Oh, and the system for it is almost finished.
It's complete diceless and very simple. I could probably post all of the basics you'd need to play in one post. Very fun mechanics for casting and very fast mechanics for anything outside of casting.

The last one should be a battle royale. Whittle down the students until there are only 60 left.

I am... Intrigued.

>>3858184
It's basically that already.
Often, the students try to steal each others' projects, sabotage each others' projects and use other students in their projects. Just as long as they aren't caught in the process, it's all good.

>>3858198
Join the #Scholomance channel of suptg IRC if you're interested.
The other guys should be here in 12 hours.

>>3858201
No, I mean the 7th year trial. Perhaps the sixth could be a more "normal" series of tests. Alchemy? Slow acting poison in your food. Finish your dinner and "Surprise!". Magical Theory? Everything you own is covered in magical wards. Scrub the wrong rune, erase a tail and add an arm in the wrong place? Explosion - or a curse. Active spell casting? Troll tied to the wall.

This sounds more like the Stih Academy for some reason.

>>3858250
It's practically the Sith academy. If you manage to graduate, you can either stay in the rift in reality that the Scholomance dwells in, or you can return to reality.
Also, we've decided to keep quiet on what wizards do in reality and generally what happens in reality. That doesn't matter. This game is just about life as a student at the Scholomance.
But still, I think if you return to reality, you're incredibly likely to become someone important very fast. An entertainment icon, a politician, the head of an important company, etc.
If you don't, you usually do magical research, doing extra studies and usually elevate to the level of lecturer. Even in the staff, everyone's still trying to kill each other. Every member of a faculty attempts to displace and become the head of the faculty. After that, the next position in Deputy Headmaster. You can't go any higher than that. There is only one Headmaster and anyone trying to replace him ends up dying. He can bend Satan to his will. He can create continents and sink nations but he finds such things are beneath him.
That's how Scholomance works.

I like it.

..actually, I might see if I can convince the GM to run it one day as a Shadowrun adventure.

IN terms of tests, things in an increasing order of lethality seem required. In your first year - no test. You're alive, and you're not the pet of an older student. Second? Minor obstacle course. Third? You're given a head start and hunted. Fourth? I don't know. You get the idea.

>>3858396
Go ahead! Use the idea for Shadowrun if you want, it's an excellent idea.

Anyway, five years of these little tests and in the last three years before the final year things would probably be a little more unique.
The eighth year would probably be the Battle Royale.

I read the original threads, and I must say I'm intrigued.

>>3858470
If you've got any ideas to add, please, go ahead!

Also, if anyone wants to hear about the diceless system, just ask.

>>3858481
so yeah, id like to know.

>>3858481
Please elaborate on the diceless system.

Also, I encourage creating a wiki at wikia for this if this is gonna fly, unless you already have an easily-accessible database somewhere else.

Character Creation:
9 Statistic Points.
9 Magic Points.
1 Mastery Point.
You distribute Statistic Points amongst your Statistics. Each Statistic must have at least 1 Statistic Point.
These are the Statistics:
Form - This represents how physically powerful you are. Dexterity, strength, speed, hand-eye coordination, this represents it all.
Essence - This represents how mentally powerful you are and your strength of will.
Endurance - This is how much physical damage you can endure.
Will - This is how much mental damage you can endure.
When you have allocated your Statistic points, multiply your Endurance and Will by 3.

During physical battles, you compare your Form. If there are multiple people fighting together, you add their Form together. Once the difference of your Form after all modifications has been calculated, the subject with the lower Form subtracts the difference from their Endurance. If there are multiple people on the receiving end, the Headmaster (the game master) distributes the Endurance damage between them. If the Endurance falls to 0, the character dies.
During mental battles, you compare your Essence. If there are multiple people fighting together, you add their Essence together. Once the difference of your Essence after all modifications has been calculated, the subject with the lower Essence subtracts the difference from their Will. If there are multiple people on the receiving end, the HM distributes the Will damage between them. If the Will falls to 0, the character goes insane, falls into a coma, HM's choice.

Magic's coming up next.

>>3858654
>Essence - This represents how mentally powerful you are and your strength of will.
>will
>Will - This is how much mental damage you can endure.

You may want to come up with a different name for the Will stat. Swapping the names of Essence and Will might do the trick.

>>3858681
I suppose you're right.

>>3858654
Will take some time getting used to...

I approve, though.

>>3858654
You spend your Mastery Point in one of the four Magic Schools. Sorcery, Alchemy, Conjuration and Enchantment.
Sorcery - Manipulation of Energy.
Alchemy - Manipulation of Matter.
Conjuration - Manipulation of the Supernatural.
Enchantment - Manipulation of the Mind.
We'll talk about the effects of Mastery later.

