Spell Preparation in GURPS?

[Morty]

I have a rather strange request - does anyone know of a way a Vancian-esque spell preparation could be introduced in GURPS, either in form of official variants or homebrew systems? I rather like GURPS, although I haven't had the chance to delve into it too deeply, but I also like spell preparation - weird, I know - and I'd like to combine the two.

[Gahrer]

The book GURPS Fantasy bring this up (page 129). Basically, they suggest either using the advantage Modular Abilities or a new limitation on Magery called "Restructurable Magery" (which involves assigning FP points in advance to different colleges or spells).

[Morty]

Mhmmm. I see. Those do seem to be what I'm looking for. Thanks for pointing them to me.

[Gengulphus]

I believe it's also discussed in some depth in GURPS Thaumatology, though I don't have it handy for a page reference I'm afraid.

[Yuki Akuma]

I played a medieval fantasy game with a Vancian caster - he dumped a lot of points into Modular Abilities, and arranged with the GM that he could spend so many dollars to buy a scroll of a spell to add it to his list that he can 'prepare'.

It worked extraordinarily well.

[Morty]

I can see how it would work, yes. Did he still use Magery? I imagine he would, but I'm not that familiar with GURPS yet, so I'm not sure.

[Yuki Akuma]

Yes, he used Magery. It's the only way to cast spells outside of high-mana areas.

[jindra34]

Yes, he used Magery. It's the only way to cast spells outside of high-mana areas.

Or to use magic as a power as discussed in GURPS Powers. Though using that plus spell memorization gets insanely (as in thousands of points) expensive for the character fast.

[Morty]

So I expected. Let me make sure I understand it right:
The wizard purchased Magery normally, then sunk some points into Modular Abilities to provide himself a number of "spell slots". He learned spells from scrolls after purchasing them and placed his known spells into slots. He used the Limited Use and Preparation Required limitations, so he had to prepare those spells in the morning and "forgot" them after casting.

[Yuki Akuma]

So I expected. Let me make sure I understand it right:
The wizard purchased Magery normally, then sunk some points into Modular Abilities to provide himself a number of "spell slots". He learned spells from scrolls after purchasing them and placed his known spells into slots. He used the Limited Use and Preparation Required limitations, so he had to prepare those spells in the morning and "forgot" them after casting.

This is basically how it worked - although he didn't have 'spell slots', just points to spend on the spells as skills, like normal. But he could only cast each 'prepared' use once.

It cost a very low amount of points, and he only ever ran out of spells once. The next day he prepared more spells.

The good thing about doing it this way is that you can, say, either memorise a ton of spells with low skill modifiers, or a couple of spells you're all but guaranteed to be able to cast.

For a really fun time, combine this with the Dungeon Fantasy setting/alternate rules. :D

[dobu]

The most straightforward approach uses the Super-Memorization version of the Modular Abilities advantage (p. B71), with the limitations Spells Only, Limited Use, and probably Preparation Required.


On page 56 in Thaumatology there's a box which talks about vancean casting, the prototype of all spell-slot systems.