Ley link

[DM B]

The ley link action has been expanded upon to function for temple domains, as well as explain how it is the lieutenants can cast spells on behalf of the domain.

Ley Link [Magic; Character, Free, Regent]

You allow another spellcaster access to your ley lines and sources, enabling him to cast realm magic (if he already knows how).

Type: Regent – Ley link is a regent action for the network owner. Character – Ley link is a character action for the target spellcaster. Free – Ley link is a free action for both parties if renewing the link.

Cost: 1GB + 1RP paid by the network owner.

Difficulty: The DDC is 10. Add 5 to DDC if you are a wizard linking with a sorcerer (or vice versa). Add 10 to DDC if you are a wizard or sorcerer linking with a druid (or vice versa). Subtract 5 from DDC if linking with a vassal or lieutenant. Subtract 5 from DDC if renewing the link.

Modifiers: Stability.

Influence: Yes – You can use influence on ley link actions.

Restrictions: You may take 10 and you may take 20 on ley link actions.

Check: The target spellcaster can now use your sources and ley lines to cast realm spells.

He must prepare and cast the spell himself, and has to provide his own regency (he does not gain any regency from your sources).

He remains linked your network for one full turn. You can extend his connection by repeating this action on subsequent turns.

Divine linking

It is also possible for temple domains to link; this is usually done to allow a liege or vassal (or sometimes an allied) temple to cast spells from a location otherwise inaccessible to them,

Difficulty: Add 10 to DDC if a cleric is linking with a druid (or vice versa). Add 5 or to DDC if the temple domains or not close allies and/or their divine patrons are closely associated.

Special: Clerics cannot benefit from druid sources, nor can druids use temple holdings to cast spells. The benefits of linking such domains would be very limited.

Lieutenant linking

Some domains include a number of sources and/or temples, but has a regent that either cannot cast spells at or who isn’t very good at it. For such domains it is essential that the regent has a skilled spellcaster as his lieutenant – and that this character is linked into the domain’s magical network.

Special: As long as the linked spellcaster remains your lieutenant, you don’t have to pay the GB/RP cost associated with renewing the link. The DDC should normally be low enough that you automatically succeed, but if the link somehow gets broken you have to pay the normal cost to reestablish the link.

Comments?

[DM B]

The reason for the inclusion of the temple variant is of course the problems of the crusade in Alamie/Five Peaks in the last game. Requiring the RCS to make a string to 0 lvl temples all the way from Endier to the Five Peaks...it just didn't feel like a good mechanic! Especially when mages already have a fix...

[X-Haelyn's Aegis/RK (Andy)]

I like the idea of a looey link, although it should probably feed into great captain issues - what limits would there be on direction and enforcement?  So would I say 'spend up to 10 RP and 5 GB, cast this spell on this province and have it happen' or would I say 'they have a pot of 2o RP, directions to cast bless land on unhappy provinces' and hope that they will do as they are told?

Another issue is 'how many looey's can link'?  Temple domains may have many spellcasters even if mostly of low level.  It would be handy to have several looey's cast 'bless land' in neighbouring provinces but I can see this being abused (say they each memorise 'cure unit and half a dozen accompany the army).

I'd suggest a cost for each looey (GB to give them an office and RP to link them), and suggest that beyond being given access to set RP that they are free-willed.

[X-Haelyn's Aegis/RK (Andy)]

Hmm, building a ley line sounds fine, but how about needing a temple in each province to give permission?   So the RCS would need to get permission from several people, who could end co-operation if need be, but wouldn't actually have to create its own temples in a daisy chain?

Otherwise how far can a leyline run between temples?  any length over land?  1 province per level of the originating temple/the caster?

Another issue is that a tower strategy forms, with each holding effectively the level of the tower for spellcasting purposes - currently you need big temples, and thus huge popular support, to cast some magics, removing this need completely could be an issue.

A half-way house would be that the maximum spell level is equal to the lowest temple in the link aside from the last, or that you could exclude 1 temple per level from the calculation (so a L4 caster can ignore the 4 lowest temples when calculating what spells they can cast).

[DM B]

Good points...I've increased the difficult by 10 for linking in more than one caster. That, and the fact that a single holing can't power more than one spell per turn, should limit linking proliferation

Temples as ley networks are described in Chapter 8. Most likely you won't have access to you own holdings at all (unless they touch on the net you've linked into), and have to rely on the borrowed network. With the new temple linking rule, I'll consider increasing minimum tempel lvl to 1 (instead of 0).

Also remember that casters w/o domains can' actually prepare any realm spells beforehand; they'll have to do it while linked in. As for lieutenants I've clarified things a bit - they let you use their level when preparing/casting spells, but don't have a separate list of prepared spells.