Topic: “Holding” Spell preparation?

[C.Tozer]

Hi again all

Again apologies if this has been asked too ... I did a search but couldn’t find anything.

In the RMC/RM2 rules spell preparation Thales 90% of a round with the remaining 10% being able to be used for movement.

Assuming a caster prepares for the maximum time of 4 rounds but then wants to act (say move at more than 10% what do you do as GMs?
How long can a character “hold” a fully prepared spell? How far can they move? If so how far? Can they do more than move? Fight? Pick a lock?

To me it seems a bit restrictive that once they are fulled prepared they can only move 10% of their movement.

What do you rule?

Thank you

[Majyk]

On the turn they cast a spell, the can move 25%.

Otherwise “holding” prep means prepping more(still max of 10%) and that adds a +5/+10 to each extra round depending upon whether an EAR or BAR spell.

[Hurin]

Since casting requires 75% activity and prepping 90% activity, a caster is limited to actions that are 25% or less if casting, and 10% or less if prepping. They can't melee attack (since that requires minimum 50% activity IIRC).

[C.Tozer]

Thanks both Hurin and Majyk for your responses - helpful thanks. So it appears under the standard rules (RMC/RM2) that "holding" a spell and moving is not possible.

What do you think about a home rule I'm toying with:

A magic user has prepped the full four rounds (or however long) and then wants to "hold" the spell to move.

My thought was to apply the state of Concentration (ie operate at 40 - 50%) and not allow any attacks only movement)
They can only "hold"/concentrate for a set time; say can hold an number of rounds equal to half the PCs Self Discpline bonus?
And the +5/+10 to each extra round depending upon whether an EAR or BAR that Majyk  mentions (where is that in the books by the way please?) would be capped at say +30/+40 respectively.

Would such a rule unbalance things too much; ie having a mage with say a fully prepped fire ball able to move 40% of thier movement after 4 rounds of prep is up?

Curious to hear any more thoughts. Thanks.

Since casting requires 75% activity and prepping 90% activity, a caster is limited to actions that are 25% or less if casting, and 10% or less if prepping. They can't melee attack (since that requires minimum 50% activity IIRC).

[Peter R]

Just a thought but the easier you make holding prepared spells, the less useful you make the Spell Store type spells.

[jdale]

Does RM2/RMC have a rule for opportunity actions or held actions? In RMSS (RMSR 18.2.2):

When it comes time during a round to resolve a character's declared action, he has the option of putting his action into an 'opportunity' state (i.e. it becomes an opportunity action). Any other actions that the character has declared for the current round are nullified. In effect, such an action is delayed until the character wishes to resolve it.

An opportunity action may be resolved during any following action phase after it has been declared. A character may not perform any other action until his opportunity action is canceled (see below) or resolved; however, he does get 20% of normal activity usable only for movement at the end of the Deliberate Action Phase.

So you can hold that spell ready but you are limited to 20% movement. It's not a lot, but it's twice as much as you'd have if you just kept preparing (for 90% per round leaving 10% for movement etc).

RMU is more generous, holding a spell (or any action) just requires concentration which is effectively 50% and you are not limited to using your remaining 50% only for movement.

[Ginger McMurray]

We use a sort of "rolling delay" for spells. You have to continue to prep until you cast it or give up. We also use a more D&D-esque action and initiative system. You get an action, an instantaneous action (i.e. a '*' spell), and a move action. You can't cast a * spell while prepping.

[Hurin]

RM2 still allows movement when concentrating on a spell: it is just limited to 10% movement. You can also move 25% in the round when you cast the spell.

To answer JDale's question, yes, RM2 has the original rule for opportunity actions (Arms Law, red band edition, p. 8, section 3.2, 'Opportunity Action'). Declaring an opportunity action allows you to delay that action to a later phase or round. While holding an opportunity action, the only other action you can take is movement. The amount of movement you can take is limited to what you would normally be able to take had you already taken the action held -- RM2 gives the specific example of holding a spell, which limits the character to 25% movement.

Note that holding a spell allows more movement (viz. 25%) than preparing (10%), so if you have fully prepared a spell and are just holding the casting of it, you would under the RM2 rules as written still be able to move 25% until you let it go or cancelled it.