Now, how to cast a spell. When you're casting a spell, you must determine four things:
Range - How far you want to the spell to go.
Area - How large any area or how many people you want to be victim to the spell.
Duration - How long you want the spell to last.
Power - This is the most complex part. How powerful the effects of the spell are.
Once you and your HM have decided on the value of each of these, add all four values together. This is the MP cost of the spell.
Next stage is Mitigation. You Mitigate or reduce the MP cost of the spell using items and a time span spent on the spell. You name anything you think might be relevant. Blood, bones, trinkets, makeup, symbols, symbolic items, chanting, ingredients, foci, whatever. The HM decides how many MP each item mitigates. Your HM decides what School the spell fits into and also adds any Mastery points you have in that school on to the Mitigation.
Finally, adding up the total Mitigation, he subtracts the Mitigation from the MP Cost. This gives the final MP Cost that the caster has to guess. He can guess correctly, he can overpower it or he can underpower it to variable degrees.
Mastery effects the range in which the spell is correct. If you have 0 Mastery in that spell's school, you have to guess the cost exactly.
If you have 1 Mastery in the spell's school, you have to guess the spell's cost plus or minus 1.
If Mastery 2, the spell's cost plus or minus 2.
You get the picture.

Do you want an example?

>>3858654
I'm curious to see the magic system, since it's probably the focus of the game. Also, could you elaborate a bit on "mental battles" please?

>>3858798

Gotcha. An example battle would appreciated, too.

>>3858801
The Enchantment school requires you to link your mind to that of another person in order to cast a lot of spells. If you connect your mind to another person's, you can do all sorts of things, including engaging in a battle of wills.

>>3858820
Okay.
Let's say you want to create a fireball.
In this case, the power represents the damage that the fireball does to Endurance.
Anything involving manipulation of fire goes under Sorcery
Range - The person is ten metres away. I would make that cost 2 MP.
Area - One person. 1 MP.
Duration - The fireball will only last for as long as it takes to hit the target. 0 MP.
Power - You want it to do a fair amount of damage. Not to kill, just to teach the target a lesson. 4 MP.
That's a total of 7 MP.
Now, for the Mitigation.
Let's say you've got Mastery 1 in Sorcery. That's 1 Mitigation.
You're holding a flaming torch - that's another 1 Mitigation.
You snort the ashes of a graduated pyromancer from your other hand. 1 Mitigation for ashes, 2 Mitigation for remains of related magic-user.
That's a total of 5 Mitigation.
Final MP Cost = 7 - 5 = 2.
Now, thanks to Mastery 1 in Sorcery, you can spend either 1, 2 or 3 MP to do the spell perfectly.
You choose to spend 1 MP. Spell works perfectly.
Or, you could choose to spend 4 MP. The Fireball is a little bit too powerful for your own good. You get burned as well. Rather than take 4 Endurance damage, your target takes 5. You also take 1 Endurance damage. This is just an example of overpowering.
Underpowering would make the fireball do less damage or not work at all.

>>3858881

OK, awesome. Is there anything more I should keep in mind?

>>3858881
Now, let's do Character Progression. It works in years. There are nine years in total.
Whenever you advance one year, you:
- Get +3 to maximum MP.
- Get another Statistic Point to spend.
- Get another Mastery Point to spend.

If you want to make a character going through their final year, they would have:
33 MP
17 Stat Points to spend.
9 Mastery Points.

First years are nothing compared to those guys.

>>3858891
In case I didn't mention it:
When using Statistic Points to increase stats, you can only increase them to a maximum of 5. 5 is the human limit and if you look at the students doing their last year - it's obvious that they're pretty much the best of humanity.
Also, you can only raise your Masteries to a maximum of 5.

>>3858922
Oh, also, when comparing Form in combat:
Weapons give you +1 (enchanted can give you more)
Element of Surprise gives you +1

There's nothing that says deep roleplaying opportunities than stat-heavy spellcasting mechanics!

Lets cut to the chase, any magic for demonology or necromancy?

I don't think a battle royale is a good idea for a final exam. There's plenty of great magical innovations or discoveries you could make that are not feasible as a means of fighting. You've already survived long enough for the final test, your ability to defend yourself against others is not on trial here, it is your ingenuity and craftsmanship.

Now from a gameplay perspective it's a lot easier just to have it be a fight, sure, but as far as fluff and role-playing goes I think it's a bit lacking.

>>3858931
Spellcasting that fits in well with the setting (you better have your wits about you and be prepared otherwise you're gonna die).
Once we construct tables to help you judge the cost of a spell faster, it should be much easier.
Part of the fun of this game is trying new spells, messing them up, correcting them and getting them right and slowly compiling your notes on the MP and the mitigation required to cast a certain spell perfectly. In the end, you'd end up with your own little tatty spellbook.

>>3858936
Demonology and necromancy both fall under Conjuration, so yes.

>>3858931
Personally I like to think of it as a sort of derivative of the Nobilis Gift-making system. it's not all that stat-heavy; a lot of the Mitigation factors come from actual RP initiatives, like determining the sort of ritual you're going to use etc.

I do think that the whole Mitigation/Overpower system is quite clunky.

Magic should be Nobilis-style. Everything will be better.

>>3858881
Based on this, assume I am a graduate who is fighting in a magical war.

I desire to crush a rival wizard by sending him utterly mad and destroying any semblance of lucid thought he has.

He'll be dining with me, so probably only a few metres away. He'll probably have wards up, worried I'm going to do something.

As a post-ninth year, I have 5's across the board in terms of stats. I have 33MP. I have Mastery 5 Enchantment and Conjuration.

I have prepared this spell carefully. There are specially selected "adulterations" to his food which will make him more susceptible to mind-influencing magic (hallucinogens.) I have been working with a sample of his hair. The spell will have a keyword which will trigger the spell when said in conversation.

I am putting all my power into it. What will happen?

