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RoE Development => Regent Guide => : X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 05, 2009, 05:17:10 PM

: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 05, 2009, 05:17:10 PM
I have a few comments on the Demagogue spell and I would like to discuss them, so here goes.

The spell in question:

Demagogue
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Caster level: Arcane 3
Regency: 3 RP/province
Casting Time: One free action (1 day)
Range: Long
Area: 1 province +1 province/2 caster levels after 5th
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Description: The wizard can change the loyalty of the people inhabiting a province drastically. He can either make the province ruled loved or hated, changing the prosperity of the area equivalently.
Spell Effect: All provinces affected have a +2 bonus or –2 penalty that turn. The caster may choose to have different effects in different provinces.

The duration needs to be changed to 1 Turn instead of Instant - Bjørn, Jon, and I agreed on this. It's a little misleading to call it instant - as that implies that the magic is only active for a very short time, then things run their natural course. THat led me to believe that Prosperity increase was as permanent as damage or healing - until the new damage is dealt or you are healed, the effect remains. Essentially, the equivalent of Agitating succesfully twice in each affected province... somewhat overpower on second thought, but hey, I was feeling optimistic.

Anyway, the spell now only last for the turn in which it is cast and I think this makes it a little too weak compared to other spells with the same effect and/or level. I'm comparing it to Bless the Holy Land:

Bless the Holy Land
Transmutation
Level: Divine 1
Components: 1 GB/target province
Regency: 1 RP/target province + special
Casting Time: One free action (1 day)
Area: 1 province + 1 province/2 caster levels beyond minimum requirement
Range: Long
Duration: 1 domain turn
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Description: The spell is usually cast by the principal temple in each province, and most relatively civilized provinces tend to benefit from it on a regular basis. It represents the clergy performing a wide variety of ceremonies and blessings throughout the province. The populace feels invigorated and happy, making the province more productive.
Spell Effect: Target province gets a +1 morale bonus to province level (except for the purpose of collecting regency) and a +1 prosperity modifier. Bless the Holy Land counters Blight the Accursed Land.
The caster must pay an additional number of RPs per province equal to the difference in target province level and his holding level. Example: Casting Bless the Holy Land in a province (6), where the caster has a temple (4), costs an additional 6-4 = 2 RPs

Effect-wise these spells are pretty much equal. Getting +2 Prosperity is pretty much the same as getting +1 prosperity and +1 province level. No biggie. The reason the Arcane spell must be higher level to give the equavalent benifit is that Blessing/Boosting provinces is a Cleric specialty - of course it should be easier for them.

However, given that the Demagogue spell is 2 levels higher, I think it ends up being a little weak... especially compared to other 3rd level arcane spells like: SUmmon Army III, Winter's Long Fingers, Mass Destruction, and Hidden Army. It's easiest to compare it to Winter's Long Fingers - the spells are similar in effect.

Winter's Long Fingers give the -2 Prosperity of Demagogue as well as some other effects (-25% income, penalty for army movement and foraging). It also has a massive duration of 1 year. Comparing Demagogue with that one and Bless the Holy Land, it seems a little on the weak side.

I suggest adding a duration slightly longer to Demagogue, perhaps 1 Domain Turn / 3 caster levels. That would make it last 2 Turns for a 6th level Wizard or Sorcerer, 3 Turns for for a level 9 and so on. Probably a maximum duration of 1 year. Does this sound reasonable?

I should also note that there is a bit of self interest in this. My character has learnt this spell - I mistook the duration, but do not feel especially nerfed... it's a useful spell. I still think it's a little lacking compared to other spells of the same level and effect.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 05, 2009, 06:13:17 PM
Its underpowered with 1 turn duration compared to similar spells; and quite overpowered with the Instant duration.

I'll try to find something in between.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Osoerde (Alan) March 05, 2009, 07:48:05 PM
Then again, spells which give domain level bonuses are often a bit less powerful than more focused spells. 
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Osoerde (Alan) March 05, 2009, 07:51:46 PM
I think for Demagogue it might want to reduce its bonus +1/-1 and have it be a duration spell.

