Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » February 3rd, 2012, 10:05 pm

Issue with your statue-making spell, Serbii: It costs 8 points, but you used 9 points of mitigation. You effectively spent 10 points on an 8-point spell. Even with the range expansion of your Mastery, you overpowered it, meaning bad things happen. You would be better off skipping one of the mitigators so as to hit the cost exactly.
Transferring things from Scholomance to elsewhere in Scholomance counts as "Earth". Considering Scholomance's nature, the levels might need to be redefined a little bit.
Imbued spells must have all categories defined. You never defined Range for the statue's imbued spell. You also skipped Duration, but imbued spells are always calculated as Duration: Instantaneous (+0), so that does not affect the cost.
Starting to wonder if Range: Infinite should be a possibility at some very high cost.
Do not feel bad about putting that much effort into calculating that; I worked out the cost to make a Bag of Infinite Holding last night because I had acquired one through much the same means as you and the statues. It is pretty costly manawise, but actually relatively cheap for a thaumaturgical working. Only catch is that you have to cast a permanent Conjuration before imbuing the Alchemy. Surprisingly easy Conjuration, though.
To illustrate:
Spoiler: show
Bag o' Holding Arbitrarily Large Amounts:
This is actually two spells: an Alchemical Thaumaturgy to make the bag increase in size within, and a Conjuration to disassociate the size of its inside and its outside.
The Conjuration:
Initiation: +1
Type: Object (+1)
Sapience: No (+1)
Origin: Same Plane (+1)
Range: Right nearby (+1)
Duration: Permanent (x1.5 and then +1)
Cost is 9 for the Conjuration.
Kirana, being sensible and trying to act like it at this stage, recruits Ancell for assistance.
Primary caster's Mastery: Conjuration 1 (Mitigation 1)
Then, because Ancell always does it that way, somehow relevant math equations written out in a conjurer's blood.
Materials, Major Symbols: the equations (Mitigation 4)
Materials, Medium Substance: the blood (Mitigation 3)
Which is already eight, so we had better stop there. Ancell only has to spend one point of mana to work the spell. No wonder he likes doing it this way. Kirana, being unclear on how powerful the equations are, and feeling she ought to contribute, also adds one point of mana; the range increase from Ancell's Mastery, however, means that 9 points spent is still counted as a perfect casting.
The Alchemy:
Life: No (+1)
Mass: Small (+3)
Size: Small (+3)
Range: Self (+0)
Duration: Instantaneous (+0)
That would be... 7, make a note of that.
Imbue it... as a trap trigger...
Item Type: Usable (+1)
Previous Thaumaturgy: No (+1)
Thaumaturgy Type: Imbued/Active (+0 but x4 at end)
Trigger: Trap (+2)
7+1+1+2=11. 11x4=44. (Ouch.)
Cost is 44 for the Alchemy.
The trigger is “the bag is too small to contain an object put into it”. The effect is “the inside of the bag increases in size until the object fits”.
Need to really mitigate this one:
Primary caster's Mastery: Alchemy 1 (Mitigation 1)
Material, Minor Object: A piece of knotted thread, to tie the spell to the bag (Mitigation 2)
Material, Very Minor Object: Having stuff in the bag already (Mitigation 1)
Material, Medium Symbols x2: Runes written in chalk (Mitigation 3x2=6)
Verbal, Medium: "Permissum is insum pro mihi habitum quantus quantus est locus intus is," awkward summary of what the spell does, 12 words (Mitigation 2)
Somatic, Major Gesture: holding hands close together and then moving them outward to represent expansion (Mitigation 2)
Material, Medium Symbols x1: Chinese character 'expand', also written in chalk (Mitigation 3)
Verbal, Short: Reading said character aloud (Mitigation 1)

Which makes Mitigation 18. I need more, but my computer is about to die, so I will have to come back to this later.
This brings up a slight error in the definition of the steps for verbal mitigation; Medium starts at seven and Long at 13, not at 6 and 12, respectively. The general rule is "divide the number of words in the chant by six, round up to the nearest whole number if necessary, and add that much mitigation". So, for instance, Darkandus's 58 word quote is 10 points, not 9, and 21 words gets you 4 points, not 3.
Hmm, I see your point about basing Essence checks on mana cost being a bit odd; however, if you think about it, the check value is unrelated to the creature's Essence, as the following example will illustrate:
Suppose that Ancell casts a spell to summon Othello.
Initiation: +1
Type: Being (+3)
Sapience: Yes, Othello did not previously agree to this (+3)
Origin: Same Plane (+1)
Range: Close (+1)
Duration: Permanent (x1.5, then +3)
Total cost: 15. Essence check to successfully summon: 8. Check to dominate: also 8. Othello's Essence: 3.
One could argue that the check value should be related to the creature's Essence in some way, but at the moment, it really has little to do with it. Also, making it related to the creature's Essence requires that the Headmaster come up with an Essence value for every sapient summon, which is... making him do more work. If you are concerned that this makes the Essence checks pretty much impossible, note that you can use Enchantment to boost your Essence, and that anyone who contributes mana to a Conjuration may add their Essence to either side of the Essence check (making it more difficult or making it easier, as they wish).
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
“Ancell: respecting personal boundaries to the detriment of his friends since 1993.” ~bookworm702
User avatar
Aldraia Dragonsong
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » February 3rd, 2012, 10:22 pm

Ah right, I forgot about the over shoot issue. It was just kind of 'eh, this is straight forward' not really thinking about what I was doing.

Regarding range: it's summoned to inside the summoning device (+0) and I figured in terms of 'distance summoned from' that was covered in the conjuration component (earth like) and wouldn't need to be counted again.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » February 4th, 2012, 1:16 am

Ah, I see how you figured that now; however, since the spell is imbued into the statue, but affects the letter, it is counted as Range: 5 meters or less (+1) rather than Range: Self (+0). A Range: Self spell would affect the object it was imbued into.
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
“Ancell: respecting personal boundaries to the detriment of his friends since 1993.” ~bookworm702
User avatar
Aldraia Dragonsong
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » February 6th, 2012, 5:46 am

Horrible death: Turning all the iron in someone's body into potassium - serbii's explosive spear tip spell used on something biological.

Start +1
Living +2
Mass Tiny (~5g) +2
Size Medium +2
Range lets say 15m +3
Duration +0
Total: 10

Mitigation
Alchemy spell -1
Short phrase -1
Gesture minor -1
Mitigator medium (alchemy circle of that reaction on her) -3
Mitgator minor (piece of iron/iron ring) -2
Total: -8

Mana required: 2 ± 1 (Alchemy type)

Cost to unravel every red blood cell in the body and turn the remains into chemically reactive slush from 15 meters away. 1 mana.

...we may have a problem.

Humans die way too easily when you mess up their internal chemistry or temperature. Much as I loath to nerf myself maybe we should have a multiplication factor when working on humans at the very least but probably all biologicals. That or add in a time factor for the alchemists and sorcerers.
So I could do that spell above but it'd take several minutes, more than enough time or the target to deck me. In order to do it instantaneously I'd need to throw in another 20 mana or something, or even x4 like with permanent items. I don't know if anyone else has noticed while playing, but decent medics are worth their weight in [stupidly high unit of whatever the nonsensical currency is this week], it's already suggested in the canon that [healing] magic on humans is not simple. There should be something making messing with people's innards difficult or else there'd be no one older than third year still around.

Image

Also at some point I want to try to making a spreadsheet that calculates this all out for us. Shouldn't be too hard, just time consuming.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Darkandus » February 6th, 2012, 12:27 pm

Summoning spell(Tarrasque)

Being +3
Non Sapient +1
Somewhat Earthlike +4
Range 70m +14
Size modifier (going to go straight mass instead of size) +2600
Permanency x1.5

Total cost 3922 mana.