In essence:

33MP
Spell is intended to break a man's mind and reduce him to nothing.
Permanent Duration
Range is less than 10m
Target has protective wards up.
Mastery 5 Enchantment/Conjuration
Mitigated by:
-> Drugs which increase susceptibility to enchantments.
-> Hair sample
-> "Keyword" trigger that will go off when I mention a certain name.

What will happen?

Just make it a fetish fapfiction context where students dominate and rape each other with magic. It suits that purpose much better.

>>3858950
I have several gigabytes of manga that I'd be willing to offer as inspirational resources.

>>3858943
Harry Potter meets Ars Magica meets... I dunno, Bible Black?

>>3858948
Range: 1
Area: 1
Duration: 8
Power: 10
Ward: 5 (He has a permanant ward against Enchantment. Power 5)

25 MP

Drugs - 2 Mitigation
Hair - 2 Mitigation
Mastery - 5 Mitigation

I would actually say the code word thing would not do any Mitigation - it would actually make it harder than just standing up and casting it. So let's add 3 to the MP cost.

28 - 9 = 19 MP in total.

You're spending 33 MP.
19 + 5 = 24
33 - 24 = 9

You massively overpower the spell. If I were your HM, I would rule that everyone inside the room - including you - would collapse, brain-dead.

bleh, I've always hated the idea of hogwarts,/giant settings with only one kind of class/player in this case casters.

>>3858979
What a way to die, though. To die knowing that you showed him one last time that you were the superior mage.

I love this crunch, make of the setting as you will (I like it, except for the fact the school exists out of space - I'd do it more as an Oxford-style collegiate university) and am possibly going to use it at some point, maybe just as inspiration for some writefaggotry.

>>3858979
>You massively overpower the spell. If I were your HM, I would rule that everyone inside the room - including you - would collapse, brain-dead.
>massively overpower
I'm not that anon, but I just have to ask: how do you judge that the spell is "massively overpowered"? Do you just more or less calculate the cost the spell should have and then say whatever you want, or does it work kind of like this:

-no mana, nothing happens
-half man, spell casts, but is kind of weak
-roughly the amount of mana needed, spell casts normally
-one & a half times the mana needed, spell casts a bit stronger
-double / triple mana, spell backfires

>>3858984
Don't play this game.

>>3858984
The casters vary greatly. They're not just posh gits from London wearing school uniform.
In the same class, you might have an aspiring Hindu Demonologist, a scrawny circus hypnotist and mime, a little black practitioner of Louisiana Voodoo taking after his Voodoo queen moma and a neo-nazi skinhead looking to bring the Aryan race to perfection.

>>3858995
It's up to the HM, really.

In my case, I think:
6+: Devastating consequences. You're fucked.
3-5: This is pretty bad for you.
1-2: Slightly overpowering the spell. Might even be positive for you.
0: Perfect. Spot on.
-1--2: Slightly underpowering the spell. Might even be positive for you.
-3-: Nothing happens.

>>3859009
So then, the value costs of things like range and power are determined by the HM then, and in that case does he/she tell the players, or do they just make a chart for themselves and let the players (dare I say it?) experiment it out via trial and error? Seems rather risky actually, but I guess it fits.

>>3859026
Talked this through with the others.

The HM decides on the original MP cost and tells the player. The HM decides on the Mitigation value and keeps it to himself.

Once Mitigation is done, player allocates his MP.

Explain the Mitigation again.

>>3859037
I'd presume, if you're a particularly nasty HM, you could keep the power needed for a particular spell hidden? I know I would.

>>3859045
You can use an assortment of different items to lower the MP cost of a spell. They can range from things that are simply symbolic to legendary magic artifacts.
For example, when making a fireball, I would say a source of fire like a torch would give you +1 Mitigation.
The flaming skull of Jeremy Blazingaze, legendary pyromancer, would give you +5 Mitigation.

You add up the total Mitigation, take it away from the MP cost and then you have the final MP cost that only the HM knows.
Player has to accurately guess for the right amount of MP to spend on the spell. If he goes beneath it, underpowered. Over it, overpowered. Within the boundaries? Just right.

>>3859047
Personally, I would rather keep all of the cost values to myself. Only through research and lessons could you find out that it costs 9 MP summon one of the cherubim for five minutes and only through research and lessons could you find out that the heart of a cockatrice gives you a +3 Mitigation bonus to body alteration Alchemy.

>>3859065
Oh, also, you can use Time Mitigation. The spell casting takes longer but it reduces the MP cost.


1 Mitigation for 1 minute
2 Mitigation for 10 minutes
3 Mitigation for 1 hour.
4 Mitigation for 6 hours.
5 Mitigation for 12 hours.
6 Mitigation for a day.
7 Mitigation for a week.
8 Mitigation for a month.
9 Mitigation for six months.
10 Mitigation for a year.

However, remember that during this period of time, you must be focused completely on casting the spell. Nothing else can be done. This puts most students off of casting times longer than six hours.
However, those who specialize in Alchemy can bypass their biological needs.

>>3859065

Okay then.

IMO, I don't think all the MP values should be secret from the player, though, because it is a SCHOOL after all, the players should have some knowledge of how much MP it takes to do certain things - obviously the longer they've been at the school the more they should know.

But that aside, let's see if I've got the hang of spell generation.

