Abjuration in GURPS - Making Protection Fun

Abjuration in GURPS - Making Protection Fun

In games with magic, you are bound to encounter magical protections. Perhaps, you’d like to use magic to protect yourself against damage or other hazards, or you try to strike down an enemy wizard only to find your sword bounce off with no effect. Magic of protection is undoubtedly useful, but it might be boring, so let’s talk about it in more detail and see if it’s possible to make it more fun and interactive.

Sorcery/Magic: D&D Magic Schools

Sorcery/Magic: D&D Magic Schools

If you've played D&D, you probably know that spells in that system are divided into several schools - abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutations. There's also several universal and double-school spells, but that's negligible. How would you represent this division in GURPS and, more importantly, how big of a discount should a D&D school specialization apply to your Sorcerous Empowerment/Magery?

Magic: Ice Spells

Magic: Ice Spells

And now some ice spells (they should belong to the College of Water) from D&D 3.5 Spell Compendium.

Magic: Air Spells II

Magic: Air Spells II

Some more Air spells, mostly converted from D&D 3.5 Spell Compendium.

Magic: Laser Spells

Magic: Laser Spells

In high-tech games missile spells usually are very ineffective compared to the available firearms. Let's expand the selection of Light & Darkness missile spells with lasers, taking inspiration from GURPS Ultra-Tech. Note that these spells should only be available in high TL games.

Magic: Earth Spells

Magic: Earth Spells

Here's some earth spells from D&D 3.5 Spell Compendium. Earthen Grace makes the subject impervious to earth and stone attacks. Earthen Grasp turns the earth into a grappling arm. Easy Climb creates a path of handholds and footholds. Tremor creates a directed earthquake that knocks creatures down.

Magic: City Spells

Magic: City Spells

The Cityscape supplement for D&D 3.5 has only a few spells, but they seem to be great for urban adventures. Here's my attempt at converting them. Detect Weaponry lets the caster see all hidden and obvious weapons. Impeding Stones turns city streets into difficult terrain. Secret Weapon lets an assassin evade weapon confiscation. Spacious Carriage creates means of transportation. Peacebond is a spell that would probably be widely used by city guard mages. False Peacebond is a treacherous form of the former spell. Zone of Peace is an area version of Peacebond.

Magic: Spell Index

Magic: Spell Index

I already have created quite many spells for GURPS Magic, some original, some converted or adapted from other sources, and while I have them all in a single document, there must be a way to easily find them here, on the blog. So, I decided to make an index of all spells and links to the posts. I'll try to keep it updated. Since Blogger does not allow more than a single featured post, this post will be more difficult to find - either via a link in the Sorcery spell index post, or via the index tag.

Magic: Incarnum Spells

Magic: Incarnum Spells

A quite long time ago I converted a set of soul-based powers from D&D 3.5 Magic of Incarnum. The power modifier mentioned the existence of spells and other abilities that counteract meldshaping, but they did not actually exist. Now I took a look at the spell section in Magic of Incarnum and decided to convert the spells to vanilla GURPS magic. This post will present a list of spells, some of which have the special Incarnum type. Spells with this special type can only be cast by characters with the new Incarnum Spellshaping perk (basically, a perk-level Unusual Background) and can only be cast by spending essentia or be enhanced by spending essentia. High skill does not reduce the essentia cost. Most of the spells can be assigned to the Meta college, and the spells Soul Blight, Steal Essentia, and Wrathful Doom may be assigned to the Necromancy college.

Magic: Sample Symbol Lexicons

Magic: Sample Symbol Lexicons

GURPS Thaumatology suggests symbol magic as one of the possible flexible magic systems. The caster inscribes symbols on a parchment, an object, traces them in the air, or constructs a symbol spell from the tokens he has, and activates it, producing the intended effects. This is a slow process. Each symbol has a base cost, but the book also provides other pricing guidelines, including just finding the most similar spell in GURPS Magic, taking its casting cost, and adding 1 or 2 points for extra flexibility.

Since I'm preparing for a game where I planned to use symbol magic alongside the vanilla magic and Sorcery, it's a good time to make some sample lexicons.

Magic: Armor Enchantments

Magic: Armor Enchantments

There are very few armor enchantments in GURPS Magic, so I made some new ones, based on D&D special armor qualities.

Magic: Assorted Spells

Magic: Assorted Spells

Continuing on with the D&D spells conversion. Here we have Clone that isn't quite Simulacrum or Doppelganger. Status allows the caster to know the condition of his friends across long distance. Ventriloquism allows the caster to displace the origin point of his vocal sounds.

Magic: Light and Darkness Spells

Magic: Light and Darkness Spells

These spells expand the college of Light and Darkness. Faerie Fire, Glitterdust, and Invisibility Purge are good countermeasures to invisibility, which is very good, especially if you do not use the DF version of Invisibility.

Magic: Necromantic Spells

Magic: Necromantic Spells

Here are some necromantic D&D spells that do not seem to have analogues in GURPS Magic. I feel like these spells will make necromancy significantly more diverse.

Magic: Water Spells

Magic: Water Spells

And here are some water spells. Most of the ice spells deal impaling or crushing damage, so I've decided to convert some cold spells that deal burning (no incendiary) damage to make cold resistance of some creatures more useful.

Magic: Plant Spells

Magic: Plant Spells

GURPS Magic - Plant Spells significantly expands the Plant College, but even with this amazing supplement I've managed to find some unrepresented spells from D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook.

Magic: Fire and Mind Control Spells

Magic: Fire and Mind Control Spells

Wall of Fire feels like such an iconic spell, but I was surprised to not find it in GURPS Magic. Fire Seeds is a useful spell for unarmed druids. Hideous Laughter and Irresistible Dance apply irritant conditions to the victims. Useful for parties.

Magic: Earth and Metal Spells

Magic: Earth and Metal Spells

And here are some D&D earth and metal spells! Meld into Stone is good for hiding, spying, ambushing, or sometimes even escaping, if you have 5 spare seconds to cast the spell. Spike Stones can give you time to run away. Repel Stone and Repel Metal can hinder armored opponents. Wall of Stone can hinder unarmored opponents as well. Stoneskin is a good defensive spell, if you have no access to the Protection & Warning College. And Stone Tell is a useful spell for information gathering. If you're not using the Metal college from Pyramid #3-91, then you may integrate the function of repelling metal into Repel Stone but with a 1 energy = 1 ST ratio.

Magic: Animal Spells

Magic: Animal Spells

And here are several animal spells from D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook that could be used by GURPS druids or other animal mages. Animal Growth and Reduce Animal change an animal's size. Animal Messenger forces it to deliver a message, and Hide from Animal makes the subject invisible to animals.

Magic: Air Spells

Magic: Air Spells

So far I have made four additional colleges for GURPS Magic - Gravity, Poison, Time, and Force. Let's expand on the existing ones. To look for inspiration I decided to skim Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Player's Handbook. I've found only 4 spells that do not seem to have an analogue in GURPS Magic. Call Lightning is just Lightning that hits from above. Chain Lightning hits multiple targets. Both of these spells also are Weather spells. Another Air/Necromantic spell is Cloudkill - it creates a toxic cloud. And Whispering Wind is an Air/Sound spell that allows the caster to send a message on the wind.

Additionally, I'm going to update the domain posts with these new spells and spells I find from other sources.