Alternatively, increase its material costs (3 GB) and a RP cost scheme similar to bless the holy land, leave its bonuses to +2/-2 and have it be a duration spell (1 Turn +1 turn per three levels after 5th level)
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 06, 2009, 02:22:39 AM
Completely agree Bjørn - instant too powerful, current somewhat weak and expensive.

Alan - I actually tend to think of domain level spells as the most powerful... which is why I tried to compare it to Winter's Long Fingers - the only equivalent spell of the same level.

Keep in mind that the casting cost is already 3 GB. Amping it up to 3 addiotional GB will make it too expensive IMO. As Mages tend to have more exclusive control of sources than most (in our P&H), it is currently more expensive in RP than Bless the Holy Land.

I think a duration like the once you suggest could be added to the current version without making it too powerful. I think the duration should be a minimum of 2 Domain Turns and a maximum of 4 - a whole year is a lot. That way a very high level cast can gain a very big benifit, while a lower level still has some use for it... and it doesn't make Bless the Holy Land obsolete in any way. Perhaps a duration of 2 Turns + 1/4 levels above minimum, to a maximum of 4 Turns, would work?

: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 06, 2009, 08:04:56 AM
The original intent of the spell was to make it similar to a Successful Agitate action; so that is probably why it is listed still with the Instant duration. It was later tweaked, but not properly edited...
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 06, 2009, 03:37:55 PM
How about this then: Make it instant and and reduce the effect to +/- 1 Prosperity. The spell costs 3 GB to prepare and 3 RP pr province to cast, not necessarily cheaper than the equivalent Agitate actions. The main advantage of the spell will then be that it's success is relatively secure and at the higher levels becomes cheaper than the actual agitate actions. Making the RP cost higher or making it scale could serve to moderate the spell a bit...

This is a suggestion for a revised version:

Demagogue
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Caster level: Arcane 3
Components: 1 GB of magical materials.
Regency: 1 RP pr. Level of each affected province
Casting Time: One free action (1 day)
Range: Long
Area: 2 provinces +1 province/5 caster levels after 5th
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Description: The wizard can change the loyalty of the people inhabiting a province drastically. He can either make the province ruled loved or hated, changing the prosperity of the area equivalently.
Spell Effect: All provinces affected have a +1 bonus or –1 penalty as if the caster had succesfully agitated in the provinces. The caster may choose to have different effects in different provinces.

Analysis:
The spell cost 3 GB to prepare and a variable number of regency points to cast. Given the relatively high province levels of RoE, this can get very expensive. The major advantage of the spell is that success is almost guaranteed (at low caster levels) and that it saves actions (higher caster levels).

At 5th level: Affects two provinces. Agitating in two level 5 provinces for 4 GB and 10 RP is not extremely cheap, but it is effective. Additionally, it cost me 1 action to prepare and a free action cast this spell - in contrast to two agitate actions at the cost of 2 GB.

At 10th level: Affects three provinces. Now the spell is more cost effective with regard to gold - it costs 4 GB and 15 RP to cast on 3 level 5 provinces, compated to 3 GB for 3 agitate actions. Very effective.

At 15th level and up: Becomes increasingly cost effective, but we are in epic levels now, so it makes sense. At this level you have access to the Chains of Loyalty spell, so prosperity is not an issue.

In practice, it is slightly cheaper than the actual agitate action, since you will often be spending influence until you have at least a 10+ DDC. Costing you a lot of influence (likely RP). The spell forces you to use a little extra gold though.

This changes the spell purpose from what it is now. Right now it's sort of a temporary fix or boost. This makes it a viable alternative to agitate actions... which moves it closer to it's original intent I think.

Views?
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Osoerde (Alan) March 06, 2009, 04:55:38 PM
For something which is automatically successful, it should IMO, have a higher GB cost.  1 GB per province for instance.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-DM Jon March 06, 2009, 05:41:48 PM
You're basically suggesting that the wizard gain a priestly power. The power to affect people permanently.

 The ability to affect the world on a deeper spiritual level isn't exactly the standard manner in which magic effects work.

