What happens to equipment when using Body of Air?

[Ghazgkull]

I'm new to GURPS (only played three sessions) and trying to figure out how the Body of Air spell works. I'm especially confused what happens to equipment.

The spell says that "clothes (up to 6 pounds) also become vaporous...", but it doesn't specify what happens if your clothes weigh more than 6 pounds. Or what happens to equipment like your staff.

I'm assuming that because you get ST 0, you can't hold any equipment (does it actually say this somewhere in the books?) So should I assume that they just fall to the ground where anyone can take them? Is there anything you can do to prevent enemies from grabbing your stuff as soon as you cast Body of Air?

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Ghazgkull

I'm new to GURPS (only played three sessions) and trying to figure out how the Body of Air spell works. I'm especially confused what happens to equipment.

The spell says that "clothes (up to 6 pounds) also become vaporous...", but it doesn't specify what happens if your clothes weigh more than 6 pounds. Or what happens to equipment like your staff.

I'm assuming that because you get ST 0, you can't hold any equipment (does it actually say this somewhere in the books?) So should I assume that they just fall to the ground where anyone can take them? Is there anything you can do to prevent enemies from grabbing your stuff as soon as you cast Body of Air?

Your gear falls to the ground. The only thing you can do to stop people from stealing your stuff is murder them before they take the loot. Or otherwise incapacitate them, if you're not a true murder hobo.

[Anaraxes]

Yep, falls to the ground. Some GMs might require you to strip down to the weight limit first.

Best way to avoid people taking your stuff: have friends to guard it :) This may mean creating some friends (elementals or Create Warrior) You might protect your stuff with a Force Dome, or stash it with Hide Object; obtain an encumbrance-free Hideaway; Apport, Teleport, or Gate them out of reach; use Avoid or Insignificance to cause potential thieves to overlook them. There's likely a lot of creative solutions.

[Kromm]

Others have nailed it. GURPS spells do what they say on the tin; there's no promise of incidental convenience. Body of Air turns your body into air. It's nice about letting you keep 6 lbs. of clothing, but that's it – you don't get to bring gear along, and if you're smart enough to be a wizard, you ought to be smart enough to make plans to keep your possessions safe. It isn't rocket science to strip to your skivvies, stuff all your gear under a rock or a mattress, and then cast the spell.

[Dalillama]

[QUOTE=Ghazgkull;1772425Or what happens to equipment like your staff.
[/QUOTE]

As people have noted above, but as a GM, I'd be inclined to rule that a staff enchanted with Staff is exempt from those kinds of weight limitations, as part of the whole 'you can channel magic through your staff' thing. So, for instance, I'd allow you to carry up to 6 lbs of clothes, and your enchanted Staff, while in Body of Air. You couldn't do much with it, due to the usual limitations, but you'd have it when you resolidified.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Ghazgkull

I'm assuming that because you get ST 0, you can't hold any equipment (does it actually say this somewhere in the books?

Yes. St 0 means you have a Basic Lift of zero, so you can't carry anything other than the clothing allowance. I've heard that bit was just added on to get the spell by the censors ;)

[Gnome]

What about other "Body of..." spells, like Body of Metal? With Air, I'm imagining your armor falling "through" you, but this is harder to imagine with a more solid material...

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Gnome

What about other "Body of..." spells, like Body of Metal? With Air, I'm imagining your armor falling "through" you, but this is harder to imagine with a more solid material...

Spells that don't make you Diffuse with ST0 don't make you lose your gear.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Gnome

What about other "Body of..." spells, like Body of Metal?

Each spell notes the effects, with the 6-pound limit seemingly universal. Body of Shadow and Water explicitly say excess items fall to the ground. Fire and Shadow point out that you can carry nothing.

The solid forms are the reason I mentioned that a strict GM might require the caster to strip down to 6 pounds of clothes before casting the spell -- or else the spell would just automatically fail, with too much mass in contact for it to work. Also saves arguments over exactly what counts as "clothes" and exactly which 6 pounds out of 7 get transformed.

A more lenient view, and the more literal one, would simply let the extra equipment remain on the new form. It's not transformed to metal (etc.), but you can still carry it, unless the spell explicitly says otherwise.

The literalist interpretation doesn't line up perfectly with the text in each spell. I'd put Air and Lightning in the non-solid, "can't carry" category, even though they don't say so. Wind seems to be intended as a more solid Air, so let's call that solid for this purpose (as well as the others listed)

[Bruno]

Body of Metal, Stone, and such turn you into an animated mannequin type figure made of the appropriate material. A golem, if you will. :)

There's no reason you couldn't dress up a golem in armor - as a GM, I do that all the time to annoy players by making them more difficult. Your gear that isn't transformed doesn't get the benefits of the spell, note! YOU may have fabulous DR, but your stuff won't unless it already did, natively.

I've made "Diffuse with Infiltration and ST 0" a metatrait for "Almost Insubstantial" in my games. It's useful for making things that should really be completely Insubstantial into monsters that the PCs can deal with even if badly equipped for magical foes - if with some great effort.
Infiltration didn't exist when Magic was being written (it's added in Powers), but I add it to Body of Fire and Body of Air to give them the full "Almost Insubstantial" metatrait. On the other hand, this bumps casters using the related spells into "creatures affected by many anti-spirit and anti-Insubstantial effects" category. Everything with this metatrait gains the added descriptor "6 lb limit, causes everything else to fall off your body" if not already on the spell descriptor (eg Body of Flames). Otherwise, with even an ounce extra your character is immediately over max encumbrance and suffers all the horrible penalties thereof, as per Basic Set and Encumbrance. And that just sucks. Therefore consider this a "Safety Feature", not a flaw.

Body of Water uses the Basic Set metatrait, which explicitly doesn't get ST 0, therefore I don't give it the Almost Insubstantial upgrade. Other items fall off you, because that's what the spell says. See below for a note about damaging effects - this is ALSO a feature IMO.

For effects like body of Fire (and Water, and Acid, and whatever), not only are you "desolid", but you're dangerous to be around, and your gear isn't protected from that either! Most people aren't damaged by water, but a lot of gear is - especially wizardly gear like scrolls and delicate magical reagents - and very few things (and people) resist fire or acid well. Having your gear drop off protects it from the side effects of touching you without having to spend the minute or so to strip.

For a hypothetical "body of very hot rocks/razor blades/other solid but bad" type spell you've got a worst of all situations effect - your gear isn't protected from your badness, but I'm not sure it would conveniently fall off.