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The College of Jewels (Magical Academy Quest)

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I was hoping to clear up some details about mechanics. If any of this has already been explained, I apologize, and would appreciate it if someone could point me to said explanation.

General Casting
Speed Casting takes 1 second per point cost of the castable spell. How long does ritual casting take instead?

Stabilization
Does Stabilization perfectly stabilize any spell? Elemental Planar Portal 1 is "incredibly unstable" when speed-cast. I take it that Elemental Planar Portal 2 is as unstable, if not more. Does that mean we have the go-ahead to cast those without instability now? (With the caveat that EPP2 will still probably kill us because Expert-level elemental magic is dangerous to the wielder too)

The description of Stabilization states that it removes instability from spells AND reduces disruptions-like spell effects. Does it do those simultaneously? E.g. if we started with Elemental Planar Portal 1, and were hit with a Minor Disruption, would Stabilization wipe out both the inherent instability of EPP1 as well as the effect of MD?

Rank
How is rank calculated? Is it just the magic cost involved? E.g. Expert Elemental Control says it is dangerous without a commensurate rank in Elemental Protection - does that mean 50 point in EP?

Also, Dissipation Field says that "spells are only considered their own rank for the purposes of Dismissal, rather than benefiting from the total point investment in the field of magic". I honestly have no idea what is going on there. Isn't that how things already work? And what is this about benefiting from total magic investment?
 
Sorry, still no update. Don't worry though, it's progressing apace. Part of the problem was that I was a bit unsure of the outcome of your plan and needed to consider some things. Still, I've got that mostly sorted out and the update should arrive soonish (within the next day or so). In the meantime, I can never resist answering questions.

PrimalShadow said:
I was hoping to clear up some details about mechanics. If any of this has already been explained, I apologize, and would appreciate it if someone could point me to said explanation.

General Casting
Speed Casting takes 1 second per point cost of the castable spell. How long does ritual casting take instead?
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Ritual casting is... Variable. It takes a couple to maybe ten to twenty minutes for the level of spell that students are mostly playing at. If the archmage had to ritual cast his spells instead of using his absurd merits he would be there for days on average. Basically what I'm saying is that there's a rough correlation of 1 minute per point cost instead of one second, but that this isn't always true and sometimes it amounts to 'what is narratively appropriate?'

PrimalShadow said:
Stabilization
Does Stabilization perfectly stabilize any spell? Elemental Planar Portal 1 is "incredibly unstable" when speed-cast. I take it that Elemental Planar Portal 2 is as unstable, if not more. Does that mean we have the go-ahead to cast those without instability now? (With the caveat that EPP2 will still probably kill us because Expert-level elemental magic is dangerous to the wielder too)

The description of Stabilization states that it removes instability from spells AND reduces disruptions-like spell effects. Does it do those simultaneously? E.g. if we started with Elemental Planar Portal 1, and were hit with a Minor Disruption, would Stabilization wipe out both the inherent instability of EPP1 as well as the effect of MD?
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Stabilization perfectly stabilizes any spells unless I specifically note otherwise. I actually can't think of anything I have planned that would require an additional merit like that off hand, but I'm sure something exists in setting that might eventually come up. So, yes, EPP2 could be stably cast by Saphira right now.

Stabilization only applies one time- that's just a price you're paying to reliably use a normally unstable spell.

PrimalShadow said:
Rank
How is rank calculated? Is it just the magic cost involved? E.g. Expert Elemental Control says it is dangerous without a commensurate rank in Elemental Protection - does that mean 50 point in EP?

Also, Dissipation Field says that "spells are only considered their own rank for the purposes of Dismissal, rather than benefiting from the total point investment in the field of magic". I honestly have no idea what is going on there. Isn't that how things already work? And what is this about benefiting from total magic investment?
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Okay, so there are two things- the rank of the spell and the rank of your proficiency with a kind of spell. Your overall proficiency is how skilled you are at a field of magic generally, and so is normally what dismissal gets checked against, because it should obviously be a lot harder to counterspell the archmage even if he's using a weak spell. On the other hand, that really fucks dedicated countermagic, so dissipation field says 'a weak spell is a weak spell' and checks against the rank of that spell rather than your rank in the field of magic.

The rank in the field of magic is also something that will either show up as a prerequisite for or unlock certain skills and merits as you invest more in that field of magic.

For example, I will borrow a little tidbit from the TA's character sheet...

The Truth that lies Between (N/A) You may invest points directly in Dimensional Science rather than buying spells. You may cast all Dimensional Science spells with a rating less than your total investment in Dimensional Science, and treat their rating as your Dimensional Science rating.

