House Rules: Spell List Acquisition in RMSS Optional Rules
by Robert Trifts and Wyatt R. Lavigne
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 21:23:18 -0400
From: "Wyatt R. Lavigne"
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Spell Book Post
Spell List Acquisition in RMSS Optional Rules
Originaly by Robert Trifts. Edited for RMSS by Wyatt Lavigne
This option is for high powered too low powered campaigns and allows for many
spell list ranks to be learned for a very cheap point cost if the right books
are there. The cost can increase greatly though if the GM limits the number of
Books, Runes and Tomes in his Campaign to practically nothing. In all case
books, scrolls and mighty tomes are no longer treated as background and filler,
nor are mentors and professors and other powerful spell casters. They will all
be viewed as a great sources of knowledge ... if they teach them or allow the PC
to view thier great library. Quests for knowledge will occur because of the
great rewards to attain the favor af an important Archmage or the pundering of a
lost city.
In all instances a Teacher who knows the list in question and who is willing
to spend eight or more hours a day doing one-on-one teaching with a promising
pupil may be treated as a Tome in all respects. If the teacher is deemed to be
poor at teaching by the GM or lacks sufficient time and enthusiasm to teach the
pupil then his rating may be down graded to Runes or Book but never lower than
Book for purposes on this post as long as the pupil has 10 minutes of his time
per day spent studying to ask questions of the teacher. An incredible Master of
Magic may be treated as exceptional 'Tome' with a Y rating for the purposes of
learning a list. See sections 4.0 through to sections 5.0, pages 14-16 of Arcane
Companion for more information on this topic.
Open Same Realm: Research in to this list is open on a straight cost basis
for the profession, regardless of materials used. Additional research materials
usually lowers the cost of learning the list. A book lowers it to 0.75x of cost
a set of Runes lowers it to 0.50x Cost and a Tome lowers it to 0.25x of cost.
Closed Same Realm: Research of this list requires a Book to learn the list as
straight cost, or the spell user pays a 1.5x cost penalty to buy each rank for
learning the list. A set of Runes lowers it to 0.75x Cost and a Tome lowers it
to 0.50x of cost.
Casters Base Lists: Research of such lists require the actual Runes to learn
the list at 1x cost, Books boost cost to 1.5x, No materials costs 2x normal per
rank. A Tome lowers it to 0.75x of cost.
Open Different Realm: Requires Book or penalty is 1.5x cost. A set of Runes
lowers it to 0.75x Cost and a Tome lowers it to 0.50x of cost.
Closed Different Realm: Requires Runes to learn list at 1x cost. Book raises
to 1.5x cost, No materials to 2x cost. A Tome lowers it to 0.75x of cost.
Base Not Own Same Realm: Tome - 1x cost. Runes, 1.5x cost, Book 2x cost. No
materials 3x cost.
Base Not Own Different Realm: Tome - 1x cost, Runes 2x cost. Book 3x cost. No
research without materials is permitted.
Open Arcane: Requires Runes to learn list at 1x cost. Book raises to 1.5x
cost, No materials to 3x cost. A Tome lowers it to 0.75x of cost.
Closed Arcane: Tome - 1x cost, Runes 1.5x cost. Book 2x cost. No research
without materials 5x cost.
Base Arcane: Tome - 1x cost, Runes 2x cost. Book 3x cost. No research without
materials is permitted.
Definitions of Materials:
Book: A simple treatise on the spell list, without the actual runes.
Runes: The actual Runes of the particular spells to be studied.
Tome: A treatise combined with the actual Runes in the same work. These are
very prized materials and may often be the subject of adventures to acquire
them.
Some Tomes may be even better than the typical Tomes found on a particular
magical topic. For every full set of Y ranks bought and paid for in a particular
list the mage receives one free rank in that spell list.
Tome creation mechanics: Treat spell books that have a Y rating of
49= a +1 The Norm
20= a +3 Typical Tome
15= a +4 Good Tome
10= a +5 Execellent Tome
9 = a +10 Modest Tome
8 = a +15 Modest Tome
7 = a +20 Potent Tome
6 = a +25 Potent Tome
5 = a +30 Most Potent Tome
4 = a +35 Most Potent Tome
3 = a +40 Artifact Tome
2 = a +45 Artifact Tome
1 = a +50 Legendary Tome of Great Magic.
Use Treasure Companion's General I - General X Spells to creat such works as
'I' as +5 and 'V' as +25 and 'X' as +50. A guideline for Non Alchemists making
thier Tome's would just need to know Rune Mastery to a decent level and good
working knowledge of the spell subject to the GM's descrestion. Gandalf could
probably make a +45 Tome or a Y rating of 2 for Fire Law or perhaps Mana Fires
even though he wasn't an Alchemist. for other spells he might not do near as
well. All Tomes are assumed to have the appropraite runes inscribed in them and
may be read like rune paper. They are one use only, unless stated otherwise and
my not be reinscribed unless they are done by the creator of the work or the
Tome was inscribed on Rune Paper.
Suggestions on the type of Tomes to be found and thier power/knowledge
contained inside.
The Norm: This is a work that contains the treaties of the spell and the
required runes but it does not really go into any detail. Y=49.
Typical: A Tome that could be found in just about any Mage College or good
private personal Library. Y=20
Good: A Tome of this quality is usually pretty hard to find and quite
expensive to purchase but still generally available. Y=15.
Excellent: These Tomes are rare commodities. They are usually held by only a
few individual mages who wish to hoard their knowledge to themselves or a well
established Mage College my reward excellent pupils and faculty staff with the
chance to peruse through the book for a week or more at a time to improve their
spell knowledge. Y=10.
