Lots of little spells

[Michael Hopcroft]

I'm wrapping my mind around mages in FH, and something just came to mind. And that is how to build a mage who has a multitude of little utility spells and a few big ones for major tasks such as battle. He would have spells to do things like mend his clothing (or those of his comrades), catch fish, make poor-quality food taste better, and instantly clean himself up after a day trudging around in the rain and the mud, and so on. The big gun slots are saved for the situations like fighting orcs or stopping the guy who'd trying to assassinate the Baron.

 

I'm thinking a VERY small VPP -- maybe 5 active points -- for the little effects, and normal spell slots for the big ones. But I don't know whether that small a VPP would be overkill in terms of the system or worth the cost. Perhaps as an alternative the mage could pay those five points and then have automatic access to the spells, none of which have any effect on combat or healing. (If he wants to heal minor wounds to himself, he;d have to buy that spell normally). Or perhaps there's a third, better way to do it.

[sinanju]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

One alternative would be to use a single VPP, but with one really big limitation (-2, applies to spells under 5 or 10 active points). Then you could still pile on limitations (gestures, incantations, extra time, etc) for standard spells, but he could cast the really small spells much more easily.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

I've seen many many games that have "Cantrips" as a 5-10 point VPP. After you place on the standard Spell Limitations it's a fairly low cost to have a suite of 10 AP Spells whenever you need them (many times the Cantrip VPP is even bought Cosmic to show just how easy these spells are to use).

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

I just realized just how much Cosmetic Transform you can buy for nine points, and how many different things you can do with it if you can call upon it in a VPP. Many of the effects I mentioned (mending or cleaning clothes, for example) are easy to do with a 3d6 Cosmetic Transform, even cleaning your clothes while you wear them (since you're only transforming the clothes to remove the dirt, the grease and the smell -- you will still need a bath, but you won't look like something the dog buried in the back yard and just dug up again).

[Markdoc]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

If you have a VPP for all your spells, then making small spells is trivial. If you are using another system for your big spells (I'm guessing Multipower from other recent posts) then it's equally trival to just add 1 point slots to your multipower for teeny spells. As you have noted, you can do a lot with a 10 point transform. A 5 point VPP would probably cost you 6 or 7 real points - that's 6 or 7 10-20 point minor spell slots in a MP. It's marginally less flexible, but in many ways it's an easier approach than having two frameworks to keep track of.

 

cheers, Mark

[dmjalund]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

[sINGING IN FRENCH ACCENT]Thank 'eavens for little spells[/sINGING IN FRENCH ACCENT]

[Mickael]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

Another alternative may be to use a skill like "Magic" to do little non-combat things (the "Power" skill in 6E1).

 

What's wrong with the french accent?

[Neverway]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

What's wrong with the french accent?

 

I believe he was referencing "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," a song sung by Maurice Chevalier. A Frenchman. With a French accent. In France.

 

If I haven't drained all the humor from the exchange, here's a Wikipedia link to finish it off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Chevalier

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

I had a player who took the VPP approach and it worked nicely. Although Markdoc makes a good point about 1pt Multipower slots, the VPP is more flexible and given prep time the mage can include spells that can impact combat, so the few extra points spent on the control cost are worth it. In particular, my player had a "Laser Targeting" cantrip that put a red dot wherever he pointed, bought as +1 OCV for Ranged Combat, and a "Defense Charm" bought as +1 DCV.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

"A limitation that doesn't limit the character is not worth any points." So, too, are powers that don't help the character.

 

If it is just fluff, then assume they can use one of their other powers or frameworks to squeeze the little flavor spells into.

 

If it has actual benefits in a game mechanics sense, it should be written up in some fashion.

[Ice9]

Re: Lots of little spells

 

With the new VPP rules, a VPP could be quite easily affordable. For instance, if your spells have Gestures, Incantations, and RAR:

Cantrips - 2 RP pool + 5 AP control, zero-phase to change (+1), 5 AP; all slots Gestures, Incantations, RAR (-1), 2 RP. Total: 4 points.