Massive fatigue spells

[MaxWilson]

Sorry, thejeff, I scrapped the test after I was done with it.

I'd be happy if it just capped at +1 extra gem per cast. It's hard for me to conceive of a situation where you'd want anything else to happen. In order to use +x extra gems, you need to be x levels over the minimum path requirements anyway, so using +x gems will merely half your fatigue (it's 1/(2*x) fatigue instead of 1/x). That means it will be a rare spell where spendign the extra gems actually makes the difference between staying conscious and hitting 200 fatigue.

Let's be concrete about this. Say you want to do <Master Enslave, Vortex of Returning>. Master Enslave is S8/800. You need to be casting at +9 (S18) to stay conscious (88 fatigue + encumbrance) after casting it. If gem usage were capped at +1 (9 pearls total), you could do this combo with an S17 caster. Not likely. With the current system, you'd need to be S13 (spend 13 pearls). This is not exactly a mainline scenario. I think the method KO describes (can only use +1 gem total) makes a lot more sense and will almost always be more economical. For the scenario I describe you'd be better off bringing along another caster so the S13 can do <Master Enslave> and the S4 can do <Vortex of Returning> on the same round, anyway.

-Max