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 ...the Effort to Create "On the Fly" Spell Design for Torg Eternity

As we have already seen, there is more to creating a spell on the fly than simply deciding what you want and then casting it. The effects come about as a result of conscious choices, which were discussed previously. The next step is to build a structure for adding these choices in and resolving the effect. 

Using the Dramatic Skill Resolution

A Dramatic Skill Resoultion is appropriate here because "on the fly" spell designs are not repeated; they are designed for the moment, not for posterity. There are four magic skills, and all four have a role in every spell, even though the final result is primarily one skill. This seems like a perfect fit for our purposes. 

The Four Steps of the DSR

  1. Step A: Divination. The supernatural archive of every possible spell needs to be searched for a spell that achieves the desired result. Divination is the skill most related to discerning magic and gaining information, so it is used here.
  2. Step B: Conjuration. Once a suitable pattern is found, the magician must conjure a pathway for a copy of the spell pattern to travel from the archive to the natural world. 
  3. Step C: Alteration. The previous step made a generic pathway, but for the spell to travel that pathway, adjustments need to be made to make sure the pathway is powerful enough to carry the spell copy. 
  4. Step D: Apportation. Now that the spell copy and the pathway are aligned, the copy travels down the pathway to the natural world, where it can be cast on the following round. 

Timing of the DSR

The number of rounds needed to complete the design DSR is dependent on the situation. In a firefight, the magician's desire to devote attention to other matters may require her to finish sooner than five rounds, but if the process would legitimately take longer, the game master can allow for that. As with any Dramatic Skill Resoultion, this should not be an excuse to give the magician all the screen time while the other players stand around doing nothing. 

Consequences

If the spell design finishes, the caster then has one round to either cast the spell or release the energy into the void. If the spell design doesn't finish before the GM's time limit expires, the caster takes normal backlash plus an additional 2 Shock backlash for each step that failed to complete. 

Division of Labor

Now that we have a structure, we need to put the spell building components into their respective parts of the Dramatic Skill Resolution to set the Difficulty Number for that step. (We will not actually assign DN's at this time; stay tuned for that in a later article.)

  1. Step A: Divination. The considerations of Spell Pattern (magic skill and representative arcane knowledge type) affect the Difficulty of this step.
  2. Step B: Conjuration. The considerations of Spell Power (effect value and area effect considerations, if any) affect the Difficulty of this step.
  3. Step C: Alteration. The considerations of the spell's duration and whether the spell is focused or a ward affect the Difficulty of this step.
  4. Step D: Apportation. The considerations of a spell's range and speed affect the Difficulty of this step. 

Why no Cast Time Considerations?

Simply put, the strong default for cast time is one action. A spell that can be cast as a reaction to another action is effectively the same as a one-action spell, so that doesn't alter any difficulty numbers. Cast times longer than one action, however, should affect the overall difficulty of the spell, as the longer cast time counts as a trapping that exposes the caster to physical and interaction attacks that can disrupt the spell casting. 

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