 Magic is rather a superficial, immediate force, creating something instantaneously, dragging something to you with great force, changing people's minds instantly, altering size in a blink of an eye, conjuring forth just about anything in the blink of an eye.

 That's why the current demagogue spell is the perfect example of wizardly magic. It garners more impressive effects, but for a limited time, since it doesn't change people, it boosts them artificially. Making them think things are well and good. It's basically a charm person spell on a global level.

 Take away the magic and people loose that spark.

 Maybe change the cost and level of the spell, but do not make it into a bless spell for wizards.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 06, 2009, 06:25:44 PM
Uh... Priests can't increase prosperity instantly either the only spell that truly does is permanently is Chains of Loyalty - 8th level spell for clerics and wizards, that one is +4 though.
Also, increasing prosperity is not necessarily affecting them on a deeper spiritual level... it's just about making them content, imo. Both clerics and sorcerers have agitate as a bonus action - they do it in different ways, but achieve the same effect.
It's not bless for wizards - keep in mind that bless also increases province level. If demagogue was a cleric spell, it should be 1st or 2nd level - giving +2 prosperity is roughly the equivalent of giving +1 prosperity and +1 province level... slight weaker, but close.

Alan keep in mind that it's a 3rd level spell, it's supposed to have a fairly powerful effect. It's already more expensive than the equivalent agitate actions.

Anyway, the version I posted above was a suggestion. It needs something to make it on par with the other spells. A duration of about... 3 turns would make sense imo, perhaps a cost to maintain it - similar to the way Protection from Realm Magic is handled.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Osoerde (Alan) March 06, 2009, 07:11:01 PM
Alan keep in mind that it's a 3rd level spell, it's supposed to have a fairly powerful effect. It's already more expensive than the equivalent agitate actions.

I am looking at the spells around it, and noting that there is a thematic element to RoE to remember:

"It is easier to destroy than build."

Notice that all the spells which help a realm are relatively more expensive then the spells which casue harm.

Additionally, when I look at a spell like Celestial Boon, whose costs is very high, and when I look at Bless the Sacred Lands whose cost is high for what it does.  Demagogue simply doesn't fit in terms of its scale or its costs.

Additionally, a realm spell shouldn't allow you to do a realm action for cheaper than if you had to do it normally, particularly if it has no chance to fail (compared to normal agitate).
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 06, 2009, 07:31:47 PM
Bear in mind that Demagogue only affects prosperity NOT province level; so there is a HUGE difference between it and Bless Land/Celestial Boon. The extra cost per province there is based more or less on the fact that it increases province level.

: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-DM Jon March 06, 2009, 08:04:48 PM
It's a moot point, everything that is done this turn, goes into effect in the next P&H.

 You can't make the clear-cut divide between spell power and level, or compare one spell of one level with another. Bless land is without a doubt the primary spell of any priesthood and is as such the real reason why the people keep coming to the temples. If wizards had something that could compete equally with that, they would easily end up as something like mortal sorcerer-gods. With temples devoted to them, instead of the divine powers.
 That is an important reason why wizardly magic don't compete on equal footing with divine magic - just as divine magic can't do much of anything on the "destroy several units in one massive flash" front. It's not about levelling them out. It's about the differences.


 Now demagogue works to raise prosperity higher than bless and is also able to lower prosperity interchangably, but it has no staying power since it disappears once the magic stops working. This is much more of an advantage than you'd think, because it means that once you stop re-casting the spell - the effect disappears. You can threaten rulers that you'll throw provinces into sudden chaos unless they pay you - and you can bargain with rulers in dire need of prosperity assistance, because your demagogue will tip the scales of any other action performed in that province.
 Well-placed it can buy time, it can tear a realm apart and all for a rather low price alltogether. And since it is the only spell in the entire game that can do this - I think it's easily on par with other spells of it's level.


 Bless influences people permanently. That's what I'm talking about with the "deeper spiritual level", making people content is on the spiritual, emotional or whatever level you prefer to call it. It comes as a direct consequence of the boon the gods have granted the land - like the rise of energy in spring.

