Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > The Fantasy Trip

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-11-2019, 05:43 AM   #11
Shostak
 
Shostak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

What's the bonus for rolling a 3 or 4 when casting Staff V?
Shostak is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2019, 11:52 AM   #12
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
The easy way to give a bonus without it being worth continually recasting to get it is something like:

Double Effect: allows upgrading a staff twice (so direct from wood to staff 2), as long as you know the appropriate spells.
Triple Effect: allows upgrading a staff three times, as long as you know the appropriate spells.
That's interesting. I would not have thought that creating a staff higher than Staff I would require multiple castings in the first place, unless you had created a lower staff before you knew the higher staff spell.

But I kind of like adding that sliver of difficulty, especially if there is a risk on a 17 or 18 of something bad happening, such as the staff being broken (say, on a 17) and/or being destroyed including any built-in items like powerstones (say, on an 18).


Really it seems to me that the higher staff spells are already overloaded with bunches of benefits that already come too automatically for my tastes.

In general, for spells like Staff which have no clear way to double or triple their effect, I'd tend to just have a 3 or 4 result in no cost to cast the spell.

I like the idea of adding a few points of bonus mana you don't know you have until you first cast a spell. And/or limiting it only to use with the staff arcane zap. (Of course that means the GM needs to make the staff roll.) I might limit it to an unknown random amount, and/or apply only to the first one or two zaps (or maybe castings) with the staff in hand.
Skarg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2019, 12:05 PM   #13
Helborn
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

Another option would be to say that on a 4, it costs no ST. On a 3, it not only costs no ST but you have, somehow, created a Staff II without knowing the spell.

For Staff II, a 4 costs no ST and gives 4 pts of Mana without using XP, a 3 costs no ST and gives 6 pts of Mana without using XP and you have created a Staff III.

etc.

BUT this effect only happens on a 1st casting of a given Staff spell. On subsequent castings a 3 or 4 only costs no ST

But this should be under House rules.
__________________
Helborn
Helborn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2019, 12:59 PM   #14
hcobb
 
hcobb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

What happens if you roll a 3 on any other enchantment or potion brewing?
__________________
-HJC
hcobb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2019, 03:23 PM   #15
Shostak
 
Shostak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: New England
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
What happens if you roll a 3 on any other enchantment or potion brewing?
I say that you get to start a new thread at no ST cost. ;)
Shostak is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2019, 04:10 AM   #16
David Bofinger
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

I like Anthony's idea, but I'd also be OK with the staff starting full of as much mana as it can hold.
David Bofinger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2019, 09:44 AM   #17
Helborn
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Bofinger View Post
I like Anthony's idea, but I'd also be OK with the staff starting full of as much mana as it can hold.
2200+ XP for a roll of 3????

I think that's way overboard. Even my suggestion below may be overpowered.
__________________
Helborn
Helborn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2019, 10:03 AM   #18
hcobb
 
hcobb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

A wizard can recharge 5 mana per day or 8 days of full time work to recharge 40 mana.

Making 5 Staff castings per day it would take 43 days on average to get a 3, unless a lesser wish (or charm) was used.
__________________
-HJC
hcobb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2019, 10:34 AM   #19
Helborn
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Default Re: Rolling 3 or 4 on Staff Spell

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
What happens if you roll a 3 on any other enchantment or potion brewing?
Then you get a triple effect - either a potion that adds 3 instead of 1 or heals 3 instead of 1, etc or lasts 3 Turns for 1 ST point, etc. I would not allow, for instance, a 3 to make an item self-powered.


I would make the following quote mandatory for ANY attempt to get a critical success roll
Note: GMs do not have to allow repeated attempts to perform some nearly-impossible task (ITL 9)
__________________
Helborn
Helborn is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
critical success, house rule, stacking, staff, unbalanced

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.