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...Spell Trappings, Part 1

In a previous article, I mentioned that spells can have trappings, additional conditions that can reduce the Difficulty Number of a designed spell. Each trapping must create a situation where the spell either cannot be cast, provides incentive against casting, limits the scope of the spell, or requires additional preparation to cast.  This will list the trappings I have identified so far. Most of these are from the Aysle Sourcebook and reprinted in Pixaud's Practical Grimoire from the original Torg, but new ones are added, and all of them will offer suggestions for the player and game master to adjudicate them. In most cases, the value of the trapping has yet to be determined; I am "redesigning" the current published spells to see what values make sense.

Additional Cast Time

This one is easy enough to understand. Most spells can be cast in a single action, which is one round except in the case of Flurry. So if the spell takes longer than that, it becomes less useful in combat situations, and thus the added cast time counts as a trapping.

The value of the trapping in reducing complexity should be the difference between the time value representing the cast time and the value of one 10-second round, which is 5. So a one minute cast time (value 9) would subtract 4 (9-5) from the spell difficulty. 

Concentration

A spell with a duration of Concentration requires constant attention. While it does not prevent other actions, further stressful actions or damage to the caster can cause the spell to end. However, if that concentration holds, the spell can last for quite a while. 

To be a trapping, it must be a modifier to a relatively long duration. So for my purposes here, I am assuming that a spell can only take Concentration as a trapping on a spell with a duration of 10 minutes (or longer). So for design purposes, the value of 10 minutes is used for Step C, and then the trapping of Concentration is applied at the end. 

Contagion and Specific Contagion

This refers to the classic idea of spell components, the bat wings and newt eyes or whatever strange components you need to power a spell. These components require some effort to get if they are meant to reduce the difficulty as a trapping.

For a basic Contagion to count as a trapping, it should be something that requires requisitions or game effort to obtain, similar to ammunition for a firearm. The value of the reduction should be based on the difficulty of getting it when in its home cosm. 

A Specific Contagion requires that the contagion be tied somehow to the intended target of the spell. Getting a pen may be easy, but getting a pen owned by the target of the spell for a year and a day is not so easy. The value of the reduction for Specific Contagion should take into account the difficulty of obtaining it from the target.

Exclusion

All Ayslish spells are based on one of the 22 arcane knowledges, the fundamental divisions of Ayslish taxonomy. Most spells work on anything within the arcane knowledge. A spell that only works on a subsection of an arcane knowledge or can only produce things of a subsection of the arcane knowledge qualifies for an Exclusion.

Dispel Magic is an Exclusion of the first kind: it only affects spells cast on a target, not other magical effects. Thus it only affects a subset of the magic arcane knowledge, and qualifies as an Exclusion. Little Frog is an Exclusion of the second kind: it only turns targets into frogs, not rabbits, sheep, or toads (other members of the earthly arcane knowledge). 

The value of an Exclusion is based on the relative limitation it imposes on the spell's function. 

For more Spell Trappings, see future posts.

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