Designer's Notes for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG bonus content

[PK]

Bonus Spell #1:
Retribution

(Introduced in this Kickstarter update.)

When I was bouncing ideas off of my friends, two of them (Ben and Ben) suggested combat ideas that involved rewinding time or affecting a foe at range as a sort of curse. It got me to thinking about what sort of curses a holy god might approve of, and "you hurt my follower so I'll hurt you" seemed to fit a righteous-yet-lawful "eye for an eye" mentality.

In a way, Retribution is both underpowered and overpowered, depending on the situation. Against most foes, it's more spiteful than anything; a cleric is probably better off maintaining more directly useful buffs on his friends, so they don't get hit in the first place! But some foes are difficult to hurt, due to defenses, distance, Injury Tolerance, and so on. The fae reaver (don't worry, you'll see it soon) is a great example. With a barbarian or similarly beefy meat shield and healing spells at the ready, Retribution can make the bad guy do all of the work!