How to RP Casting Spells?

[Indirik]

I thought that when you cast a spell in an RP, you were supposed to stop as soon as you cast it, so that the GMs could them write the outcome of the casting. Or does this only apply when casting a spell against another player character?

[cjnodell]

I believe this only applies to casting spontaneous magic. The person casting it is not supposed to be the person describing the result. I think that we are allowed to describe the effects of established spells though. The GMs, I believe, will just pounce on any abuse or improper descriptions.

[Indirik]

Ahh.. OK, Thanks. You're right, I found it in the description of spontaneous magic on the web site. That makes a bit more sense now.

[Tom]

correct. Spontaneous magic will "change", depending on the number of shifts, while spells always do the exact thing they are meant to do. So you have to stop after spontaneous magic, but not after spells.

[Zakilevo]

so if my spontaneous spell , let's say Harm/Fire/3/2/1 with 2 shifts, does that mean there is a possibility of my spell changing to something like 5/2/1 (increase/decrease) or 1/4/1 (points shifting)?

[Tom]

The page says:

Yes, there is conservation of magical energy.

So in your example, the 2nd would hold true - the total sum will always remain the same.

[Zakilevo]

ahh ok. Now that makes sense.

[Zakilevo]

I am thinking about casting a big spontaneous spell and the parser gave me the result that it will cause 23 shifts. I am getting a weird feeling that if I cast this, this spell will go out of control and either fizzle or explode... Or will people just do 23 shifts?

[Tom]

Well, it probably won't have 23 shifts you can do, so a discharge is pretty much guaranteed.

[Zane]

23 shifts

Ye gods!  23?!  I can hardly wait to see what happens here.  This town may cease to exist at this rate.

[Zakilevo]

Damn. Most of combinations for my spontaneous magic have too many shifts. For (Harm/Mind) 5/5/3,  it requires 29 shifts. Too bad I can't try to destroy the town :)

[Tom]

Well, you're trying to do really, really powerful stuff with low skill levels. Remember that most discharges will hit the magician. So you're going to get hit by a spell with a power level beyond 20. That's going to be fatal.

You should use less powerful magic until your skill levels have increased considerably.

[Zakilevo]

Holy crap. I thought my spell would just puff away but now that I know it will kill me with one go, I won't do it :). Or I might just before the game launches. Everything will be resetted so... just to celebrate the launch :)

P.S: I just wish GMs would work faster with spells. I know it is very tough since people are keep creating new spells.

[Tom]

P.S: I just wish GMs would work faster with spells. I know it is very tough since people are keep creating new spells.

It's also because we are trying to get a feel for the game just like you. :-)

[Zakilevo]

:) It must be cool to look at some creative spells.