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Anaraxes · 03-10-2018, 02:03 PM

Sounds like Rain of Fire (Magic p.74) Exactly what it looks like are special effects. If you want it to be more impressive, give it a more elaborate description. If you want it to be mechanically scarier, you could up the damage -- say, by extending the "for double cost" line to cap at Magery rather than 2, so Dumbledore can rain down 3 or 5 or 9d fire everywhere.

Since the spell has a duration of a minute, the mage is free to throw Fireballs or Explosive Fireballs at individual targets while they're still getting rained up. Or put up that Wall of Fire, if they like. (One of the advantages of the basic magic system and the short GURPS turn length is that you can build effects out of smaller components, without needing one giant elaborate "ninth level" spell doing it all at once in "one spell" that takes longer to cast.) Again, feel free to describe those fireballs as particularly spectacular parts of the rain pouring down at particular targets, rather than flying straight from the mage's hand to the target.

The master wizard might well have prepped those additional effects ahead of time with Delay or Suspend Spell in order to trigger all the effects together, putting up the Wall of Fire when the Rain starts.

03-10-2018, 02:03 PM	#2
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Spell help for Firestorm Sounds like Rain of Fire (Magic p.74) Exactly what it looks like are special effects. If you want it to be more impressive, give it a more elaborate description. If you want it to be mechanically scarier, you could up the damage -- say, by extending the "for double cost" line to cap at Magery rather than 2, so Dumbledore can rain down 3 or 5 or 9d fire everywhere. Since the spell has a duration of a minute, the mage is free to throw Fireballs or Explosive Fireballs at individual targets while they're still getting rained up. Or put up that Wall of Fire, if they like. (One of the advantages of the basic magic system and the short GURPS turn length is that you can build effects out of smaller components, without needing one giant elaborate "ninth level" spell doing it all at once in "one spell" that takes longer to cast.) Again, feel free to describe those fireballs as particularly spectacular parts of the rain pouring down at particular targets, rather than flying straight from the mage's hand to the target. The master wizard might well have prepped those additional effects ahead of time with Delay or Suspend Spell in order to trigger all the effects together, putting up the Wall of Fire when the Rain starts.