Base cost 1 Mana
Verbal mitigator: 23526 word fictional account of summoning a Tarrasque.

Possibility of success: The Headmaster will drop so many rocks on you people will think a mountain suddenly grew overnight.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » February 6th, 2012, 2:53 pm

You make a good point, Serbii; gman mentioned that he was working on something to make organic Alchemy more difficult. I was tired out from schoolwork, so I have yet to look at it. However, you made a small mistake when you calculated the spell's cost; you used Mass: Tiny, but it should be Mass: Medium. The spell's effect is "turns iron into potassium", but its target is a single person, hence you use the whole person's Mass value. Otherwise, you would need a separate spell for every individual iron molecule or something else insanely onerous.
Heh. Darkandus, you could cut that verbal mitigator down by several thousand words if you used other kinds of mitigators as well. Considering how much work reciting several thousand words is, might be worth it. The Headmaster throwing rocks on you remains exactly as likely, however.
Last edited by Aldraia Dragonsong on February 6th, 2012, 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
“Ancell: respecting personal boundaries to the detriment of his friends since 1993.” ~bookworm702
User avatar
Aldraia Dragonsong
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Darkandus » February 6th, 2012, 2:56 pm

I get the feeling Slamsie would hum and haw, then tell me to write it out and record myself reading it without pause.

Then he'd drop rocks on me anyway. :p
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » February 6th, 2012, 5:15 pm

Mmm I used mass as the actual amount of mass I was messing with and size as the area it was spread over to take both into account. With transmutation I see mass as the amount of mass you're changing rather than the mass of the target it's in or else how does it work if I want to transmute a wall, or some water in the ocean? I can see what you're saying, to count the entire target but what do you do for a small part of something big in that case?
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby gman391 » February 7th, 2012, 4:02 am

Alright, moving right along. Here's my tweak. As always a huge thank you to the lovely Aldraia for helping me with this.
Spoiler: show
Alchemy on the Living
If you wish to perform Alchemy on living beings, then after applying the regular Alchemical modifiers and before going on to general modifiers, go through this track.

First you have to decide if you are healing/harming the body or mutating it. (Mutations can be harmful or beneficial, depending on the type you give. No one is going to thank you for giving them gills if no water is nearby.)

If you are healing/harming the body you have to decide the wound type. The more damage you add/remove the more the spell costs.

Wound:
Very Minor: +1 (Paper cuts/minor bruises and whatnot, will heal on its own in a few hours.)
Minor: +2 (Sprained wrists, or things of that nature. Painful, but nothing that won’t heal on its own in a few days.)
Major: +4 (Broken limbs. Will heal, but will take weeks to do so,)
Severe: +8 (Broken spine or destroyed kidney. Survivable, but crippling wounds.)
Lethal: +12 (Heart attack, transmuted blood. Not survivable without outside help.)


Mutations:
Mutations are tracked by two different modifiers: how much of a change to the body it is, and how disparate or different the change is.

Change:
Minor: +2 (This would be modifying your eyes or limbs. Not giving you new stuff so much as altering what you already have.)
Moderate: +4 (This would be giving yourself extra of things you already have. For example, who doesn’t want 3 eyes? (Answer: Anyone fighting a gorgon.))
Massive: +6 (This would be giving yourself extra things that other creatures have. I always wanted to have wings. Too bad they don’t work right.)

Disparity measures how different the mutation is from your own body.

Disparity:
None: +0
Small: +2
Moderate: +4
Massive: +6

Examples of Disparity levels for Minor Changes:
None: Something like making your muscles stronger or your skin tougher or your vision just a little bit sharper. Buffs and debuffs (bonuses or penalties to Form and Endurance) typically fall under this level.
Small: This would be like giving yourself hawk vision. Although the eyes are different, they operate on similar principles.
Moderate: To keep up the eye theme: This would be like giving yourself compound eyes. Still an eye but it operates on different principles then your own does and requires more work to make
Massive: This would be giving yourself the ability to see radiation or something. It’s not even remotely similar to any of your organs in anyway

Examples of Disparity levels for Moderate Changes:
None: Giving yourself a third eye like the two you were born with.
Small: Giving yourself a third eye like a hawk’s.
Moderate: Giving yourself a third eye that is a compound eye.
Massive: Giving yourself a third eye that can see radiation.

Examples of Disparity levels for Major Changes:
None: We could not come up with anything for this one, any suggestions?
Small: Giving yourself a third arm that is a bone spear.
Moderate: Giving yourself a third arm that is a praying mantis foreleg.
Massive: Giving yourself a third arm that happens to be a ghost’s arm.
Comments, opinions, suggestions welcomed. Do you think this would resolve the issue? Does it introduce new ones?
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
----Jack Layton
User avatar
gman391
 
Posts: 3288
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Phht » February 7th, 2012, 6:46 am

For example, who doesn’t want 3 eyes? (Answer: Anyone fighting a gorgon.)
Just have to say, I loved this. That answer would also work with "Who doesn't want eyes in the back of their head?"
This would be giving yourself extra things that other creatures have.
Now, this made me go "hee hee Octopus tentacles! ... wait a second." Anyone have a rough idea what it would take to recreate a Jusenkyo curse from Ranma 1/2 using this system? For the sake of specific way-out-there, let's use the Spring of Drowned Yeti-riding-Bull-carrying-Crane-and-Eel (plus the added bit of Drowned Octopus spring that got added to that guy later). It'd be along the lines of a Minotaur with an eel tail and crane-like wings. Plus octopus tentacles coming off the back too.

If nothing else would test that system, pretty sure that'd do it. ;)

As an aside gman, I once considered trying something similar to help people rank new created jutsu for Naruto RP. Then I thought about all the variables needing to be considered and that it'd have to work for the canon jutsu already existing, and I immediately stopped considering it. So well done on tackling such a concept and getting a system that mostly works without a dozen or more major revisions needed. :)
"BTW, Phht your ability to think of a plot bunny about any situation impresses me, amuses me and horrifies me. All at the same time. Good for you!" - doc.exe
Play Billy vs Snakeman.
--
Naruto RP: Higure Yuuhi (Sp Jonin, age 20, Konoha)
RP Atlas - Naruto RP wiki
User avatar
Phht
 
Posts: 3624
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm
Location: Southeast US

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » February 7th, 2012, 8:22 am

This would be giving yourself extra things that other creatures have.
Now, this made me go "hee hee Octopus tentacles! ... wait a second." Anyone have a rough idea what it would take to recreate a Jusenkyo curse from Ranma 1/2 using this system? For the sake of specific way-out-there, let's use the Spring of Drowned Yeti-riding-Bull-carrying-Crane-and-Eel (plus the added bit of Drowned Octopus spring that got added to that guy later). It'd be along the lines of a Minotaur with an eel tail and crane-like wings. Plus octopus tentacles coming off the back too.

If nothing else would test that system, pretty sure that'd do it. ;)
At a quick calculation it'd cost 148 mana to make one of those pools.

:psychotic:
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Wittgen » February 7th, 2012, 8:40 am

Can people whose mind has been subsumed still contribute mana? If not, why not? If so, why does Scholomance even have classes and stuff instead of the head teacher just mind crushing new students as the come, creating an ever growing mana battery that is in all honesty way better than mitigation. (Mitigation works for a limited number of things. Mana does anything.)
User avatar
Wittgen
 
Posts: 2549
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm
Location: Middle of Nowhere, Japan

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Darkandus » February 7th, 2012, 8:50 am

My theory is he has orange and blue morality. He actually enjoys his role as an educator, he just views the current situation as the best means of education.
Spoiler: show
Image
User avatar
Darkandus
 
Posts: 3003
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby gman391 » February 7th, 2012, 3:01 pm

For example, who doesn’t want 3 eyes? (Answer: Anyone fighting a gorgon.)
Just have to say, I loved this. That answer would also work with "Who doesn't want eyes in the back of their head?"
This would be giving yourself extra things that other creatures have.
Now, this made me go "hee hee Octopus tentacles! ... wait a second." Anyone have a rough idea what it would take to recreate a Jusenkyo curse from Ranma 1/2 using this system? For the sake of specific way-out-there, let's use the Spring of Drowned Yeti-riding-Bull-carrying-Crane-and-Eel (plus the added bit of Drowned Octopus spring that got added to that guy later). It'd be along the lines of a Minotaur with an eel tail and crane-like wings. Plus octopus tentacles coming off the back too.

