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Educated Magic PDF
Educated Magic PDF
Design Overview
The default magical system presented in GURPS 4th edition appears well intentioned and, at face value,
efficient. However players have identified flaws that have lended towards it being rarely used in favour
of systems such as Ritual Path Magic, Magic as Powers, Sorcery, and Path/Book Magic. All of these
systems sideline the problems entirely; or replace it with systems based around the various rules for
Advantages and Disadvantages such as the various additional options presented in Powers.
This document is an attempt not to repair the original form of Magic in GURPS 4E, but to recreate it from
the ground up while addressing various concerns.
Concepts
Educated Magic should present a form of magic where magic is taught and understood, and magic has
its own internal structure of concepts and fundamental requirements. A magician capable of creating a
fireball must first know how to create fire.
Educated Magic should reward those with innate power with reliability and ease; but reward skill with
additional options, power, and efficiency. Casters with either should be capable and feasible character
concepts, such as shamans with high Magery and IQ but low skills; and college-taught wizards with high
individual skills, but middling Magery and IQ. A combination of both should be the key to overall
success.
Educated Magic should not reward diversification beyond the innate reward of having additional options
and redundancies.
Educated Magic should not reward specialisation beyond benefits to the spells they have chosen to
specialise in.
Design
Educated Magic is based heavily off of the standard Magic System in GURPS 4E in overall structure. It
encompasses dozens of individual spells, many of which have other spell prerequisites, treats spells as
individually learned skills, and uses the Magery quality to further improve spellcasting potential. As such
for it to be a successful reimagining of Magic, it must address problems that exist in the standard Magic
system.
● Spell Design
Default Magic has numerous spells that themselves present issues and have been often
corrected with various house rules. Many of these will be implemented (and credit given where
known for their ideas or updates); however some larger issues across numerous spells will try to
be rectified as follows.
Proposed Solution:
Many of these will remain intact, however where possible means to suppress their
effectiveness will be made; such as limiting the financial outcome of them to be in line to
manufacturing techniques (earth to stone/metal only returning the amount of metal that
could be found in that mass of earth; rather than a 1:1 ratio of earth to metal), creating
items out of alternate, detectable magicked elements; or having faults that prevent their
use (sheeps wool with a Hair Growth spell becomes brittle once cut, etc)
○ Spell Difficulties:
In default Magic, all spells are Hard or Very Hard; this makes even spells with cantrip-like
behaviour expensive to learn to reliable levels, and makes minor spells that may be
useful, unworth taking unless IQ and Magery are high. This can dissuade people from
diversifying or from taking useful abilities with the other changes in this design.
Proposed Solution:
Spells are re-classified as follows with appropriate starting levels.
■ Easy (-1) spells are only those that are extremely basic for their given college and
provide minor effects. Most colleges will have no more than 2 Easy Spells.
Examples include I gnite, or Lend Energy.
■ Average (-2) spells are for fundamental control and application of the college’s
focus. These are spells that can be considered generic or basic, and serve as the
operational level for most civilian mages, and as common requirements for other
spells. Examples include S
hape (Element), and Create Illusion.
■ Hard (-3) spells are for specific, refined spell actions that have specialised or
directed uses. These are considered complete spells and form the majority of
magical spells. Examples include F
ireball and A
daptive Illusion
■ Very Hard (-4) spells are unique or exotic spells that involve either magically
complex or powerful abilities. These spells are only vaguely known of by other
mages; and are common candidates for forgotten, lost, or secret magic. Examples
include Wish and Utter Dome.