Song of Terror collateral damage?

[Michael Thayne]

Using Song of Terror with any frequency seems like a recipe for loading up your allies with quirks and perhaps eventually acquiring a Phobia related to your music on an especially bad roll. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't among the many things in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy changed for DFRPG. Has anyone run into this, and if so how did you handle it?

[Rhino]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Using Song of Terror with any frequency seems like a recipe for loading up your allies with quirks and perhaps eventually acquiring a Phobia related to your music on an especially bad roll. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't among the many things in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy changed for DFRPG. Has anyone run into this, and if so how did you handle it?

Never had a player take it. With time to prepare, a wizard could cast Resist Sound on the party before battle.

[Dalin]

I've seen it used a fair amount, typically in situations like these:

• Bard uses stealth or magic to sneak ahead to be near a large group of foes who he then sings at.
• Party uses wax or other mundane ways to muffle their hearing.
• Wall of Silence cast around the party, then the Bard steps out (or sticks her head out).
• Resist Sound on the PCs (or at least the PCs who are most likely to fail a fright check).
• Emergencies where it's worth the risk of collateral damage.

[restlessgriffin]

Originally Posted by Rhino

Never had a player take it. With time to prepare, a wizard could cast Resist Sound on the party before battle.

Wouldn't that be extremely expensive not to mention time consuming. Maybe use wax to plug ears before hand?

[Michael Thayne]

You know, Resist Sound and Wall of Silence only last 1 minute, but Bravery lasts a whole hour and can be cast on up to seven people for 4 FP. That might be the best solution.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

You know, Resist Sound and Wall of Silence only last 1 minute, but Bravery lasts a whole hour and can be cast on up to seven people for 4 FP. That might be the best solution.

Is there a rule that you can only have one person per hex when casting spells? Why not a pre-battle group hug?

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Is there a rule that you can only have one person per hex when casting spells? Why not a pre-battle group hug?

There is no such rule, so it is whatever the GM allows in terms of the maximum number of SM0 characters in a hex. For typical-sized groups, I usually just allow everyone to fit in a single hex.

I should have included Bravery in my list. It's a great one because it is cheap, long-lasting, and comes with the potentially fun side-effect that characters "must roll vs. IQ to avoid being brave, should caution be called for."

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Is there a rule that you can only have one person per hex when casting spells? Why not a pre-battle group hug?

Depends oon how much cheesy munchkinism you're GM embraces. If your GM is Kromm, you're probably okay, this is the exact sort of gouda Kromm wrote DFRPG for.