Dag Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Hey guys, just joined up today, I've been using the hero system for a good while though. I have a question, I've brewed up a urban fantasy campaign, where magic exists but isn't too powerful, but I've run into a small snag. How do I make magic useful but not too powerful? I've been trying to figure it out, but to no avail. I don't want magic to be world changing in this campaign but I also don't want it to be so weak that no one actually uses it. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. What do you want it to actually do? First thought is that magic might be limited to variations on change enviroment. Or a VPP equal to the character's EGO, effects stronger than 2d6 Luck very rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. Hey guys, just joined up today, I've been using the hero system for a good while though. I have a question, I've brewed up a urban fantasy campaign, where magic exists but isn't too powerful, but I've run into a small snag. How do I make magic useful but not too powerful? I've been trying to figure it out, but to no avail. I don't want magic to be world changing in this campaign but I also don't want it to be so weak that no one actually uses it. Any suggestions? Set up your magic system so that, whatever it is the characters do, a character can, for a small amount of points, do approximately as much as a character using mundane methods. So, if you have some characters who carry firearms, allow spells to do approximately as much damage as a firearm, with similar modifiers (thus, a damage causing spell might have, say, eight charges per day, require an OAF to cast, etc.). A communication spell will be about as useful as a radio headset or cellular phone. And so on. This way, wizards will feel about as useful as non-wizards, and vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. Enforce caps, either AP or RC, or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. Require all magic to have inobvious/invisible effects. That includes mind control, which would require that the caster get a level of effect that would leave the target unaware of what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. Require all magic to have inobvious/invisible effects. That includes mind control' date=' which would require that the caster get a level of effect that would leave the target unaware of what happened.[/quote'] Yeah, I did that in the Demon Hunter: FBI setting years ago. It works pretty well as an effective overhead cost, particularly in conjunction with caps. On the other hand it makes Mental Powers very attractive which may or may not be a good thing for a particular setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. Don't overlook all the mundane effects that magic can apply to, besides combat: Cosmetic and Minor Transforms to mend tools, dishes and clothes, or purify water or food; Change Environment to clean areas or bring rain for crops; Detects to find game, medicinal herbs, or metals; Images to create light, hide stuff, or provide entertainment; low-strength Telekinesis to help with lifting, or picking pockets at a distance; low-powered Mind Control to keep domestic animals in line; and so on All of these things can be made very cheap to buy, and add a lot of utility to magic wielders without making them combat monsters. In a world with real magic, these sorts of spells would probably be more common than grand enchantments, being what most people would want to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dag Posted August 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. Alright, that sounds good, making magic have more than just combat applications and also having it have the same effect as normal mundane things. Thanks a bunch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monster Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. A whole lot of useful things can be done with TK, Fine Manipulation, Invisible Power - even at very low STR. Generally, low active caps (like 30 or 20) will keep things doable. With the various requirments others have already suggested, you can salt to taste. At such low power levels, you have to be creative with your powers to make them useful - generally, you can't do enough damage to make it replace a good old gat or bludgeon, but you can pull some clever tricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Re: Making Magic weak but useful. I'd look at existing technologies and adapt them to use magic instead. i.e. a car that is run on rituals, guns that use the owner's endurance for bullets. Except, they wouldn't be the actual items - you'd mag-ify them, but they would work in a similar fashion - i.e. a magic carpet, or a spell of magic missile. But the limit of what magic could do would be the limit of what technology could do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.