Let's say I know there's a group of rival students who want to steal some of my research notes. I'm no match for all of them at once, so I want to prepare a spell that will forcibly bind them to the ground for a short period of time, so I can make my escape.

Range - 10 meters. 2 MP
Area - Anyone within 5 meters of the target. 2 MP.
Duration - 10 seconds. 2 MP.
Power - This is for defense, not offense, so the damage should only be incidental. 0 MP.

6 MP

Now, Mastery 1 in Sorcery. 1 Mitigation
I'll also have the a piece of stone, the same as the floor in this area is, as a focus. 1 Mitigation.

2 Mitigation

6-2 = 4

So I'll spend 2 MP to cast it.

>>3859161
Now, in cases like that, you're still bestowing a status effect of sorts. I'd say that it's Power 2, as a HM. Otherwise, you're paying nothing for the part of the spell that does the actual immobilizing.

So, in my opinion, it costs 8.
8-2 = 6
You spend 2 points.
6+-1 = 7 or 5.
5 - 2 = Difference of 3

In my opinion, spell fails.

It's pretty obvious the system has its flaws - it can't just be HM fiat alone.

Eh... I'd avoid "Battle Royale" scenarios for the final year. The setting already seems a bit too anarchic, and that would invite spiralling into self-destruction.

>>3859207
Students aren't running riot, flinging spells everywhere at each other.
If they were, they'd be caught by the staff and punished.
As long as you're not caught, it's okay.

archive this shit, i want it in the morning!

>>3859183

It might be handy to assign a certain MP cost to certain effects, such as 2 MP for deafness, 3 for blindness, or whatever, depending how much potential for turning the tables in battle it has.

>It's pretty obvious the system has its flaws - it can't just be HM fiat alone.

That's why we need a big ol' chart of power guidelines and mitigations and what not. Hell in an actual book there'd probably be a whole chapter on mitigations.

>>3859313
Not so sure about a Mitigation chapter.
The whole point of this is that there are no set spells and that you can make whatever sort of spell you feel like and you can use whatever suitable mitigation you like for those spells.
But I suppose you're right. Just a list of basic things you could use.
>>3859296
Perhaps you're right there.

Let me elaborate on the Schools and then ask you a question:
Sorcery - Manipulation of Energy. Pyrokinesis, Cyrokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Aerokinesis, Electrokinesis, Telekinesis, all of that jazz. Basically, anything involving the elements.
Alchemy - Manipulation of Matter. Creation of magic items, polymorphing, alteration of a living object, creation of objects. Basically, anything involving creating and changing matter.
Conjuration - Manipulation of the Supernatural. Summoning, binding, communication, bargaining, dismall and so forth of undead, spirits, demons, angels, folklore and so on.
Enchantment - Manipulation of Mind. Controlling minds, changing minds, changing memories, removing memories, giving memories, charming, corruption, illusions and anything mental.

Now that you know all of this, I want you to design a character using the information here:
>>3858654
>>3858798
>>3858922


Have fun!

>>3859443
I'll bite.

NAME: Sophie Hawkwood
AGE: 16
YEAR OF STUDY: 3
MP: 18
Form: 4
Essence: 5
Endurance: 2x3 = 6
Will: 1x3 = 3

MASTERIES:
Conjuration: 0
Enchantment: 2
Sorcery: 0
Alchemy: 2

Statting: Ulf Grimsdotter
Form:3 (Captain of the soccer team back home)
Essence:2
Endurance:6
Will:6

Sorcery:3
Alchemy:2
Conjuration:2
Enchantment:2 + M

>>3859443
Welsh kid, helped his father at the tattoo parlour. Magus discovered that the tattoos he bestowed upon others protected them. He snatched away the kid and left an alchemical fetch in his place that died of heart failure a few weeks later.

Anyway, kid's becoming an aspiring druid, focusing on Alchemy and Conjuration. He bestows wards on his friends, using his tattoos and the process of tattooing as Mitigation. Generally, he summons and makes pacts with figures of British legends. Whether he summons Peeping Tom to spy on his enemies or Jack-In-Irons to crush them, he's generally pretty powerful.

Form 2
Essence 2
Endurance 3 (9)
Will 2 (6)
Alchemical Mastery 1

>>3859473
Just so you know:
You only have one Mastery point to put into your schools at First Year.
MP are for casting only.

>>3859458
Cool. According that, she's in her 4th year. Works perfectly. In fact, it's kind of unique because although her Essence is pretty high, her Will is also very low so if she is ever beaten in a duel of the minds - which is unlikely - she will crumple, fast.
>>3859475
Pretty good.

Let's consider a spell.

I wish to, using the character from >>3859458, make myself insignificant enough that I won't get called out for not having met a deadline - i.e. no-one will ask me questions during a class.

I'd hazard I'd need 5MP to get away with it, provided I have some kind of a focus to the enchantment (like a handkerchief or something.)

It will only be for an hour or two, and just make me sort of blend in to a crowd.

5MP. With Mastery 2 Enchantment.

>>3859495
That's what I was trying for. Someone who has good natural talent, but is physically frail and tries to avoid conflict.

