Question on swords and sorcery.

[Ingenious]

Page 125 says:
'..Combat runs regularly, with the sorceror's spell acting as his offense or defense. Any other actions taken use the dice allotted by the Reflex attribute, or any combat pool the sorceror might posses.'

Case in point.
I wanted to fry my opponent in an online duel with lightning of the soul.. a simple CTN 2 spell that is released after 2 exchanges...etc etc.
The person controlling the target had a view of the above quote from page 125 as this. A sorceror's spell acts as his offense or defense.
Hence, he beleives that I am standing there in combat while I am chanting for the spell to go off. Or so I think he does..or has led me to beleive.

Previously when encountered with sorcery and combat.. we'd just full evade until the CTN in seconds was up.. and then the spell goes off.

I'd like some clarification as to the answer to this, since 99.999999% of the rules in the corebook these days seem to be ambiguous. How the hell am I supposed to handle casting a spell during combat, where I presume if I have the CP available to do so.. I can attack, defend, evade, etc etc.. so long as I am not required to use gestures.. intricate footwork.. etc.
My character is a gifted human, and he has a dependance on DIALOGUE.. so I assume that he can take two seconds during combat to speak uninterrupted etc etc.. and the spell goes off normally.

Am I/we missing something here??

I have noooooo solution to this one. But the guy's gonna get fried either way.
-Ingenious

[nsruf]

An example of combat/sorcery would be nice. Especially if it addresses the following:

- can the sorcerer attack with a weapon, or is he limited to defense (I assume it is the latter)

- distraction and wounds (can) increase CTN - does this also affect casting time and number of months aged (I assume yes on both accounts)

- are extensive gestures possible while defending, or are you better off taking Dependency on Dialogue?

[Brian Leybourne]

Spellcasting depends mostly on concentration, so I reckon that as long as the guy isn't dependant on gestures, he's OK to defend himself in combat (probably not attack though) while formulating a spell. If he gets hit though, he loses his concentration and the spell (but still loses the casting dice).

Having said that, TROS isn't really a game where spellcasters get involved in combat. If you're a spellcaster and you're forced into melee combat, you're probably screwed and should have been more careful. If you're any good, the swordsman would never have reached you.

Brian.