Multi-Casting of Spells Poll

[Greg Diaczyk]

So I was pondering the concept of Multi-Casting of Spells and thought I'd get a poll going to see how other people run casting multiple spells or applying additional psionic powers on a target or oneself?

I know in my games I've allowed players to create multiple Telekinetic Force Fields or Armor of Ithan several times at first level to provide decent M.D.C. protection, or recast invisibility just before it expires to remain undetected. Though prohibitive in P.P.E. or I.S.P. use it seemed to even the playing field and help out the character at the time? Is this what others do, or do you make your players suffer


On a Similar Note
I've noticed that the Psi-Slinger, though a cool O.C.C. concept lacks a certain "punch" and they are limited in the weapons they can use (need to link with it). While the description for charging their M.D. rounds is straight forward I see room for adjusting and have in the past allowed players to fully charge their weapons in down times allowing them to use their minimal I.S.P. to charge the weapon in increments of 1D6 M.D. per 10 I.S.P. (i.e. 5D6 M.D. per round, though it requires 50 I.S.P. per gun to do so). I wanted to know if anyone else has done this or even agree with it? And yes I know G.M.'s have the caveat to do as they please, I'm just looking to see if other have as well?

[Ectoplasmic Bidet]

In my opinion, most spells and psionic powers would simply refresh the effect if re-applied, this would include armor spells, invisibility, psychic body field, etc.

There are exceptions, though. Static effects, such as a super psionic Telekinetic Force Field or Energy Field spell could be layered by adjusting their area of protection slightly, layering them with a bit of dead space between each application of the effect.

Psi-Slingers are gimps and better off using their ISP to power TW weapons than to fuel their own meager offensive powers.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Each casting of a spell is seperate from any other. So you can layer/stack different casting on top of each other.
"Energize spell"(L6) is th' only way to 'refresh' a spell before the duration end.
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There are no rules for 'maintaining' a psionic effect.

[Prysus]

So I was pondering the concept of Multi-Casting of Spells and thought I'd get a poll going to see how other people run casting multiple spells or applying additional psionic powers on a target or oneself?

I know in my games I've allowed players to create multiple Telekinetic Force Fields or Armor of Ithan several times at first level to provide decent M.D.C. protection, or recast invisibility just before it expires to remain undetected. Though prohibitive in P.P.E. or I.S.P. use it seemed to even the playing field and help out the character at the time? Is this what others do, or do you make your players suffer

Greetings and Salutations. While not strictly by the rules (as drewkitty_~..~ pointed out), I allow it to be recast/refresh active powers. With rare exception, I do not allow them to double up however.

Example: Armor of Ithan cannot be cast several times (at least not on the same person), for any reason other than refreshing the spell. I wouldn't allow 5 suits of Armor of Ithan to be stacked on top of each other any more than I'd allow a Palladin (PF) to wear 5 suits of Plate Armor stacked on top of each other or a Dead Boy to wear 5 suits of his armor on top of each other. You can only wear one suit of armor.

Example: A character falls victim to Bio-Manipulation: Blind and is -10 to strike, parry, and dodge. The victim can't mysteriously fall Blind again, and be -20 to strike, parry, and dodge. You're blind! You can't be more blind than blind (something that removes hearing and such is a different matter entirely).

Example: Something like Telekinetic Force Field (TFF) may work, if not all the same size. This is a physical structure. You can make 3 walls back to back to back, and similar should apply for TFF, if the size can be adjusted. Note: Armor of Ithan is also a physical structure, but different because it exists on the body and would result in massive encumberance. Even though the suit is invisible and weightless, you'd be walking around like some kid with way too much winter clothing on who can barely even walk (I'm having a visual of the little brother from "A Christmas Story").

Example: A wizard/ley line walker casts Fear (4th level). The HF goes from 0 to 16. If he casts it again does the HF become 32? That's just silly (in my opinion), but that would be stacking.

So (in my games), no, you can't stack, but you can use the same spell/psionic more than once. Of course, if trying to extend duration, every new castings requires a new save and the caster/psychic has no way of knowing if the victim saved or not.

Example: An opponent falls victim to Bio-Manipulation: Paralysis. The psychic knows it worked because ... well, the victim has stopped moving! Easy enough to figure out (unless the victim is acting, but that requires knowing what the psychic was trying to do and that's unlikely unless the psychic is spamming). The paralysis lasts for 4D4 minutes, but that means the psychic doesn't know if it'll be 4 minutes or 16 minutes. We'll say 6 minutes is rolled (just for the example). At 3 minutes and 45 seconds, the psychic decides he wants to keep this victim immobilized and uses Bio-Manipulation: Paralysis again. This time, the victim makes a successful save vs. psionics, but the psychic has no way of knowing this. If successful, this should make the victim stay immobile for at least another 4 minutes (7 minutes and 45 seconds after the original use). Instead, after only 6 minutes, the victim is able to move again and (likely) catching our psychic off guard. Of course, the psychic could use Bio-Manipulation 2 or 3 times, just to increase the likelihood of it holding, but that will get expensive (especially if it worked the first time, you just wasted it one or two more times) and/or still no guarantees.

Anyways, that's just the way I tend to do things. Granted, this type of thing hasn't come up very often, and I don't run as much as I once did. As for the Psi-Slinger question, I don't play Rifts and I wouldn't be able to give an accurate answer without research (which I don't feel like doing). Hope that helps. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[Tor]

Each casting of a spell is seperate from any other. So you can layer/stack different casting on top of each other.

Isn't there some kinda limitation regarding 'armor' type spells (AoI, Invulnerability, Armor Bizarre) where only one can be active at a time since it's skintight?