>>3859481
Ah. Just woke up. =P

So revised:
Form:3 (Captain of the soccer team back home)
Essence:2
Endurance:6
Will:6
MP:9

Enchantment: 1

So the question arises: How fast does MP come back? Let's say that I manage to get through the first week without any major hazing, but on day 8 I get jumped by a classmate trying out what he learned that day, and spend 4 making an impromptu barrier (mitigated by using my Wards For Dummies book as a physical focus and as a physical shield), then retaliate by telling him to fuck himself (Enchantment, single target, duration 10 minutes, here & now, I know he's a chronic masturbator anyway, and I've got a lock of hair from a succubi in my pocket), spending the last 5. I make it back to my Atelier without incident, and manage to get some rest (a full night's sleep undisturbed), and eat both meals (dinner that night, breakfast the next morning). I anticipate running into Wanky McBlasto again that day, how much MP will I have to make a defense?

>>3859498
I'd say that would be:
Range - 0 (Personal)
Area - 1 (You)
Duration - 3 (Hour)
Power - 2 (Nondescript)

MP 6

If you're going to have a simple magic focus, I would say that would be Mitigation 1.
Mastery 2 = Mitigation 2.
Total of Mitigation 3.
6 - 3 = The spell costs 3 MP.
You spend 5 MP.
Due to your mastery, in order to succeed at the spell, you need to spend:
3+-2 = 1-to-5.
You spend 5 MP, the very maximum that you could safely use.
You manage to remain nondescript and go through the class like a breeze, with not a single person looking at you.
Still, that's a lot of MP gone.

>>3859510
Congratulations, you came on to something we're still working on.
We've decided that you regain [Essence] MP every time you rest. Making Essence ever the more important.
However, I would also 1 MP every time you have a decent meal.
So, in my opinion... 4 MP.
Not sure how balanced this is, so I am looking for opinions here.

>>3859541
Works better than "I had eight hours off, I'm ready to rock!"

But you can also get MP back from, say, making potions or magical batteries alchemically, right? So you work out your mitigations (I'm in my Atelier, I've got my father's alchemy equipment, I spend an hour on the brewing process, and I'm sacrificing a mouse for the soul-power) and you brew a potion which will give you 4 power, spending a few points in the processs. You put this into the small safe under your bed. Two days later, you've recovered from the MP loss, but if you need a few extra after the end of the day you've got a recharge potion.

Fahrender Ritter
2nd Year
MP 12

Form 2
Will 3
Endurance 2(6)
Essence 3(9)

Enchantment 1


"Render" has made it to his second year primarily through lies and letting others do his fighting for him.
He is never seen is public without some easily manipulated muscle.

His other mastery point would be in Divination, not sure which school that would go it. Conjuration probably?

>>3859515
Thank heavens.

I am SO doing writefaggotry about this kind of magic system - one where failure has grave consequences and magic is just so tempting to abuse.

>>3859587
Here's the lovely thing about alchemy.
Without anything, you can choose to make something out of thin air.
Or you can mitigate like fuck by actually making the object yourself.
So, by doing what you did, you had fuck loads of Mitigation.
The more Mitigation, the better. It's a key part of the setting and you really shouldn't under-estimate it. The less MP you spend due to the more Mitigation, the more likely you are to not run out of MP like you did in that theoretical scenario.

Anyway, yes. That works perfectly well.

>>3859595
Divination... I'd personally say that should go in either Enchantment or Conjuration. Not too sure.
Anyway, that character works perfectly.

>>3859443
Let's try it, correct me if I've got errors in it...

Name: Matthew Green
Age: 13
Year: 1st
9MP
Form: 1
Essence: 3
Endurance: 2x3=6
Will: 3x3=9
Mastery: Enchantment I

Background comes later.

>>3859628
You've got 10 Statistic Points there.
It's meant to be 9.

Healing would go under Alchemy then, I assume. Power cost of healing equal to the Power cost to inflict that amount of damage? More, less? Band-aids and stuff work as mitigation?

Italian kid living in Rome. Was messing around in the ruins of the Forum half-drunk and decided to mock summoning an ancient Roman spirit. Imagine the poor bastard's surprise when a bunch of the rubble hops up and turns into a legionnaire.

Luckily for him, a "talent scout" of sorts snatched him up and took him to Scholomance before the authorities could show up. Now specializes in summoning spirits to inhabit minor constructs.

Form: 2
Essence: 3
Endurance: 2 (6)
Will: 2 (6)
MP: 9

Mastery:
Sorcery: 0
Alchemy: 0
Conjuration: 1
Enchantment: 0

And while we're at it, a theoretical spell. Let's say the kid tries to summon that legionnaire again, except this time into one of the obligatory suits of armor in the corridors. Range 0, since the armor's right next to him. Area 1, since it just affects the one target. Duration would be a week or two, so that's sounding like a 3 or 4. Power would also be a 3 or 4, conjuring back a dead soul and all that. Minus the character's conjuration mastery, that's an MP cost between 6 and 8. For mitigation he recites a quick prayer to Jupiter (I'd say 1 mitigation) and inscribes the letters SPQR into a hidden area on the suit (probably another 1 mitigation). If I spend 5 MP on the spell, what happens?

>>3859634
1+3+2+3=9

>>3859600
I love it because failure goes two ways - sure, in order to make sure a spell succeeds, go ahead, but be prepared when it blows up in your face because it succeeds so well.

>>3859627

Rereading the list Conjuration make the most sense, it would have teleportation too.

Anyone else have thought on Divination?


