NOTE: This is a discussion paper (trial balloon) on the subject of fatigue in Shek-Pvar magic in Hârnmaster. Its principal purpose is to elicit a response from Users of Hârnline on DB.
The Hârnmaster Spell system stresses individual development of spells through original research by characters. This is a major strength, but there have been several queries on how R&D is done. Hârnmaster does not, it would seem, provide the GM with guidelines sufficient for him to oversee the process of new spell development.
Ideally, there would be a formula, or set of formulae, that would enable the GM to quickly and easily analyze any spell presented to him by his characters. Unfortunately, there have never been such formulae, firstly because magic does not lend itself to straightforward analysis, and secondly because the criteria for new spells in large part defines the fundamental nature of the environment and I wanted to leave that pretty much to individual GMs. Unfortunately, the Hârnmaster Spell R&D system seems to be causing difficulty for GMs, and this is a far more important consideration.
There is no such thing as a finished product. A game or game system is designed and redesigned continuously. At some point its rules are frozen and it is published, but it is never complete. The major limitations in the Hârnmaster system were space we produced one of the most succinct systems ever published, but we had to make sacrifices and, since none of our playtesters raised doubts about Magic R&D, we did not provide as many guidelines as many of you might have liked. Considering the process of review, testing, revision and adjustment that material has to go through before it is published, it is perhaps surprising that anyone can understand any of it.
Hârnline on Duffle Board strikes me as an excellent opportunity for me to put up trial balloons. Thus far the users have asked a lot of difficult questions, and I can, I hope, bounce ideas off you... This is a trial balloon on the subject of Spell Fatigue. Please respond.
It is clearly possible to separate the complexity of a spell from the amount of energy it involves. A fireball does not seem like a complex spell, but the amount of energy it involves is fairly large. On the other hand, the insinuation of one's mind into that of another is a complex challenge, but would seem to involve little in the way of raw energy.
On this basis, one might conclude that the amount of fatigue associated with a spell has nothing to do with the spell's complexity, but since the fatigue is primarily mental/spiritual, more complex spells are going to produce more stress and, therefore, more fatigue.
Expertise, as reflected by a higher Mastery Level and Skill Index will, of course, reduce the amount of fatigue expended by the caster.
NOTE: In checking out the published material for this little essay, I noticed that one spell (L4 Wind of Sharis) had an anomalous FP assessment...
Higher fatigue levels work well for sorcerers with more expertise or energy artifacts, but do make life harder for the novice.
For those of you who want to try it out, you can calculate fatigue according to the following formula, where FP is Fatigue Points; SI is the casters Skill Index for the spell; and FM is the spell's Fatigue Multiple:
FP = (15-SI)*FM
NOTE: Those of you who want to be more generous to novice sorcerers
may reduce the integer in the expression from 15 to 14, 13 or 12, but
if reduced below 13, results of zero may be encountered at SI12 (if
you have anyone who can get to SI12).
NOTE: Most Hârnmaster Level I spells are listed as having
Fatigue of (12-SI) this would place the integer in the expression at
12 and set the FM to 1.00.
-------------------------------------- Level FM Range Level FM Range -------------------------------------- I 0.5 - 1.5 VII 3.5 - 4.5 II 1.0 - 2.0 VIII 4.0 - 5.0 III 1.5 - 2.5 IX 4.5 - 5.5 IV 2.0 - 3.0 X 5.0 - 6.0 V 2.5 - 3.5 XI 5.5 - 6.5 VI 3.0 - 4.0 XII 6.0 - 7.0 --------------------------------------For example, a Complexity Level I spell would have a Fatigue Multiple of 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 and a Level X spell would have a FM of 5.0, 5.5 or 6.0.
----------------------------------------------------------------- FM SI> 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 0.5 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1.0 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 1.5 23 21 20 18 17 15 14 12 11 9 8 6 5 2.0 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 2.5 38 35 33 30 28 25 23 20 18 15 13 10 8 3.0 45 42 39 36 33 30 27 24 21 18 15 12 9 3.5 53 49 46 42 39 35 32 28 25 21 18 14 11 4.0 60 56 52 48 44 40 36 32 28 24 20 16 12 4.5 68 63 59 54 50 45 41 36 32 27 23 18 14 5.0 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 5.5 83 77 72 66 61 55 50 44 39 33 28 22 17 6.0 90 84 78 72 66 60 54 48 42 36 30 24 18 6.5 98 91 85 78 72 65 59 52 46 39 33 26 20 7.0 105 98 91 84 77 70 63 56 49 42 35 28 21 7.5 113 105 98 90 83 75 68 60 53 45 38 30 23 8.0 120 112 104 96 88 80 72 64 56 48 40 32 24 8.5 128 119 111 102 94 85 77 68 60 51 43 34 26 9.0 135 126 117 108 99 90 81 72 63 54 45 36 27 9.5 143 133 124 114 105 95 86 76 67 57 48 38 29 10.0 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 -----------------------------------------------------------------Postscript
I will eventually publish a module on the Shek-Pvar, and I am considering the following revisions to the spells system:
Let me know what (if anything) you would like to see...
- Reassigning Level for some spells.
- The new fatigue system.
- Expanded R&D rules.
- A whole lot of new spells.
- More detail on primal forces.