[gurps] Re: Regular vs Melee type spells question

[Jeff Wilson]

> From: "Eric Funk"
> 	<eric_funk_anti_spam_this_is_a_real_email_address at r3d.net>
>> It's more like the partial yard rounds up. There has to be a penalty
>> for not touching for the rule to make any sense, and otherwise no
>> casters
>> will bother to risk touching subjects.
> 
> But as captainjoy points out, you CANNOT touch in combat with a Regular 
> spell.
> (unless the target is bound).

This is largely a consequence of realistic combat, but if the -1 for not 
being able to physically touch the victim is a real problem, and your 
effective skill for ritual purposes is 10+, you can attempt to Pin the 
target with a Staff or Grapple them with your free hand on your turn, 
then if they fail to break free you can Concentrate and zap them while 
still touching them on your next or however many turns it takes to to 
casy the spell.


>> I do see your point; however, I do think the rules as written indicate
>> that both touching or being within a yard are non-penalized uses of a
>> Regular Spell.

Only in that you usually need to be within a yard to touch someone, due 
to the average length of adult human arms.

> In any case, the careful wording of the Magic Staffs box has the staff "one 
> yard wand shaves -1 off distance penalties". Thus if the penalty was only 
> "-1" for a yard or less (or even half a yard, say), the penalty is now zero, 
> according to that text. A two-yard staff eliminates -2 in penalties.

No, it says "Pointing with a staff reduces the range to a distant 
subject by the length of the staff." The use of range instead of reach 
and the word distant indicate this is talking about victims outside of 
melee.

> The 
> text says that it both reduces distance and removes penalties.

As for removing penalties, that is again dependent on physical contact. 
  "Touching a subject with your staff lets you cast spells on that 
subject at no penalty." Ya still gotta touch 'em with your Staff.


Speaking as someone present at the Creation- er, playtest of 4/e, there 
was no discussion of changing the way touching and distance penalties 
were to be calculated other than 1) indirectly as a consequence of the 
change in timing of spell casting within the turn sequence and 2) Long 
Distance penalties were made logarithmic.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >