Cancelling own spells.

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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Calamrin
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Cancelling own spells.

Post by Calamrin » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:01 pm

Now im being a bit lazy here, and also not at the same time, ive about 2000 pages to read, and digest in a few weeks!

Can a caster cancel a spell he/shes woven and cast if it has duration in rounds/minutes/hours? book implies you need dispel magic talent....which is fine if thats true...it may be something id consider house ruling though as illusionists and elementalists cant get till 5th circle and its an alt talent.

I can just think of so many roleplaying situations it should be allowed on a casters own spells.

The other earthdawn game we play dropped Mystic defence on allies to give one success when buffing (still roll and if get extra over actual MD get added), purely on out of combat round scenarios and that works really well....this to me seems similar territory.

Slimcreeper
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Re: Cancelling own spells.

Post by Slimcreeper » Fri Jun 29, 2018 12:25 am

RAW most spells must be dispelled - they take on a life of their own. House ruling it or making a knack would certainly not break the game, IMO.

Bonhumm
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Re: Cancelling own spells.

Post by Bonhumm » Fri Jun 29, 2018 12:29 am

Unless I missed something new in the Companion about that, spells cannot be cancelled by the casters (unless sustained of course).

I see it a bit like this: Once a spell is cast, it's like if you had thrown a torch in a basin full of gas. Once lighted up you cannot stop it 'at will'. You will have to either wait for the fuel to run out or 'dispel' it with some serious fire/air suppressants.

That's what the Spellcasting talent does; it ignite the magic/'mana/astral you poured into the pattern you just threaded.

Panda
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Re: Cancelling own spells.

Post by Panda » Thu Jul 05, 2018 6:07 pm

Greetings,

The above is correct; unless stated otherwise, the spellcaster no longer controls a spell once it is cast. While you are free to do as you please, a knack that continues to control a spell would either need to be through Tenacious Weave (implying a the spellcaster maintains a connection to the spell once it is cast, for better or worse), or Dispel Magic (essentially loading the spell with a kill switch). There's knacks of this sort in development, sometimes trying to find the best home.

I'm reluctant to make this easily accessible for a few reasons. One of the most important is it cheapens the value of Dispel Magic. The more effects that replicate its effects, the less value it has overall. This has a knock-on effect on Wizards in general who are the ones developing and first getting access to these types of spell-focused abilities. As well, it makes introducing powerful area effects low cost on the spellcaster's part. They can lay down the control effect, then quickly remove it. This is certainly valuable and powerful, but making it too accessible and versatile can have a negative effect, particularly at lower Circles of play.

There's something to be said about the consequences of your decisions and working with the tools available. It's entirely by design not everyone has every tool - they have different tools. Giving every spellcaster the same access to talents beyond what they already have (which is significant as it is), they start to look and feel the same. Just with different spell lists. At which point we have arrived at D&D wizards.

Hopefully this provided some insight.

Please let me know if there are any questions, or if there is anything further I can do.

Best regards,

Morgan

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