This is the only thing that really bothers me about the game.Evil Genius Prime wrote:2. Mercurial Magic. I hate that some of the results can be crippling, especially when attached to an otherwise beneficial spell.
My roommate and I rolled up some characters and ran them through their paces and one character ended up a wizard. Randomly rolled Read Magic as a spell, then randomly rolled 01 on the mercurial magic table "At great cost. Every time the wizard casts the spell, someone he knows dies (judge’s choice)." That's just... kind of dumb, and a little daunting for a GM because what if the player doesn't care and just casts the spell willy-nilly?
I love the concept and some of the results are great (got Corrosion Touch with Magic Missile!) but then some results are ridiculous or, as Evil Genius states, crippling. I'll probably only apply Mercurial Magic in games I run if it makes the spellcasting interesting in some way.
I also find it hard to gauge the power levels of spells, but this is a minor quibble. I'd love to design my own spells for the game but I simply don't know where to begin.