 Demagogue is not about making people content, it is about making them think they're content. But once the magic stops working, there is no discernible effect left. The crops haven't grown tenfold, the animals haven't given birth to several offspring, the rain hasn't fallen lightly and the sun hasn't shone any differently - like it does when a divine power interferes. Magic works like a drug, once it's gone you find that you've forgotten to do the laundry.


 As for comparing it to the agitate action; Check the modifiers for agitating a rotten prosperity province and consider that the average realm wizard will be able to affect two provinces at once.
The agitator will have to spend considerable amount of resources to get an effect - and may even fail, the wizard just has to keep an eye out for protective magic.

 I say the spell is fine as it is.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 06, 2009, 08:55:55 PM
Jon: Bless Land don't give a permanent bonus anymore; its temporary. The reason was that it broke the prosperity system; everything that was blessed eventually wound up with his prosperity, completely negating the need for agitate.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-DM Jon March 06, 2009, 11:45:27 PM
Odd, I remember spending an incessant amount of time and resources getting Dieman prosperity up to manageable levels in RoE I.
 Bless land helped plug the hole, but I still had to do agitate, adventure and grant money to keep the nation from descending into troubled times - because bless could only affect a limited number of provinces. And Diemed wasn't even under attack.

 I question the logic that it broke the prosperity system back then. For a number of reasons; one being random events causing prosperity to plummet, another being war and the fact that high prosperity was always next to impossible to reach and never for more than a turn because it dropped back down quickly. Rather it would seem that you believe prosperity should be harder to come by, agitate become much more used and make wizards as useful for controlling a realm's prosperity, as priests.

 If that is the case then I agree with Alexander, demagogue is underpowered compared to bless land. But then I don't believe that arcane magic is supposed to do the same things as divine - and vice versa.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 07, 2009, 03:23:55 AM
Ok... we are treading water here, but at least we agree on something - the spell is underpowered.

Jon - How you conserve flavour is a question of description, especially in a border case like this. Mind-fucking has always been a Mage specialty - making people happy and then letting natural events take their course is not outside of their purview... the things that made them unhappy will still make them unhappy and the realm will loose prosperity - that's what prosperity modifiers are for. If I increase prosperity and tax them too heavily, they will become unhappy. If I increase prosperity too high, it will naturally fall down again.
I see the instant effect as a "boost" - people are made more content and productive. The magical effect then disappears, but mood is self-reinforcing. Being productive helps them remain productive, so unless some other force reduces the contentness, the effect remains.

Alan - I agree that Destroying should be easier than building, it's a core tenent. However, I disagree on the examples you make. Demagogue has a higher cost than Bless the Sacred Land and a smaller effect. I ran the numbers a bit, +1 province level is huge. Especially on a province that's already high level. Celestial Bonus has a huge effect - those two spells will almost always make more money than they cost to cast... unless your province levels are very low.

The version of Demagogue I made above will earn it's GB cost back in 5 (~4.2) turns, if cast on 3 provinces of level 4 - assuming ideal collection. 3 (~2.67) turns if cast of 3 level 5 provinces... damnit, I think I just convinced myself that the version I made above is too powerful. If someone starts casting it on level 6+ provinces, the bonus is a little too big - especially considering how difficult agitating in a level 6+ province usually is.

I'll go back to the drawing board and come up with something better. I'm thinking of something that works similar to the Espionage action - it enables you to do a realm agitate without realm action penalty and to spend RP as if it was a magic action.

: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 07, 2009, 03:55:59 AM
Ok, here goes:

Demagogue
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Caster level: Arcane 3
Components: A cake that is not a lie.
Regency: 3 RP/province
Casting Time: One free action (1 day)
Range: Long
Area: 1 province +1 province/2 caster levels after 5th
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Description: Instead of affecting the mood, loyalty and productivity through normal means, the Wizard resorts to magical power - making people more content. It is not foolproof, the Wizard must exert control and power to bend people's minds.
Spell Effect: Demagogue has the same effect as an Agitate action in the affected provinces. The Wizard must make a DAC check for each province against the standard DDC for an Agitate action.
The Wizard can use Advantage from holding levels to lower the DDC. He can also gain Advantage from other Holdings as normal, subject to the standard limitations (e.g. full Source levels + full Law = +6 Bonus to the DAC). Stability applies as normal.
The Wizard may also spend Influence on the checks, the Action counts as a magic action and thus Influence cost 1 RP per point.
This counts in all other ways as a normal Agitate action - a good check result can increase the Prosperity gain, other Regents may apply Hardiness or Influence to prevent the Agitate action. 
Even though this spell may affect several provinces, no Realm Action DDC modifier applies.

