Interesting question Ted,
The following is how magic is played in the Auckland
DQ-guild,
The adept may choose to cast at a lesser rank than his
Rank in the spell,
and may choose to lower the rank of any of the
parameters.
I try to get my players to specify the spell they are
preparing, rather than
it being a generic option and they choose the spell at
time of casting. I am
happy for them to choose parameters at time of casting
(EG targets).
Spell effects don't change unless they are written
into the description.
An Adept may choose to drop concentration on a spell,
in which case it
immediately ceases.
The Adept must cast a counter spell or similar on the
spell to stop it, a
Namer may stop a spell with appropriate counters.
Magic in general is very powerful, at even moderate
ranks, so to give the
Adept full control makes it even more dangerous.
Having written than, you could allow a house-rule such
that at rank 16+ they
can change parameters or a spell (other than its
target) by taking a Magical
Pass action
I will try to answer your points below:
Ian
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From:
dq-rules@yahoogroup s.com
[mailto:
dq-rules@yahoogroup s.com]
On Behalf
Of Ted
Sent: Tuesday, 31 May 2011 4:47 a.m.
To:
dq-rules@yahoogroup s.com
Subject: [dq-rules] Magic control
I'd like some input from the group regarding how well
adepts can control
their spells, both before casting and after.
The simplest interpretation off the mechanics would
seem to imply the
following:
The adepts rank, MA, etc define the range, duration,
damage, base chance,
etc of the spell once cast. He/she casts the spell and
it manifests itself
as defined above. Unless the spell description states
that the adept's
concentration is required to maintain it, the spell
continues on to its
conclusion without further influence from the caster.
i.e. it is not tied to
the adept in any way once cast. If the adept ceases to
exist, the spell
would still continue to its predefined conclusion.
My main question is this: Given that adepts often
struggle just to get the
spell cast successfully, how much fine control should
they have in changing
the parameters of the spell before or after casting?
Further:
Before casting:
Assuming no other qualifying statements in the spell
description (such as
"...an area up to 15 ft..." or "...up to 5
targets...", etc) can an adept
interpret the spell parameters (range, duration,
damage,etc) as maximums
available to him rather than set values the spell
always takes?
Examples:
a.At the time of casting, Can the adept choose to only
have 2 balls of fire
in the Storm of Fire spell (42 s-12)?
Yes, I don't know this spell, but if it is 1 ball of
fire (+ 1 / Rank) then
no problems.
No if it is 5 balls of fire (+5 / Rank).
b. At the time of casting, Can an adept choose to cast
his Bolt of fire (42
s-2) such that it does less damage than the
description says its capable of
at his rank?
Yes, he can cast it so that damage is at a lower rank.
And the Adept can
choose to cast the entire spell at a lower rank. The
effective rank of the
spell is the highest rank applied in the spell.
c. At the time of casting, Can an adept choose to
limit the duration of his
Fireproofing (42 g-7) to something less than the
description indicates?
Only in quanta of ranks. There is not an ability to
choose a lesser duration
than the base duration.
After casting:
Assuming the spell description doesnt already state
that the spell's
continued duration is a function of concentration, how
much control over the
spell does the adept have once it is cast?
a. Is the spell an independent force at that point and
the adept has no more
influence over it than any other bystander?
Correct
b. Can the casting adept simply dispell it away before
its normal course has
been run or do they have to cast a counter spell over
it, even if the spell
description doesn't say a counterspell is effective at
stopping it?
Requires a counter spell
Id be very interested to see how other folks handle
these matters?
Thanks, Ted
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