If nothing else would test that system, pretty sure that'd do it. ;)

As an aside gman, I once considered trying something similar to help people rank new created jutsu for Naruto RP. Then I thought about all the variables needing to be considered and that it'd have to work for the canon jutsu already existing, and I immediately stopped considering it. So well done on tackling such a concept and getting a system that mostly works without a dozen or more major revisions needed. :)

Thank you phht, knowing how hard you've worked on the Naruto RP that means a fair bit. But a fair amount of thanks goes to Aldraia who helped me with the second revision a lot.
Can people whose mind has been subsumed still contribute mana? If not, why not? If so, why does Scholomance even have classes and stuff instead of the head teacher just mind crushing new students as the come, creating an ever growing mana battery that is in all honesty way better than mitigation. (Mitigation works for a limited number of things. Mana does anything.)
Well I can give you two answers the Doylist one and the Watsonian. Doyalist one: No they can't because that would make the game less fun for the reasons you just said.

Watsonian: Mind crushed people do not do versatility well. Once you get them set on one spell that's all they can do.

However ultimately this would be something for Slamu to answer one way or another, as in game I haven't dealt with mind crushed slaves.
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
----Jack Layton
User avatar
gman391
 
Posts: 3288
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby SLAMU » February 7th, 2012, 3:37 pm

:secret_laugh:
SLAMU
 
Posts: 1642
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » February 7th, 2012, 4:04 pm

If I was proposing a solution, I would suggest that mana comes from the mind, so if your mind is truly crushed, you stop producing mana, but I hesitate to make such judgment calls, as they seem more the Headmaster's purview.
On the other hand, SLAMU's evil grin there bodes ill. I propose we leave this discussion at 'inconclusive until such time as it comes up in the game and the Headmaster tells you whether it works'. Or we could just hope that our Headmaster will deign to give us a more answery answer here in this thread.
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
“Ancell: respecting personal boundaries to the detriment of his friends since 1993.” ~bookworm702
User avatar
Aldraia Dragonsong
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Phht » February 7th, 2012, 7:06 pm

At a quick calculation it'd cost 148 mana to make one of those pools.

:psychotic:
...that's actually cheaper than I was expecting. Four to six final year students pooling their mana could possibly pull that off, I think.
Thank you phht, knowing how hard you've worked on the Naruto RP that means a fair bit. But a fair amount of thanks goes to Aldraia who helped me with the second revision a lot.
I might've still gone for it if the RP had started waaaaaaaay back when the series was still pre-time skip or early post-time skip when there weren't a lot of canon jutsu to have to account for. Well, also far less "special bloodline jutsu that Kishi refuses to give a rank" hanging around.

I was actually going to say that back before the major revisions got going, so it was pretty much all you at the time. ;) But good work too, Aldraia!
"BTW, Phht your ability to think of a plot bunny about any situation impresses me, amuses me and horrifies me. All at the same time. Good for you!" - doc.exe
Play Billy vs Snakeman.
--
Naruto RP: Higure Yuuhi (Sp Jonin, age 20, Konoha)
RP Atlas - Naruto RP wiki
User avatar
Phht
 
Posts: 3624
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm
Location: Southeast US

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » February 9th, 2012, 8:31 am

So um, this is ready for beta testing.
The "C" column contains drop down boxes with the options. Or, where a number is required (such as range), just enter it.

There will be changes to it as the rules get settled (for example it becomes really obvious how much 'phrase length' can be abused), but for now it's a kind of working spell cost calculator.
I suggest you save your own copy instead of using the googledocs one all the time. That being said, there's a locked copy of the calculation sheet, so feel free to muck around without worrying about messing anything up.
Also anyone who's good at excel, kindly ignore my horribly clunky 'If' functions >_>
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » March 5th, 2012, 6:29 am

Okaaaaay, the calculator is up to version 1.7 and I think everything is coded and actually coded correctly omg.

Regarding the verbal mitigation problem.
Would it be better to have say:

Word/short phrase - 1 mitigation
("Release", "light on", "Noooooooooooo")

Phrase/proverb/saying - 2 mitigation
("A problem shared is a problem halved", "A stitch in time saves nine", "A watched pot never boils")

Rhyme/Haiku/incantation/Verse/Song section/short poem/short verse - 3 mitigation
("Heal what has been hurt
Change the Fates' design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine"

"Just friends:
he watches my gauze dress
blowing on the line.")

Sonnet/song (full)/long poem/long verse/repeating chant (at least 5 min) - 4 mitigation
(I'm not pasting this, I'm sure you can figure it out.
Song rules:
- must be more than one repeating verse or phrase if being sung
- however this repeating phrase can be used as a 'chant' if stretched to 5 min
- Playing/humming a song is allowed, it does not have to be include a "vocal" component despite the name
- Song should be at least 2.5 minutes or else it's really more of short verse/song section type thing)

Each person contributing adds that much mitigation. So if you get your buddies together for a good old fashioned summoning of Nidhogg, and you're all repeating your chant for at least 5 min together you get 4 mitigation for each person.


Those mitigation points probably need tweeking, but you get my drift.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby gman391 » March 18th, 2012, 11:39 pm

Our lovely and talent Aldraia Dragonsong has taken it upon herself to compile all of our changes into one massive post. For consistency I'm posting but all accolades and well wishes go to her not me. Take a bow Aldraia, you did good.

Aldraia:
As numerous issues have come up with the spell system, several rules patches had to be implemented. For your convenience, I have gathered all such patches and integrated them with the main system, so that you can simply consult this outlining and know how it all works.
Changes from the second version are detailed here:
Spoiler: show
Some minor rewordings for clarity. A section was added to the beginning explaining the interaction of target and effect, also for clarity.

Thermal energy steps are now every 30 degrees Celsius when moving around below 0 degrees Celsius.
An “area affected” category was added to Sorcery.

Alchemy’s Size and Mass categories were completely overhauled; Mass now operates on a flat rate of +1 mana per 50 pounds weight under normal Earth gravity, while Size operates under a relative-to-caster’s-size rate.
Several new categories were added to Alchemy for affecting living creatures.
C
Disparity: None no longer exists; anything that was in that category is now Disparity: Slight instead.

Buffing and debuffing now costs an additional +3 per point of change to the stat.

Batch summoning was included.

Domination of summons was included.

The Range of Conjurations was redefined; a Conjuration’s Range is the distance from the target to the destination for intraplanar transport, and from the caster to the destination for interplanar transport. The cost is otherwise the same.

Permanency costs were increased to x2 instead of x1.5, and the additives were changed.

Verbal mitigation was entirely redone. It now operates on a diminishing-returns system.

Multicaster spellcasting was included.

Thaumaturgy had a quick-reference outline added to the beginning.
The distinction between “similar spell” and “dissimilar spell in the same school” was better-defined.
Some of these changes are newly implemented and had not previously been posted in this thread, so please at least read the change log so you will be appraised of the differences.

The complete system, as it currently functions, is here. Subsystem titles are bolded and underlined, category names are bolded, and each option in a category has its name in italics, to make skimming this for what you want easier.
Spoiler: show
Cost Calculation

Casting a spell always costs at least one point of mana. This “initiation cost” cannot be mitigated away. To determine whether you have overmitigated, if doing so is necessary, do not consider this point in the spell’s cost.

