Unintended spell consequences

[timm meyers]

I have been playing in a great campaign with some of the most "fun"tastic and creative people.
One character background is a warrior who has a massive scar on their head and as a result has limited knowledge of their own past + is a bit of a simpleton. Having found a ring with the "Aid" spell enchantment earlier in the campaign the two wizards wisely "gifted" the magic item to him with the intention of having a living ST battery in a pinch (ahhh those magi always thinking of others...smirk). During play in the last session he was encouraged to "practice" casting the aid spell to show him he could boost his DX but instead he proposed boosting his IQ?!?!

Has anyone ever thought of the aid spell = IQ boost = super effect.....

Memory loss as exampled above. Does boosting the IQ help retrieve lost memories etc?

What about the pet you aid to IQ 8 or 9 and shout "aimed shot at the legs" or "go get help". They fully understand for 10 seconds and then what?

That 5/IQ tactics roll at the start of a combat. You brilliantly deduce what the enemy intends to do but after 10 seconds.....

Looking forward to some "thoughtful" input/conversation.

[Axly Suregrip]

Sorry but people and animals don't gain talents, spells and languages they never knew. They do regain such if they were known before but somehow lost IQ to below that talent/spell's minimum IQ, if the IQ aid brings the IQ back to or over the minimum.

So, maybe the head trauma victim had a past life with various talents now forgotten. This could be fun and useful.

Outside of that, Aid boosting IQ is helpful for disbelieving and other IQ saving rolls (Scrying, etc).

[Drakenbow]

Originally Posted by timm meyers

During play in the last session he was encouraged to "practice" casting the aid spell to show him he could boost his DX but instead he proposed boosting his IQ?!?!

Sure. I would consider it a bit like reversing the effects of a Confusion spell or temporarily gaining back IQ points lost under Lossing Attributes When...(p.47).

Memory loss as exampled above. Does boosting the IQ help retrieve lost memories etc?

IMO it depends how the memories were lost. Perhaps fragments of some memories as content to a future game? But like a dream, the memory would fade in details when the IQ boast wears off. Something as a memory like where did I put my car keys would be a roll for remembering. The game master has a lot of potential options here.

What about the pet you aid to IQ 8 or 9 and shout "aimed shot at the legs" or "go get help". They fully understand for 10 seconds and then what?

IMO the animal would not magically learn a language. If the pet was trained to 'go for the legs' or 'go search for help', then the pet would understand the command easier any commands given during the duration. Consider it more like the IQ of a war horse over regular horses for the duration.

That 5/IQ tactics roll at the start of a combat. You brilliantly deduce what the enemy intends to do but after 10 seconds.....

That's a good ploy, but I agree it would only work for the duration. For the duration, a Tactician or Stratigist could belt out a more comprehensive battle plan, but afterwards the person wouldn't be able to say why his/her plan was a good idea.

[JohnPaulB]

Originally Posted by Drakenbow

Quote: Memory loss as exampled above. Does boosting the IQ help retrieve lost memories etc?
IMO it depends how the memories were lost. Perhaps fragments of some memories as content to a future game? But like a dream, the memory would fade in details when the IQ boast wears off. Something as a memory like where did I put my car keys would be a roll for remembering. The game master has a lot of potential options here.

My thought is that the raising of the IQ by an Aid Spell would give insight or recall in a 5 to 10 second blip. The target would need to roll adjIQ to see if he recalls it, then a short bit of memory of that thing is fairly well recalled. It might be a short phrase that someone said or a feeling or sound or a super-compressed plot to a story. All this would have to be something that the target actually experienced.

I'm thinking that after the 10 seconds or so of recall of that past memory, it is still remembered by the target for about a minute, though not remembered exactly. After that, it will fade quickly. If the target could work with the memory right after that 10 second blip, it might become a permanent present memory if target spends a 5 minute rest thinking about it and makes his regular IQ roll.

This would not be a revival of lost talents (that would need permanently raised IQ), but it could be an insight the target had of how to appropriately use the talent and the target could make suggestions of how to do it or why do it.

One could consecutively have the Aid Spell cast upon the target and they might have more time to remember that thing.

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by timm meyers

Does boosting the IQ help retrieve lost memories etc?

I agree with Drakenbow that the memories and their significance would fade as the spell expired.

What about the pet you aid to IQ 8 or 9 and shout "aimed shot at the legs" or "go get help". They fully understand for 10 seconds and then what?

If it is a trained animal, absolutely. I'd still use the rules for trained animals on ITL 94. If the animal was not able to carry out the command before the spell expired, I'd allow a roll to see if the animal retained comprehension of the command, so long as they'd be able to act on it quickly.

That 5/IQ tactics roll at the start of a combat. You brilliantly deduce what the enemy intends to do but after 10 seconds.....

I'd allow this. I'd tell the player, probably in a private message, and then let them relate it to the other players in character.

[hcobb]

If a character has learned a talent and then lost attributes they DO NOT forget the talent, but are simply unable to use it. In this one case the Aid spell can help unlock this blocked talent. See ITL 47

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by hcobb

If a character has learned a talent and then lost attributes they DO NOT forget the talent, but are simply unable to use it. In this one case the Aid spell can help unlock this blocked talent. See ITL 47

While that is so, if a player creates a character who, for some reason, has forgotten talents because they lost IQ, I'm not going to to say "Nope, sorry, the rules say your character remembers the talents." And so, it makes sense to have a consistent response for when the players decide to use Aid to boost IQ to try to remember things.

[hcobb]

What is the cost of creating a character who remembers being a Fencer and will regain that talent once they flip xp into iq 11?