The following are very rare works that are usually found in powerful
libraries such as Gryphon College, The Isle of Uman, The Order of the Ring, The
Research Library of the Navigators and the Loremaster Master Research Library.
They can also be found in very powerful private individual libraries such as
Saruman's, Lorgalis's, Andraax's, Sulthon Ni'shaang's etc.,.
(All of the below works were grabed from various ICE sources and are this
authors interpretion of thier power and knowledge pertaining to Spell List
Aquisition. As ussual if you don't like it change it.)
Items without a 'Y' rating: The Book of Answers will serve as a Book for
spell list acquisition on any spell list. The Black Book is treated as a Tome
for the learning purposes of the Lofty Bridge list. The Bookstand of Learning
will give any Book a Y rating of 8 any Runes will have a Y rating of 6 and any
Tome will have a Y rating of 4. In all cases the materials are treated as Tomes.
Additionally any Work that has Y rating of 5 or 6 is boosted to a Y rating of 3,
Y ratings of 3 and 4 are boosted to a 2 and a Tome with a Y rating of 2 is
boosted to 1. Tomes and other such works that have a Y rating of 1 is treated as
1 but the development cost is reduced by 50%.
Modest Tome: Y=8. Incunabula of Mazarin will give a Y rating of 8 to the
following spell lists: Entity Mastery, Ethereal Mastery, Metal Lore and Stone
Lore. The Book of Hours and Seasons gives Valar oriented Channelers a Y rating
of 10 in appropriate Channeling lists as deemed by the GM. Greybook bestows a Y
rating of 10 to Essence Hand, Unbarring Ways, Living Change and Light Law lists.
Book of Dark Runes has a Y rating of 15 which is usable on the lists Dark
Contacts and Dark Summons.
Potent Tome: Y=6. Sanctum Regem will give a Y rating of 7 to all Good Clerics
and Paladin Base Lists plus the Guardian Ways List. Red Dragon will give its Y
rating of 6 to the lists Mana Fires and Stone Lore. The book of Lore gives a Y
rating of 4 to the Rune Mastery list. Golden Book of Enlightenment gives a Y
rating of 5 to Light Law.
Most Potent: Y=4. Black Pullet gives a Y rating of 5 to Dark Law, Darkness,
Nether Mastery, Dark Contacts and Dark Summons. The Book of Runes contains all
the Magician Base Lists as Runes. It has a Y rating of 3 for the Rune Mastery
list. E Mere Vardo Gives a Y rating of 4 to the following lists: Detection
Mastery, Lights Way, Purifications, Spell Defence, Locating Ways, Lore,
Channels, Communal Ways, Protections, Repulsions, Communion, Exorcisms. The
Spell Book of Morgus has a Y rating of 10 for all Arcane and Magus spell lists.
Divine Tome of Stellar Bodies gives a Y rating 3 for Holy Vision, Far Voice,
Starsense and Starlights.
Artifact Tome: Y=2. Ring Arcana is a Y rating of 3 for all lists (some rare
powerful lists may not be included at the GM's option). Essence and Being is the
title of a set of books with each having a Y rating of 3 for the spell list it
teaches. The set holds all known Essence based spell lists. Tomes of the Higher
Mind is the title of a set of books with each having a Y rating of 3 for the
spell list it teaches. The set holds all known Channeling and Mentalist based
spell lists. Celebrimbor's Notebooks give a Y rating of 2 to all non Mentalism
Alchemical lists if the owner can find a Standard Tome for the Alchemy list to
be researched. Suimbalmynas has a Y rating of 15 for all Essence spells. The
Seven Books of Mazarbul: The Book of Item Lore, The Book of Earth Law and The
Book of Fire Law are treated as a Y rating of 20. The Book of Yesh gives a Y
rating of 2 to for the lists Dark Entities, Dark Channels, Gate Mastery, Dark
Contacts, Entity Summons, Ethereal Mastery, Conjuring Ways, Circles of Power,
Circles of Protection, Circles of Summoning, Demon Mastery, Circle Mastery and
Conjurations.
Legendary Artifact Tome: Y=1. The Book of Icelore has a Y rating of 1 on the
Weather Ways spell list. Feanor's Spell Books are treated as a Y rating of 2 for
all non Evil, non Arcane spell lists. They have a Y rating of 1 for all
Alchemical and related lists.
A very generous GM my allow retroactive free ranks when the Spell Caster
finds a better Tome or Teacher and purchases one rank in that particular list
while using that tome. The Player should keep track of the number of ranks he
actually purchased. This number is separate from the total ranks known in that
list to avoid inadvertent mistakes and confusion when a better Tome or Teacher
is found.
Tell me what you think.
Thanks
Wyatt
Here is some notes by Robert Trifts on some guidlines to this work.
By way of general observation, a warning is necessary. I would not try to
introduce those rules mid way in to a campaign. They will tend to upset spell
users - BIG TIME if they have chosen their previous lists and picks based on the
free availablility of spell lists and suddenly find out that fire law (or
whatever other base list you happen to choose) is now BIG TIME more expensive to
develop without runes.
When it comes to applying those rules against Semi spell users, you have a
revolution on you hands; however, this does justify an organization of such semi
spell users that controls the base list runes.
It may not be suitable for Channelers on your world either to use those
rules. I make them apply to my Channelers - but you may think this is too
restrictive.
Lastly, oringial Spell Law actually does not permit Lord level + spells to be
on Rune Paper. I'd suggest modifying those rules, or else you have a very good
new reason to explain what all those Lord level mages are doing all the time -
spell research!