How fast do you allow spell aquisition in mages?

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The Beast
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I go with what's in Through the Glass Darkly.
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Semisonic9 wrote:
The Beast wrote:I go with what's in Through the Glass Darkly.


Which is?

~Semi


It's a Nightbane sourcebook.
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Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

I leave it primarly to the players. I will place opportunities in front of them, but if they do not _activly_ attempt to expand their spell base it's going to remain fairly stagnant. if they really try, it can improve quite rappidly.
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Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

gadrin wrote:
Nekira Sudacne wrote:I leave it primarly to the players. I will place opportunities in front of them, but if they do not _activly_ attempt to expand their spell base it's going to remain fairly stagnant. if they really try, it can improve quite rappidly.


what kind of numbers ? (just ballpark is fine)

say what # of spells can a 3rd or 4th level PC have in your games ?


depends on how much downtime they spend. they can gain 10-20 spells in that time though of lower levels, 5 or 6 higher ones.and no, I don't have a spcific ratio I use, it's just that if they go for the more powerful spells lesser spells don't tend to be as avaible as if they focus on mastering the basics.
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Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

sawg138 wrote:
Nekira Sudacne wrote:
gadrin wrote:
Nekira Sudacne wrote:I leave it primarly to the players. I will place opportunities in front of them, but if they do not _activly_ attempt to expand their spell base it's going to remain fairly stagnant. if they really try, it can improve quite rappidly.


what kind of numbers ? (just ballpark is fine)

say what # of spells can a 3rd or 4th level PC have in your games ?


depends on how much downtime they spend. they can gain 10-20 spells in that time though of lower levels, 5 or 6 higher ones.and no, I don't have a spcific ratio I use, it's just that if they go for the more powerful spells lesser spells don't tend to be as avaible as if they focus on mastering the basics.

Copycat. :D


Don't flatter yourself :P
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Unread post by Damian Magecraft »

my mage PC progress in spells as fast as they are willing to go with in reason ....
on average i would say they gain roughly 6 to ten spells peer level not including the automatic level up spells...
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Unread post by Damian Magecraft »

sawg138 wrote:
Damian Magecraft wrote:my mage PC progress in spells as fast as they are willing to go with in reason ....
on average i would say they gain roughly 6 to ten spells peer level not including the automatic level up spells...

So that's another agreement with me. Amazing. :D
dude whats my name? of course spell acquisition. is easy in my games (assuming the mage player is smart enough to pursue his chosen craft)....I did have one player who complained that he was only getting his auto spells and that was it..the stupid sod passed up 15 opportunities to obtain additional spells during game play in just 1 adventure.... :frust:
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Re: How fast do you allow spell aquisition in mages?

Unread post by JTwig »

Semisonic9 wrote:Topic.

After reading the first few pages in the BoM and joining a new group, I realized people really do vary a lot in how they allow spell aquisition.

Just curious how you guys do it.

~Semi


There is a very good article in one of the Rifters on this very subject. I can't recall the exact issue, but I think it was number 11. It made me realize that I've been to stingy with spells, and that I should be giving at least twice what I was. Now I give anywere from five to eight per level, in addition to those automatically give at level advancement. It also made me realize that I shouldn't be afraid of giving PCs high level spells to early, since the P.P.E. cost and availability are built-in game balancers. So the player maybe able to cast Sorcerous Fury early on, but he won't cast it to often until higher levels. Which by then (if I as GM do my job right) it won't be so unbalancing.
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Re: How fast do you allow spell aquisition in mages?

Unread post by JTwig »

gadrin wrote:
JTwig wrote:There is a very good article in one of the Rifters on this very subject. I can't recall the exact issue, but I think it was number 11. It made me realize that I've been to stingy with spells, and that I should be giving at least twice what I was. Now I give anywere from five to eight per level, in addition to those automatically give at level advancement. It also made me realize that I shouldn't be afraid of giving PCs high level spells to early, since the P.P.E. cost and availability are built-in game balancers. So the player maybe able to cast Sorcerous Fury early on, but he won't cast it to often until higher levels. Which by then (if I as GM do my job right) it won't be so unbalancing.


that's pretty much what I thought: ~3 per level max. As for mages dealing with other PC mages or NPCs supplied by the GM, that's almost a given for some massive "wheelin' and dealin'" :)

if you can find which Rifter let us know.

The only other thing I can think of is looking at the various NPCs in the SOT books, etc, that have a complete list of spells and seeing how the authors envisioned it. The only trouble is: NPC can break the rules :x


Took me a while but I finally found the article. It is in Rifter #11.
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Unread post by Razorwing »

It mostly depends upon the level of the spell in question in the games I've run.

Spells of levels 1 through 5 are realatively common (as far as such things ever are), thus it usually only requires a little bit of effort to find someone willing to teach the spell, and a small donation of cash or a minor to moderate task to aquire.

Spells of level 6 to 10 are a bit harder to come by, and those who do have them are not usually willing to teach just anyone. Just finding someone who can provide such spells is a moderate task, and getting them to part with such spells usually requires a lot of cash or a moderate to difficult task.

Spells from levels 11 to 15 are very difficult to find because the people who possess them are few and far between and rarely teach the spelss to anyone. Finding people who know such spells is usually a difficult task and getting them to teach the spells usually reqires a truely difficult task (most will not sell the spells or will do so for truely astronomical prices).

Lastly, my players just aren't going to find anyone willing to teach them a Spell of Legend. While there are people who know these spells, they are not going to teach anyone such powerful magics, period. The only way my players ever learn such spells is by undertaking truely hurculean tasks to find the scattered notes of ancient wizards who may have once known such spells.

All this of course assumes that the player in question is actively searching for new spells. If he isn't, then I tend to assume he's quite satified with the spells he currently possesses.
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