(And yes, you want 50 points in Elemental Protection if you want to cast Expert level Elemental Spells. Though you could probably get away with 40 or something as long as you're very careful.)
 
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Underdog
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Plan Drop, Rock and Dash v3
    [X] It seems Ruby has an enchantment protecting her from harm. So much the better - you don't have to worry about hurting her.
    [X] If the Dissipation Field breaks every spell you cast, you just need a spell that does damage when it's disrupted.
    -[X] But first, you need to distract her. Blow rocks, ice and sand in her face with wind spells. Use small spells to probe the extent of her range.
    -[X] Add some more rocks and dirt to the ground. Use some more wind spells.You need her not to look up.
    -[X] Summon a large rock up high in the air and hold it there, above the field.
    [X] When the rock is positioned behind Ruby:
    -[X] Tell Ruby that she's outmatched you. But you'll bet everything on one final push!
    -[X] Rush at her. You want to push her into the falling rock. The Dissipation Field should break the spell and drop the rock on top of her!
    -[X] If you can't avoid being hit by the rock, try to make it so that she is the one taking the brunt of damage, since she is protected and you aren't.
    -[X] While she is reeling from the hit and can't counter-spell, summon more rocks/sand/mud to pin her down and restrict her movements.
    [X] If she notices the rock:
    -[X] Create some coal dust near yourself and blow it towards her with wind.
    -[X] Set it on fire when it gets close to her. Your spells may dissipate, so keep casting until something ignites.

    Okay. You think you have a plan. Her dissipation field is powerful, but you can use that power to your advantage if you cast a spell that you want to be disrupted. You begin- rock and wind fired at Ruby from outside of her range and rock being created above her. She counterspells the first attempt to create rock above her, but you don't see any special acknowledgment of the attempt. Again as your wind propelled rock flies towards her, she pauses to blow it away with another rainbow burst of shattered magic before continuing her advance once more. Again. Again and again you cast, throwing wind and rock and sand and ice at her, even casting from different angles to keep her attention anywhere but above her. Slowly, through the occasional counterspell the rock above her grows in size and density until it's big enough that you think you're ready to try your final gambit.

    A quick glance behind you before you begin shows that you're within steps of the wall of the Colosseum. Ruby's pace hasn't yet changed, but the moment you plant your feet she pauses as well, looking at you intently, ready for anything.

    "You have me outmatched, I admit," you begin, with a practiced grin and a confident tone to your voice. "But I'm nothing if not an optimist. And in these situations, it falls on the underdog to find some way to win the day, no?"

    You don't really expect her to respond, but after waiting a moment and opening your mouth to continue your speech she surprises you by speaking up as well, though her voice is quiet enough that she's hard to hear.

    "No."

    "No?" You question.

    "You are no underdog. No more than I am. Far less so than I am."

    "I-" you begin, but she rushes at you before you can get more than that out and you quickly give one last adjustment to the boulder above her just before she brings the dissipation field in range. You leap forward, guiding her approach into the path of the falling boulder. She's nearly reached you when it gets within a foot of her, the boulder falling like, well, a few hundred pounds of solid rock. As it nears her, she must hear or feel something because you feel the dissipation field suddenly cut out and very clearly see the burst of sudden speed she puts on, trying to simultaneously crouch, twist around, and bring her arms up to cover her head. Her whole body is outlined in that rainbow glow for just an instant before it flickers and cuts out and then the boulder slams into her.

    Immediately you start to summon more rock and sand and mud, trying to hit her while she's down and take her out of commission. Even as you do this, the boulder finishes its fall to earth, crushing Ruby to the ground with a noise that makes you wince before bouncing slightly and rolling so that it only really pinned one of her arms. She lets out a noise somewhere between a grunt and a scream and as you see blood, you're not sure where from, you consider stopping before she shrieks again and with a terrible jerk rips her arm out from under the boulder.

    You avert your eyes at the sight of how bloody it is and the way a few of the fingers are bent, and suddenly she's up from the ground and crossed the few feet between the two of you and the Blackreach Guardian is trying to summon itself. Uh. This may have escalated slightly more than you intended.

    [] Let the Blackreach Guardian summon itself
    [] Stop the Blackreach Guardian from summoning itself
    Whew, sorry for the delay and the fact that I can't make the update hugely long as recompense. Hmmhmm. Things to say. Mainly that getting close to Ruby was the big flaw in your plan. That was never going to end well for you. The other flaw was not considering that a giant boulder dropped from a great height might actually fuck her up pretty badly even if it wouldn't kill her. Well 'flaw'. If you hadn't gotten close to her, this would be a pretty winnable position without Blackreach summoning.