Before determining a spell’s cost, you have to define the target and the effect, as many of the variables depend on these. How you choose to define the target is as important as what the target is; for example, if the target is Shannon and the effect is “changes target’s hand into a bird’s claw”, then you define variables like Size according to Shannon’s size, but if the target is Shannon’s hand and the effect is “changes target into a bird’s claw”, then you define Size according to the size of Shannon’s hand. The spells do the same thing, but may have differing costs because they were defined differently.

Sorcery

Sorcery spells are divided according to the type of energy manipulated: Thermal, Electrical, Kinetic, Luminous, and Sonic Energy, or manipulating heat, manipulating electricity, manipulating movement, manipulating light, and manipulating sound.

Energy Type:
Thermal: +4
Electrical: +6
Kinetic: +8
Luminous: +6
Sonic: +4

Thermal is considered the easiest to manipulate, because it’s constantly moving and therefore you just have to shunt it to where you want it to go.
Electricity is somewhat harder to manipulate, as you have to make a circuit for it. At the same time, that is the hardest part, making it more difficult than manipulating heat, but not so difficult as other types.
Kinetic Energy is the hardest type to use effectively, as removing and imparting energy to make things move takes a lot of work. However, it is also the most versatile, being considered the category that mechanical energy falls under.
Luminous Energy is an esoteric type, but requires about the same amount of work to set up as Electrical Energy.
Sonic Energy is perhaps the easiest to understand, and although a bit tricky to create, it’s no harder then creating heat energy, seeing as how it’s vibrations in the air. Vibrations do not require some great talent to manipulate; as such, it is not hard to control sound.

Once you have the energy’s type, you must determine how much of it you want. For ease of use, I defined power separately for each energy type.

Power:
+1 for every step.

A thermal energy step is a change of 300 degrees Celsius. So making it up to 300 degrees colder or hotter is +1, 300-600 degrees colder or hotter is +2, and so on. However, below 0 degrees the steps reduce in size to 30 degrees. So, for instance, taking something from -40 C to +50 C is +3 total (you go through two steps to get to 0 and one step to get from there to your goal). As a sidenote, your average fire is a little under 600 degrees Celsius, but air fires (which is what you make if you create a fire without specifying a fuel source) are typically around 2000 degrees.
An electrical energy step is 200 megajoules. So up to 200 megajoules is +1, 200-500 megajoules is +2, et cetera. As a sidenote, average lightningbolts are 500 megajoules.
A kinetic energy step is 800 pounds*meters/seconds under normal Earth gravity. That is to say, moving 1 pound 800 meters in a second, moving 800 pounds one meter in a second, moving 2 pounds 400 meters in a second, et cetera.
A luminous energy step is 40,000 lumens. If you want to restrict the distance the light travels, divide that by the number of meters you want to restrict it to, rounded up to the nearest meter (so restricting it to traveling one meter does not decrease step size, restricting it to traveling two meters decreases the step size to 20,000 lumens, et cetera). As a sidenote, bright sunlight delivers 100,000 lumens per square meter at Earth’s surface.
A sound energy step is 40 decibels. So up to 40 decibels is +1, 40-80 is +2, and so on. As a side note, human shouting is around one hundred decibels.

Volume Affected:
+1 for every tenth of a cubic meter affected (so +10 per cubic meter, divisible), minimum +1.

It is assumed that to shield yourself from energy backlash requires a separate spell. So no calling down fireballs on yourself, okay? Although you could use a protective item as well.


Alchemy

Alchemy’s cost is partly determined by how much stuff you are affecting. This works on two axes, the object’s mass and its size.

Mass is defined according to how much something weighs under standard Earth gravity.

Mass:
+1 per 50 pounds.

Size is a bit different. Very small things are hard to manipulate because they require such fine control. At the same time, very large things are also hard to manipulate.

Size:
If the object is more than half your size, add +1 mana for every time your size it is (so something ¾ as big as you is +1, something one and a half times your size is +2, something a little more than twice your size is +3, and so on).
If the object is smaller than that, consult this table:
Half to a fourth your size: +2
A fourth to an eighth: +3
An eighth to a sixteenth: +4
One-sixteenth or smaller, but visible: +5
Too small to see: +7
Subatomic: +8

For transmutation spells, add the subatomic size modifier and the size modifier for the size of the object transmuted.

Living:
Yes: +2
No: +1

Living things often have self-correction systems; they have a sense of what they ‘should’ be like, and seek to remain that way. Nonliving things, on the other hand, lack such a sense.
In addition, if performing Alchemy on a living creature, you must go through the following track; for Alchemy on the nonliving, skip on to general modifiers.

Living Alchemy

First, you have to decide if you are healing/harming the body or mutating it. (Mutations can be harmful or beneficial, depending on the type you give. No one will thank you for giving them gills if no water is nearby.)

If you are healing/harming the body, determine the wound type. The more damage you add/remove, the more the spell costs.

Wound:
Very Minor: +1 (Paper cuts/minor bruises and whatnot, will heal on its own in a few hours.)
Minor: +2 (Sprained wrists, or things of that nature. Painful, but nothing that will not heal on its own in a few days.)
Major: +4 (Broken limbs. Will heal, but will take weeks to do so,)
Severe: +8 (Broken spine or destroyed kidney. Survivable, but crippling wounds.)
Lethal: +12 (Heart attack, transmuted blood. Not survivable without outside help.)


Mutation
Mutations are tracked by two different modifiers: how much of a change to the body it is, and how disparate or different the change is.

Change:
Minor: +2 (This would be modifying your eyes or limbs. Not giving you new stuff so much as altering what you already have.)
Moderate: +4 (This would be giving yourself extra of things you already have. For example, who doesn’t want 3 eyes? (Answer: Anyone fighting a gorgon.))
Massive: +6 (This would be giving yourself extra things that other creatures have. I always wanted to have wings. Too bad they don’t work right.)

Disparity measures how different the mutation is from your current body.

Disparity:
Slight: +2
Moderate: +4
Massive: +6

Examples of Disparity levels for Minor Changes:
Slight: This would be like giving yourself hawk vision. Although the eyes are different, they operate on similar principles. Alternatively, something like making your muscles stronger or your skin tougher or your vision just a little bit sharper. Buffs and debuffs (bonuses or penalties to Form or Endurance) typically fall under this level, but require an additional +3 per point of change.
Moderate: To keep up the eye theme: This would be like giving yourself compound eyes. Still an eye but it operates on different principles then your own does and requires more work to make
Massive: This would be giving yourself the ability to see radiation or something. It’s not even remotely similar to any of your organs in anyway

Examples of Disparity levels for Moderate Changes:
Slight: Giving yourself a third eye like a hawk’s or like your own two eyes.
Moderate: Giving yourself a third eye that is a compound eye.
Massive: Giving yourself a third eye that can see radiation.

Examples of Disparity levels for Major Changes:
Slight: Giving yourself a third arm that is a bone spear.
Moderate: Giving yourself a third arm that is a praying mantis foreleg.
Massive: Giving yourself a third arm that happens to be a ghost’s arm.

Enchantment

The first step in Enchantment is deciding the spell’s direction: projection, putting what you want into a person’s mind, or retrieval, taking what you want from a person’s mind.

An enchanter could send you the image of Edward from Twilight making kissy faces at you in order to make you freak out. That would be projection. Or he could call on your own darkest fears to bring that same image out. That would be retrieval.

It is inherently harder to take than it is to give in this case, so projection is easier than retrieval.

Direction:
Projection: +2
Retrieval: +3

After deciding whether a spell is projection or retrieval, you have to decide what part of the mind it affects.
I have divided the mind into roughly four parts (I apologize to any Psych majors that this scars horribly): Current Thoughts, Memory, Beliefs and Senses.

