Explosive gems

[Drakenbow]

Originally Posted by Bill_in_IN

Back to the topic of Explosive Gems and their cost.
....
I do allow for a thrown spell DX adjustment to be waived if the wizard casting it is touching the target.

The moral of this story is that the cost of explosive gems is at the mercy of the wizard's tolerance to danger. Functionally, this is tolerance to their chance to roll an 18 for DX

Sounds like the casting wizard needs to have a lucky Charm to mitigate that roll of 18.

Tangent due to a comment: You mentioned for your house rules to waive certain thrown spell DX adjustments. There is for fighters an optional rule on p.127 "Waiting for an Opening" which I've been mulling around in my head for a similar version for wizards I would call "Taking Your Time". This would allow a wizard using the same constraints of not "moving, dodging, attacking, disbelieving, etc," for up to two turns to gain a DX bonus to casting.

[Bill_in_IN]

Originally Posted by Drakenbow

Sounds like the casting wizard needs to have a lucky Charm to mitigate that roll of 18.

Tangent due to a comment: You mentioned for your house rules to waive certain thrown spell DX adjustments. There is for fighters an optional rule on p.127 "Waiting for an Opening" which I've been mulling around in my head for a similar version for wizards I would call "Taking Your Time". This would allow a wizard using the same constraints of not "moving, dodging, attacking, disbelieving, etc," for up to two turns to gain a DX bonus to casting.

I would have to double check the option in ITL. I know that you can wait a turn with missile weapons while aiming at a target to get a +1DX bonus. I can't remember if missile spells are included but extending it to that is worthy of discussion. Also, I would have to check ITL on its application to throw weapons/spells. I don't have ITL handy right now.

[hcobb]

Turn your staff II into a sling staff so you ignore critical failures.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Drakenbow

Sounds like the casting wizard needs to have a lucky Charm to mitigate that roll of 18.

Tangent due to a comment: You mentioned for your house rules to waive certain thrown spell DX adjustments. There is for fighters an optional rule on p.127 "Waiting for an Opening" which I've been mulling around in my head for a similar version for wizards I would call "Taking Your Time". This would allow a wizard using the same constraints of not "moving, dodging, attacking, disbelieving, etc," for up to two turns to gain a DX bonus to casting.

Per RAW, an 18 is an 18. Getting a DX bonus doesn't change that.

Though a curse spell does change it, since it adds to the die roll. I guess a charm, mentioned above, takes away the chance of an 18, since it subtracts from the die roll.

At least that's how I read it.

[Drakenbow]

Originally Posted by phiwum

Per RAW, an 18 is an 18. Getting a DX bonus doesn't change that.

Though a curse spell does change it, since it adds to the die roll. I guess a charm, mentioned above, takes away the chance of an 18, since it subtracts from the die roll.

At least that's how I read it.

Charm isn't a DX bonus. Legacy on p.162 doesn't quite live up to the explaination from the Codex (classic). It states the bonuse is added to the die roll and nothing about the actual attribute. The Codex is more clear.
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Reference is the Codex, last page of the Q&As "Question on charms"
Q: Does a charm item effec the die roll before or after the check for automatics/criticals/fumbles? e.g. roll and (sic) 18 with +2 charms treat as 16 (auto miss) or 18 (break weapon)?

A: before, curse works the same way.

<two more questions>
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So, it modifies the roll itself with the final result needing to be within the original range. eg having a +2 Charm changes a roll to hit of 5 into a 3 for triple damage, but it does not change a roll of 3 into a roll of 1.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Drakenbow

Charm isn't a DX bonus. Legacy on p.162 doesn't quite live up to the explaination from the Codex (classic). It states the bonuse is added to the die roll and nothing about the actual attribute. The Codex is more clear.
-


Reference is the Codex, last page of the Q&As "Question on charms"
Q: Does a charm item effec the die roll before or after the check for automatics/criticals/fumbles? e.g. roll and (sic) 18 with +2 charms treat as 16 (auto miss) or 18 (break weapon)?

A: before, curse works the same way.

<two more questions>
-

So, it modifies the roll itself with the final result needing to be within the original range. eg having a +2 Charm changes a roll to hit of 5 into a 3 for triple damage, but it does not change a roll of 3 into a roll of 1.

I agree that Charm will prevent an 18. But you also spoke of a "Taking your time" option. That wouldn't prevent an 18.

Now maybe you realized that "Taking your time" isn't strictly relevant to the problem of prematurely exploding gems, but I wasn't sure.

[Drakenbow]

Originally Posted by phiwum

I agree that Charm will prevent an 18. But you also spoke of a "Taking your time" option. That wouldn't prevent an 18.

Now maybe you realized that "Taking your time" isn't strictly relevant to the problem of prematurely exploding gems, but I wasn't sure.

I reread what you posted. I missed out for what ever reason catching the last part.

But to clarify my comment on "Taking your time" was specifically to a previous comment by Bill_in_IN which I specified as a tangent based on this, not about rolling 18s.

Bill_in_IN
"I do allow for a thrown spell DX adjustment to be waived if the wizard casting it is touching the target."