[Sorcery] Those Other Spells...

[Rindis]

Finally posted the fifth set of spells:
Dungeon Sorcery Spells 5

This gets me through most things that I want to tackle in the 1st and 2nd level AD&D spells.

I'm wondering what exactly I want to do with summon swarm. It's a 'roll to see what you actually summon' spell, which isn't something I've seen for Ally. Also, I'd like not to have to spend a page or so defining the 'creature' stats for all the various swarms that can arrive (and I certainly don't have any experience in deriving such).

[Bruno]

Swarms are dead simple as they have barely any statistics at all: How fast they Move and if they fly, how many HP of damage will disperse them, and how much/what kind of damage they do. That's literally it. Swarms are a wandering Area Attack, not a monster :)

You can note for color how many animals are in one hex of the swarm.

As for "get a random effect" - it's pretty simple. Write up the different effects (ie the different Summonable Allies), find the percentage chance of each one, and weight the costs accordingly.

[Rindis]

Hmm. I'm still not sure how to write that up as an Ally or something.

Further wrinkles: The spell specifies that the caster needs to Concentrate to maintain control of the swarm, and it's a 10' cube, so it's going to be more than a single-hex swarm.

I'm thinking that it's probably best to build as a Persistent Area-Effect attack... that can be stopped by damaging it...?

Meanwhile, I got Martial Arts a little while ago, and just used it to re-write Push (from Spells 4) to be closer to the original intent.

Push (VC)
Conjuration, Somatic, Verbal
4 points + 4/level
Casting Time: 1 second
Casting Roll: None
Range: 10 yards
Duration: Instantaneous

Use of this spell allows the caster to push objects away from him. The spell generates 1d of knockback ‘damage’ per level of the spell, which is applied as normal (see Knockback, B378). Note that 1 point of knockback is about sufficient to shove 1 oz about a yard (with a cube-root progression from there; see the Objects Hit Points Table, B558, to figure HP/resistance of objects without a ST score).

No die roll to hit is needed. If the combination of distance, size, and any other modifiers to your Innate Attack (Gaze) skill result in needing at least a 3, the spell works!

To have a chance at actually knocking back a regular human, this spell will need to be at least second level (to get the 8 ‘damage’ needed vs ST 10; halflings and the like are vulnerable at first level). However, it is possible to use Sweep (MA81) by targeting a leg to make it unexpectedly go out from under the target. If this is done, roll a Quick Contest of Sweep (which defaults to Innate Attack (Gaze) -3; Talent does count) vs the best of the target’s ST, DX, Acrobatics, or Brawling instead of a damage roll; if the target loses he falls down.

Innate Attack 1d (cr; Cosmic: No Die Roll Required, +100%; Increased 1/2D, x10, +15%; No Blunt Trauma, -20%; No Wounding, -50%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%) [0.8x5]

[Rindis]

After several months away, I revisited this project today with another ten spells:
Dungeon Sorcery Spells 6

The most important part is finally rounding out the 'utility' spells with Identify and Dispel Magic. The rest of them mostly revolve around transformations, from Change Self, to Enlarge, to the old Chainmail classic of Massmorph.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Rindis

After several months away, I revisited this project today with another ten spells:
Dungeon Sorcery Spells 6

The most important part is finally rounding out the 'utility' spells with Identify and Dispel Magic. The rest of them mostly revolve around transformations, from Change Self, to Enlarge, to the old Chainmail classic of Massmorph.

I like your guideline for gaining of ST/HP from Enlarge. I also love your inlined apology :)

[Rindis]

The middle of a spell description is the last place I wanted to be giving math with exponential notation. >.<

It took ages of looking at the numbers to come up with something that boiled down.

[Rindis]

And, a long period of too-many boardgaming posts winding down, I just posted another set of ten spells:
Dungeons & Sorcery Spells 7
The big 'classics' this time are Knock and Hold Person.

I also went in and retitled the series last week (from "Dungeon Sorcery" to "Dungeons & Sorcery") so it'll seem a little less like it should be a direct plug-in to the Dungeon Fantasy line/RPG.

Also, I added new material to the original post with a new "Under the Hood" explaining spell rarity a little more, and "That Ol' Time D&D" and "Bound and Gagged" got some more guidelines as to how I'm writing the spells.

Dungeons & Sorcery Part 1

[Rindis]

I was just looking over Fly (and therefore Flight), and was thinking that since it is externally powered (i.e., by mana), instead of muscle-powered or some form of internal Power, it would make sense for it to ditch all the Air Move equivalents of the Running rules; i.e., no Sprint, Paced Running, or fatigue costs. You move up to the Move the spell grants, and that's it.

Are there any ready made modifiers for this? (Machine, Flight Only?)