    Annnnddd... As an apology for the delay, I'll follow up the next update with an interlude for a character of your choice that you can vote on now.

    [] The Archmage
    [] The Dragon of Wealth
    [] Viola
    [] The TA
    [] Sammy
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [x] Stop the Blackreach Guardian from summoning itself

    [x] the Archmage.

    Oh dear, I hope there is magic to fix that.
     
    beowolf said:
    ...Really? All we did was break some of her fingers. That can be healed even without magic, of course there's magic to fix it easily.
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    You broke some ribs pretty nastily too actually, and she's bleeding from a few places. She'll be fine though. If you had actually done any permanent damage Henry would be super dead right now.

    Edit: Or more accurately, if you were going to do permanent damage the Dragon of Wealth would have stepped in before that happened. She probably wouldn't kill Henry. Maybe maim him a bit.
     
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    [X] Stop the Blackreach Guardian from summoning itself

    Principles aren't worth much if they're dropped when you're in danger.
    [X] Viola

    The teacher's perspective on the student, rather than the owner or master.
     
    I couldn't think of any other way to push her under a rock. Since our spells weren't cutting it, we decided to do it ourselves; otherwise she'd just dodge. And it was our final gambit - she was not meant to climb from under it to continue fighting. If that didn't work, we were out of ideas.

    Frankly, I was half-expecting the rock to do less damage, or for Diana/Viola to intervene. Surely they did not intend for her to get killed. I hope there is some healing magic in the setting.

    It's a shame she won't stay down even when fucked up badly. It wouldn't have come to this if one of us were willing to back down even a little bit. But I guess that is what the archmage was counting on.

    She is going all out. I see no reason to continue restraining ourselves either. Doesn't seem... fair? Compared to the pain we inflicted - seemingly needlessly - the shame is of little worth. I jut hope we can use the Guardian defensively and not harm her even worse.

    [X] Let the Blackreach Guardian summon itself
    [X] Viola

    @Wander, if we break our vow, can we at least summon this afterwards?
    Wander said:
    Trained Unicorn
    A Unicorn. Highly resistant to magic, and it's horn can break all but the strongest enchantments. Can heal even grievous wounds. Offensively, it can trample people and stab them with it's horn. Cannot understand complex commands.
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    I think this is called for in this case. We have inflicted the wound, so we are the one healing it. That'd make this whole thing not a total waste, at least...
     
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    Wander said:
    You broke some ribs pretty nastily too actually, and she's bleeding from a few places. She'll be fine though. If you had actually done any permanent damage Henry would be super dead right now.
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    This is a good reason not to summon the guardian. Unless the guardian can beat her without hurting her?
     
    Nevill said:
    @Wander, if we break our vow, can we at least summon this?
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    Sure, though it would take a few seconds, and the gesture may or may not be appreciated.

    fictionfan said:
    This is a good reason not to summon the guardian. Unless the guardian can beat her without hurting her?
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    Henry has zero idea. The Blackreach Guardian is pretty strong, but he's not entirely sure how it stacks up against Ruby with her as injured as she is.
     
    Wander said:
    Sure, though it would take a few seconds, and the gesture may or may not be appreciated.
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    If that takes place, it should be after she is down and the match is called, not while she is fighting. I don't think any amount of appreciation or not appreciation would make her back off before then.

    And we probably are bound to generate some resentment just by winning, anyway. I don't think Diana and Viola take to failures kindly.
     
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    [X] Let the Blackreach Guardian summon itself
    The guardian is only supposed to summon itself in case of serious danger. That is enough to tilt the scales for me.

    [X] The Archmage
    I'm conflicted between this and The Dragon of Wealth, but I feel like the latter would focus on Ruby too much and I'm more interested in the overall picture.
     
    [X]Let the Blackreach Guardian summon itself.
    -[X]Surrender immediately, because while you're willing to use the family magic to save your life, you won't accept any actual reward for it.
     
    [X] Stop the Blackreach Guardian from summoning itself
    [X] The Archmage

    Sure, Ruby's going all out. But I think having gone this far and claiming the underdog position pretty much requires that Henry owns the consequences - whatever they might be.
     
    [X] Let the Blackreach Guardian summon itself
    We have put in an impressive showing, but now she is out for blood. Being principled is good, but in moderation. Zealotry is not the objective here.

    [X] The TA
    Probably a loosing vote, but it is what I am interested in.
     
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