Aspect:
Thoughts: +1
Senses: +1 per sense affected
Memory: +3
Beliefs: +7
Fortitude: +1 and another +3 per point of change

Current thoughts are easy to manipulate, as they are almost constantly in flux anyway.
It is difficult to manipulate every sense perfectly. However, individual senses are not hard to trick. So while each individual sense only costs 1 mana, multiple senses cost as much as all of their individual costs put together. So a sight spell would cost +1, a sight and sound spell would cost +2, and so on.
Memory is difficult to manipulate, as it is usually fairly ingrained into our minds.
Beliefs are deeply held parts of a person, the core principles or ideals that they hold dear, even if that principle is simply “Survive”. Changing these beliefs is incredibly hard and thus costs the most mana because of how deeply ingrained these beliefs tend to be.
Fortitude is pretty much your mental stats, Essence and Will. It is not really an Aspect in the same way as the others, but is defined that way for convenience. You can use Enchantment to raise them or lower them; it costs +1 to choose this Aspect and then +3 for every point of change. So +2 to Essence would cost +7, -3 to Willpower would cost +10, et cetera.

The final stage is to decide how blatant you are with your manipulations. The more blatant the manipulation, the harder it is.
This is tracked on two levels, Awareness and Willingness. If someone is aware that a spell is being performed, they are much more likely to be capable of resisting and throwing up barriers.

Awareness:
Unaware: +1
Somewhat Aware: +3
Very Aware: +5

Unaware means that the target has no idea someone could be around to do things to them, nor do they expect anyone to. This is admittedly rare in Scholomance, but it could happen. It also includes being asleep or unconscious, or heavily drunk/drugged.
Somewhat aware means that the target knows that Enchantment is a possibility and is on guard, but not actively searching.
If the target is very aware, they know that they are under attack and are actively trying to resist mind attacks.

Willingness:
Fully Willing: +1
Somewhat Willing: +3
Unwilling: +5

It is much easier to mind-whammy people if they want you to. However, the mind is subconsciously against this, so there will always be some resistance. As a side note, a person who is willing to allow you to perform mind magic on them is considered Unaware. Conversely, never add more than +3 for the unwillingness of an Unaware person, no matter how unwilling they are.

As a note, all animals that are not sapient (able to tell the difference between right and wrong) are assumed to be Unaware (Why would they expect magic mind attacks?) and Somewhat Willing, as they do not have a very strong will to fight back with.


Conjuration:

Conjurations are first categorized by the type of summon.

Summon Type:
Force/Concepts: +6 (These are things like summoning gravity or death to do your bidding. It is possible, but they really don’t like doing it, thus it costs a fair amount of mana to do. As an aside, summoning the anthropomorphic incarnation of death or somesuch would include both this category and the next, and you would have to pay both costs.)
Beings: +3 (This would be your magical beasties and the like.)
Objects: +1 (The inanimate.)

Now, the second distinction. Is the target sapient, or not? Sapient beings are assumed to not really want to go hurtling across realities to do what you tell them to. Thus, they instinctively try to resist. If you could somehow make one agree to being summoned by you, then they would have the nonsapient cost. Furthermore, a sapient creature requires an Essence check to summon against their will.

Sapience:
Yes: +3
No: +1

That covers most of what Conjuration is considered to do, but the question of how far you are reaching in order to grab something remains.

Origin:
Same Plane: +1
Identical Plane: +4
Similar Plane: +6
Dissimilar Plane: +8
Beyond: +11

Same plane should be fairly self-explanatory. You must have a destination in mind in order to move things around within a plane via Conjuration.
An identical plane is much like the one you are currently on, it just happens to not be the same plane. This is a bit of a misnomer, but I wanted a pithy phrase.
Similar worlds have some major differences but still run on (most of) the same basic principles. For example, your standard D&D world would be a Somewhat Similar world from Earth.
Dissimilar worlds do not have much in common beyond still having life (usually) and some form of physics.
Beyond. This is essentially where the eldritch abominations find things to be freaky and possibly insane. Reaching here and bringing it back is incredibly difficult.

As an aside, it is assumed that souls that you summon come from the afterlife. Consult the Headmaster for details.
As a further aside, note that our homeworld is considered an Identical Plane if Conjuring from Scholomance.

Summoning a spirit to yourself to let it possess you carries a +3 cost, along with how much it costs to pull that spirit from where it resides to you.

Spirit Possession: +3

Additionally, summoning something bigger than yourself costs +1 mana for every additional time your size it is over the first. (Where X is how many times your size it is, rounded up to the nearest whole number, add (x-1) mana to the cost of the spell.)
So if it is only twice as big as you, that would be +1, three times is +2, etc.

Size:
+1 per additional time your size over the first. For things your size or smaller, +0.
Note: Size is calculated by volume. The size for a Force/Concept is based on the volume affected.

Number
To summon multiple beings, add:
Objects: +1 per additional object.
Beings: +<Spell’s Size cost modifier> per additional being, or +1 per additional being, whichever is greater.
Forces/Concepts: Cannot be done in multiples. Must be summoned individually.

To dominate a sapient you have Conjured, your Essence must exceed its Essence. Essence values for sapient summons are set by the Headmaster. To dominate a nonsapient summon, no check is needed; you can do so automatically. You cannot, however, dominate something that has no mind, such as an ordinary book or table.
In addition, if dominating your summons, add +3 to the cost of the spell.

Domination:
Yes: +3
No: +0


General Modifiers

Okay, so now that you have added school modifiers, time to add the general modifiers.

Range: +1 mana per five meters of distance between the caster and the target, minimum +1. Affecting yourself, however, is +0 instead. Except for Conjuration. A Conjuration’s Range is the distance from the target to the destination (for the same plane), or from the caster to the destination (for interplanar transport from other planes to your plane), or from the caster to the target (for interplanar transport from your plane to other planes). This applies regardless of the target’s identity. If moving yourself to another plane... um... then you get +0, lucky you.

Duration: +1 per five minutes, minimum +1; Instantaneous spells are +0 instead. Permanent spells are always considered Instantaneous.

Permanency for Alchemy:
Permanent spells cost twice as much plus the spell’s Mass cost.
So a +14 spell to affect 96 pounds of stuff would be +30 if it was permanent.

It should be noted that most basic Alchemy is of instantaneous duration; that is to say, it has no duration cost and does not have to be made permanent to retain the effects.

Example: Shannon uses her floor spear spell. That spear sticks around forever unless something else happens to change that. A permanent floor spear spell would continuously make spears.

Permanency for Sorcery:
Permanent spells cost twice as much plus the spell’s Energy Type cost.
So a +14 Thermal spell would be +32 if permanent.

Sorcery, like Alchemy, is usually instantaneous.
Example: A sorceror uses a nonpermanent spell to light a piece of wood on fire. The fire will continue to burn merrily without any additional mana being used for as long as it is supplied with fuel, provided it was just a normal fire. Getting a fire to burn eternally without need for fuel, on the other hand, would require a permanent fire spell.

Permanency for Enchantment:
Permanent spells cost twice as much plus the spell’s Aspect cost.
So a +14 Memory spell would cost +31 if it was permanent.

The mind normally tries to repair itself if given enough time, so it is very difficult to make an enchantment permanent.

An example of a nonpermanent enchantment with lasting effects: Using illusions to condition a dog to fear a certain sound.
An example of a permanent enchantment: Implanting a permanent fear of a certain sound in a dog’s mind.

Permanency for Conjuration:
Permanent conjurations cost twice as much plus the spell’s Summon Type cost.
So a +14 Object summoning would cost +29 if permanent.

Unlike most other kinds of magic, summons tend to snap back to their original location for some reason. However, it is possible to effect a permanent shift, should you wish to do so.