Also "Render" has a mastery point in Conjuration one way or the other.

>>3859651
Here's how the animation would work.
A week would more likely be 5.
Power 4 would give the legionnaire gives you four points to split between its Form and Endurance.
One target means 1 MP.
Total of 10 MP.
Total of 3 points of mitigation.
10 - 3 = 7
6-8 > 5.
Sorry, one point under.
Remove one point from the power. It only has three points to distribute between Form and Endurance.

>>3859673
Okay, go ahead and sleep. I'm the one who sucks cocks, I didn't see the 1.
>>3859674
Conjuration does seem the best.

>>3859674
Conjuration makes sense, but so does Enchantment. Depends on what you mean by divination.

Seeing the future? Probably Conjuration. Watching someone in your bowl of soup? Enchantment.

>>3859627
>>3859674
>>3859691
>Anyone else have thought on Divination?
Since the point of divination would be gathering information that you wouldn't know otherwise, I'm guessing that get you could use both enchantment (mind reading) and conjuration (summoning things and have them tell you stuff).

>>3859691
This better be still up when I'm back, but given the awesomeness of the material, it probably will, heh.

I'm off for now.

>>3859691
>>3859693
>>3859674
Honestly, this the point where two different schools do the same thing.
For example, I could use Alchemy on someone to turn their eyes into flesh-covered sockets or I could use Enchantment to bestow the illusion that all the target is seeing is pitch blackness.
In both cases, the result is blindness.

>>3859693
Seeing the future, divining the past, eating your cheerios and turning the bowl into a crystal ball analog, enchanting yourself to gain a temporary sixth sense to dodge shit that's JUST about to happen.

=(
I wish I could think up a better word that enchanting.

A lot of effects should be possible to duplicate with different Schools. Of course, it might be harder with one than with another, and the "how" differs, but in the end you get an equivalent effect.

>>3859704

Oooo, could you cross schools for twice the effect, cost, mitigation? Not for that particular example but...

Yet again, can I just stress the importance of mitigation? You don't want to run around, spending 4 or 5 points on every spell. You want as much Mitigation as possible.

For example, for:
>>3859651
He could anoint the armour in water blessed in the name of Jupiter (+2 for a Power 2 blessing, +1 because of related deity.) +3 Mitigation.
He could utter the name of the spirit he wishes to inhabit the armour. (+2, +1 if it is a related spirit / Roman spirit).
He could do so many things to Mitigate it to extremes. Then all he would need to do is spend 1 MP and he would have his guardian for almost no cost.

Can you mitigate a spell to cost 0 MP? The rules say nothing about it, do they?

>>3859718
Not in one spell but let me tell you about ELEPHANT CONSTRUCT SKELETON MAN.
He was a developer of the game before and he wanted to make the ultimate construct. He wanted to aquire the skeleton of an elephant.
I believe he wanted to use Alchemy to alter and harden the skeleton, Conjuration to give it a spirit host, Sorcery to allow it to breath fire and Enchantment to give it an aura of terror.

>>3859744
You can. Mitigation can in fact force the MP cost into minuses but you must always pay at least 1 MP. If you pay 1 MP for a spell with no or negative MP cost, it works perfectly. If you use more than 1 MP, then you overpower the spell as per usual.

Any more questions regarding system?

>>3859757
That sounds like "You can't, they always cost at least 1 MP" to me. Or do the Mastery range still center on the calculated MP cost, so that for instance if you have a -1 MP spell and Mastery 3, paying 2 MP for it is a normal success, or is it overpowered on anything other than a 1?

>>3859787
In that case involving Mastery, yes, you can pay 2 MP.

What happens if you want to make a spell that you put as much Power into as you can? Not going for a specific level effect, and instead blasting away (or whatever) as hard as you can (or however much Power you decide to put into it)? If this is possible, mitigation would essentially serve for making it even more powerful...

>>3858904
In this game, you can overpower spells.
If you overpower spells, they often have devastating effects to you as well as the target.
Read:
>>3858948
>>3858979

>>3859831
How wonderfully non-sequitur.

>>3859823 here
I mean am I allowed to say "I throw the biggest, meanest fireball I can make at him". Not "I make a this big fireball" then try to match the cost, but doing it backwards. Spend a certain amount of MP on it, see how big it gets.
Is this possible?

Is it possible to over-mitigate, spend one 1MP, and still have a horrendous effect?

Let's say I'm a first-year trying to light a fire in a brazier.
Range - Right next to me: 1
Area - A brazier. 1
Duration - Nil, I'm just trying to make a spark.
Power - Just enough for a spark.

Now, I'm a first-year and this is my first foray into Sorcery. I'm a good alchemist(mastery point), though, so I've made myself an amulet from a fire imp skull, sprinkled the brazier with ashes from an earlier fire, I've got Franz Ferdanand's 'This Fire' playing on my MP3, and the thing I'm using as fuel is a crumpled up Backdraft movie poster and some gasoline-soaked sticks, and I've sacrificed a chicken (which the fire will be used to cook for my lunch). I spend 1 magic point.

What happens?

>>3859851
I'll be honest here.
In the Scholomance, that kind of wreckless thinking isn't encouraged. If you want to do something to represent that, try to give your fireball overkill amounts of Power and spend your every last MP on it. That's all you can really do.
>>3859861
The fire starts perfectly thanks to the huge amount of mitigation.

