall Spell (-1/2) was taken in addition to Requires A Roll (which were hard requirements), Gestures, Incantations, Focus, etc (which were all optional). Spell was effectively just "Obvious To Detect Magic" bundled in with a bunch of limitations regarding what Maneuvers you could use with spells. The main balancing factor regarding the reduced cost of spells was that you had to buy multiple Magic Skills as gateways to particular schools of magic, and each had to be increased independently. It was all still rather expensive, and I would have much preferred to just have a Multipower of Attack/Utility Spells, a Defensive Spell, and a Movement Spell bought normally, and not been subject to the campaign setting's ridiculous restrictions.

 

The campaign I was in wasn't long running, or a high point-total game, but we had a fair range of roles represented. There were five or six of us I think, of them I was the only true mage, and there was one warrior mage (an Ulronai... bah). Even though I was a mage, I had no problem paying full price to start the game owning a Wonderous Item; an OIF Amulet which acted as an Endurance Reserve for all of my spells (many of which I put Increase END Cost on). None of the other character's had any "Super Skills" that I can recall, and the campaign setting itself doesn't present them as being a "thing". Besides myself and the warrior mage, everyone else had fairly mundane martial abilities (Combat Skills, Martial Arts, CSLs, WFs, etc...), and did just as well as the warrior mage when I didn't one-shot the boss monster.

 

I feel like you can go either way, and not unbalance the game too much. If you change the cost of powers across the board the game will be more fair, but character's will also all be much more powerful than their point value would otherwise indicate. Similarly you should be able to strip out the default magic system without negatively impacting the flavor of the campaign setting itself.