Going Gray

blackshoe's picture

The requirements to "go gray" include:

• Master Arcane Discipline to ML101 (or higher).
• Master Arcane Lore to ML101 (or higher).
• Know at least one spell in each convocation to ML 91 or better.
• Know at least twelve convocational spells to ML71+.
• Know at least six neutral spells to ML61+.

The first two just require perseverance. The third will take some work, but should be accomplished eventually. The fourth brings up a question: does "convocational spells" in that requirement refer to spells of any convocation, or of the mage's primary convocation?

If it's the latter, then the mage needs to know 12 or 13 (see below) primary convocation spells, 1 spell of each other convocation and six neutral spells. If it's the former, then he needs to know 2 or 3 spells in each convocation for a total of 12 or 18, and six neutral spells.

The reason for "12 or 13" or "2 or 3" is this: does the spell which the mage knows at ML 91 or better meet the fourth requirement as well as the third?

Balesir's picture

The spells at ML 91+ count as ML 71+, and the 12 spells can be of any convocation, but...

...note that, as mentioned in the SP rules, learning your original convocation (and secondary convocations) is likely to get harder after you 'go Grey'. Because of this, it may well be both easier and preferable to learn as many spells of your original convocation as you want/can before enacting the Metamorphosis ritual. The requirement, though, is 18 spells, 6 of which must be neutral (at ML 61+) and 12 convocational (at ML 71+), with at least one from each convocation at ML 91+ included in those 12.

Note, also, that there may be (an)other way(s) in which to become a grey mage, since there must have been a first one! The magnitude of the task, however, would presumably be no less, and probably more, demanding than what is outlined in the SP rules.

blackshoe's picture

Thanks. I recall a saying from my military days: "if the minimum wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum." Of course, none of my seniors ever said that. :-)

I'm aware that Primary and Secondary convocation spells will get harder to advance, but I figured to worry about that after I meet the minimum requirements. :-)

Balesir's picture

Heh - I love the saying :-)

And, yeah, just getting to the minimum is probably the first step; Primary and Secondary spells will tend to be easier to get to those levels, anyway. There is a sense in which you can end up, after busting a gut to get to the minimum, thinking "You want me to do what, now?"

blackshoe's picture

lol! Ain't that the truth!

Alex Greene's picture

I always figured that just as it would be more difficult for you to learn your primary convocation after you go gray, it becomes easier to learn your diametric and tertiary convocations also.

In fact, it becomes easier to create new diametric and tertiary spells because they're all considered to be neutral spells. Sun sign modifiers no longer apply , either, so if you opened an initial convocation of a sun sign diametrically opposed to your birth sign, going gray would make it marginally easier to learn new primary convocational spells after you go gray.

One more thing - going gray really only affects the OML of new spells, and caps the maximum level of spells you can learn. Even if your average of WIL+WIL+AUR equals 18, say, chances are your character won't be learning an awful lot of Level XII spells of any convocation. Chances are, your Shek-Pvar might be learning a bunch of Level I and II, a heaping handful of III and IV, and a few V to VII. The big mages in the field would know a few colossal Level VII or VIII spells, and it would take a Genin to come up with anything more powerful than VIII.