Stats for D&D spells in a Fantasy game?

[Blind Mapmaker]

Neat, had that one filed away under campaign template mentally. Goes to show what you can miss when you are not currently interested in an aspect of the game.

Concerning that Mass Resist doesn't it look awfully cheap even for a secret spell? For 4 energy you can make 7 people immune to fire for a minute. Casting time of four seconds would be a bit long for combat casting, but for more premeditated violence (and arson) it is really cheap. Part of that problem is certainly the fact that Resist Fire is already awfully cheap, but just transferring this to let's say Vigor and the like would be a bit munchkinny in my opinion.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

Neat, had that one filed away under campaign template mentally. Goes to show what you can miss when you are not currently interested in an aspect of the game.

Concerning that Mass Resist doesn't it look awfully cheap even for a secret spell? For 4 energy you can make 7 people immune to fire for a minute. Casting time of four seconds would be a bit long for combat casting, but for more premeditated violence (and arson) it is really cheap. Part of that problem is certainly the fact that Resist Fire is already awfully cheap, but just transferring this to let's say Vigor and the like would be a bit munchkinny in my opinion.

The problem is that energy reductions apply to the new total, not to the individual total. This makes maintenance very hard, reducing the practicality of the spell. This, compounded with the fact that it's hard to cast in media res, keeps it balanced in my experience.

Example: Mage knows Resist Fire-15 or more, allowing him to give the first level of protection to someone and maintain it for free. He can protect his 5 man party all day, and the only thing he will suffer, is -5 to all other spells. He pays 1x5=5 energy to do so. Now, with Mass Resist Fire, he can protect the same party for 3 energy, but it must come all at once, and he would need 4 seconds to do so. He would have to pay 1 energy/minute to keep it active, meaning that he can't have it up permanently. This means that he can't cast it in combat, and he can't have it up permanently, so it's only for situations where the caster knows such spell will be necessary, and what he gets is a drastic reduction in the number of active spells, in exchange for taking a secret spell perk, and knowing a different spell that does the same as the spell he already knows.

If he had Skill 20, he would be able to afford the second level of protection via single target Resist Fire as a permanent effect, or the first level of the first level for a 2 yard radius as a permanent effect.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

Concerning that Mass Resist doesn't it look awfully cheap even for a secret spell? For 4 energy you can make 7 people immune to fire for a minute.

Out of combat, you can already rest/tap external sources/whatever to recover between/after castings, and high skill reduces FP spent on casting and maintenance on a per person basis, which has a stacking benefit. It's already a cheap spell to cast on a single subject (or if you prefer, Vitality +1 or something), you're just paying a little in character points to cover the "oh hey only counts as one spell on" factor... in exchange for the risk of "Oh hey, can be dispelled on everyone as only one spell!" factor.

You could buy the lack of penalties separately as a series of perks for the base spell and skip the Secret Spell issue entirely - AND keep the resistance to spell purging.

[Bruno]

Compare: Secret Spell [1] plus at least point in the new spell [1] vs. 2 points in Reduced Footprint [2] - the Reduced Footprint character can have 3 Resist [Whatever] effects active for a -1 penalty, and if his one-point level is 15+ (endemic amongst the kinds of people who need Greater Resist [whatever] - AKA adventurers) then he can maintain all three copies indefinitely. Which means he can pre-cast and rest somewhere comfortable while recovering, and go into things perfectly fresh.

The Secret Spell character has buffed 4 extra people, but is maintaining for 1 FP/Minute, and can have the whole house of cards taken down by only one dispel-type effect. This wizard can't rest - he'll be leaking FP faster than he can recover it.

Replace with whatever spell you like that costs 2-and-half-to-maintain - if Vigor or Might are fair at their current costs, they're fair this way too.