The spell familicide

[fictionfan]

In the comic order of the stick page 639 a spell called familicide is cast. A spell which has the effect of killing every living creature that shares the targets bloodline and every living creature that is directly related to any of those creatures is also died and so on and so forth. I can't seem to find a way to state this in D&D, but GURPS is known for being able to do anything so can the spell or power that has the same effect be made?

here is the comic page http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0639.html

[Bruno]

For the ritual magic system, it's actually pretty "easy" - as in game mechanically easy to work out and describe. You have an area effect of the entire planet, a class of people affected that is clearly defined "Everyone descended from this person here", and you even get a symbolic link to that entire class of people, which is helpful.

You'll have a huge stack of penalties, but when you have three epic level archmages backing up your ritual those are sort of easy to divide up and overcome with sheer skill levels as well as stored magical power.

On the Advantage based system, it would be Affliction: Heart Attack with Malediction 1 (+100%) plus enough Area Effect to cover the entire planet (about 24 levels if I'm not mistaken) plus Accessibility: Only people descended from someone helpless in my presence (probably -50% or so). Then buy a crap ton of Reliable or high Will or a skill to boost your contest of Will vs the HT of every target in the area of effect.

[Bruno]

As a classic spell system spell, you'd start with 10 FP cost (as the classical cost for "instant death or close enough" spells), with a discount for the "never able to target anyone who isn't descended from someone helpless and in my presence", so probably ~6 FP for your base cost, and then make it an Area spell and restrict the effect to "anyone applicable in the area". So you'd need to cast it over a very large area.

But again, having three arch mages with probably rather significant personal energy reserves help you with the spellcasting makes that much easier. Never mind that Varsuvius was probably running a black magic pact at the time with a dangerous amount of hell power in it.

[Phantasm]

My initial take:
Affliction 15 (Heart Attack; Area Effect (radius of a planet); Selective Area (Kin of original target for X generations in either direction is a special effect or Accessibility limitation on this enhancement); Costs X FP/ER; Magical).

A few notes:
I have it as Affliction (Heart Attack) as that's the main "save or die" mechanic. And 15 levels of Affliction means the target and all kin roll vs HT-14 or just keel over. That should mean that even those with HT 16 have to roll 3d vs a 2, which is pretty much impossible.

I'm not sure whether the kin of the target is a special effect of the Selective Area or whether it requires an Accessibility tacked onto it. I'm also not sure how much energy is required, so I leave that as an exercise between you and your GM. It doesn't appear as though it costs Vaarsuvius any energy, but then again he's using D&D/Vancian spellcasting; and anyways, the energy would have been provided by the epic-level necromancer soul fragment, not V himself.

This probably calls for a Malediction as well. That changes the roll from HT to Will.

The "Magical" is a typical power modifier. Adjust accordingly to your world's underlying metaphysics.

[RyanW]

In a setting with evolutionary biology, that spell would be a very bad idea, no?

[sir_pudding]

I don't see how it's any harder in D&D. Spell effects are just as arbitrary.

[Langy]

It's also pretty easy to do in Ritual Path Magic.

Greater Destroy Body: 5
Lesser Sense Body: 2
Affliction (Heart Attack): 60 OR Damage (35d Malediction): 140
Area of Effect (10,000 miles): 84
Subject Weight (1000 lbs): 4
Greater Effect Multiplier (1 Greater Effect): x3
Traditional Trappings (Blood Member Present): -25%

Total: 349 OR 529 Energy (465/705 without Traditional Trappings)

You have to decide if you want the Heart Attack affliction or just plain damage, though - damage is more sure, and will absolutely kill everyone, so long as they have no supernatural abilities and less than 20 HP, while heart attack leaves the chance that some might survive. It's got a honking big energy cost, too, so you're probably going to need some sacrifices to power it. Either that, or be a super-powerful archmage, possibly with a circle to draw power from.

Dresden Files spoilers:

This spell is pretty much exactly what the Red Court were trying to pull off in Changes, but then had it cast upon them when Dresden came and messed it up. Used tons of sacrifices and traditional trappings and everything. Very cool to see that it can be statted up.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Langy

You have to decide if you want the Heart Attack affliction or just plain damage, though - damage is more sure, and will absolutely kill everyone, so long as they have no supernatural abilities and less than 20 HP, while heart attack leaves the chance that some might survive. It's got a honking big energy cost, too, so you're probably going to need some sacrifices to power it. Either that, or be a super-powerful archmage, possibly with a circle to draw power from.

Since this spell was cast on a family-line of Dragons, it seems highly likely that some of them would have supernatural protections or more than 20 HP. This also seems more like a "save or die" mechanic rather than a "massive damage" mechanic.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

Since this spell was cast on a family-line of Dragons, it seems highly likely that some of them would have supernatural protections or more than 20 HP. This also seems more like a "save or die" mechanic rather than a "massive damage" mechanic.

Then Heart Attack would work better, I suppose. You'd just need a much higher skill in order to ensure success, since it'd be a quick contest of skill versus HT. Just make sure your Witch has effective skill in the 25+ range (easily doable with grimoires, of course).

[panton41]

Originally Posted by RyanW

In a setting with evolutionary biology, that spell would be a very bad idea, no?

That was my initial thought, too.