Examples of nonpermanent conjuration: Summoning a griffin to attack your foe and then vanish. Appearing where a friend is to assist them briefly.
Examples of permanent conjuration: Summoning a griffin to guard your Atelier. Warping directly back to your Atelier after class.

Unlimited Range
This rarely comes up unless you are creating an item with a spell stored or imbued in it. If you want to not worry about a spell’s Range, calculate the spell as if the Range is Close (cost +1), then after everything else, including Permanency if applicable, multiply the cost by ten. Then go through the Thaumaturgy track.


Mitigation

As a note, the Headmaster still has the ability to veto spells if he or she feels like it. Even if they worked before. This is explained in universe by some higher power screwing with you. Possibly the in-game headmaster, for that matter.

Verbal Mitigators

Verbal mitigators are spoken words. The value of the mitigator depends on the length of the phrase. The phrase must make sense and be applicable to the situation at hand. If you overrun the word limit for one step, it defaults to the next.

Each step is 6 words longer than the step before it. The first step is 6 words long.
So the first step is 1-6 words, the second is 7-18 words, the third is 19-54 words, and so on.
To determine the mitigation, count how many steps you went through, then add that much.
So one word is 1 point of mitigation, 10 words is two points, and so on.
To calculate step size for any given step, just take 6 times the number of the step. Add that to the maximum value of the last step to determine the endpoint of the new step. (For the mathematically inclined, the maximum value of a step is [(6*<step number>)!].)
To determine how much mitigation you get from a set number of words, you unfortunately just have to calculate out every step until you hit the right one. So, for your convenience, I made you a table.

+1 mitigation = 1-6 words
+2 mitigation = 7-18 words
+3 mitigation = 19-54 words
+4 mitigation = 55-78 words
+5 mitigation = 79-108 words

Note that multiple people saying the same thing does not count for any more than if one person said it. Nor does repeating something count for more than saying it once.

Sonic Mitigators

Sonic Mitigators Revised as of 21/04/2012

This is any sound other than words.

Sounds that do not contain words are sorted by appropriateness for the spell at hand. This includes things like bird calls or even nails on a chalkboard. Naturally, some sounds help your mitigation and others hinder it.

Very appropriate: 4 mitigation.
Appropriate: 2 mitigation.
Mildly appropriate: 1 mitigation.
Neutral: 0 mitigation.
Mildly inappropriate: -1 mitigation.
Inappropriate: -2 mitigation.
Very inappropriate: -4 mitigation..

Somatic Mitigators

Somatic mitigators are divided into two categories: positions and gestures.

Positions are, as the name suggests, when you hold your body a certain way. For example standing in a firebender’s stance while casting a fireball spell. This would be a major position; a minor position would be say holding your hand in the sign for stop when making a time stop spell.

Position:
Major: +2
Minor: +1

Gestures are moving your body around. They, too, are divided into Major and Minor. A minor gesture would be something like snapping your fingers for a sonicboom spell. A major one would be making a chopping motion with your arm to generate a razor wind.

Gesture:
Major: +2
Minor: +1


Material Mitigators

Material mitigators are physical objects, symbols, or substances. They are divided into levels.

The levels for material mitigators are:

Very Minor: 1 mitigation: These are only tangentially related to the spell in question. As an example, if casting a scrying spell, you used silicon beads as a mitigator.
Minor: 2 mitigation: These are connected, but it is not something you would normally think of using for the spell in question. Going back to the scrying example, using, say, a microscope.
Medium: 3 mitigation: These have a definite link, but lack a specialization to that particular spell. For example, for your scrying spell, you use a bowl of water. It is connected to scrying, but you could also use it for healing, potion making, etc.
Major: 4 mitigation: These are focused and connected to the spell in question, and thus very powerful. For example, using some of the herbs that the Oracle at Delphi used would be very useful for our scrying spell.
Very Major: 5 mitigation: These are permanently linked to a spell and couldn't really be seen as useful for anything else. Going back to the scrying, having the skull of the Oracle at Delphi would be a great mitigator.


Locational Mitigation

Locational mitigation is casting in an environment that fits with a spell. For example, casting a fire spell is a lot easier in, say, a volcano, even without the added heat decreasing the Power required. This means picking your battleground is very important. If you tend to summon demons, don’t fight someone on holy ground.

Location:
Very appropriate: 4 mitigation.
Appropriate: 2 mitigation.
Mildly appropriate: 1 mitigation.
Neutral: 0 mitigation.
Mildly inappropriate: -1 mitigation.
Inappropriate: -2 mitigation.
Very inappropriate: -4 mitigation.

Examples:
Very Appropriate: Summoning a dryad in a forest.
Appropriate: Summoning a dryad near a single tree.
Mildly Appropriate: Summoning a dryad in a grassy field.
Neutral: Summoning a dryad on dirt.
Mildly Inappropriate: Summoning a dryad on rocky ground.
Inappropriate: Summoning a dryad in a stone room or a cave.
Very Inappropriate: Summoning a dryad in a desert or volcano.


Thematic Mitigation:

Thematic mitigation is a theme within a single spell. For instance, doing everything in threes (saying the chant three times, using three of each material mitigator, et cetera). You need at least two things fitting the declared theme to get points for it; those two give you +1 mitigation total. This is on top of any mitigation they already grant you.

You can continue to add things that fit the theme to get additional mitigation, as follows:
1 additional thing gives you +1 mitigation. (1 thing over the previous level.)
3 additional things give you +2 mitigation. (2 things over the previous level.)
6 additional things give you +3 mitigation. (3 things over the previous level.)

And so on. In general, each level of “thematicness” requires one more thing to reach from the previous level than the previous level did.

Multiple themes do stack, but the second theme requires twice as many things in all categories

(four to count as a theme at all, two more for another +1, another four for the next +1, et cetera), the third three times as many (six to count, three for the extra +1, six for the next +1, et cetera), and so on.

So to outline:
Two items total (0 extra): +1 mitigation (total)
Three items total (1 extra): +2 mitigation (total)
Five items total (3 extra): +3 mitigation (total)
Eight items total (6 extra): +4 mitigation (total)

The levels are determined by the number of additional items and go up as a basic addition series.
1 = 1 additional item needed
1+2 = 3 additional items needed
1+2+3 = 6 additional items needed
1+2+3+4= 8 additional items needed
1+2+3+4+5= 15 additional items needed
etc.

Each time one of these numbers is reached, the spell gains an additional point of mitigation.
To tell how much mitigation you get, simply look at the last number in the addition series (so, for example, 15 items gives you +5); this is added on top of the +1 for fitting a theme.
Themes can be stacked, but your second theme will cost twice as much: four to start, then
2(1) = 2 additional items needed
2(1+2) = 6 additional items needed
2(1+2+3) = 12 additional items needed
2(1+2+3+4)= 16 additional items needed
2(1+2+3+4+5)= 30 additional items needed


Mastery

Each level of Mastery in a school gives you 1 point of mitigation for all spells in that school.
In addition, it expands the range of correct mana cost by +/- 1.
Example: Kirana has level 1 Alchemy Mastery. If she were casting an Alchemy spell that costs 15 points, she could spend and mitigate anywhere from 14 to 16 points of mana and that would count as perfectly meeting the cost. Her Mastery would also count as one point of that mitigation.

Multiple Casters

Each secondary caster in a spell may add as much of their own mana as they wish; each point of mana spent in this way adds 1 mitigation to the spell for the primary caster.

A person helping in this way may contribute as much as he or she wants. However, if someone contributes more mana than the caster, that contributor may attempt to take over the spell. Contested control is determined by Essence checks. If control is successfully wrested away, apply the new controller’s Masteries instead of the original caster’s, and allow the new controller to redefine the spell as they wish. Yes, this may result in the spell being over- or under-powered and requires recalculating everything. Sorry about that.

