Flavorfull Magic Items

[Anders]

Yes to both. It is effectively a poison, unless you're a warrior before battle and has a deathwish.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Anders

Yes to both. It is effectively a poison, unless you're a warrior before battle and has a deathwish.

Now I've got this great idea for a character: a Wizard with Berserk (9). Normally he does the typical wizard thing of buffing others, spinning off illusions, Blinking away from damage, Glueing enemies to the floor, etc.

But hit him hard enough and he might just lose his temper and start (rather stupidly) whacking away at you with his staff.

The entertainment value would be to see how long you can keep him alive.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by corwyn

On that note, I would recommend Magic Items 1, 2, and 3 for flavorfull magic items easily ported to DF.

Note: 3 is the one which gets actively flavourful, sometimes to the point of high weirdness.

Anyway, from deep in my own past, I give you...

The Staff of Earthquakes: Once per hour, casts a maximum power Earthquake spell, centered on the user (who has to strike the ground with it while mentally commanding it to work). Fortunately, the staff also makes the holder immune to the effects of all earthquakes, magical or natural; even falling rubble is deflected an inch from their skin.

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Note: 3 is the one which gets actively flavourful, sometimes to the point of high weirdness.

Anyway, from deep in my own past, I give you...

The Staff of Earthquakes: Once per hour, casts a maximum power Earthquake spell, centered on the user (who has to strike the ground with it while mentally commanding it to work). Fortunately, the staff also makes the holder immune to the effects of all earthquakes, magical or natural; even falling rubble is deflected an inch from their skin.

What's the AoE on the staff's Earthquake?

P.S. I'm not sure but I assume this sentence in Earthquake "Divide the distance to the edge of the affected area by 20 before figuring your skill penalty" is intended to actually mean "Divide the AoE radius by 20 before figuring the energy cost," because a 1-yard severe earthquake would be truly absurd and yet an earthquake large enough to cover even a single building would be prohibitively expensive at base cost 6.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

What's the AoE on the staff's Earthquake?

P.S. I'm not sure but I assume this sentence in Earthquake "Divide the distance to the edge of the affected area by 20 before figuring your skill penalty" is intended to actually mean "Divide the AoE radius by 20 before figuring the energy cost," because a 1-yard severe earthquake would be truly absurd and yet an earthquake large enough to cover even a single building would be prohibitively expensive at base cost 6.

Yeah, but you also want to be certain that the earthquake does not happen on your head. If they wanted the base cost to be 1/10 or something they could have made it that way.

Earthquake is probably best cast using ceremonial magic. For instance, you could have your congregation wander around a city seven times and clash their cymbals and blow their horn...

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Anders

Yeah, but you also want to be certain that the earthquake does not happen on your head. If they wanted the base cost to be 1/10 or something they could have made it that way.

Earthquake is probably best cast using ceremonial magic. For instance, you could have your congregation wander around a city seven times and clash their cymbals and blow their horn...

RE: "Does not happen on your head", remember that you can shape AoEs (DF Spells pg 13), such as excluding yourself from an AoE.

I don't think DFRPG has rules for ceremonial magic. If you did want to do a Jericho thing you probably wouldn't refer to DF Spells' Earthquake at all, either. You'd just expect the GM to tell you when or if the walls come tumblin' down.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by sjmdw45

What's the AoE on the staff's Earthquake?

Let's say, oh, 25 hex radius.