Fireball

Fireball is a fire spell, thrown from the hand. It can be "charged up", doing more damage if prepared for multiple seconds.^[1] It can effectively do "damage over time" if it's powerful enough to catch something on fire.

Accuracy: 1
Range: 1/2D 25, Max 50^[2]
Damage: 1d per Energy / Fatigue
Cost: Any amount up to your Magery level * 3 * Seconds of "Charge up"
Time to cast: 1 to 3 seconds
Prerequisites: Magery 1, Create Fire, Shape Fire

Power Alternative[]

Fireball (+50%): Burning Attack 6d+2 (Explosion 1, +50%) [50]

Minimum Energy Cost[]

If you have high skill in a spell (15+), you normally subtract 1 energy from the final cost. This remains true for Fireball, but cannot be reduced to zero.

Quotes[]

Kromm in 2008 mentioned:

+5 to Fireball or something (+5 being enough to get a -1 FP cost reduction and add a die

This is a feature that is easy to ignore. People seem to think that Mageryx3 is the most dice a 3-second fireball could do... WRONG. Consider:

Cost: Any amount up to your Magery level per second

Although having -1 to FP cost from skill 15 would reduce the cost of 3d6 from 3 to 2, that would actually mean on one of those seconds (probably the first one, when the roll is made) that initially, 0 FP is being used...

This is below the cap of Magery per second, so in this case, a fireball 15 Magery 1 char should be able to create a 2d fireball in the 1st second for 1 energy instead of a 1d fireball for 0 energy.

FAQ[]

Burning or Crushing[]

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/faq/FAQ4-4.html#SS4.3.1

"This "hard" bolt of magical force hits the armor just like a bullet, staff thrust or fist, doing damage on impact, and either denting it a little or punching a hole straight through."

kind of implies similarity to Crushing Attack not Burning Attack, strangely.

This was asked about by Xmark in 2005: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=3974

One possible explanation for how to add crushing damage might be if B355's Damage From Thrown Objects applied atop the usual burning damage.

Other[]

4.3.2 Can you aim while building up a missile spell?

No. The rules for Missile spells specifically require a Concentrate maneuver to build up the spell. Aim is another maneuver, and not a "free action" that can be added to Concentrate.

4.3.3 It seems missile spells are much more powerful than before. Is that right?

Yes. Now you can put up to [Magery * base cost of spell] energy each second in it, for one to three seconds; spell effect is multiplied by each multiple of the base cost.

Note that the cost reduction for high skill only applies to the total cost of the spell. With skill 20, you can't cast a 6d fireball for free by concentrating for 3 seconds.]

Roleplayer[]

Roleplayer #4, February 1987 http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/RoleplayerQ-A/RoleplayerQA.html#anchor1158038

(2) What happens if a missile spell is sent from an area of regular mana into an area of low mana?

(2) Interesting question – may or may not be worth mentioning in the revised Fantasy Book. I rule that a missile spell cannot enter a NO MANA area, but is otherwise unaffected by crossing mana boundaries.

Roleplayer #20, June 1990 http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/RoleplayerQ-A/RoleplayerQA.html#anchor1164591

What happens to spells that cross the boundaries of mana areas? For instance, what happens to an Explosive Fireball entering a no-mana area? Can a person using the Great Voice spell be heard 200 yards away by a person in a no-mana zone? What is the effective skill of a mage in a normal-mana zone casting a Lend Language spell on someone in a no-mana zone? – Rick Malavasic

A missile spell would continue across the boundary into a no-mana zone. No other spell or spell effect would cross into a no-mana zone.

When a spell is cast between different zones, both of which contain mana, calculate penalties as for the lower of the two zones. Thus, if either the caster or the subject is in a low-mana zone, the roll will be at -5. In the case of a spell like Great Voice, in which the "target" of the spell is the speaker, the location of the listener(s) doesn't affect the spell, as long as they are not in a no-mana zone.

