Build Help. GURPS 4E Mage 200 points in a 250 world. :)

[Rerednaw]

Hi folks!

I am trying a GURPS campaign. The build rules are:
14 maximum cap on stats.
No abilites with brain or lightning logo.
Basic, Low-tech and Magic only. Maybe other sources per GM approval.
TL3.
$1000 base starting wealth.

The GM has also a house rule to balance characters. Non-mages (Trained by Master/Weapon Master not considered unusual) have 250 points, anyone with magery or supernatural abilities have 200. One fella made a vampire so his stuff is all supernatural or combat.

So I am trying to build a functional, most likely support mage.
The GM also frowns on enchanting so I am considering, food, movement, light and water as his main schools...maybe a dash of fire or weather for some mild offense options.

I am also considering not having the usual IQ 14 and Magery 3 so he can free up some points for skills...

Suggestions? Some spell combos for support? I was thinking maybe glue+create fire for combat, great haste, create food/water, and if he has anything left over maybe some making & breaking school. Or even light (invis) for scouting.

Thanks!

[Particle_Man]

Since you are effectively paying a whopping 50 point tax for the privilege of casting magic, I would suggest that you go big or go home. That is, if you want to be a skill guy, forget about magic and spend 250 points on 14s and lots of skills. If you want to be a magic guy, then let the 250 pointers be the skill guys and focus on magic - you paid for magic, after all. Therefore I suggest going for IQ 14 and Magery 3 (or higher!).

That said, I personally like the illusion/creation school and its prerequisites (which include create water and create earth, fwiw). Create object gives you some synergy with certain skills to create more detailed objects, for example. Create servant can be versatile, since servants can come with their own non-combat non-IQ skill. In combat, create warrior can help and come with a combat skill (either with a weapon you provide or as a weaponless combatant, say with some unarmed fighting skill) and of course illusions can be handy.

Created servants can be great trap/pit testers. ;)

[Breashios]

Particle_Man has given you excellent suggestions. While I can’t be sure about why without knowing your GMs mind, I do have an idea about the reason he is making you pay a 50 point tax when you take Magic Aptitude. If you are playing in normal or higher mana levels, starting with a high IQ and high Magic Aptitude, you can become quite powerful, getting free points off casting and maintenance costs, allowing you to be both versatile and persistent in your magic abilities. (with 200 points you can do a lot; with 250 you can do 'a lot+50')

It is likely because of this potential the GM has created a framework where your concept becomes sub-optimal. If you took a disadvantage of “no spell can be learned above skill level 14”, you might see if he would give you the 50 points back. If not, either live with a sub-optimal character for the campaign (at least until you gain the experience) or do what Particle_Man suggested “go big or ...”

In the end you might just do what you think will be fun and not worry if you perform at as high a level as the rest of the party members. Just do the best with what you bring.

[Rerednaw]

We played our session and I know a bit more about the campaign.

I did not finish my mage in time so I brought in a guy with a stick.

First impressions:
Heavy skill use. Social skills, survival, knowledge, everything...
Heavy combat. First combat was 2 of us vs 4 ogre-like creatures.

My mage will be a backup character, as I fully expect my swordguy is going to take that crit eventually :)

Given that, I am thinking stealth (invis) and staying away (movement) are good ideas....plus thanks for the servant idea, that will be very handy to have summonable flesh shields.

Thanks!

Edit: yikes the servants spells are costly, must rework...

[thorr-kan]

It might be worth wandering over to the sjgames.com forums and asking there, as well.

[Particle_Man]

If you have create servant you also have illusion spells if you need to switch things up in combat to save points. You can also buy extra fatigue, I think.

[Rerednaw]

Everyone thanks for the tips!

Yeah I tried the sjgames forums and got one response “search for ‘mage’ ”. I had tried that but surprisingly no build or build threads. LOL. There used to be a pre-made character resource on sjgames but the pages come back as ‘not found.’

Anyway I think I have enough to get started. Thanks again folks.

Edit: found a couple sites and the 3e archive on sjgames is back up...

[Yuki Akuma]

A 50-point Unusual Background that doesn't even increase the power of Allies seems pretty steep to me...

[Breashios]

A 50-point Unusual Background that doesn't even increase the power of Allies seems pretty steep to me...

It is, but 200-250 points in GURPS is a whole lot of points. At high level some GURPS spells/super-powers become free to maintain. If I am right, this is the Game Master's way of disincentivising that issue.

If I wanted to run a 200+ point campaign, I'd balance it in some other way.