Specific Sorcery Spells

[PhilHibbs]

Neutralize (Rune)

So, the sorcerer needs to have mastered, and learned the variant of this spell for, the Rune in question. If I want to defend against Thunderbolt, I need to master Air and learn Neutralize (Air). If I want to defend against Madness, I master Moon and learn Neutralize (Moon). If I want to remove an enemy's Morale spell, I have to master either Death or Truth (or Fertility or Illusion at double cost) and learn the Neutralize variant, and hope that the caster used the rune that I mastered.

This seems... unlikely to be of much use. The chances of having mastered and learned the right rune variant for any given instance that this spell would be of use is pretty slim.

Maybe if you're going to war with the Lunars, then mastering Moon and learning Neutralize (Moon) would be useful. And vice versa for Lunar sorcerers going up against Orlanthi.

Also, if my reading is correct, this and Neutralize Spirit Magic are the only spells that provide ongoing protection against incoming spells, and there is no spell that will provide ongoing protection against incoming sorcery spells.

Feel free to post your thoughts on other specific sorcery spells in this thread.

[Richard S.]

This actually fits with what I know of sorcery pretty well. It's very specific, situational magic for the most part and relies on preparation and knowledge of your enemy to use effectively.

[Pentallion]

16 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Also, if my reading is correct, this and Neutralize Spirit Magic are the only spells that provide ongoing protection against incoming spells, and there is no spell that will provide ongoing protection against incoming sorcery spells.

Feel free to post your thoughts on other specific sorcery spells in this thread.

Cast Back

[PhilHibbs]

1 hour ago, Pentallion said:

Cast Back

Ah yes, thanks. Ooh, and it only affects offensive spells, that's nice. A magical defence that doesn't block healing or other good things.

[PhilHibbs]

Tap Body

This spell had to be included, if only as a nod to "the itty bitties" in Griffin Island.

So if someone has their SIZ tapped down to 1, should they lose any other characteristics or abilities? Could you tap a Great Troll all the way down, leaving it still having the ability to wield a Maul with a +1D6 damage bonus, if they were fairly strong for their race? Reminds me of those halberd-wielding pixies.

I once played a claustrophobic duck sorcerer that lived in the backpack that his familiar wore.

[PhilHibbs]

6 hours ago, Pentallion said:

Cast Back

Ah. Except that Cast Back provides no protection against magic whatsoever. It only takes effect if the offensive spell fails to overcome the POW of the target.

Edited October 19, 2018 by PhilHibbs

[PhilHibbs]

2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Tap Body

Also: 

Quote

Magic points gained in this manner act in every way like
normal magic points (i.e., they can be used to cast spells, add
to the sorcerer’s chances of their spells overcoming a target’s
resistance, etc.),

The rules for overcoming a target's resistance mention POW, not MPs. I assume that this should be interpreted as "POW, or current MP if higher".

Also, some offensive sorcery spells (Dominate, Create Hallucination, say that you use Spell Strength vs POW, not POW vs POW, so these extra MPs aren't going to help in those circumstances.

[PhilHibbs]

Neutralize Spirit Magic

So you cast this at an enemy, and take down all their spirit magic - Protection, Countermagic, Strength, Fanaticism, etc.

The Neutralize spell stays on them for the default duration of 5 minutes. For that time, any spirit magic spells cast on them (Disruption, Befuddle, Sleep) also will probably be cancelled by the spell.

I wonder if a sorcerer can cast a spell with a lower duration, in effect use it as an instant spell, just to get rid of current spells without providing ongoing protection. I'd probably allow that. I doubt that "Gloranthan reality" has sorcery with fixed quantum intervals.

[Joerg]

1 hour ago, PhilHibbs said:

Neutralize Spirit Magic

So you cast this at an enemy, and take down all their spirit magic - Protection, Countermagic, Strength, Fanaticism, etc.

The Neutralize spell stays on them for the default duration of 5 minutes. For that time, any spirit magic spells cast on them (Disruption, Befuddle, Sleep) also will probably be cancelled by the spell.

I wonder if a sorcerer can cast a spell with a lower duration, in effect use it as an instant spell, just to get rid of current spells without providing ongoing protection. I'd probably allow that. I doubt that "Gloranthan reality" has sorcery with fixed quantum intervals.

In that case, cast the spell on an area. The spell is ranged, so it might be argued that it has a zone effect rather than affecting only a human(oid) target.

Does this spell interact with enchantments? Those are classified as spirit magic, too.

 

[PhilHibbs]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

In that case, cast the spell on an area.

I think you need a Protective Circle for that.

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

Does this spell interact with enchantments? Those are classified as spirit magic, too.

Enchantments are only spirit magic if they are spirit magic.

Edited October 19, 2018 by PhilHibbs

[g33k]

6 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

... I doubt that "Gloranthan reality" has sorcery with fixed quantum intervals.

It might, actually... after all, Sorcery is tainted by the "wisdom" of the God Learners ...  No telling WHAT perverse ideas they have embedded in their vile practices !

/ReactionaryOrlanthiPOV

[womble]

I don't reckon Neutralise, Dismiss or Dispel affect things that have had POW sacrificed to create them. Difference between permanent and Temporal...

 

[Joerg]

9 hours ago, womble said:

I don't reckon Neutralise, Dismiss or Dispel affect things that have had POW sacrificed to create them. Difference between permanent and Temporal...

 

But that's the point with Neutralize - the magic will pop up again as soon as the Neutralize spell effect is over, it is just a damping field. So if you have a spirit spell matrix worth 2 points, can it be activated in a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic? Can the user access the spell knowledge, or is that function of the artifact temporarily unavailable?

Same thing with Neutralize Rune.

[womble]

3 hours ago, Joerg said:

But that's the point with Neutralize - the magic will pop up again as soon as the Neutralize spell effect is over, it is just a damping field. So if you have a spirit spell matrix worth 2 points, can it be activated in a 6 point Neutralize Spirit Magic? Can the user access the spell knowledge, or is that function of the artifact temporarily unavailable?

Same thing with Neutralize Rune.

Yes it can be activated. But the spell won't have any effect until the Neutralise goes away because it's too weak. The Matrix is permanent, and can't be suppressed by non-permanent effects. An Extended Shield 2 would be suppressed, but not the Matrix used to cast it; since Rune Matrices don't have a strength, you could use a Rune Matrix to cast a large enough Rune Spell (if it were stackable) to overcome the Neutralise Magic effect.

There are a lot of grey areas there, with the effect of area increase combined with "target" wording.