== Change Mana Gift ==
	by John Eure

* What's wrong? *

One thing that was consistently mentioned in the feedback about the 2001
rules changes was that people didn't like the idea of Mana Gift turning
low-level spellcasters into "batteries" for high-level spellcasters.  
Some also objected to the notion of sharing power in general.  On the
other hand, whenever anyone has mentioned getting rid of it, I've heard
lots of people say that it's a very useful spell.  Those last two sets of
opinions are contradictory, but we can at least try to satisfy the people
who hold the first opinion - that Mana Gift encourages low-level casters
to give their spell points to high-level casters.

Part of this problem is inherent in the nature of our spell system -
high-level spells intentionally give you more "bang for the buck", so in
general, one high-level caster with 10 spell points will be more powerful
than 2 low-level casters with 5 points each.  (This is muddled a bit by
Fortify, which favors multiple casters over a single caster, and by cleric
kits, which give some clerics abilities that others don't have.  And with
mystics, all bets are off.)


* My solution *

Change it so that the maximum number of spell points you give is equal to
your level.  A 1st-level caster would spend 1 point to give 1 point; a
9th-level caster would spend 1 point to give 9 points.  While this doesn't
prevent low-level casters from sacrificing their points when they're
desperately needed, it does make it more inefficient to take points from
low-level casters, as opposed to taking them from high-level casters.  
And since the whole idea of concentrating power in high-level casters is
founded on efficiency, this change will make it less likely to occur.

So casters will still be able to shuffle spell points around if they
really need to.  But it'll be less likely to happen, and much less likely
that a low-level caster will ever be asked to give up their spell points
to a high-level caster.  We keep the good aspect, and get rid of the bad
aspect.

The only reason Mana Gift is based on Will was because it was proposed at
the same time as a set of spells Mike Wilson proposed in 1999, but which
failed to pass (Mana Burn, Mana Chain, Mana Transfer, and Mana Drain).  
They all used Will, so I made Mana Gift use Will too.  This spell wasn't
part of that set, though - it was prompted by a couple of Questies
independently saying that they wanted a way to pool spell points.


* Potential problems *

Technically, this makes high-level casters more powerful.  But this
particular power - to sacrifice your character points for the greater good
- is something I'm more than willing to give to high-level casters.

This might reduce the ability of casters to pool their resources to get a 
high-level spell in an emergency.

And finally, Meg Harrelson brings up the hideous scenario of using
mind-affecting magic (say, Charm) to convince a caster to give you mana
for a "really important spell".  At the moment, this is not a problem,
because the people that you can dominate with Will tend to be the same
people who can't give you much mana.  I am hopeful that this scenario
won't be a problem, though.  First, the target of this tactic will be
high-level casters, who have access to either Magic Absorption or Iron
Will.  And second, you have to spend at least 4 spell points to do this at
all, which reduces the potential gain.  Still, this is worth serious
consideration.


* The proposal *

-- Change Mana Gift from this:
	"This spell transfers spell points, of a number equal or less than
	the caster's Will, ..."
to this:
	"This spell transfers spell points, of a number equal or less than
	the caster's level, ..."