If a spell necessitates an Essence check other than contested control checks, such as domination of a Conjured creature, each person who contributes mana to the spell may add their Essence to either side of that check.

Note that you can also transfer mana from your own pool to someone else’s; doing so costs one point of mana for every point the target recovers. Giving someone so much mana that their current mana exceeds their maximum will result in whatever the Headmaster wants it to.


Thaumaturgy

On account of the initial wording of this being awkward but rewriting being difficult, a quick just-the-numbers outline is below, followed by the long wordy detailed explanation.

Item Type:
Consumable: +3
Usable: +1

Trigger Type:
Consumable: +0
Voluntary: +0
Trap: +2

Previous Thaumaturgy (per previous spell):
None: +1
Identical spell: +2
Similar spell: +3
Dissimilar spell: +4
Different school: +6

Imbued Spells:
Active: +0, then x4
Passive: +3, then x4

Thaumaturgy can be described as a means of preparing a spell and paying its mana cost in advance so that you can use it quickly and without fear of mana exhaustion when you need it. In order to do so, you must store the preprepared spell in an object. The item can also be made usable by someone else, should you wish it to be so.

Once a stored spell has been used, it is gone; each stored spell can only be used once. However, you can imbue a spell into an item, which is to regular storing what permanent spells are to nonpermanent spells. An item with an imbued spell is always a usable item.


Now, in general, when you store a spell, first you go through the entire process of calculating the spell’s cost normally, except you leave out the one mana of spell initiation, because you are not casting the spell yet. You then set that number aside and calculate the cost to store the spell.
At this stage, you can leave any variable “undefined”; if you do this, you pay the cost of that variable at casting instead of at storage, and also set the variable’s value at that time.
Example: You could store a fireball spell, but not specify a range; you would then have to specify a range when you used the spell and add the appropriate Range cost to the cost to use the item.

If you wish to predefine a target-based variable at storage, simply choose any value you like; this value is the upper limit of the spell’s effect. (For instance, you could predefine the Mass variable of an Alchemy spell as 300 pounds under Earth gravity; the spell would then affect any creature of that mass or less.)


There are two main divisions of spell storage:
Consumable Item: Something which is ingested/burned/otherwise used up in order to release the stored spell. A consumable item cannot have a spell imbued into it, nor can a spell stored in it have undefined variables. Examples: A potion which is drunk to receive its effect; a scroll which is burned to release the spell stored in it; a disk which is snapped in half to activate its spell.
Usable Item: Something which is triggered in a way that does not damage the item. Example: A wand which one waves while yelling “Fuego!” to cast its stored fire spell.

A consumable item costs +3 mana to create, while a usable item costs only +1. However, activating a usable item costs one mana just like initiating any spell, while activating a consumable item costs no mana.

Then add:
+1 if the item is not magical in any way yet.
+2 if the item already contains an identical spell (same effect, same parameters for things like range and duration, etc.; trying to store two ten-meter fireball spells in one rock, for example).
+3 if the item already contains a similar spell (not exactly the same effect, but sort of similar; two fire spells with different durations, say).
+4 if the item already contains a spell which is in the same school but otherwise dissimilar (a fire spell and a lightningbolt spell, for instance).
+6 if the item already contains a spell which is in a different school entirely (a fire spell and Shannon’s floor spear spell, for example).
Add twice as much if the previous spell is an imbued spell instead of a stored spell.

Note that these costs are cumulative; you must add to the mana cost for every spell stored in the object.

An illustration:
Suppose you have an amulet which contains a spell to throw lightningbolts, a spell to summon griffins, and a spell to throw fireballs. You wish to add to this amulet a spell that creates a wall of fire. You would need to add +13 mana in multistorage costs: +3 because of the fireball spell (still fire, but in a different shape and likely with differing range and duration), +4 because of the lightningbolt spell (same school, but different energy type), and +6 because of the summoning spell (different school).

For those who are confused as to the distinction between “similar” and “dissimilar within a school”, you can say that if at least one of the numerical categories has a different value, you add +3, and if at least one of the nonnumerical categories has a different value, you add +4. If categories of both types have differing values, you add the higher cost only.

Finally, you need to set a trigger for your stored spell. A trigger can be anything you like, as general or specific as you want: activates if anyone other than the maker picks it up, activates when the maker holds it in the light of the sun, activates when waved in the air while someone shouts “Hoogabooloo!”, activates when anyone holding/wearing/touching/near it wants it to, whatever. If it is a consumable item, this may include destroying, damaging, or using up the item; otherwise, the item will likely damage or destroy itself. If it is a usable item, the trigger must include paying at least one point of mana plus any ‘undefined variable’ costs.

In general, there are two types of triggers, voluntary trigger and trap trigger. A voluntary trigger is something that the user does; a trap trigger is something that someone else, usually the target, does. A trap trigger spell must have all of its variables defined, including “costless” variables such as the shape of a fire spell (fireball, fire wall, et cetera) or the exact type of creature summoned by a Conjuration (griffin, hippogriff, et cetera). Trap triggers do not take any mana to activate, even if they are usable-type items. The caster of a voluntary trigger spell is the person who triggers it, while the caster of a trap trigger spell is the person who set the trap.

Trigger:
Consumable: +0
Voluntary: +0
Trap: +2

Voluntary or trap only matters for usable items; for a consumable item, the activation cost has already been prepaid and does not have to be paid again.

To imbue a spell instead of merely storing it, calculate the total cost to store the spell, then quadruple that cost. This is the cost to imbue the spell.

Imbued spells come in two types, active and passive. The cost to imbue them is the same, but the effects are different:
An active imbued spell is exactly like a stored spell, except with infinite uses.
A passive imbued spell is always “on”, affecting whoever is holding/wearing/wielding the item in question. The cost of such a spell should always be calculated as if its duration is instantaneous.
A passive spell costs +3 to imbue, but has no activation cost; it is essentially cast as it is imbued and remains activated permanently. It has no trigger. (This is applied before the quadrupling.)

Thaumaturgical costs can be mitigated just like any other part of the spell’s cost, but note that all mitigation is applied after the thaumaturgical modifiers.

Some examples of thaumaturgy:

1. Creating a potion that temporarily grants +1 to Form.
This would be Alchemy, as it affects your physical body, so we follow the Alchemy track.
Mass: This is intended for normal adult humans, so to be safe, up to 200 pounds. +4.
Size: Made by a smallish person and intended for general use, so go with up to double caster’s size. +2.
Life: Yes. +2 and go through the organic Alchemy track.
Mutation
Change: Minor. +2.
Disparity: Slight. +2, and +3 because this is a one-point stat change.
Now general modifiers.
Range: Within one meter, this is intended to operate when ingested. +1.
Duration: Hmm, say an hour for this one. +12.
Total that up, and the cost of an hour-long +1 Form spell is 28 points of mana.
Then we go through the thaumaturgy track.
A potion is a consumable item, so +1.
This potion has no other magic in it yet, so +1 for that as well.
Trigger is, naturally, “target drinks the potion”. (Trigger: Consumable. +0.)
The total cost to create a potion that grants +1 to Form for Medium-sized or smaller creatures of Large mass or less for one hour is 30 points of mana.

2. Storing a fireball spell in a bracelet that already contains several other spells.
This is, naturally, a Sorcerous spell, so to the Sorcery track!
Energy Type: Thermal. +4.
Power: Going for a pretty average fireball, say 650-ish degrees Celsius of temperature change assuming normal temperatures. +3.
Volume affected: Say a small fireball, only about the size of your head. That is, I dunno, but less than a tenth of a cubic meter I think. +1.
Shape: Sphere. +0.
General modifiers:
Range: Ten meters sounds good. +2.
Duration: Instantaneous; the fireball appears on the spot and either sets things on fire or fails to do so. Either way, no need for it to stick around. +0.
Cost to create a fireball ten meters away: 10 points of mana.
And the thaumaturgy now:
This bracelet is a usable item. +1.
The bracelet already contains several other spells:
An identical fireball spell (the caster wanted two, just in case): +2.
A spell to generate light: +4.
A notice-me-not spell: +6.
Trigger is, say, “user is wearing the bracelet, points at target, and recites the first two lines of The Raven”. (Trigger: Voluntary. +0.)
Total cost to add the fireball spell to the bracelet: 23 points of mana.