A caster in a zone of very high mana has the benefit of fatigue-free casting (if he's a mage) and the problem that any failure will be very dangerous, regardless of where his subject is standing. – Steve Jackson

Discussion[]

Kromm[]

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=97133&postcount=29

21 July 2005 Nikolai said that Kromm PM'd him the following:

Beam weapons are tight-beam, so the Basic Set is right in that case. Missile spells aren't tight-beam, and Magic should have said so. I guess it didn't. The box in the Basic Set defines "tight-beam" in the absence of special notes. A given attack can be tight-beam when it normally would be a standard burning attack, and vice versa; this is a +0% effect for Innate Attack in Powers . . . but one must still note it. As I said, it should be noted for missile spells.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=635136&postcount=7

27 February 2008 at http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=544319&postcount=22

Note that my Spell Stone variant works pretty much exactly like Diablo II: LoD charged items work, right down to the "recharge in town" part. And in that game, the main point of charged items was to give one class access to the skills of another class.

Charges for class skills did at times show up on class-specific items, but that wasn't the norm . . . what class-specific items did for skills was add a bonus, which in GURPS would be the equivalent of a wand that adds +5 to Fireball or something (+5 being enough to get a -1 FP cost reduction and add a die, which is the best parallel between the games).

21 July 2008 he replied "This is correct" when Kazandar said:

I would apply the cost reduction on the first turn. The caster does not decide before he casts the spell how many turns he's going to build it up for.

However since it applies to the full cost, unused discount would presumably benefit followup rounds.

So for example a mage with -2 to cost, who only chose to build 1d6 burning damage on the 1st turn, would do that for free, but then could build 1d6 on the 2nd turn for free also, since -1 was unused.

Kromm on Wands[]

also 27 February 2008 in different thread http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=544229&postcount=11

RUIEN[]

Ruien had great ideas in 2016 http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=141600 and here are some possible answers to his questions regarding the impact spell Mastery

1) "He then casts Suspend Spell on the held Fireball (at -3, per Missile Spell Mastery), which costs 0 FP (for having Suspend Spell at 15). Can he now rest this FP back, terminate Suspend Spell later (either paying 1FP or using a Kill Switch) and get the Fireball back in his hand instantly, ready to be thrown?

That depends: does Suspend Spell only suspend the effects, or also the requirements (FP to maintain by original caster, needing to keep ahold of it?) Although missile spells don't have a maintenance cost, they do have the requirement of being held in the caster's hand. Not doing that would end the spell if SS did not end requirements too. In that case. You need some kind of Extra Arm to hold the spell.

You could probably get away with "Weapon Mount" or "No Punch" discounted arms though, since you would just be swapping it to an arm which can't throw, and then when you do want to throw it, switching it back to your throwing arm. This sort of thing might be similar to switching a fireball to your off hand (-4 to DX for throwing) while waiting to use it, so you can use the on-hand to avoid DX penalties for stuff like writing.

2) Does a Suspended Fireball count as -1 or -2 for spells "on"? That is, Suspend Spell would count as a spell "on", but does a suspended missile spell count as a spell "on" as well?

Suspended spells still count as on so long as a caster is maintaining them, the question is whether or not they're still maintaining them while they're suspended. When a maintained spell is suspended the caster can automatically detect it (unlike non-maintained ones which get a roll to detect it). If suspended spells do still count as an 'on' spell, then you'd need to cast "Maintain Spell" on the fireball first. This creates a maintenance cost of 1 per 5 minutes.

3) My guess is that it's only -1, because a missile spell is not really a Temporary Spell as defined in FAQ 4.1.2

It's sort of a moot point: traditionally you couldn't cast AT ALL when holding one, so it never came up. The effect of maintaining the fireball before throwing it should obviously count as temporary, not permanent.

Consider that "temporary" spells with fatigue cost reduced to 0 still count as temporary/"on" so fireball might just be treated as a "0 to maintain". Consider how spells cast with MSM are at -3, that's like maintaining THREE spells (ie basically "create fire" + "shape fire" prereqs along with the "contain fire" effect of a fireball so it doesn't burn your hand). Giving it a duration/maintenance cost probably would make sense considering how the prereqs work!

