Buff Spells enjoy special rules on pg 9 of GURPS Sorcery
semantics[]
Despite being called Beneficial afflictions they do not actually use the rules from P40, instead they're a super-weird blend of the two.
- Borrowed from paragraph 1: the idea that beneficial afflictions should last target's MoS minutes on a passed success roll instead of MoF minutes on a failed resistance roll
- although "reverse the sign of the HT modifier" did imply this already in Powers (DR 1 normally gives HT modifier of +1 which becomes -1 when you flip it) it clarifies this about DR explicitly: P40 only talked about affliction levels (penalty becoming bonus)
- Borrowed from paragraph 2: the idea that someone can waive a resistance roll
incompatible[]
These aren't really compatible to merge though, at least not standalone without modifying Affliction. That's because the only way waiving works (duration normally being based on that roll) is if you have another roll to base it on: the success roll the Malediction ability user makes. It just changed the usual 2-roll MoV into a 1-roll MoS.
making compatible[]
The necessary step for this is the Fixed Duration modifier, which is what Sorcery uses. By using Fixed Duration, waiving resistance does not create the duration problem, since it makes duration independent of success/resistance.
not fixed[]
The author remembered to apply Fixed most cases but there's two exceptions
=flexible duration[]
- pg 20 Inspired Creation which does mention how it uses a special duration rule for Super Luck afflictions:
- "Since the caster must be present the entire time, the duration is “as long as it takes the crafter to make his skill roll,” but he only gets one chance to cast it; this is a 0‑point special effect."
DR subtracting[]
pg 25 Preserve Fuel notes:
- The DR subtracting from the casting roll rather than forcing a resistance roll (as for Buff spells) is a special effect
Basically it seems like in cases where your ability already works on things which can never resist you (basically giving you ignores DR for your defined area of accessibility, in this case only on fuels -40%) that since 'ignores DR' wasn't bought, it should still create problems: which is done by penalizing the "casting roll".
It's not clear what the "casting roll" is in this case, if perhaps a "requires IQ roll" was intended to be built into this (like with Psionic Powers, subbing a default IQ-6 skill) or if it's actually the DX roll used to target Affliction normally.
two kinds[]
pg 27/28 uses weird variant buff spell rules for enchanting items