3. Imbuing a summons into a dais that calls a guardian beast to protect the sacred ground.
This would be a Conjuration. Conjuration track, initialize!
Summon Type: Being. +3.
Sapience: No. +1.
Origin: Similar Plane. +4.
Size: Four times caster’s size. +3.
Domination: Yes. Preset a domination to attack offenders. +x.
General modifiers:
Range: Right on the dais; +1.
Duration: Say... half an hour. +6.
This conjuration costs 18 points of mana normally.
Now, the thaumaturgical costs.
The dais is considered a usable item. +1.
This particular dais has no other thaumaturgy in it. +1.
Set the trigger as “someone enters the sacred ground without praising Alu’matra”. (Trigger: Trap. +2.)
This spell would cost 22 points of mana to store. However, we want to imbue it, so we quadruple that to get a cost of 88 points of mana.

4. Imbuing a passive-type blindness spell into a necklace.
An Enchantment this time, so to the Enchantment track with us!
Direction: Projection. +2.
Aspect: Senses (sight). One sense, so +1.
Awareness: Very aware, we want this to always work. +5.
Willingness: Unwilling, no one wants to be blinded. +5
General modifiers now.
Range: Close. +1.
Duration: Instantaneous. +0.
Cost of an instantaneous blinding-someone-nearby spell: 14 points of mana.
And the thaumaturgy:
Considered a usable item. +1.
Suppose it already has a passive deafness spell on it. That would be a similar spell, imbued. +6.
This is a passive spell, so +3.
24 points quadrupled is 96 points to imbue this spell.
Questions, comments, complaints?
Last edited by gman391 on April 21st, 2012, 8:00 pm, edited 5 times in total.
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
----Jack Layton
User avatar
gman391
 
Posts: 3288
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » March 19th, 2012, 5:15 am

Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you and well to Aldraia and gman, I don't think I say it enough for the amount of work, debate and hair tearing that I know has gone into this. I definitely don't say it enough for the amount of serbii-proofing that has gone into this.

The calculator will be updated over the next couple of days, tonight if the formulas are easy.

Oi! Change her hand back!

With size definitions:
Are we going with the biggest dimension? So if I have something as tall as Shannon but as thin as a hair I pay +1 rather than 0.

Word of God concerning multiple casters... so to speak: Human sacrifice can be used to power spells, it adds the victim's mana to the spell.

Countering/nullifying/preventing/defence from spells. We spoke about it, I think you should add it in.

With "Thaumaturgy" I don't think 'Trap' is a good word. I'd prefer 'trigger' but you've already defined the category as that. As they're not all "traps".
For example I could set up a spell so that I summoned a box of popcorn by saying a certain phrase and imbue it within a bracelet or something as a permanent spell. Now, this would be 'usable' however if I set it as a "trap" type, and pay more mana during it's creation I don't need to use mana to activate it at the time. I use the phrase as the trigger that activates the "trap".
However "trap" is not a good word to describe what just happened I think.
Trap types have clear advantages as they don't cost mana at the time to activate, there's no way people wouldn't modify these to use themselves rather than having to be activated by other people. In fact many enchanted items come under this category already.
Shannon had a gun that could shoot through magic defences. It cost her zero mana to use and there was nothing magical about the shot or powder which she made herself. It had to be a 'trap' trigger permanent spell. I've also seen other more spoilery ones around too.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby gman391 » March 19th, 2012, 3:38 pm

Use the largest dimension.

As for countering/creating defenses....yeah I suppose we could add it in.
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
----Jack Layton
User avatar
gman391
 
Posts: 3288
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby Aldraia Dragonsong » March 20th, 2012, 5:02 am

Actually, gman is mistaken; Size is about volume, so you use that, not the largest dimension. So something as tall as Shannon but as thin as a hair would be +5, as it is less than a sixteenth her size, but still (just barely) visible to her eyes. (Yes, that means suffering from vision problems can increase your spell costs and having unusually good vision can decrease them.) Also, there is no +0 Size cost; the lowest Size cost is +1 (half your size to about your size). Sorry about the lack of clarity, gman and everyone else.
Regarding human sacrifice: Ah, we had not heard that. I will write something up on that and get it edited into the post shortly. Does this mean sacrificing a nonmagical creature, human or otherwise, only helps in circumstances where you can justify that as a mitigator for that specific spell? Which makes sense, I suppose.
Regarding countering/nullification: It is just another kind of spell, you use the system for it the same way as any other spell. What needs to be added? (I mean that as a sincere question, not a smart-alecky response.)
Regarding trap triggering: I agree that "trap" is not the absolute best word, but I consider "trigger" to mean "method of activation", like the trigger of a gun. I wanted a single word to encompass that concept, so Trigger became the category's name. The way I look on it, a trap does not absolutely have to be harmful; while most traps in the real world are, this is due to the limitations of mundane trapmaking. In Dungeons and Dragons, for instance, magical traps can have any spell tied to them, including Create Food and Water or Cure Moderate Wounds. Making such "traps" is a common rules trick among my brothers' D&D group. The existence of this trick diminished the negative implications of the word "trap" to me, so it came to just mean "an effect that occurs on its own when certain conditions are met" in my lexicon. I was aware that not all "Trigger Type: Trap" effects would have to be harmful, but still felt the word would suit adequately. If you wish to suggest a better term, please, do so. I would be happy to name it something clearer.

Also, thank you very much for the compliments, and you are welcome.
Random Scholomance Quote of However Long It Takes Me To Get Bored of the Last One:
“Ancell: respecting personal boundaries to the detriment of his friends since 1993.” ~bookworm702
User avatar
Aldraia Dragonsong
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby serbii » March 20th, 2012, 7:51 am

Size as in volume. Got it.
Regarding human sacrifice: Ah, we had not heard that.
Slamu and I had this conversation after the ham handed attempt at intimidation threat of it came up, not in any of the public chats.
Regarding countering/nullification: It is just another kind of spell, you use the system for it the same way as any other spell. What needs to be added?
Just mention it can be done. Countering a spell costs the same as casting it.
I just feel it should be mentioned for those who aren't in/don't follow whatever room we chatted about it in. Though, I guess now we kinda have.

Re "Trap": Ahh, see I don't play DnD, 'trap' has purely negative connotations for me. If I think of anything better I'll let you know.

Ok, the calculator's updated.

The phrase length thing is horrible inelegant as until I figure out how to write the formula I want it's a drop down list. >_> But I figure it's better to have something up and running that works than just leaving it off all together because I couldn't work out how to loop and +1 outside of C.

There will be bugs and miscalculations. Go find them for me darlings.
*finds one before finishing typing this*
Sigh.
Unlimited range on perm spells needs fixing >_> I'm going to bed.
User avatar
serbii
 
Posts: 4584
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm

Re: Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

Unread postby ewuvi » April 16th, 2012, 12:58 am

Two things. One, how does willpower effect your chances of being affected by an enchantment spell? You'd think the higher the willpower, the less likely the person is to fall prey to something mind altering.

Second, sorcery on the living. Does that mean if you make a lightning bolt and it touches a person it counts as 'sorcery on the living', or does that mean directly messing with organs/blood/whatever?
User avatar
ewuvi
 
Posts: 3879
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm


Return to “%s” World Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users

cron