Help porting other-game spells to Sorcery

[Extrarius]

I recently bought Sorcery and it is by far the magic system I like most among those I've seen.
I'd appreciate some help stating up some spells from the Other Game using the Powers/Sorcery system. Since several aspects are assumed for Sorcery spells (such as cost fp, power modifier, etc), those needn't be included when figuring out the best representation of a spell.

For each spell, I provide a link to the official spell description along with a short summary of the effects I care about.

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Arcane Mark - Permanently etch a rune or mark without harming whatever you write on. The writing can be invisible, in which case it can be detected by abilities that reveal the invisible or that detect magic.
Really, I like the idea of a general "magic pen" that is far superior to any real writing instrument since it can write on literally anything and is "really permanent" (in that it can't be easily removed like "permanent markers" - only dispelling works). Along the same lines, a simple equipment perk doesn't seem appropriate since many TLs don't even have "(pseduo)permanent" markers and this should theoretically be much better than anything available even now (at least better than anything inexpensive enough to be a simple perk).

My thoughts on stating this are that if Distinctive Feature can be a tattoo, it can represent arbitrary markings, so I came up with:
Affliction(Variable Distinctive Feature [1], Permanent (Dispellable), Melee C w/ No Parry)
[1] Variable Enhancement, allowing any version of Disadvantage (Distinctive Features) you want, to represent writing different things.
It isn't cumulative, since I don't feel writing multiple times on a creature should stack multiple penalties from Distinctive Features. Instead, treat additional writing as simply modifying what the Distinctive Feature represents.
I'd like to allow marking on objects with very high HT, but I'm not sure how to allow that. For many abilities, targeting the Earth might be a Bad Thing, but I see no reason to prevent etching on exposed bedrock. Is there an inexpensive way to allow this? Likewise, writing on exposed bedrock faces the additional challenge of DR adding to the resistance roll - does that mean it needs Cosmic: Irresistible attack, too?
Realistically, without a huge area of effect, the size of writing possible wouldn't actually give the Earth the penalties from Distinctive Feature, but it still seems like the closest way to model 'marking without damaging'.
How would you address the 'invisible writing' aspect? Might invisible writing be considered a mitigated Distinctive Feature, and thus still fall under the variable enhancement?

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Rope Trick - create an extra-dimensional space with room for several people, and the threshold/doorway/whatever blocks spell targetting and areas of effect

I really have no idea how to stat either aspect of this spell - the invisible hiding place feels like one part, and the protective door feels like another (which could be a useful ability on its own, if the protection is really some ability 'cast' in the doorway - you could generalize it into a special kind of permeable, transparent wall that effectively blocks LoS and AoE (and LoE if that is a GURPS term - I forget)). Any ideas are welcome.

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Phantom Trap - permanently (dispellable) make small mechanism/device seem trapped to anybody that checks

An obvious approach is illusion, but I can't seem to figure out the right set of modifiers. How would you represent that you can have a (practically) unlimited number of illusions on at the same time and they don't need to stay near each other to meet illusion's AoE requirements? Basically, it should be "fire and forget" to permanently attach the illusion to an appropriate mechanism/device.
The only other thought I've had is an affliction granting the item an affliction (AoE, Aura, Always On, delusion: item is trapped, permanent, etc) but that ends up being insanely expensive.
Are there any other approaches you can think of, or better ways to implement the approaches I listed?

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Secret Page - permanently modify contents of a page to make it appear to be entirely different, but a special word allows switching it between the original contents and the modified contents

This seems like it could be another highly-customized Illusion, or maybe an affliction of obscure 10 (selective effect, reduced area). Using the latter approach, I'm not sure how you should represent that the obscured text looks like caster-specified different text instead of merely being unreadble.

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I appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, pointers, or other assistance in making these well-defined point-based Sorcery spells.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Extrarius

I'd like to allow marking on objects with very high HT, but I'm not sure how to allow that.

Not sure how to allow that, either (still new here) but I just wanted to ask: are you considering this mark is very hard to remove? I mean can you tag someones butt in combat and they can't just shake it off?

Never underestimate ultimate power's capacity for pranking.

Originally Posted by Extrarius

...but I see no reason to prevent etching on exposed bedrock.

Does it need to be etched? Maybe that would be a separate enhancement or spell. I was picturing Arcane Mark like that writing you get to put down in Dark Souls: it's more like it's floating there then actually physically part of the thing written on.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Not sure how to allow that, either (still new here) but I just wanted to ask: are you considering this mark is very hard to remove? I mean can you tag someones butt in combat and they can't just shake it off?

The standard method of handling a spell like that is to rule that it can only be removed using Remove Curse and that its effects are only suppressed in a No Mana Zone rather than being dispelled.

The Mystic Mark spell in GURPS Magic is very similar, except that the mark is invisible to everyone but the caster.

It seems fair to just modify the Mystic Mark spell so that marks left by the spell are visible and possibly can't be hidden (they somehow "burn" or "bleed" through covering items, or hover above the item's surface).

Additionally, "etching" the mark into a surface seems to be a special effect.

If you wanted a souped-up version of Mystic Mark which somehow "marks" the subject WRT to all Information spells, like allowing observers to magically know why a particular mark was placed, or allowing the subject to be detected or tracked by other spells or powers, that might be a new spell with MM and possibly Seeker as a prerequisite.

[Nose66]

Check out https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com...ell-index.html

He has ported (most) all of the basic Magic spells to Sorcery (some just couldn't be converted).

Looking through those, you should be able to get an idea of how to convert the spells you are interested in.