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Rindis

it would make sense for it to ditch all the Air Move equivalents of the Running rules; i.e., no Sprint, Paced Running, or fatigue costs. You move up to the Move the spell grants, and that's it.

Are there any ready made modifiers for this? (Machine, Flight Only?)

Interesting idea! I don't believe there's any modifiers like this right now. I think it's actually a 0% modifier. Here's a writeup for it:

Externally Sourced: This modifier can be applied to any advantage that provides a new way of moving (Aquatic, Flight, Walk on Air, etc.) or one that increases your basic ground move (Enhanced Move (Ground), for example). Your mobility comes not from your own muscles or personal power source, but some other force that moves you. This means you don't have to expend your own FP to move quickly, and can even rest while you move, regaining FP as if you were moving at no more than a slow walk. However, your Move when using the advantage cannot ever exceed the basic movement provided - you can't sprint, use Extra Effort to extend your movement, and so forth. Further, the advantage can only handle your own body weight and a very small extra amount of weight (no more than No Encumbrance), and if you exceed this weight limit, it shuts down (you can increase your weight limit by buying the Can Carry Objects enhancement).
Your movement ability does still have endurance limits of its own. It effectively has FP equal to your HT, which it must spend for activities like paced running, or whenever the GM declares you would spend FP for longer abilities (such as 1 per hour when flying or hiking overland). These FP do not affect your abilities or hinder you when lost, but once they run out, your movement ability is no longer available until you regain some. They recover at the usual rate of 1 every 10 minutes (they do not recover while the movement ability itself is in use, but you don't have to rest for them to be restored). -0%

[Rindis]

Thanks for the write up Kelly! I ended up changing it to a -10% limitation with near 0 capacity, as the usual Can Carry Objects has No Encumbrance as a +10%, and it keeps the math in line.

Finally got around to working out Summon Swarm. It turned into a pure attack once I realized that the area affected wasn't supposed to move.

Summon Swarm(C)
Summoning, Somatic, Verbal, Area (Fixed)
13 points
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Casting Roll: Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: None.
Duration: Special

This spell summons a swarm of small creatures that will attack anything in a 2-yard radius designated by the magic-user (see Scatter, B414, on a miss). The exact type of creatures, the damage they do, and the damage it takes to disperse the swarm is up to the GM, but typically one of the following types will show up:

[Table removed for formatting issues; it'll be in the eventual blog post.]

If the GM does not feel like any particular type is the most appropriate for the current environment, he should roll 3d6 and consult the Dice Roll column to pick one. Keep in mind that this is Large Area Injury (B400), though rats will act as though only the feet of a standing person were exposed, and spiders, centipedes and beetles will start with the feet, and move up one location per every other second.

The swarm will technically stay in place and keep attacking anything that enters its area forever, but there are several limitations on this. First, the caster must keep Concentrating on the swarm, or it will disperse, with all the creatures departing to return to where they had been before being summoned. The swarm can be attacked, and will disperse after taking the damage listed in the HP column (the swarm has Injury Tolerance: Diffuse, B60, so most non-area attacks will only do 1 damage). Also, while these are natural creatures, their control by this spell makes them susceptible to the effects of protection from conjuration (as well as the normal effects of protection from vermin).

Innate Attack, varies (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Nuisance Effect: Affected by Protection From Conjuration, -5%; Persistent, +40%; Requires Concentrate, -15%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) Listed Types: Rats: 1d cut (Feet Only, -30%) = [2.35x7]; Bats: 1d cut = [2.75x7]; Spiders, etc.: 1d-1 tox (Takes Extra Time, -10%) = [2.65x3]; Wasps, etc: 1d-1 tox = [2.75x2]. Using the average (instead of Alternative Attacks, as it is not chosen by the player): (17+20+8+6)/4. Note: The "Takes Extra Time" on some attacks is for the large area effect moving up the subject.

[A new name for the spread of the Large Area Injury limitation would be great.]

The one I'm currently looking at is Polymorph Other. The basic part is easy enough, Afflict Morph with No Memorization Required, and Once On, Stays On.

But there's a chance of death from the change (which I'm fine with skipping), and a chance of the affected person becoming convinced this is their real form. This seems like a severe delusion (especially considering the fact that the polymorph can still be dispelled and the person will then think they're a polymorphed whatever-they-were-turned-into). For extra credit, it'd be nice if it could be more less likely to happen if the character's point total goes down, and more likely if it goes up (if the Morph has the points to do that at all...). Then it becomes a drawback of trying to buff your allies into more powerful forms... and I really don't know how to price that, since it seems more of a drawback (or at least as much of one) as a potential benefit.

ETA: Also, is there any set modifier for Morph that says you can't imitate particular people? Just racial templates?