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thejeff said:
Well, with Earthpower he's a E6 mage, so he could use them in 2 turns. I can't remember how many gems Curse of stones cost, but if it's 3 as well, he should be able to use 4 gems for that and for Earthquake, leaving him with 2 -- not enough for the second earthquake.
That's assuming I'm remembering the rule about only one more gem than the cost correctly. I think I've seen that not hold, if so, he'd happily use the full 6 gems casting Curse, then cast one Earthquake with the remaining 4.
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I think you're thinking of this passage, on p. 89: "By using a magic gem, a caster gains one skill level in that magic path. This can be used both to allow a mage to cast a spell for which he would not normally have the skill, or to reduce the fatigue of a spell, or both. However, a mage may never increase his skill level by more than one by using gems, or gain skill in a path in which he or she did not already have at least one skill." Translation: you can spend as many gems as you have path levels, and each extra gem you spend beyond the minimum raises your skill level by 1--but the full, boosted skill level only counts for fatigue calculations. For purposes of which spells you can cast, your boosted level is capped at +1.
I'm quite certain I've seen D9 casters blow 5 or 6 gems on Shadow Blast. It's quite annoying. Gem management is the primary reason I stick mostly to gemless spells. It's not that I can't afford it, but I hate the micromanagement of gem-shuffling, and also the unpredictability (if I want one A8 caster to cast Fog Warriors AND Wrathful Skies, how many gems do I need to give him? If I give him the minimum 5, he'll probably blow them all on Fog Warriors so Wrathful Skies never gets cast. If I guess high and give him 15, he'll blow them all anyway).
I guess I'd really like to know why and when units decide to use gems they're holding.
-Max