[mrcatman]

Sorry if this has been covered before (as I'm sure it has), but I keep seeing posts with aspected magician builds that seem to have automatic free known spells at creation equal 2x their Magic rating.

I do not believe aspected magicians get free known spells. I think you need to pay for those with 5 karma a piece during creation, as one of the downsides of being aspected.

The P.69 description is related to a cap of known spells at creation, as it says you "may known a maximum number" not that you "may do known a maximum number equal to." Further support for this is that full magicians on P.69 have the identical text of "may known a maximum number" which doesn't necessarily match what they get via the priority/magic.

From my reading, it seems that the only thing that determines how many spells known for free is Priority/Magic... and that aspected magicians don't get free known spells there.

Am I incorrect on this?

[Michael Chandra]

Correct, though a GM may want to houserule a number of spells/alchemicpreparations/spiritservices to make Aspected Magicians B and C actual realistic choices rather than horrible ones.

[Rythymhack]

My understanding is that you are correct. However, the "aspected magician" builds I have seen on here are simply magicians or mystic adepts who only buy skills in one school of magic (sorcery for example). Thereby creating the "feel" of an aspected magician but getting free starting spells.

[Silence]

Because that's how most people prefer to build.  Frankly, the only folks not hosed at character creating by the aspected rules are conjurers.

[RHat]

Aspected Magicians do not get free spells, you are correct in that (this is because they couldn't figure out a way to provide something equivalent to that to Conjurers; due to their temporary nature Spirit services wouldn't work - for houserules, I'd suggest foci).  You can, however, have up to 50 Karma in standard character creation, making it possible to buy 10 spells.

Of course, seeing as there's basically no advantage to being Aspected (you get nothing, really, for what you lose), many people might take an Aspected concept and build it as a standard Mage.

[Xenon]

Because that's how most people prefer to build.  Frankly, the only folks not hosed at character creating by the aspected rules are conjurers.

Augmented Aspected magicians at priority D actually have quite a lot of potential for a relatively small investment.


But at C or B you are better off going mystic adept or [full] magician.

[SichoPhiend]

The mage I just wrote up I would have rather done as an aspected magician instead of a full, however I needed the free spells.

As the character is being made for missions I can't even get a house ruling on this.

I do believe that if aspected were given things appropriate to their specialty, that they would be created more often.

While yes, you don't get that much for being an aspected sorcerer, I shouldn't have to look at a full mage or mystic adept in order to make a viable sorcerer without using most/all of my karma on spells.

[FasterN8]

The mage I just wrote up I would have rather done as an aspected magician instead of a full, however I needed the free spells.

As the character is being made for missions I can't even get a house ruling on this.

That's a shame, esp since it would have been a trivial add for the designers to write in Pri A for Aspected Sorcerer at Magic 6, Group 6 and 10 spells, or even B as Magic 4, Group 4, 7 spells.

You'd think a Sorcery *SPECIALIST* would come out of the box a little stronger than they do now.

[JackVII]

The mage I just wrote up I would have rather done as an aspected magician instead of a full, however I needed the free spells.

As the character is being made for missions I can't even get a house ruling on this.

That's a shame, esp since it would have been a trivial add for the designers to write in Pri A for Aspected Sorcerer at Magic 6, Group 6 and 10 spells, or even B as Magic 4, Group 4, 7 spells.

You'd think a Sorcery *SPECIALIST* would come out of the box a little stronger than they do now.

The problem is that you can also be a Conjuring *SPECIALIST* and there isn't really anything you can give them permanently that would balance well with spells.

My house rule is to give the Aspceted a +2 Dice bonus with any test made within their discipline (Conjuring, Enchanting, or Sorcery). I see them as specilists rather than cripple casters. It doesn't make up for the fact they have to burn karma to purchase spells when full Magicians and Mystic Adepts don't, but it's still a useful bonus.

[RHat]

The mage I just wrote up I would have rather done as an aspected magician instead of a full, however I needed the free spells.

As the character is being made for missions I can't even get a house ruling on this.

