Topic: Armor, Ranks, and Power Points

[Zieleniuk]

If i am making a cleric, and i want to wear soft leather armor, it has a cp of +2. Now to cast a spell i must have enough skill ranks in that spell to cast it,. So if I am want to cast a spell with a cost of 4pp, while wearing said armor do i need to have 6 ranks, or is the Cp just a negative for time, and rolls.

[GrumpyOldFart]

I'm not official, but so far as I know yes you have to have 6 ranks to cast it. Think of it like a scaling cost. If the base cost is 4 and your scaling options all cost 2 each, if you have 4 you can cast it but can't scale it. With 2 CP armor you have to have to have 6 to cast it, 8 or more to scale it. In effect, it costs you 2 PPs to "scale it" to being castable in that armor.

And of course, you have to have enough ranks in any spell for the base casting plus all scalings you intend to use.

[Zieleniuk]

ok thanks, i got the normal scaling rules, the armor rules aren't as well defined.

[Zhaleskra]

I was going to disagree with GrumpyOldFart, but when you put the information under Armor together with the Scaling Spells entry under Magic & Spells, that's the only logical way to parse it. You need to have the spell at a rank that takes your armor into account otherwise it automatically fails.

[Zieleniuk]

personally i could see it going either way.  I figure Grumpy is probably right.

[GrumpyOldFart]

Well keep in mind, I'm not official. That's just my take on it, and why I see it that way. Feel free to come up with the internal rationale that works with your setting. That's mine.

[Zieleniuk]

well we have been playing your way, but i was just wondering how everyone else was interpreting the rule

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

If i am making a cleric, and i want to wear soft leather armor, it has a cp of +2. Now to cast a spell i must have enough skill ranks in that spell to cast it,. So if I am want to cast a spell with a cost of 4pp, while wearing said armor do i need to have 6 ranks, or is the Cp just a negative for time, and rolls.

You need 6 ranks and 6 PP and have the scaling penalty and the time issue.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[GrumpyOldFart]

That's an aspect of it I hadn't thought through (Emphasis added):

You need 6 ranks and 6 PP and have the scaling penalty and the time issue.

The casting penalty for armor can't be

just a negative for time, and rolls

...because you get that anyway by using the extra PPs on the spell, whether you're wearing armor or not. And of course, you have to have as many ranks in a spell at minimum as the number of PPs you intend to spend casting it.

If you cast a spell with a base cost of 4 PPs, and spend an extra 2 PPs on whatever, you get the scaling penalty to the roll and the extra time needed to cast it. This holds whether you are buck naked, wearing full plate, cast in concrete, etc. That being the case, what part of a "casting penalty" of 2 PPs actually qualifies as a penalty that you wouldn't otherwise have? The only thing available in the mechanics that armor can add to the burden of casting the spell is to add to that minimum required, because the other penalties are already in place regardless of why you needed the extra PPs.

Does that make sense?

[Zieleniuk]

yes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation.

[Zut]

But what about scaling options? Do you need to add the extra PP (for wearing armour) for each scaling that you use, or do you need to add it only once?

[Thom @ ICE]

If the spell you are casting has a total PP cost of 10 (including base + scaling + CP), you MUST have 10 ranks in it - otherwise you can't do it - automatic failure.
You also must have at least 10PP available.  CP only counts once per spell casting attempt.

[Zut]

That's better (counting CP only one time). Otherwise, that would have made casting in armour a tough exercise!