This week we are going to discuss enchantes. Not any one enchante in particular, but rather one of the foundations upon which the enchante system is built. In short, we are going to discuss HARNESS.
Let's begin with what the main website has to say about Harness in the Magic section:
| Your character's Harness Ability skill is represents your efficiency with harnessing. It increases your Maximum Harness Stat a little bit, but the main effect is to use up less of your Current Harness for the same amount of mana. |
| The cost to your Current Harness depends on the amount of available mana. It is much more of a strain to cast a 10-mana spell where only 15 mana is available than it is to cast it where 500 mana is available. |
| --- Holding Mana --- |
| Ordinarily, mana is an external source of power. However, for short periods the caster can hold small amounts of mana within his own nervous system. |
| To begin holding mana, HARNESS <amount>. At any time while holding mana, you can always try to harness more. |
| The more mana you hold, the more likely you are to lose some percentage of it every few seconds -- and the more you lose at a time, the more damage is done to your nervous system. Harness Ability skill increases your capacity, although mana will always drain away eventually. |
| If you like, you can RELEASE held mana harmlessly. (See RELEASE HELP for other options.) |
| Some spells require you to hold a few mana points to maintain them. For example, Refractive Field keeps the caster nearly invisible as long as she holds enough mana. This could be virtually forever, as long as she keeps harnessing just enough to keep the spell going. The only real limitation is practicality. |
| Casting any non-held-mana spell will consume all held mana, using it to boost the spell's power (see below). Any held-mana spells will therefore end. |
| --- Why use HARNESS? --- |
| Aside from holding mana for spells, or sharing it with others in your group -- it's often easier to harness a little bit of mana at a time, rather than a whole lot at once. Let's say you want to cast a 45 mana Fire Ball. You could just PREP FB 45... but you'll probably find it strains your Harness stat less to HARNESS 15, PREP FB 15, HARNESS 15. You may also want to HARNESS in a room with lots of mana, before CASTing in a room with little mana. |
Okay, that's all interesting, but isn't that mostly for traditional casters?
Yes, and no.
Bards most certainly can use harnessing, and all the benefits that harnessing offers to non-bards also apply to bards. Unfortunately, a lot of bards tend to forget about harnessing, or don't realize that harnessing can be very useful.
Enchantes are not Held Mana spells, but they do have a lot in common with those types of spells, arguably more in common than they do with standard prep/cast spells. Bards who take the time to practice with harness and develop an understanding of how it can both benefit and hinder them will find the time well-spent. Harnessing is one of many tools bards have at their disposal that simply isn't very well understood, and seriously underutilized, which is very unfortunate. A solid understanding of harnessing can make a tremendous difference in the life of a bard, particularly after they have developed high magic skills.
Harness is your friend.
- GM Dartenian
"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/
