Actually, I have another question that I need answered (a couple of questions, to be honest)
I found an interesting tidbit on page 191, under where it says 'Drain.'
Drain consists of a modifier to the Drain's Power (based on half the spell's force, rounded down) and the drain level, the base damage the drain causes.
Am I reading that right? The drain is HALF the target number for the spell?
So, what determines the 'force' of a spell? I thought I understood the concept, but I was reading the magic section again tonight, and this just struck me. What about spells with set target numbers such as armor, or elemental manipulations, which are treated as ranged attacks?
Can someone clear this up for me?
Not having my book with me, I can't give you page number, but here goes.
To cast a spell, look up the target number in the spell description. Often it is static (4 for most elemental manipulations) but even more often, it depends on your target (manabolt says willpower, which means the target number is the willpower of your
target). This is why why you use manabolts and the like against sammies with more brawns than brains. Any armor they wear will be ignored, and a lot of them have low willpower. Most illusions use itelligence, IIRC. If they are noted as 'resisted', they are resisted using the same attribute..
This is
completely independant of the Force of the spell.
Please repeat this after me
'completely independant of the Force of the spell'
'completely independant of the Force of the spell'
'completely independant of the Force of the spell'
Right. The Force of the spell does nothing for the caster's target number. What the Force does varies by spell.
in the 3rd edition, healing spells can heal no more boxes of damage than their Force. Damage spells have a damage code based on their Force (as in (Force)S, if you choose to cast them at serious).
For a spell like levitation, force gives you (together with successes) how fast you move the affected object.
For many detection spells, it's a factor in range.
A magician learns a given spell at a specific (max) force.
It can then be cast at this force or lower. Thus it is always an advantage to know a spell at the highest force you can get, as you can always cast it at any force you like, up to this max.
If you cast a spell at a force higher than your magic attribute, drain is physical damage, so don't do that.
Drain is based on half the force used in the specific casting of the spell. (often with some modifier).
Exemplia Gratioa:
My character casts his lightning bolt. At the moment, I don't recall the drain code, so let's just say it's +3(V)
It's an elemental manipulation, so my target number is 4 (that's in the spell profile, top of the description).
I decide to cast it at force 4, because I don't want to kill myself with the drain (I know it at force 10, but I'm not really interested in killing myself with all that power!). and I decide to cast it at M (it's an elemental manipulation spell, so I can choose this freely). Then my drain is ((4/2)+3)M = 5M, resisted using willpower and possibly dice from the spell pool (or whatever it's called these days). My target would take a damage of 4M, half impact armor.
If I'd decided to cast it at Force 10 (I
really need to take that guy down, right now!), my target number to cast would still be 4 (it's static, see the spell description), but drain would be ((10/2)+3)M = 8M (assuming it's still cast at M). It's also likely to be physical unless I'm a really hotshot initiate or something like that.
My target would take 10M, again with only half impact armor.
If instead I'd gone for a manabolt (I seem to recall drain as (V), check for yourself), it'd have looked like this:
I know the spell at Force 6, and I'm gonna use all of it. Force 6 it is.
Then I would've rolled my spell casting dice against a target number equal to my victem's willpower.
My drain would be 3M (still casting spells at M, even though I caould've gone for L,S or even D).
He would take damage of 6M (physical, no armor), which would not in any way be affected by his body, since technically, all he get's is a spell defence test, based on his willpower (against my force of 6) and any dice he got from spell defence.
