sorcery spell: ice wall

[Devil_Dante]

hi guys, i'm trying to create an ice wall spell, based on "create advantage" from Power. The problem is its cost: comparing it with any other wall from magic, this will cost way too much.

From my math, creating a decent wall of ice ( ice has 3 HP every 2,5 cm) will need at least 25 cm of thickness for a 30 HP and DR 3. At this point the wall has 2 meters of lenghtness and 2 of highness, pretty bad, and it costs 70 points (5 points per level, and i need 14 levels to create 1 m^3 of ice). To create something bigger, i will need probably more than 20 levels

So, am i doing it wrong? Are there any different ways to handle this?

Thank you

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Devil_Dante

hi guys, i'm trying to create an ice wall spell, based on "create advantage" from Power. The problem is its cost: comparing it with any other wall from magic, this will cost way too much.

The issue here is using Create. That's going to be very expensive, because with Create, you pay a bunch of points for the flexibility inherent to being able to create whatever you want out of the substance. If the only effect is to create a wall of ice, you should use Innate Attack with the Wall modifier (+30% if it's always wall-shaped, or +60% if you can shape it into whatever shape you want, within the limits set by the innate attack).

Now, this will still not necessarily produce a cheap way to generate an ice wall of the thickness you're describing - the Wall enhancement gives you 1/2 an HP per die of damage. However, it does give you more DR, 3/die, and I think it's reasonable to make Ablative a limitation for such abilities, though I'd only give half its normal value for DR, so -40%. Ablative DR is basically very similar to HP, so you can treat them similarly for these purposes. The attack will do less damage to someone directly ramming it, but will still resist most of the damage you want.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Ice Wall
You create a wall of ice, 3 yards long, one yard thick, and four yards high. The wall has ablative DR 15 and 3 HP. Anyone colliding with it suffers 5d of crushing damage.

Statistics: Crushing Attack 5d (Ablative Wall DR, -40%; Area Affect 1, +50%; Persistent, +40%; Wall, Rigid, +30%).

[Dammann]

Setting the properties of ice aside, creating a barrier that has an ablative DR3 and 30 HP should cost far less. I’d approach this magic spell from a game utility angle rather than a simulationist angle.

Ablative is -80% as a limitation; creating a barrier that has 30 points of ablative DR should cost 30 points. The fact that it’s almost a foot of ice is sort of a special effect, no?

[Devil_Dante]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Ice Wall
You create a wall of ice, 3 yards long, one yard thick, and four yards high. The wall has ablative DR 15 and 3 HP. Anyone colliding with it suffers 5d of crushing damage.

Statistics: Crushing Attack 5d (Ablative Wall DR, -40%; Area Affect 1, +50%; Persistent, +40%; Wall, Rigid, +30%).

Thank you very much. This is exactly what I needed. Didn't remember about the wall enhancement at all.

Only one question: the first level of area of effect has 2 yards radius. Thus, the wall should be 6X2 (and 4 yards high), right?
Because there is no 1 yard radius.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Devil_Dante

Only one question: the first level of area of effect has 2 yards radius. Thus, the wall should be 6X2 (and 4 yards high), right?
Because there is no 1 yard radius.

No, there's special rules for the size of walls - each level of Area Effect gives you a 3-yard-long, 1-yard-wide section of wall. The 4-yards-high bit is the default for all things with Area Effect.

[Devil_Dante]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

No, there's special rules for the size of walls - each level of Area Effect gives you a 3-yard-long, 1-yard-wide section of wall. The 4-yards-high bit is the default for all things with Area Effect.

yes, but in the area effect table, the starting radius is 2 yards, so 6 yards long at least, is it right?

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Devil_Dante

yes, but in the area effect table, the starting radius is 2 yards, so 6 yards long at least, is it right?

Oops, sorry, yes, you're right. I was thinking that Area Effect on a non-area gave you 1 yard radius by default, not 2. So, yeah. The wall is actually 6 yards long and 2 yards thick.

[zoncxs]

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=137400


I made an ice wall spell a while ago. Check it out.

[Devil_Dante]

Originally Posted by zoncxs

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=137400


I made an ice wall spell a while ago. Check it out.

Well.. Really great job.. Thank for link