Gem use question.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

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Originally posted by archaeolept:
as to using gems, I believe a mage can use up to 2 gems per innate level of ability.

The amount of gems that can be used on a particular spell are the number that is required by the spell itself to cast, plus 1 gem per current level of magical skill for fatigue reduction. So an astral 8 mage casting master enslave can spend 16 gems on it. If casting solar brilliance, then he could only use 13 gems in total.

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Actually, the gems required by the spell count against the gems that can be used for raising skill level / reducing fatigue.

For instance - a D1 mage can not cast Summon Lammashtas by carrying two gems. Reading the manual, you would think that 1 gem would go for the spell's innate requirement, and 1 would raise the mage's level to cast it.

But no - the D1 mage carrying 2 death gems will cast a random spell, because as the manual states on page 17, "A mage may not use more gems than his skill level in the path of the gem being used."

Of course, the next sentence says "If a spell requires magic gems to be cast, the mage must pay that amount of gems in addition to the gems used to raise his skill level", which implies that the D1 mage could use 1 to raise her skilll level, in addition to the spell's requirement.

But no - a D1 mage can use 1 gem, period, and a F3 mage can use 3, period - if the spell requires 3, he can't raise the skill level or reduce the fatigue at all.