House Rule for Mages: Skills in specific spells. Options

[30+coyote]

I was thinking about this so I thought I would make the suggestion. There should be a rule where you can spend Karma to gain points in casting a specific spell. Like say you are a combat mage and you cast fireball all the time. You could buy a skill called Fireball which would give you additional dice to roll to try and get more hits to cast that spell. You still are limited by the force you cast the spell at to the number of overall successes you can count but it would just make more sense that mages would become better at casting their favorite spell than the spells they use less often. So you would have more dice to get more hits with the spells you know the best and use the most. All it costs you is Karma. This makes mages less static and inflexible. Also it opens up an avenue for the next part of the house rule….


Customizing your spells!
I think it would be cool if we had a rule where if you buy 3 or more points in a skill related to a spell you know that spell so well that you can make your own version of the spell. Like a fireball spell that has all the normal game mechanics of a regular fireball but when you cast it a little pair of flaming red lips that float across the room then make a smack sound before they explode into a fireball. Or perhaps you want a stun-ball that leaves sparkling fairy dust in the air for a moment after it goes off. Maybe a mana-bolt that appears as a white dove that flies towards your target and hurts them. Perhaps you want your darkness spell to creep out from under your cloak and envelop an area of effect. If you buy 3 or more points in knowledge of that spell you know it so well you can customize it to be a signature spell. Of course this also means you leave behind a very specific signature that other mages can recognize as well.