1 of 1- JiminyQ
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"Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
I've been playing around with character creation lately, and finally got around to doing one meant to have just a touch of magical ability, attained as a failed apprentice or maybe by blood ("My grandma was a succubus!").
First thought: It seems most obvious simply to take rank 0 Magician career, especially for the case of an ex-student. I understand that rank 0 gives a full 10 Arcane Power points. Is that correct? There are no other limits on attempting spells at a rank 0 (aside from the requirements; and of course whatever the GM rules/player role plays)?
Other thought: Are there other avenues to very limited magic use? Power of the Void grants a couple AP, but does that necessarily convey the ability to pop off a cantrip? Or that that extra knowledge meant to be wrapped up among the mundane skills in the rank 0 Magician?
- Gruntfuttock
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Re: "Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
PCs have 10 Arcane Points as standard, and Toughs have 5 Arcane Points - Rabble sorcerers 2 or 3.
10 AP and Magician at rank 0 seems to cover your idea of the failed student or 'it's in the blood' perfectly. For someone with 'natural' latent ability, as opposed to a failed student, you could always give them a penalty die on all casting rolls until they gain Magician 1, to show that they have had no training or undertaken any study - unlike the failed student.
That might be the way I'd handle the difference between the two.
My real name is Steve Hall
- JiminyQ
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Re: "Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
Okay, that's pretty straightforward. I guess the penalty die is the go-to solution for a lot of these sorts of issues in BoL.
Thinking about it, the penalty die should effectively result in more fizzles, right? Other approaches might be to raise AP costs (resulting in fewer casts over time); or impose stiffer spell requirements (to limit access to higher magniture magic). I suppose you could tweak whichever knob makes sense for the specific character; and then revert to normal if/when they take rank 1.
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Thread Starter- Gruntfuttock
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Re: "Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
A penalty die increases your chance of failure by a goodly amount, the same way a bonus die increases your chance of success by a noticable degree - look at the effect of boons and flaws.
Rather than raising AP costs or imposing stiffer spell requirements, I'd cope with someone trying to remember what they were taught when they wheren't paying attention (failed student) or trying to tap into a power they know they have without any formal training ('in the blood') I'd just impose a -1 or -2 on the roll until they reach Rank 1. Less powerful than a penalty die, but can be used in conjuction with a penalty die when trying to cast Level 1 or Level 2 spells.
But remember what Rory said...
My real name is Steve Hall
- JiminyQ
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Re: "Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
Okay, that's good to know. I think I'll backburner this particular char concept for now, until I've actually played through some scenarios. Before I can "do what feels right", I need to get a better feel for what "what feels right" should actually feel like.
Thanks for the advice so far.
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Thread Starter- The GIT!
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- Registered: 2/05/2014
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Re: "Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
Dice probability can always be a difficult thing to balance, especially when using a 2d6 system because the range is so tight.
This link will take you to a dice roller probability app that compares the following:
- 2d6
- highest 2 of 3d6
- lowest 2 of 3d6
- 2d6 target number is 8
- 2d6 target number is 10
Each result shows two rows - the second is the probability of rolling equal to or higher than the target number. If you click on the "Transposed" button it is easier to compare results.
You can clearly see the large impact the bonus and penalty dice have, as opposed to shifting the target number up or down by one. I just thought I'd share this to let you see the impact of different options.
Needless to say, you can really go down a rabbit hole with this, and start running probability checks on using bonus dice against different target numbers etc.
Last edited by The GIT! (5/10/2024 7:46 am)
Wealth can be wonderful, but you know, success can test one's mettle as surely as the strongest adversary.
- JiminyQ
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Re: "Minor magicians" - apprentices, cambions, dabblers....
Thanks for sharing that, and especially for showing the ">=" operator in tandem with the transpose. It never occurred to me to directly compare to TNs in an AnyDice table like that. (Today I learned, heh!)
I'm familiar with, eg, d20 Adv/Disadv in D&D5e, so it's helpful to see comparable operations on d6s to get a handle just how much "bigger" a bonus/penalty die is versus +1/-1.
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Thread Starter