Example:
Bob the Wizard cast this on his 3 level 4 provinces, all of which have average prosperity. He's badass, so being level 9, he can do that. He has a stability of 0. It costs him 3 GB to prepare the spell, then 6 RP to cast it - he hasn't spent influence yet.
His initial DDC for each province is 14. He has full control of the Sources in each Province, so he gains a +4 bonus to each check. Additionally, he control 4 Law holdings in one of them, so he has a full bonus of +6 in that province.
He then spends 5 RP for influence on 2 of the provinces, 3 RP in the Province where he has full control of the Law.
He now has to make a DAC roll for each province with a DDC of 5+.
For Agitating in 3 level 4 provinces, where he has full control of the Sources in all of them and full control of the Law in one of them, he has spent the following:
1 Regent Action (or Realm Action) to Prepare the spell, costing him 3 GB.
1 Free Action to cast the spell, costing him 9 RP.
13 RP on influence.
3 Research Actions to learn the Spell (or he got it when he leveled).
Total of 3 GB and 22 RP for a 5+ Agitate action in 3 Provinces.

That is fairly cheap, but he can still roll below 5 on any of the actions. He has also spent at least one action on it. Assurance of success (barring Dispel or Protection) is one of the advantages of Realm Magic, this one does not have that. How does it look to you guys?
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 07, 2009, 07:11:57 AM
All very interesting points that will be taken into consideration.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-DM Jon March 07, 2009, 03:01:55 PM
I disagree that it's a case of flavor. There needs to be a marked difference between arcane and divine magic. Just as there is in vanilla D&D.

 As of this apparent major change in Bless land they just moved one step closer to each other. Both are now able to boost troops, cast protective magic, affects prosperity in the same way, summon troops (with a wider array of options for arcane), cause plague and warding against evil/chaos/etc.

 Divine has a couple of specialities, like lowering upkeep, increasing province size, investiture, protecting a mundane holding (whereas arcane can protect source holdings), affecting guilds and trade and of course healing.

 But arcane has a long list of special abilities; ward whole provinces, turn armies invisible, paralyze an army, subvert an asset, greatly increase or lower income, throw up a castle in a blink of an eye or tear a fort apart, cover lands in a blanket of winter, teleporting units across vast distances and obviously a variety of kaboom magic.


 I'd think it logical that divine and arcane magic would affect prosperity in different ways.

 Just like vanilla D&D has divine magic giving blessings/curses, an outside influence affecting the individual's prowess, but not taking direct command. Whereas arcane has more of a controlling/directly affecting aspect, people grow to double their size, turn invisible or the mind is "fucked" as you say.
 This was exemplified by bless/blight land giving a one-time bonus/penalty to prosperity, increasing "base prosperity" so to speak, whereas demagogue boosted prosperity up/down for as long as it worked, not affecting base prosperity.

 And now they're doing the same? I'd much rather prefer making bless land a 2nd level spell or give demagogue a duration of more than 1 turn, than let divine and arcane magic be able to do more of the same.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 08, 2009, 12:24:00 PM
Absolutely agreed Jon, there needs to be a mechanical difference between Arcane and Divine magic. However, , the current rules have it so that there is no difference - Bless the Holy Land temporarily boost Prosperity for 1 Turn, Demagogue does the same. Both classes have access to Chains of Loyalty, which is a permanent magical effect - essentially the same deal. It can be dispelled.

Arcana magic should be given no way of increasing Province level - that is the province of Divine Magic. In addition, I think Divine Magic in general should be more effective at increasing prosperity - which is why Bless the Holy Land is so low level... compared to it's effect (which, if cast on one or more high level provinces, is massive).

