Learning the Magic system is confusing me!!

[Grong]

Hey guys! I want to play a sorcerer so bad, but the magic rules are confusing the heck out of me! Can anyone give me some help along with maybe some examples?

"Cowards die many times before their own deaths, the valiant never taste of death, but once."
Julius Caesar, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

[luke]

What's your character? What do you want to do?

-L

[Kublai]

The basic mechanics: 1) Cast spell. 2) Resist Tax.

1) Casting the spell:
-Take a number of dice equal to your Will plus your Sorcery. This is usually an amount between 8 and 12.
-Determine the Obstacle of the spell. This is normally listed in each spell's description.
-Roll the dice and count the successes. If you have more successes than the Obstacle listed, the spell is cast successfully. Read spell description for its effect.

2) Resisting Tax:
-Take a number of dice equal to your Forte.
-Determine the Obstacle of the Tax test. This is normally the Obstacle of the Spell you just cast, whether successful or not.
-Roll the dice and count successes. If you have equal or more successes than the Tax Obstacle, you're fine and can continue casting as normal. If you have less successes than your Tax Obstacle, you temporarily reduce your Forte stat by the difference.
-To regain lost Taxed Forte dice, you must rest.

[Kublai]

An example:

Lucius the Mad is Gifted and has a Will of 5, a Sorcery of 5, and a Forte of 5. He wants to cast Turn Aside the Blade (TAB).

TAB is an Obstacle 3 spell. He gathers up 10 dice and tosses them. He gets 6 successes total. He succeeds in the casting and the effect is that he now has a 3 die TAB (3 successes over the Obstacle).

His Tax Obstacle is 3 which is the same as the spell's obstacle. He rolls 5 Forte dice and gets only 2 successes. He misses his Tax Obstacle by 1 and therefore his Forte is temporarily reduced by 1 to 4. His next Tax Test will be rolled with only 4 dice.

[Streamweaver]

TAB is an Obstacle 3 spell. He gathers up 10 dice and tosses them. He gets 6 successes total. He succeeds in the casting and the effect is that he now has a 3 die TAB (3 successes over the Obstacle).

This is a good example of something I'm completely confused about in the system overall. In many places they talk about rolls that have some kind of effect based on the successes over the obstacle. The example of TAB here is a very good one.

So they cast the spell with no extra successes, but TAB adds to the Ob needed to hit you with a strike. So according to this you can cast the spell and get 3 successes, the objective of the spell but have absolutely no effect. What is the point of succeeding with a spell and having no effect? (In reality I think the Ob is 4 for this spell in the book but there is an example giving for achieving 8 successes that have the same math problem)

Can someone help me understand this?

[Drozdal]

What is the point of succeeding with a spell and having no effect?It means that spell didin't failed - see Failed Casting and it's consequences on page 217 of BWR (nasty stuff).

[Streamweaver]

What is the point of succeeding with a spell and having no effect?It means that spell didin't failed - see Failed Casting and it's consequences on page 217 of BWR (nasty stuff).

Fair enough, I'm just not excited about a mechanic for a player that tells them they succeeded but nothing happens. I'm looking to BW to encourage active player roles and not make them feel like things are sometimes pontless.

[Drozdal]

Fair enough, I'm just not excited about a mechanic for a player that tells them they succeeded but nothing happens. I'm looking to BW to encourage active player roles and not make them feel like things are sometimes pontless.Remeber one thing though, even with Will of B3 and Soecery of B3 this weak ass Sorcerer will roll 6 open-ended dice to cast a spell, but in the real game sorcerers usually roll around 10-11 open-ended dice every fricking time. Also, let's not forget TAX test here (OB3 is much easier to pass than OB4), especially when you roll only your Forte (that's not open-ended) to resist it.

[luke]

Fair enough, I'm just not excited about a mechanic for a player that tells them they succeeded but nothing happens. I'm looking to BW to encourage active player roles and not make them feel like things are sometimes pontless.

It's a glitch in the sorcery system. But as Dro pointed out, it rarely comes up due to the number of dice being rolled.

[Streamweaver]

Fair enough, I'm just not excited about a mechanic for a player that tells them they succeeded but nothing happens. I'm looking to BW to encourage active player roles and not make them feel like things are sometimes pontless.

It's a glitch in the sorcery system. But as Dro pointed out, it rarely comes up due to the number of dice being rolled.

As a glitch then wouldn't it be easy enough to fix in an errata or houserule that spell successes are based on total number of successes, not successes over the obstacle?

[Drozdal]

As a glitch then wouldn't it be easy enough to fix in an errata or houserule that spell successes are based on total number of successes, not successes over the obstacle?What about the TAX then, you roll 9 successes on your Turn Aside the Blade, now you've got 6 Die Shiled and you have to resist that Ob9 TAX. Ob9 Forte test equals almost certain death.

[luke]

As a glitch then wouldn't it be easy enough to fix in an errata or houserule that spell successes are based on total number of successes, not successes over the obstacle?

Let's just say that it's a minor enough glitch that a "fix" would just create more glitches and exceptions.

The fix is in the TAB description. Meeting obstacle gets Ob 1 TAB. Each success over obstacle adds +1.

-L

[Streamweaver]

What about the TAX then, you roll 9 successes on your Turn Aside the Blade, now you've got 6 Die Shiled and you have to resist that Ob9 TAX. Ob9 Forte test equals almost certain death.

I'm not sure I understand the question. This is an issue under the glitch or under the fix. It's just how it works.

[Drozdal]

I'm not sure I understand the question. This is an issue under the glitch or under the fix. It's just how it works.Under the fix. From what you were saying i understood, that Spell would have effect based on total successes, not successes over the obstacle. So the tax Ob would equal number of the sucesses you got while casting the spell (besed on effect rather than pre-defined Ob) and that would be very deadly.

The fix is in the TAB description. Meeting obstacle gets Ob 1 TAB. Each success over obstacle adds +1.That should do it :)