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Anyone picked up True Sorcery?
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<blockquote data-quote="igavskoga" data-source="post: 2878044" data-attributes="member: 41188"><p>While I can't comment specifically on what appears in True Sorcery, I don't have it yet, I have done extensive study of the BCCS system.</p><p></p><p>What I can say that is true about both, since they come from the same foundation, is that this magic system requires a COMPLETE change in perspective coming from your standard fire & forget mobile artillery that is the Vancian system.</p><p></p><p>If you try to play a wizard in this system as if they were a caster in d20 -- you will be disappointed, there is no doubt about that. This system is far more modular, subtle, and flexible.</p><p></p><p>A good way to start becoming familiar with the system is to create a wizard and just dive in and start making spells. You will find, often, that spell strategy will shift dependant on level far more than it does in D&D since there are more resources to manage. There is far more utility to be had at any level, especially the lower ones, beyond "I cast my 3rd out of 4 magic missiles."</p><p></p><p>Another big thing I noticed was, in trying to recreate some of the hallmark D&D spells, such as fireball with a 5th level caster, is twofold:</p><p></p><p>1) It was typically far more effecient AND interesting to do other things than Lightning_Bolt_052.</p><p>2) If I toned down the spell effect somewhat, so I was gunning for a shorter range, radius, and/or damage I could cast the spell more often than the 2 or 3 times a 5th level D&D caster could throw fireballs -- this to me was a more than welcome change, how often do you really throw a fireball at anywhere near the max range?</p><p></p><p>This was the biggest thing I have taken away from studying the BCCS system. I am posative it will hold true for what's in True Sorcery. Expect to look at traditional fantasy magic mechanics a bit differently or expect to be disappointed. The formula now is subtlety before power whereas in core D&D it is power before subtlety.</p><p></p><p></p><p>----------</p><p>One gamer in another group related an invisible, multiple-round, nonlethally damaging "force cloud" that his 3rd level wizard created to handle multiple foes; he didn't mind "blowing his brains out" for such a spell as long as the party could use it to take down multiple enemies much stronger than they.</p><p>----------</p><p></p><p>If this is similar to the post on the Green Ronin Mythic Vistas forum, I am almost 100% posative that the guy was doing the math significantly wrong. To duplicate the effects he was talking about would've required hitting a DC that was barely castable at best or completely out of reach at worst. Not to mention that a duration was completely impossible since it would've required blending with a second talent which would've skyrocketted the DC well out of the reach of a 3rd level caster.</p><p></p><p>I've noticed, at least with BCCS, that if you've created a spell effect and it looks vastly too powerful for the DC you've come up with, then 9 times out of 10 you've missed a calculation somewhere along the line. Granted, this can be easy to do because, as you've said, what to include and what not to include isn't immediately clear. There are some instances where this can be done, like using Force to hit a single target with massive amounts of nonlethal, but the actual loopholes like that aren't as many as you think and are easily house-ruled away.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="igavskoga, post: 2878044, member: 41188"] While I can't comment specifically on what appears in True Sorcery, I don't have it yet, I have done extensive study of the BCCS system. What I can say that is true about both, since they come from the same foundation, is that this magic system requires a COMPLETE change in perspective coming from your standard fire & forget mobile artillery that is the Vancian system. If you try to play a wizard in this system as if they were a caster in d20 -- you will be disappointed, there is no doubt about that. This system is far more modular, subtle, and flexible. A good way to start becoming familiar with the system is to create a wizard and just dive in and start making spells. You will find, often, that spell strategy will shift dependant on level far more than it does in D&D since there are more resources to manage. There is far more utility to be had at any level, especially the lower ones, beyond "I cast my 3rd out of 4 magic missiles." Another big thing I noticed was, in trying to recreate some of the hallmark D&D spells, such as fireball with a 5th level caster, is twofold: 1) It was typically far more effecient AND interesting to do other things than Lightning_Bolt_052. 2) If I toned down the spell effect somewhat, so I was gunning for a shorter range, radius, and/or damage I could cast the spell more often than the 2 or 3 times a 5th level D&D caster could throw fireballs -- this to me was a more than welcome change, how often do you really throw a fireball at anywhere near the max range? This was the biggest thing I have taken away from studying the BCCS system. I am posative it will hold true for what's in True Sorcery. Expect to look at traditional fantasy magic mechanics a bit differently or expect to be disappointed. The formula now is subtlety before power whereas in core D&D it is power before subtlety. ---------- One gamer in another group related an invisible, multiple-round, nonlethally damaging "force cloud" that his 3rd level wizard created to handle multiple foes; he didn't mind "blowing his brains out" for such a spell as long as the party could use it to take down multiple enemies much stronger than they. ---------- If this is similar to the post on the Green Ronin Mythic Vistas forum, I am almost 100% posative that the guy was doing the math significantly wrong. To duplicate the effects he was talking about would've required hitting a DC that was barely castable at best or completely out of reach at worst. Not to mention that a duration was completely impossible since it would've required blending with a second talent which would've skyrocketted the DC well out of the reach of a 3rd level caster. I've noticed, at least with BCCS, that if you've created a spell effect and it looks vastly too powerful for the DC you've come up with, then 9 times out of 10 you've missed a calculation somewhere along the line. Granted, this can be easy to do because, as you've said, what to include and what not to include isn't immediately clear. There are some instances where this can be done, like using Force to hit a single target with massive amounts of nonlethal, but the actual loopholes like that aren't as many as you think and are easily house-ruled away. [/QUOTE]
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