Some areas of magic are exclusive (Province level, healing) and some are differentiated by effectiveness (prosperity, destructive magic). That's the way it's always been - in 2nd ed Demagogue was also an Arcane spell and it did the same thing - it was a more effective substitute for the agitate action.

Btw, don't take this like snubbing your gm authority. I simply disagree on a few points, but as always I'll abide by your guys' decisions.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 12:47:38 PM
Province lvl and healing stays divine.

Prosperity is the province of both; and both will be either temporary or Permanent (dispellabe).

After due consideration: Under no circumstance will Bless Land work like it did in RoE I; it is a temporary benefit that lasts as long as the magic does (1 turn). This is especially important now that we have prepare realm spell available as a realm action.

Otherwise Bjørn the Player would do this:

Drop taxes a bit if needed to make any negative mods go away. Bless Land massively (x4) for several turns + Free Agitate + Sovereign/vassal agitate.

Stabilize all prosperity levels at Prosperous. Tax to heavy. Enjoy the income/action bonuses/cheering of the masses. All in a years work.

God is good - too good actually!

If you bother to do the math you find that with a perm bonus prosp goes up one lvl every turn blessed until it reaches Healthy. Then it stays there (or goes up to Prosp with one more agitate, and then stays there).

If you do this with moderate taxes instead its even worse...

So yeah, its a game-breaker and it annoyed the hell out of me last time...its all coming back now...
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Haelyn's Aegis/RK (Andy) March 08, 2009, 12:56:10 PM
Hmm, I've always seen the arcane/divine split as primarily fluff - the crunch split was always counter productive to me - why would priests be so keen on burning wizards at the stake if the demon-worshiping scum wizards didn't compete with the church?

Jon's point on internal boost vs external compulsion point sounds good - priestly free agitate actions were a nod to reality rather than the usual DnD system, so if any thing you'd say that bless the holy land should affect province level only, and demagogue affect the province loyalty only.

In practice however why not encourage the overlap?  It makes wizards and priests compete more...  Plus if you make the two completely distinct then you generally get 'priests get the core, wizards get the weird stuff in the fringe' which makes the wizards suffer.

One possible distinction could be priests get 'wide', wizards get 'tall' - to reflect priestly encouragement of existing feelings vs wizardly dominance.  So a priest can bless (say) 4 provinces, a wizard can make one province have a huge gold rush of +4 levels...

Alternatively change bless the holy land into affecting 1 province for 1 turn + 1 turn/2 levels and have demagogue have the breadth of multiple provinces for a single turn to give a crunch shift - although you'd have to make a note on the spreadsheet (bless: 1 turn left or some such under the province name)

I'd note that a key benefit of bless the holy - a boost to actions next turn - is unlikely to aid the wizard at all, whereas the church will often use bless as a precursor to an action to save 2 RP/permit a take-10...  Similarly a church is more likely to own law/temple/manor than a wizard (Tornilen aside) so is more likely to directly benefit from the casting.

I'd note incidentally that making bless L2, or even L3, will have very little practical effect - to cast realm magic you have to be at least L5 surely (rank 8 skills required), so really all that level 1-3 means in practice the priest can't cast other Lx spells that turn - or given most treaties, ever cast spells of the same level as bless the holy.  :(

Edit: sorry Bjorn we cross-posted.  As noted by Alexander obviously what you/Jon say goes.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 08, 2009, 01:02:27 PM
The point that Wizard's rarely have land holdings is muddled by the fact that nearly all realms have a court wizard. Getting your court mage to cast spells for you can be useful :)

Otherwise I kinda agree with you, except that increasing the level of spells have a big effect on their cost effectiveness. Bless as a L3 spell would be a loss let attractive - 3 GB to prepare is a lot.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 01:03:51 PM
Demagogue remains unchanged; with a duration of 1 turn that is, and a '2 bonus to prosperity.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 01:29:48 PM
Update: We'll try a +/-3 effect instead. See how that works.

Although Bless and Demagogue do not stack, the combined effect of +1 Prov lvl and +3 Prosp is quite attractive.