[Extrarius]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Not sure how to allow that, either (still new here) but I just wanted to ask: are you considering this mark is very hard to remove? I mean can you tag someones butt in combat and they can't just shake it off?

Never underestimate ultimate power's capacity for pranking.

Does it need to be etched? Maybe that would be a separate enhancement or spell. I was picturing Arcane Mark like that writing you get to put down in Dark Souls: it's more like it's floating there then actually physically part of the thing written on.

It is very difficult to remove compared to ordinary markings, which is why I listed "Permanent (Dispellable)", a +150% enhancement. I intend that any kind of dispel magic effect (or any magical ability to erase writing) will remove it , which I think sufficiently covers the required limitation on the +150%% version of permanent.

I mention 'etched' because the original spell does, and I very much like the idea that it would be an obviously physical marking and not 'floaty runes' as are used for special effects in many settings. Note that I'm not imagining something like chiseled stone, but rather more like etched glass (at least enough change that it could be detected by touch, but not be overly obvious) covered in ink (that magically sticks and is insoluble in everything except magic).

Note that Arcane Mark does nothing more than writing - it doesn't aid with divination or otherwise help target the victim except in the same way that the victim having a tattoo would.

I notice that in the translation of Mystic Mark, "Advantage: Mystic Mark +10%" is equal to "Variable 1pt Disad +10%" in cost. I also notice that the translation uses based on IQ. Would that let you afflict inanimate objects without difficulty, such as afflicting the entire earth? I know some other games allow a general distinction between an attribute score of 0 and not having the attribute, but GURPS seems to generally avoid that (the one exception I can think of is FP - you can lack the FP attribute entirely).

[Extrarius]

I finally stumbled into a build I like for "Phantom Trap" - the obvious answer is to just make an actual trap that doesn't harm anything, like so:

Crushing Attack(Partial Dice (1pt) *0.25; Area Effect (1yd) +25%; Delay: Triggered (Variable) +100%; Persistent +40%, Permanently Persistent (Dispellable) +150%; Selective Effect +20%; Damage Limitation (No Wounding, No Blunt Trauma, No Knockback) -80%; Melee Attack (Reach C, 1; No Parry) -25%) [7]

The 1yd area effect (a house rule afaik) is to allow the spell to cover larger mechanisms and also to allow it to be permanently persistent so it "resets" if "tripped". Since all damage effects are removed, the trap doesn't actually do anything if triggered (besides reset), but it is an actual attack waiting to be tripped. Selective effect allows targeting specific parts of the "trapped" device and not just "trapping" the entire thing, if you so desire. You can also select how the trap is triggered, such as when something is unlatched, opened, or something is put into an (apparent?) keyhole, etc.

I suppose it is a house rule to allow the area effect be anchored to the device instead of to a fixed hex, but it seems like a fair trade to give up targetting fixed spaces and only be able to anchor it to the target of the attack.

[munin]

Originally Posted by Extrarius

… Rope Trick - create an extra-dimensional space with room for several people, and the threshold/doorway/whatever blocks spell targetting and areas of effect

I really have no idea how to stat either aspect of this spell - the invisible hiding place feels like one part, and the protective door feels like another (which could be a useful ability on its own, if the protection is really some ability 'cast' in the doorway - you could generalize it into a special kind of permeable, transparent wall that effectively blocks LoS and AoE (and LoE if that is a GURPS term - I forget)). Any ideas are welcome. …

Pyramid #3/63 introduced Jumper (Pocket Dimension). The advantage allows you to access a private extradimensional space. By default the space is bedroom-sized, which seems about right (I wouldn't try to adhere too closely to the D&D details like "eight creatures"). The fact that it's extradimensional means it already is immune to all attacks/effects that don't have World-Spanning (p. P109).

However, the assumption for Jumper (PD) is that the space continues to persist after you leave it. You can leave things and people there and they're fine. The rope trick space doesn't persist when the spell ends which is a major drawback and worthy of a significant limitation on Jumper. I'm going to guesstimate -50%.

To add the window is going to be expensive though -- Tunnel, +100% (p. P89) and Extended Duration, 1,000×, +120% (or whatever you want the duration to be) to make the "tunnel" last the duration.

To add the rope … I think I would just go with Gizmos 1 [5] and call it done. So:

Rope Trick: Jumper (Pocket Dimension; Extended Duration, Tunnel, 1,000×, +120%; No Persistence, -50%; Tunnel, +100%) [270] + Gizmos 1 [5]. 275 points (requires Sorcery 27).

Now that's if you want to reproduce the spell a bit slavishly. To make it cheaper I would get rid of the rope and just do Jumper (PD; Tunnel, +40%) [140]. You activate the spell and are immediately transported into the extradimensional space. Your allies (and enemies) have 3d seconds to hustle in behind you (or maybe a flat 10 seconds if you do a "Fixed Duration, +0%" thing), then the portal closes. When you want to leave, repeat.

[dcarson]

Having to use a rope is a limitation so should not add to the cost.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by dcarson

Having to use a rope is a limitation so should not add to the cost.

It's not "having to use a rope" it's "creating a rope". That said, that should be a VERY limited Gizmo if it can only create a rope, and thus be 1 point.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by Bruno

It's not "having to use a rope" it's "creating a rope". That said, that should be a VERY limited Gizmo if it can only create a rope, and thus be 1 point.

The D&D spell doesn't create a rope, you cast it on a rope. The odds of a party of adventurers not having a rope is pretty low but it does not say it creates one.