Design Overview 
The default magical system presented in GURPS 4th edition appears well intentioned and, at face value, 
efficient. However players have identified flaws that have lended towards it being rarely used in favour 
of systems such as Ritual Path Magic, Magic as Powers, Sorcery, and Path/Book Magic. All of these 
systems sideline the problems entirely; or replace it with systems based around the various rules for 
Advantages and Disadvantages such as the various additional options presented in Powers. 

This document is an attempt not to repair the original form of Magic in GURPS 4E, but to recreate it from 
the ground up while addressing various concerns.  

Concepts 

Educated Magic should present a form of magic where magic is taught and understood, and magic has 
its own internal structure of concepts and fundamental requirements. A magician capable of creating a 
fireball must first know how to create fire. 

Educated Magic should reward those with innate power with reliability and ease; but reward skill with 
additional options, power, and efficiency. Casters with either should be capable and feasible character 
concepts, such as shamans with high Magery and IQ but low skills; and college-taught wizards with high 
individual skills, but middling Magery and IQ. A combination of both should be the key to overall 
success. 

Educated Magic should not reward diversification beyond the innate reward of having additional options 
and redundancies. 

Educated Magic should not reward specialisation beyond benefits to the spells they have chosen to 
specialise in. 

Design 

Educated Magic is based heavily off of the standard Magic System in GURPS 4E in overall structure. It 
encompasses dozens of individual spells, many of which have other spell prerequisites, treats spells as 
individually learned skills, and uses the Magery quality to further improve spellcasting potential. As such 

 
 

for it to be a successful reimagining of Magic, it must address problems that exist in the standard Magic 
system. 

● Incentives to not invest in spells 

In the default magical system, the most point-economical and effective way to improve general 
magery is not to invest in spells; but to invest solely in IQ and Magery.  

○ Bonuses tied to Effective Skill Level: 

By default, spells obtain better casting times, rituals, and spell costs by reaching final skill 
15 and every 5 skill levels afterwards. As skill level is based off of IQ+Magery, two 
statistics which are shared across all spells; this encourages casters to buy these up to a 
total of 18+(​nx​ 5) so that learning a spell with 1 character point at -3 still nets them the 
first benefit. 
Proposed Solution: 
Spell costs will be reduced instead at relative skill levels at IQ+Magery+1 and every 3 
levels thereafter. This ensures a spellcaster who has specifically studied a spell is likely 
more efficient with that spell - even in the face of those with more innate talent but a lack 
of study. 

○ Cost of Improved Skill: 

By default, all spells use the standard skill cost progression of 1, 1, 2, 4r; this means to 
improve a spell naturally costs up to 4 points per level. Considering the above, this can 
mean a cost to improve a spell’s ability to be 20 points. In comparison, should a character 
have 10 spells and use Magery or IQ only to obtain this benefit to ​all​ spells, it will only 
cost the character 5 points per spell via Magery or 10 points per spell via IQ; with even 
cheaper costs the more spells the character knows 
Proposed Solution: 
Spells cost 2 points per level. This results in 6 points per threshold of increase after the 
first and will also be tied with improved spell effectiveness  

● Inconsistent Spell Prerequisites 

In the default magical system, some spells have numerous requirements and others have few; 
compared against their power within the game system. This results in optimal and sub-optimal 
colleges. While this cannot likely be entirely fixed, Educated Magic will more regularly have 
required relative skill levels of prerequisite spells, and more consistent frameworks for spells. 
 

● Free Spells & Magic 

In the default magic system it is possible to reduce the cost of a spell to 0, including its 
maintenance cost.  
Proposed Solution: 
In Educated Magic, the cost of a spell cannot ever be lowered below 1; nor can its maintenance 
cost unless specifically noted by the spell. Duration based spells will instead have their duration 
extended to reduce the effective maintenance cost upon a caster at appropriate spell levels. 

● Lack of Rewards for Spell Investment 

In the default Magic system, there is no incentive to improve an individual spell compared to 
improving all spells, even if costs were similar. 