4) could the mage then cast Maintain Spell on the (suspended) Fireball in order to give it its own supply of energy, reducing spells "on" to -1? If so, and he later cancels Suspend Spell, does it come back in his hand still ready to be thrown (as it is no longer owned by him, but otherwise behaves normally)?

Since "Maintain Spell" means you no longer own the spell, you would probably have to cast "Steal Spell" on a maintained fireball to be able to hold it. The way spells behave normally, they can only be held by their caster.

5) Can a mage repeat this process multiple times, building up a stack of suspended Fireballs, resting between each casting?

If they had a bunch of extra arms to hold the stack, sure. Suspend spell wouldn't get rid of the need to hold a fireball to maintain it.

Also note the ongoing MAINTENANCE cost of "Suspend Spell". Unless skill in that is high enough to reduce cost to 0, energy supply would be needed to maintain the standby fireballs.

Also note that each instance of Suspend Spell would count as an active spell, creating cumulative penalties on future Fireballs / Suspend Spells /Maintain Spells unless you cast Maintain Spell on Suspend Spell (MS doesn't count as active once set)

In that case though, you lose the ability to cancel Suspend Spell, meaning you will need to cast Steal Spell on Cancel Spell to gain the ability to cancel the suspension

6) Before Missile Spell Mastery, this was never an issue; a mage could simply not cast another spell while holding a missile spell.

Compartmentalized Mind might've allowed that.

pair of mages working together might've managed this by a partner mage casting Suspend/Maintain on behalf of the fireball-holding wizard.

or a single guy could cast "Hang Spell" on "Suspend Spell", cast fireball, then activate the spell. This wouldn't count as casting it so maintaining the fireball would not forbid it

Delay should also work.

ANARAXES[]

here he took the stance that casting Suspend Spell basically stops the maintenance requirements on principle.

(Note that the question still applies even when Missile spells are not involved. If Mage B suspends Mage A's spell, does A still have a spell on? Does A pay maintenance? For consistency, I think the answer to all three would be "no".)

RUIEN's later reply to this was initially confusing

I already rule this as "yes". I think of this as Suspend Spell is just another spell which works to actively counteract the effects of the other spell (completely, including even stopping its internal timer/mana consumption). This explains why you can only Suspend a spell you know.

Why it's confusing is "yes" implies there is costs, but "stopping its internal timer / mana consumption" implies that costs stop... this is clarified by his followup though, showing it was a selective "yes" referring to "on" spells but NOT to time-based maintenance costs:

Mage A would therefore still have his spell "on" (it just doesn't do anything because Mage B's Suspend is counteracting its effects). Mage A does not pay maintenance, however, because his spell's timer is stopped so it never comes up for maintenance while suspended.

Anaraxes then claimed "It also costs maintenance on the Suspend, whereas Hang does not." which is untrue! Hang Spell lasts 1 hour and says: "Same as the underlying spell’s cost to cast (minimum of 2);

same cost to maintain."

It's CHEAPER than maintain spell, which 1/10 cost per minute works out to 6x cost per hour.

That said, the smaller increments make it much easier to redue maintenance costs for Suspend to 0 than it does to reduce Hang to 0.

"nothing in any of the rules suggests that there's an exemption to the rule of only holding one Missile spell"
" Nothing about holding Missile spells suggests that the limit has anything to do with the number of free hands. The Missile Spell Mastery perk doesn't let a normal human hold two spells, so why would the number of arms make any difference?"

it's unclear where this might be mentioned. If it's not explicitly mentioned it may merely be an assumption based on the outcome of being unable to cast ANY spell while maintening a missile spell (normally)
- even using original rules shouldn't compartmentalized mind allow holding 2? each mind maintains 1
  - or having 1 caster Lend Spell a pair of fireballs to an ally with magery 1

He persists:

Only having one Missile spell at a time is a specific limit to the number of Missile spells you can have on -- even though normally you can have any number of spells on.

Still unclear where this "specific limit" comes from though...

References[]

↑ Magic, p.74-75
↑ The first value is Half Damage--after this range, the projectile does half its damage. The second value is the maximum range.

[1] Magic, p.74-75

[2] The first value is Half Damage--after this range, the projectile does half its damage. The second value is the maximum range.

[1]

[2]