That's a shame, esp since it would have been a trivial add for the designers to write in Pri A for Aspected Sorcerer at Magic 6, Group 6 and 10 spells, or even B as Magic 4, Group 4, 7 spells.

You'd think a Sorcery *SPECIALIST* would come out of the box a little stronger than they do now.

It's trivial to add something for Sorcerers and Alchemists; the problem is Conjurers.  What do you give them?

[Insaniac99]

The mage I just wrote up I would have rather done as an aspected magician instead of a full, however I needed the free spells.

As the character is being made for missions I can't even get a house ruling on this.

That's a shame, esp since it would have been a trivial add for the designers to write in Pri A for Aspected Sorcerer at Magic 6, Group 6 and 10 spells, or even B as Magic 4, Group 4, 7 spells.

You'd think a Sorcery *SPECIALIST* would come out of the box a little stronger than they do now.

It's trivial to add something for Sorcerers and Alchemists; the problem is Conjurers.  What do you give them?

a few ideas:

free mentor spirits
free spirit affinities
free specializations
free knowledge skills (parazoology?)
free focus
a higher magic rating than the other specializations for the same priority

Those are the first things that come to mind.

[RHat]

The mage I just wrote up I would have rather done as an aspected magician instead of a full, however I needed the free spells.

As the character is being made for missions I can't even get a house ruling on this.

That's a shame, esp since it would have been a trivial add for the designers to write in Pri A for Aspected Sorcerer at Magic 6, Group 6 and 10 spells, or even B as Magic 4, Group 4, 7 spells.

You'd think a Sorcery *SPECIALIST* would come out of the box a little stronger than they do now.

It's trivial to add something for Sorcerers and Alchemists; the problem is Conjurers.  What do you give them?

a few ideas:

free mentor spirits
free spirit affinities
free specializations
free knowledge skills (parazoology?)
free focus
a higher magic rating than the other specializations for the same priority

Those are the first things that come to mind.

None of that is equivalent to spells/preparations.  Free foci is a idea, but even those aren't quite as permanent as spells (as eventually you want to upgrade) and you shouldn't be having to risk addiction just from your Priority freebies.  Specializations are a really poor choice, as they'd break up your skill group.  Spirit affinities don't have anything close to a strong enough effect, nor do knowledge skills.  You can only have one Mentor Spirit, and note that Spirit Affinity does not say that you can take it more than once either.

[faket15]

I think the better way to solve the problem is houseruling the priority table itself. The changes i'm inclined to use are:
1) Reduce the number of free spells for full mages/mysads by 2.
2) Aspected Magicians use the same numbers as Adepts (Magic 4, one rating 2 skill at priority C and Magic 6, one rating 4 skill at priority B)
I think this is enough to give them a better balance.

For technomancers I'll probably increase the number of starting complex forms to give them the same number of "spells" as a mage/mysad of the same priority. At priority A I'll probably give them 5 complex forms + 1 free submersion, making technoriggers a viable concept at chargen.

[DigitalZombie]

My houserules
Aspected magicians gain astral projection
Aspected magicians gain 5 AM karma points at D and B, 15 at C
AM karma points can only be used on spells/rituals/preparations binding spirits/bonding foci or exchanging it for nuyen to buy foci/lodges or reagents.

While the astral projection is normally the sole demesne of full mages, its absence seriously cripples aspected. An aspected sorcerer cant be an astrally projecting scout in ritual spellcasting, an aspected summoner cant astrally travel places and summon spirits at that location to attack his enemies,  an aspected enchanter cant astrally project to travel to the other side of the complex in order to trigger the heal preparation located on the face that just went down.
While the AM bonus karma point aint much, its actually just the karma difference between  a full mage and an aspected plus 5 (I think)

[RHat]

The problem, DigitalZombie, is that free bound spirits cannot be considered as equivalent to free spells.  5 Services are NOT equivalent to a spell, and in point of fact are a very, very, very poor idea for spending chargen karma.

In other words, that just screws over Conjurers by denying them the same range of options as the others get.