Song of Terror collateral damage?

[Michael Thayne]

Using Song of Terror with any frequency seems like a recipe for loading up your allies with quirks and perhaps eventually acquiring a Phobia related to your music on an especially bad roll. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't among the many things in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy changed for DFRPG. Has anyone run into this, and if so how did you handle it?

[Rhino]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Using Song of Terror with any frequency seems like a recipe for loading up your allies with quirks and perhaps eventually acquiring a Phobia related to your music on an especially bad roll. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't among the many things in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy changed for DFRPG. Has anyone run into this, and if so how did you handle it?

Never had a player take it. With time to prepare, a wizard could cast Resist Sound on the party before battle.

[Dalin]

I've seen it used a fair amount, typically in situations like these:

• Bard uses stealth or magic to sneak ahead to be near a large group of foes who he then sings at.
• Party uses wax or other mundane ways to muffle their hearing.
• Wall of Silence cast around the party, then the Bard steps out (or sticks her head out).
• Resist Sound on the PCs (or at least the PCs who are most likely to fail a fright check).
• Emergencies where it's worth the risk of collateral damage.

[restlessgriffin]

Originally Posted by Rhino

Never had a player take it. With time to prepare, a wizard could cast Resist Sound on the party before battle.

Wouldn't that be extremely expensive not to mention time consuming. Maybe use wax to plug ears before hand?

[Michael Thayne]

You know, Resist Sound and Wall of Silence only last 1 minute, but Bravery lasts a whole hour and can be cast on up to seven people for 4 FP. That might be the best solution.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

You know, Resist Sound and Wall of Silence only last 1 minute, but Bravery lasts a whole hour and can be cast on up to seven people for 4 FP. That might be the best solution.

Is there a rule that you can only have one person per hex when casting spells? Why not a pre-battle group hug?

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Is there a rule that you can only have one person per hex when casting spells? Why not a pre-battle group hug?

There is no such rule, so it is whatever the GM allows in terms of the maximum number of SM0 characters in a hex. For typical-sized groups, I usually just allow everyone to fit in a single hex.

I should have included Bravery in my list. It's a great one because it is cheap, long-lasting, and comes with the potentially fun side-effect that characters "must roll vs. IQ to avoid being brave, should caution be called for."

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Is there a rule that you can only have one person per hex when casting spells? Why not a pre-battle group hug?

Depends oon how much cheesy munchkinism you're GM embraces. If your GM is Kromm, you're probably okay, this is the exact sort of gouda Kromm wrote DFRPG for.

[tbone]

You could argue that a few sensible mods should steel the bard's friends to better resist. After all, the sudden terror of the Song is presumably a surprise to the enemies but expected by allies.

Maybe a general mod like this:

• Ally of bard (i.e., simply knowing that the source of the Song is friend, not foe): +2 (Might not apply if the allies had no idea the bard could do the Song!)

Plus mods for readiness:

• Knowing a moment ahead of time that the Song is coming: +2*
• Encouragement from a leader who makes a Leadership roll ("Stand fast, lads, only those orcs need be scared by this!"): +1**

* I'm thinking this could be generalized to any Fright Check situation, when the target knows exactly what coming and when ("As soon as I open the gate, you'll see the tentacles. Get ready..."). It's arguably the same +2 that Combat Reflexes grants; the difference is that most people need advance warning to gain the +2, while those with CR instantly adapt to surprise and always enjoy the bonus.

** This is nothing specific to Song of Terror, just a general application of Encouragement (Exploits p. 57). This could come from any leader; technically, it can't come from the bard, as Encouragement is its own action. A kind GM could allow the bard to combine the actions, though.

So, with those mods, party members who are mentally steeled for the Song would enjoy a +4 bonus to resist, +5 if Encouragement succeeds.

Just ideas. With the bonuses, prepared party members might still freeze at times, but not get messed up in the head so easily...

Do the mods seem too generous? Should they technically (from a strict GURPS standpoint, anyway) raise the cost of the Song if adopted?