○ Spells with Narrow Scope: 

Numerous spells in the original Magic system are minor alterations of previous spells, 
such as the Illusion series (​Simple Illusion, Complex Illusion, Perfect Illusion​) or various 
protection spells. This ensures that any investiture in one spell does not benefit other, 
similar tasks which may be more appropriate. 
Proposed Solution: 
Spells that have similar ​purpose​, particularly those that are merely improvements of 
eachother, will instead be condensed into a singular spell where greater benefits and 
options are a product of higher relative skill level. This allows generalists to learn the 
basics of many spells, but greater or more powerful magic requires study and perfection. 
This also allows magicians to have higher skill ratings at simpler spells in the process of 
learning stronger spells; rather than having mages who have Perfect Illusion at 17 but 
simple Illusion at 12, finding it easier to cast a spell with all senses than one that’s purely 
visual. 

● Spell Design 
Default Magic has numerous spells that themselves present issues and have been often 
corrected with various house rules. Many of these will be implemented (and credit given where 
known for their ideas or updates); however some larger issues across numerous spells will try to 
be rectified as follows. 

○ Economy Breaking Spells: 

There are many spells that can be used to create indirect wealth, such as Earth to 
Stone/Metal, the Create spells, and other spells. 
 

Proposed Solution: 
Many of these will remain intact, however where possible means to suppress their 
effectiveness will be made; such as limiting the financial outcome of them to be in line to 
manufacturing techniques (earth to stone/metal only returning the amount of metal that 
could be found in that mass of earth; rather than a 1:1 ratio of earth to metal), creating 
items out of alternate, detectable magicked elements; or having faults that prevent their 
use (sheeps wool with a Hair Growth spell becomes brittle once cut, etc) 

○ Non-TL Adaptive Spells: 

Some spells, notably combat spells, do not scale well outside of the typical fantasy tech 
level; having effects that are either too powerful or too weak to maintain consistency. 
Proposed Solution: 
Combat spells will use a new exponential damage table based off of TL, further 
representing magic as a study and science that has been improved over time. Other 
spells will use a similar TL-Effect table as needed, or include simple rules for effects at 
different tech levels. 

○ Spell Difficulties: 
In default Magic, all spells are Hard or Very Hard; this makes even spells with cantrip-like 
behaviour expensive to learn to reliable levels, and makes minor spells that may be 
useful, unworth taking unless IQ and Magery are high. This can dissuade people from 
diversifying or from taking useful abilities with the other changes in this design. 
Proposed Solution: 
Spells are re-classified as follows with appropriate starting levels. 

■ Easy (-1)​ spells are only those that are extremely basic for their given college and 
provide minor effects. Most colleges will have no more than 2 Easy Spells. 
Examples include I​ gnite​, or ​Lend Energy​. 

■ Average (-2)​ spells are for fundamental control and application of the college’s 
focus. These are spells that can be considered generic or basic, and serve as the 
operational level for most civilian mages, and as common requirements for other 
spells. Examples include S
​ hape (Element)​, and ​Create Illusion​. 
 

■ Hard (-3)​ spells are for specific, refined spell actions that have specialised or 
directed uses. These are considered complete spells and form the majority of 
magical spells. Examples include F
​ ireball​ and A
​ daptive Illusion 

■ Very Hard (-4)​ spells are unique or exotic spells that involve either magically 
complex or powerful abilities. These spells are only vaguely known of by other 
mages; and are common candidates for forgotten, lost, or secret magic. Examples 
include Wish and Utter Dome. 

○ Spells with Static Effect: 

All spells in the original Magic System are consistent and static; growing no stronger 
(other than threshold-based bonuses at skill level 15, 20, etc) with investment. 
Proposed Solution: 
All spells will have bonuses at various skill levels, which may include improved effect and 
damage, improved duration, further reduced costs or penalties, or additional options and 
applications. Some of these may not be useful in an adventure directly, and may be more 
economical or even ‘fluff’ bonuses; but should similarly serve to flesh out characters.