Try means: If I don't like how it works it gets changed back.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-DM Jon March 08, 2009, 02:22:16 PM
Absolutely agreed Jon, there needs to be a mechanical difference between Arcane and Divine magic. However, , the current rules have it so that there is no difference - Bless the Holy Land temporarily boost Prosperity for 1 Turn, Demagogue does the same. Both classes have access to Chains of Loyalty, which is a permanent magical effect - essentially the same deal. It can be dispelled.

Arcana magic should be given no way of increasing Province level - that is the province of Divine Magic. In addition, I think Divine Magic in general should be more effective at increasing prosperity - which is why Bless the Holy Land is so low level... compared to it's effect (which, if cast on one or more high level provinces, is massive).

Some areas of magic are exclusive (Province level, healing) and some are differentiated by effectiveness (prosperity, destructive magic). That's the way it's always been - in 2nd ed Demagogue was also an Arcane spell and it did the same thing - it was a more effective substitute for the agitate action.

Btw, don't take this like snubbing your gm authority. I simply disagree on a few points, but as always I'll abide by your guys' decisions.

 Respec' mah authoratay!

 I'm assistant DM, Bjørn makes most of the decisions, so on this matter as well as on others, I'm in it for the fun :)

 And for the record I don't believe the old version of bless land was or is a game breaker. The rule affected all parties the same and gave good reason why a temple could feasibly acquire great power over the land. By removing this, you've made the playing field much easier for the nation ruler, because now he can use the wizards instead of the temples - and they work alot more efficiently than before. Countering the effects of extreme taxation.
 I think that's a far greater game breaker in comparison.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 02:34:04 PM
No; the increase in PROVINCE level is the core effect of Bless Land/Boon (or was supposed to be), not the prosperity matter. I'd still work very hard to have each and every province under my rule blessed each and every turn...I mean, +1 to province growth every turn AND increased province level? Why would you NOT have it cast  ;D

Granted, its a LITTLE less powerful now, but still the most cost-effective spell in the game.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 02:38:45 PM
Actually, I had an interesting MSN chat with the lovely MS. Sword Mage. And there I pointed out that Bless Land is a poor spell to balance things against, because it was INTENTIONALLY made to be unbalanced!

The real reason the spell is there is to make realm rulers lean on temple regents and have them spend resources on something that the realm ruler benefits the most from.

In effect a way to A) Make sovereigns and temples interact and B) Create the possibility of conflict between said parties.

Come on...+1 PROVINCE LEVEL??? For a first level spell? At 1GB? Get serious  8)
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-IHH/Wallac Isilviere (Kasper) March 08, 2009, 03:37:27 PM
Please tell that Bless is not planed to be nerfed
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-Haelyn's Aegis/RK (Andy) March 08, 2009, 04:22:30 PM
Hm, given that I lose an action every season from bless I'd be very happy if it was nerfed!

As it is, the bless 'counter cost' is that everyone benefits - not just the priest - now a spell which bumped just the priest's income/chances of success would be tougher, as it is the priest has to bless everyone - even their rivals such as opposing priests.  And as Bjorn points out, that means that the priest gets clobbered by all sides by demands to cast the ### spell - not a total killer if the temple is in only 1 realm, but if they are a sprawling mass (like me in 5 realms) then someone - probably several someone's, are going to get very unhappy with the priest for being missed out...

Incidentally, if you memorise bless (l1) in the L2 slot, does it does 2 Gb to memorise?
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-IHH/Wallac Isilviere (Kasper) March 08, 2009, 05:33:14 PM
I paid only 1 GB doing so and neither Bjørn nor Jon complained. I cannot see why 1 GB should not suffice
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: X-DM Jon March 08, 2009, 05:47:22 PM
It doesn't matter which slot you memorize it in, the cost is the same.
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 05:51:27 PM

Incidentally, if you memorise bless (l1) in the L2 slot, does it does 2 Gb to memorise?

No
: Re: Demagogue Spell
: DM B March 08, 2009, 05:52:37 PM
Please tell that Bless is not planed to be nerfed

No changes.