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Old 11-15-2022, 07:03 AM   #17
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: GURPS version of Ghostly Reload D&D spell?

Quote:
Originally Posted by thom View Post
Guys, thanks for the input. However, I might not have been as clear as I could have been for what the PC actually wants:
• He wants the spell to allow the crossbow to be cocked as a Free Action-period!
• This allows him to make a Fast-Draw (bolt) roll to place a bolt as a Free action, and then he'll bring the crossbow to bear as a Ready action. Which allows him to shoot the crossbow on his next turn...

So, given these parameters, my question is how much FP to cast this spell, and should there be any other restrictions?

thom

EDIT: clarified cocking the crossbow as a Free action...
I believe Thaumatology has rules for applying Enhancements to spells, where the percentage increase is both translated into a penalty (I think -1 per +10%) and applied to the FP cost. For a dedicated crossbow-reloading spell - rather than the generic Dancing Objects spell we're basing our spell off of (and which may be a prerequisite; at the very least, the two spells should probably have similar prerequisite chains) - I feel being able to adjust the effective ST directly, simply having this modify the FP cost without any casting penalty, should be acceptable (and we want to be able to vary the ST, considering there are a range of crossbows we may want to use this with).

As for making cocking the crossbow a free action, as I noted above, reducing the time to cock it to 0.5 seconds should suffice to count as "instant" for GURPS purposes. There are two ways to go about this. The method I personally feel is most appropriate is to cast the spell with enough ST to cock the crossbow in half a second. I believe matching a crossbow's rated ST allows you to cock it in one second*, so having twice the Basic Lift - roughly x1.5 to ST - of the crossbow's rated ST should let you cock it in 0.5 seconds (having half the BL would call for 2 seconds, for example). So, with the same cost as Dancing Objects - giving the spell ST 15 - you can cock a crossbow up to ST 10 instantly. To cock an ST 15 crossbow instantly, you'd need BL 90 or better, or ST 22. That's +46.7% to ST, so apply that to the FP cost, and you're good to go (if you want higher resolution, you can actually figure out how much you need to boost BL, then take the square root of that to see what multiplier would be needed; to go from BL 45 to BL 90 is x2 to BL, and the square root of 2 is 1.414, so you're looking at +41.4% to the FP cost).

The second method, which is arguably a bit simpler, is to get the ST of the spell up to match that of the crossbow (so that it should take 1 second to cock), then toss on Reduced Time +20% (making it a free action).

I believe Dancing Object normally lasts for an hour (I don't have Magic, but I noticed one of the Sorcery conversions gave it a 90 minute duration, which is an odd value but has the same cost as a 60 minute duration, so I'm going to assume they were shooting for that and just opted against rounding the duration down), which may be markedly longer than you want. So you may want to apply Reduced Duration. I'd have this be a built-in statistic for the spell, rather than something that can be adjusted when casting (like ST). If you want it to last 20 minutes, that's -10%; 10 minutes is -15%; 6 minutes is -20%; 3 minutes is -25%; 2 minutes is -30%; 1 minute is -35%; 36 seconds is -40%. Personally, if opting to reduce the base Duration, I'd either go with 10 minutes for -15% or 6 minutes (which I'd round down to 5 minutes) for -20% - that makes it something that you can cast ahead of time if you're expecting trouble in the immediate future, but something unlikely to apply for more than one encounter.


As an aside, however, making the cocking instant may not be necessary. You could probably modify a crossbow for only a few $ such that you can load the bolt before the string is drawn back, and the bolt will go with it. With such a modification, the character could load the bolt as a free action while the string is being drawn back, then use a Ready to prepare their weapon to fire. By the time their next turn rolls around, the crossbow will be fully cocked and ready to fire. You could even get away with a two-second cocking time, if the character opts to Aim before each shot. Something for the player to consider.

*Looking at the reload time of 4 seconds, however, I may be mistaken - perhaps a crossbow that you match the ST of takes 2 seconds to cock. If so, that means you need 2x the BL of the crossbow's ST to cock it in one second, 4x to cock it instantly. That's x1.414 (typically rounded up to x1.5) and x2 to ST, respectively. Or, if using Reduced Time, you need two levels of it, for +40%, in addition to any adjustments necessary for ST.
Of course, another fly in the ointment is that the reason the crossbow needs a Ready to prepare to fire after reloading is because you need to switch grips to pull back the string; a self-cocking crossbow may not need that final Ready at all!
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