fireball spell

[MeaningWhat]

as it is a missile spell it can be put on hold. what do you think is the
intensity of the missile if you used it as a light source? how does it
depend on size?

[Rob Kelk]

On Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:33:50 +0100, MeaningWhat

Post by MeaningWhat
as it is a missile spell it can be put on hold. what do you think is the
intensity of the missile if you used it as a light source? how does it
depend on size?

I'd say it depends on the mood and genre of the game.

If I'm running a "by the book, no freebies, low fantasy" game, then it's
no brighter than an ember.

If I'm running a "anything goes, whatever sounds cool works, high
fantasy" game, then it's as bright as daylight.

Usually, it's somewhere in between.

[MeaningWhat]

Post by Rob Kelk
On Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:33:50 +0100, MeaningWhat

Post by MeaningWhat
as it is a missile spell it can be put on hold. what do you think is the
intensity of the missile if you used it as a light source? how does it
depend on size?

I'd say it depends on the mood and genre of the game.
If I'm running a "by the book, no freebies, low fantasy" game, then it's
no brighter than an ember.
If I'm running a "anything goes, whatever sounds cool works, high
fantasy" game, then it's as bright as daylight.

this would make most light spells nearly useless. i settled for a torch.
it is a compromise. some illumination and having a spell ready while
taking some risks.

Post by Rob Kelk
Usually, it's somewhere in between.

[Danth]

wouldn't a mage generally have a magically imbued trinket, like Gandalf's staff? The magical drain of sustaining a light spell would greatly degrade the mage's war fighting ability. And mage's being the big thinkers we know them to be, would hardly waste their mana on something as trivial as illumination. IMO, think about Morgana la Fey on the movie Excalibur. She spent so much of her mana on sustaining a youthful appearance that she couldn't combat Merlin in the end.

[David Lamb]

The magical drain of sustaining a light spell would greatly degrade the mage's war fighting ability. ...
, would hardly waste their mana on something as trivial as illumination.
IMO, think about Morgana la Fey on the movie Excalibur. She spent so

much of her mana on sustaining a youthful

appearance that she couldn't combat Merlin in the end.

Perhaps mages in literature are more like real people, in that they
(perhaps erroneously) don't value combat effectiveness as the only thing
worth pursuing?

[mousetracks]

Post by MeaningWhat
as it is a missile spell it can be put on hold. what do you think is the
intensity of the missile if you used it as a light source? how does it
depend on size?

There are lots of ways to run this.

First, what color is the fire? Is it a red/yellow fire with lots of
light? Or is it a blue flame, that puts out a minimum of
illumination? If you want to check out this kind of fire, buy a can
of sterno, set it afire, and turn out the lights. You can sort of see
okay real close to the fire, but it's not nearly as bright as a torch.

I'd say a fireball would illuminate about 3 feet in a sphere centered
above your head. So you couldn't see the floor, unless you were 2
feet tall. Of course, if you have night vision.....

[Marcus Wellpoth]

Post by MeaningWhat
as it is a missile spell it can be put on hold. what do you think is the
intensity of the missile if you used it as a light source? how does it
depend on size?

I would say that a mage can decide for himself how much energy of the
spell he lets radiate away as light or heat.
Estimated the total energy released by the spell and let the mage choose
which percentage of that energy he would like to let radiate away as
light. This could make for very bright illumination indeed.

Just my two cents

[Jef Gorbach]

Am 24.03.2010 19:33, schrieb MeaningWhat:> as it is a missile spell it can be put on hold. what do you think is the

Post by MeaningWhat
intensity of the missile if you used it as a light source? how does it
depend on size?

I would say that a mage can decide for himself how much energy of the
spell he lets radiate away as light or heat.
Estimated the total energy released by the spell and let the mage choose
which percentage of that energy he would like to let radiate away as
light. This could make for very bright illumination indeed.
Just my two cents

Book isnt handy, but wouldnt it be logical to presume Mages would
first learn how to create Light, then after further experimentation/
study learn how to increase the usefulness of that early spell into an
offensive fire-based missile spell? If so, then it should be
reasonable for a mage to ignite his Light and simply pour more energy/
intent into it as needed to transform it into the fireball format.

[Bent C Dalager]

Post by Jef Gorbach
Book isnt handy, but wouldnt it be logical to presume Mages would
first learn how to create Light, then after further experimentation/
study learn how to increase the usefulness of that early spell into an
offensive fire-based missile spell? If so, then it should be
reasonable for a mage to ignite his Light and simply pour more energy/
intent into it as needed to transform it into the fireball format.

In the context of GURPS Magic, Fire and Light are two entirely
separate disciplines with no cross learning at all as far as I can
remember.

I would generally rule that a waiting Fireball gives off such a dim
light it is not particularly useful for illumination. The main
situation where it might make a noticable difference would be in
taking a location from absolute darkness up to nearly absolutely dark
thereby giving low-light-imaging abilities/technologies a chance to
come into play.

Cheers,
Bent D