Casting time reducing artifact

[Umni]

Ok one of my characters asked for a casting reducing artifact, and well I wasn't sure to tell him so I held of on it, well then if such an artifact did exist waht would the system be and what rating would it be?

 

[MOK]

no more than -1 turn on celestial and solar circle, no quicker than terrestrial, artifact 5, or more, and little to no other effects on the artifact.


Thats insane power.

 

[RipClaw]

I wouldn't allow it at all. Magic is a thing that shouldn't be rushed, think of the results of failed or even botched spells. Sometimes the time to cast a spell is equal to the time you need to define the area of effect- should the artifact thus speed you while riding around the area?


Magic is not to be rushed. Period.

 

[Relic]

More inspiration can be found in the Instant spells thread.

 

[wordman]

More inspiration can be found in the Instant spells thread.

Based on that thread, we use this house rule now:


You may invoke a sorcery charm of a given circle to cast a spell of a lower circle. Spells so cast release one round earlier than they would if cast with the "proper" charm. For example, a terrestrial circle spell cast using Celestial Circle Sorcery would activate as soon as it was cast, rather than requiring a round of essence-gathering.


There are some caveats and drawbacks to speeding magic in this way, however. The first is that if the spell description indicates it takes longer or shorter to cast than normal (e.g. Demon of the First Circle, Emerald Countermagic), casting from a higher circle has no effect. More importantly, failures of rushed spells are treated as if they were botches (see pg.217 of core rulebook). Botches of rushed spells are twice as bad, doing double the damage over double the distance.


Casting can never be quicker than instant, so casting terrestial magic with Solar Circle Sorcery provides no speed benefit over using Celestial Circle Sorcery; however, casting from two circles above will avoid the increased failure penalities.


These rules also apply to necromancy.


[Note: we played with the idea of rushed botches, rather than doubling damage, doing aggravated damage instead. Was a bit too story derailing for us, but might work for you.]

 

[Sherwood]

I like the idea of speeding up the casting time for certain attack spells, just so long as there remains a strong possibility of the thing blowing up in your face with some truly evil results.


Player:  I want to speed cast 'Death of Obsidian Butterflies'


ST:  Are you sure?  Ok, roll your Occult, difficulty 5.  Oh, and don't forget the results of a botch....


Player:  Um, maybee not...

 

[psychoph]

I like the idea of speeding up the casting time for certain attack spells, just so long as there remains a strong possibility of the thing blowing up in your face with some truly evil results.
Player:  I want to speed cast 'Death of Obsidian Butterflies'


ST:  Are you sure?  Ok, roll your Occult, difficulty 5.  Oh, and don't forget the results of a botch....


Player:  Um, maybee not...

Hehe, myt players would still do it.  they don't get attached enough, they just say i will roll a new character no prob.

 

[Persell]

Hehe, myt players would still do it.  they don't get attached enough, they just say i will roll a new character no prob.

... roll?


I'm sorry to hear that

 

[Andrew02]

Magic is not to be rushed. Period.

Since a turn is only three seconds, and a lot of spells have their casting time measured in turns . . . this is amusing. It takes six seconds to cast Death of Obsidian Butterflies. It takes a mere twelve seconds to cast Total Annihilation.


A lot of the things that require longer, like summoning, really ought to be separate from sorcery. The division between charms and a lot of what consitutes sorcery and necromancy really looks arbitrary. I mean, Invulnerable Skin of Bronze is probably what a high level Solar or Abyssal resistance charm would look like, and right now it really looks to me like a non-Lunar poor man's DBT. Same for Incomparable Body Arsenal. Dolorous Reflection is like Steel Devil Style limited to range attacks but free of the weapon requirements and so forth.


Spell-Shattering Palm can do the Countermagic thing, which I think really helps the comparison that frames sorcery and necromancy as charms+.