Very short question on Communion Master and the slave matrix

[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by Psitticine:
The base cost is divided up equally and then dealt with seperately by each member of the circle. Modifications for skill level (including the master's boosted skill), encumberence, and gem use are all applied at the individual level. This means each member has to pay for his own armor, so to speak.

Does this mean that if the master casts a spell that is below his own level (even without the communion bonus) but above the slave's, the slaves still pay full fatigue? And they don't benefit from the master's gem use either? No wonder they pass out so fast...

Let's take a concrete example. A C'tis Sauromancer with his random in Astral, no empowerment or items (Death-3 Nature-1 Astral-1) leads a communion of two Shamans (both Nature-1 Astral-1), boosting his skills to Death-4 Nature-2 Astral-2. He then casts Shadow BLast (Death-2, fatigue 100-, gem cost 1), spending one extra gem beyond the required gem.

From the communion plus extra gem boost, the spell takes effect at level 5 (its range, area of effect, damage and magic penetration are all modified by caster's power). Since he has 3 levels of power above that required to cast the spell, he pays (100 base/(1+3 extra levels))/(3 members of communion) = 8 fatigue plus his base and armor encumbrances. Correct?

Now the slaves. Do they also pay 8 fatigue plus encumbrance (using the same calculation), or do they pay 33 fatigue (100 base/3 members) plus encumbrance? And would it be possible for them to use death gems to reduce fatigue, given that they have no death magic skill of their own?

One more question about communions. If spells that the master casts that affect himself also affect the slaves, what happens if the master casts Drain Life? Or Soul Vortex? Do the slaves get reinvigorated by those effects too?

Originally posted by Chris Byler:

From the communion plus extra gem boost, the spell takes effect at level 5 (its range, area of effect, damage and magic penetration are all modified by caster's power). Since he has 3 levels of power above that required to cast the spell, he pays (100 base/(1+3 extra levels))/(3 members of communion) = 8 fatigue plus his base and armor encumbrances. Correct?

Now the slaves. Do they also pay 8 fatigue plus encumbrance (using the same calculation), or do they pay 33 fatigue (100 base/3 members) plus encumbrance? And would it be possible for them to use death gems to reduce fatigue, given that they have no death magic skill of their own?

I believe using a Gem to cast a spell doesn't change the path of mage (so his path doesn't change but he is allowed to cast the spell).

Also the Master's Fatigue is distributed among only him and the slaves so it's 100 base/2 slaves +1 Master, not 3 members (AFAIK). So each would take 33 Fatigue + encumberance. But if you have multiple masters apart of the communion they will not be considered apart of it for fatigue distribution.

One more question about communions. If spells that the master casts that affect himself also affect the slaves, what happens if the master casts Drain Life? Or Soul Vortex? Do the slaves get reinvigorated by those effects too?

Any 'buff' spell or blessing effect the master casts after they are in the communion affect the slaves but as I stated above, only the master and the slaves, not other masters. I don't believe Drain Life works, but Soul Vortex might. I believe the catch is if the Master has something cast on them or casts something on themselves, not an attack spell that has additional effects.

[ February 02, 2004, 19:10: Message edited by: Zen ]

[PhilD]

Another Communion question, since that's the topic of the week...

Can a mage be both a Master and a Slave in a communion? I'm thinking of "sharing the bounties" - say, equip a bunch of varied mages with both Crystal Matrices and Slave Matrices, have each of them scripted with their favorite boosting spell (the Earth boy casts Summon Earthpower, and so on)... even a bunch of Sages could become pretty tough that way...

Come to think of it, it probably doesn't work.