>>3858948
Also, I just imagined this going on.

"Thanks for having me over. My goodness, this steak is excellent."

"Thanks. It's elephant. I'm using the rest to make a horrendous flesh golem, and the bones are going towards building some very decent necromantic armor. Have you tried the wine?"

"Very good, goes perfectly. *dabs corner of mouth with napkin* Very fruity. Reminds me of that love potion your girlfriend from the 'manse used on me. Dammit, you'd think that after enrapturing my soul I'd be able to remember her name..."

"Victoria Spelling? *TRIGGER* She just cheese platypus gaborgaggle ohgodtheTEETH BLURG!"

Then the door opens, and the maid comes in with a tray. "Who's ready for... desert?" Both occupants of the room are dead, eyes exploding from thier sockets, hair turning to acid, fountains of vomit gushing over the table.

>>3859897
If you weren't honest about your rules it'd be kinda hard to use them.

>>3859912
That fits perfectly.

>>3859916
Exactly.
That's why I am not going to try and somehow fit in the "I DO THE BIGGEST THING POSSIBLE"

>>3859897
So there's no penalty for mitigating the hell out of something needlessly? Depending on how much you like Franz Ferdinand or Nicholas Cage that could easily have been a -5 situation, without mastery. Spending a single magic point would be overpaying by 4, which I'm pretty sure is enough to really hurt you.

For instance, if it were the same student, but not mitigating, spending 6, then it would have at least taken off a hand, right?

>>3859935
You can't be too careful past a point.

Sure you can overguess, but once you've over-mitigated it's pretty much a cantrip.

>>3859935
The brazier would've exploded in your face and you would've received 3 Endurance damage, by my reckoning.

>>3859949
Anything costing 0 or below acts as if it cost one. So you could stack ten mitigation on a cantrip and it would still cost one. If you pay 2 you're in just a slight overpayment situation.

Spell Idea:

2nd year student, Mastery in Enchantment and Conjuration. In the 'off season', I've printed up the rules to FATAL and have them in a massive binder kept in my school bag. One day during lunch, a freshman makes my chicken soup punch me in the face. A ward I place on myself every week shows me the face of any magical attacker. He's sitting two tables down, and is in any case laughing his ass off.

I place a hand on my bag, and then download the entire FATAL rulebook into his head (just the information contained, not the actual book).
Range: 2 MP
Power: 4 MP (it's about 1000 pages)
Duration: 3MP (A week?)
Area: Negligible

So, I've got my hand on the info I'm sending (1), I've actually looked at every page at some point (1), and I was sitting in Enchantment class prior to Lunch (1). I've got eye contact (1) and I'm reciting the books' anagram name out loud "From Another Time, Another Land" (1). I spend 3 MP.

ROLL ANAL CIRCUMFERENCE!

I think I will write up a brief episode of what first year will be like.

Let me just arrange statistics.

Jeremy Thornton
Form 2
Essence 2
Endurance 9
Will 6
Sorcerous Mastery 1

Asad Badawi
Form 3
Essence 2
Endurance 9
Will 3
Alchemical Mastery 1

Hans de Hartog
Form 1
Essence 4
Endurance 6
Will 6
Conjury Mastery 1

>>3860030
It would've exploded in his face if he paid 6 points for the spell with no mitigation
>>3860031
5 MP for a week. A week is a pretty long time, you know.
So you spend 3 MP - which is a couple of hours, round about.
Anyway, you succeed and your victim screams OH GOD WHAT WHAT THE FUCK IS ANAL CIRCUMFERENCE

>>3860064
He wouldn't ask the question. He would KNOW!

"Did you guys see that? I totally punched his face with his sou-ANAL CIRCUMFERENCE IS A MEASURE OF HOW LARGE AN OBJECT CAN BE INSERTED WITHOUT TEARING THE ANUS!"

>>3860044
Jeremy, Asad and Hans return from their lessons to sleep in their respective Ateliers. Little do they know that they are being stalked by the member of another clique who thinks they would make pretty good spell components.

Billy
Form 1
Essence 2
Endurance 12
Will 6
Sorcerous Mastery 1

He tries to cast a chain lightning spell that costs 8 MP. He manages to Mitigate 2 MP. He spends 5 MP on the spell and casts it successfully. All three take 3 Endurance damage.
Jeremy attempts to knock down Billy with a sudden burst of fire. This costs a total of 6 points. He mitigates 3 and spends 3. He succeeds and manages to knock Billy on the floor.
Asad tries to increase his Form by two points for a while. This costs 7 MP. He mitigates 3 MP. He spends 7 MP. He overpowers the spell and gains another point of Form than expected but also takes 2 Endurance damage.
Meanwhile, Hans simply charges in with his school dagger. Since he has a weapon, it's Form 2 vs. Form 1. He does 1 Endurance damage.
Billy struggles to stand up.
Next, Jeremy and Asad charge together with their daggers. Total Form is 12, with Asad's new altered Form and all three having drawn their daggers. They deal 11 Endurance damage to Billy.
Billy is dead.
They drag him to Hans' Atelier while Jeremy casts an illusion to make him look like he is sleeping. Costs MP 5, mitigates MP 2 with the hair, spends MP 2. He underpowers it - while Billy might look like he is sleeping but his clothing is bloodstained.
When they're at Hans' Atelier, Hans attempts to bind the spirit of Hans for a few minutes and demands to speak with him - a MP 6 spell. With all of his stuff there, he easily has MP 7 mitigation. He spends MP 1 and demands to know why Billy tried to kill them and for what reason. Eventually the identity of the clique is revealed and now the trio have the element of surprise...

