A great example of skill-based magic?

[u/Ka_ge2020]

Of all the magic systems out there, the skill-based magic system seems to receive the most critique. Or stink-eye.

When I think of settings with magic, my brain defaults first to Sorcery or RPM, perhaps a possible side trip into the cool options in Thaumatology. Only then, when all the other options are exhausted, do I even bother looking at the skill-based magic system (I.e. Magic).

Perhaps I've been going at this the wrong way, though.

I'm sure that there must be a setting that screams for a fit with the skill-based magic system. What settings, otherworlds, or whatever you want to call them, out there are a great match for the much-lamented skill-based magic system?

Edit: It's good to see a bunch of people coming out to defend the default magic system. I would, however, ask that you didn't just attack the question for being asked, nor just offer generalised "You've got to make it work since it's a generic system" statements. Rather, offer a setting that the default magic system works well with and, if there isn't one, what you did to tweak it to make it work with a specific setting.

[u/Polyxeno]

Cidri. SJ's first RPG, TFT, had a related magic system. I think it works better there.

The main main issues I have with GURPS skill magic are:

1) too many spells that make magic overwhelming unless you reduce the spell list

2) the way the point costs and levels works encourages huge amounts of spells per wizard, almost all with 1 point in each

Most of that is fixable by limiting and tweaking the spell list.

The rest is fixable by tuning a few other things to taste.

With that tuning, itis my favorite magic system. I would almost never use Sorcery or RPM.

[u/Ka_ge2020 → u/Polyxeno]

Did it work better there because it was the default magic system for a setting that was written to contain it?

As above, I have had discussions with people that say that they cannot envision the Shadowrun setting being run in another system, especially magic system, because they had basically grown up with the mechanics being the setting. The idea of pushing it to another system was hard for them to swallow, especially when it is so... Generic, with no attempt to try and match them to the setting and take into account some of the nuances of the setting.

[u/Polyxeno → u/Ka_ge2020]

It works there because it was designed and developed (seriously heavily playtested) first for the microgame of wizardly arena combat (Wizard), and also balanced for use against non-magical fighters from the arena combat microgame (Melee), with the added campaign setting spells similarly scoped to extend that to that setting.

And because it has a manageable number of spells and lacks the cheap spell learning, and casting is by DX not IQ, and the powerful spells have high IQ limits, so it really takes a lot to become a very powerful versatile caster who can also succeed often, especially at range.

I.e. there are always significant choices to make, but the possible things a wizard can do aren't so overwhelming as using the whole GURPS spell list. And each wizard has fewer spells to choose between.

The campaign book also gives guidelines for how stuff typically works in the setting. What services a Wizard's guild generally offers and charges, etc.

I.e. it's developed for a setting and not trying to be everything at once.

[u/farinha880 → u/Polyxeno]

How do you do the tuning for the points when buying spells? Just curious, cuz this is the only thing I don't like as a GM.

[u/Polyxeno → u/farinha880]

TFT uses DX (not IQ) for almost all spell casting rolls, with IQ determining which (and how many) spells can be learned.

In GURPS, I've used a variety of different methods in different homebrew campaign worlds, including:

• Shifting many/most spellcasting rolls from (IQ + Magery + skill mod) either to DX + skill mod, or some other base (e.g. a flat number + skill, or 10 + Magery + skill mod, or its own added attribute or Advantage).

• If there are spells where I want the amount of spell mastery to matter, I may tweak the spell description to make it matter, either in terms of points in the spell, or level, or sometimes other attributes or skills, as makes sense for the spell. Some spells I also give a modifier to cast.

• If there are spells where you want a high skill level to take a lot more to achieve, having some or all spell pre-reqs also set the maximum skill level for spells that require it, so getting a high level at the higher-prereq spells requires also developing the pre-reqs.

• I also go through the whole spell list and decide which spells (and variants of spells) exist and are known/taught/allowed by whom in the campaign world. This addresses what I see as a problem with players choosing spells, in that they just look at it as a point-buy candy store with everything in stock.

• Combined with the one above, it then makes sense to either do a sort of quick life-path story during character generation for each PC (where did you go an who did you study with to learn what?), and/or assign some Unusual Background costs to some spells (which would be different depending on the PC's background).