>>3860266
Oh, and:
Billy mitigates his Chain Lightning using Mastery 1 (1) and a metal rod (1).
Jeremy mitigates his Fire Burst using Mastery 1 (1) and a snort of bat guano (1).
Asad mitigates his Transformation using Mastery 1 (1), sinew of dog (1) and a alchemist's charm (1) that he created days ago.
Jeremy mitigates his Illusion using Billy's hair (2).
Hans' mitigated his Speak with Dead spell using the target's corpse (3), Billy's under-graduate's blood (2), a snort of grounded bone (1) and the book "Necromancy for Dummies" (1).

bumpo

>>3860334
If you're gonna bump, at least add content to the thread.

What happens if your Form equals your opponent's Form? Or if you Essence equals your opponent's Essence?

>>3860378
I think we just decided HM fiat.

>>3860378

Slapfight and the thing that always happens when the equal energies collide. mental slapboxing

>>3860549
So until they stop comparing their Form or Essence, nothing happens?

My guess would be a pretty equal fight until someone could find a way to get one up on the other guy. This ain't d&d you don't stand next to each other trading blows untill one of you falls down, you manuever and try to find the upper hand.

Get the upper ground!
Find a bigger weapon!
Call a buddy!
Push him down the stairs!

>>3860627
I like your style.

Can one simply go Essence combat? How is Essence used, and can it be used offensively?

Say you have two people struggling. They have the same Form, so they're on even ground there. Can you then use Essence (without spending MP) to mentally overpower the person, even if it's just with verbal abuse?

>>3860710
It's a special sort of attack.
You connect minds first.
Area = Number of people you want to include in the link
Range = Range to the furthest person
Duration = Time you want the time link to be active.
When the mind link is established, then you can engage Essence combat. This can be incredibly useful in some cases and something you definitely want to avoid in others.

>>3860793
So, in the previous example. Or whatever. Ulf and Johnny, first-years, have spent the last few days in a short vendetta, and because of it they're both short on MP. They come to blows in the corridor one night, just after supper. Ulf, captain of the soccer team back home, is physically superior. Johnny, whose mastery is Enchantment, decides he can mitigate a mind-link. He knows Ulf is also handy with mentalism, so he decides to burn two points on power. He mitigates this by having head-to-head contact, via headbutt. Duration is short (five minutes, tops), no range, just the one person.

Now that they're linked, he has the upper hand (having more Essence and Will). Combat progresses as normal, but he's now the bigger and stronger of the two, and is chipping away Ulf's Will like mad.

Ulf's Will is reduced to zero. Does this kill him, or just put him in coma?

Also, would Johnny be able to use Essence combat to steal some of Ulf's MP?

This sounds really badass. How is this going to be set up?

>>3860952
We're probably going to playtest soon.

Any more opinions on this homebrew?

Out of all the /tg/ homebrews I've seen, I really like this one.

I've gotten myself confused on some aspects of mitigation however.

Say a spell would normally cost 8 points. I mitigate 6 of them, and pay 1 point. The spell is slightly underpowered. Does it fail, change the spell, or simply weaken the spell?

Say I pay 3 points. Overpowered by one. Is the spell ruined, am I hit by feedback, or is the spell strengthened?

Are the consequences of minor over/under powering random?

>>3861278

This looks awesome and you should all feel awesome. I totally want in on this, as soon as I finish reading up on the basic rules between classes and work.

S-scholomance?!

OH GOD IT'S ALL COMING BACK NOW

GOD DAMN YOU WHY DID YOU LET THE SUMMONER RUN AWAY, I TOLD YOU HE WOULD AGGRO THE OTHER GROUP
FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST DON'T STAND IN THE CLOUD GUYS PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU
PRIEST WHY ARE YOU NOT SHACKLING THE GHOUL, I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO IN SHADOWFORM
WARRIOR DID YOU SERIOUSLY JUST FUCKING ROLL ON THE HEADMASTER'S CHARGE

>>3861278
Sign me up

I'm sure it's dead now, but my god this is a fantastic thread.

I had an idea. You get tons of mitigation from actually brewing your own alchemic designs right? What's to stop an alchemist from brewing up a Mitigation Potion and just paying 1 MP for whatever bullshit he tries? And then gaining super respect and his own niche, by putting wards and charms on the recipe, and killing off anyone trying to make their own, and selling the potions to the highest bidder.

>>3862157
I lol'd, though I am loathe to admit it.

WoW before Expansions was good times.

>>3862624
Sounds like drug dealing to me.

Not OP but presumably the HM would somehow keep you from acquiring nearly too much influence in the long run. Constant usage of drink results in less effectiveness, a teacher has actually been running his own drug ring and decides to take you out etc.

I'm impressed by your commitment and creativity, /tg/.
Who'd have thought what was started so humbly would travel so far through adversity.

OOP here.
Nice work team! Tumbs way, way up!
I'll remind anyone who's interested that there's a Scholomance chatroom on suptg, so check it out!