It's a fixer-upper!

[TippetsTX]

In the main forum @phiwum made the following comment... "far as I can tell, Alertness doesn't help one prevent the Pickpocketing of his person. Some of these things probably ought to be contests." This got me thinking about 'fixes' we each may have made over the years to the Talents and Spells in our games.

So I'll get us started with...

PICKPOCKET
Roll 3 dice vs. DX to pick a pocket or steal a purse from an average mark or 4d if targeting someone with ALERTNESS or similar heightened awareness; failure means you’re noticed. The GM may apply situational bonuses (or penalties) as appropriate. A distraction arranged to take your victim’s attention, for example, might provide +3 to your DX roll. Pickpocketing with subtlety is hard and unskilled rolls should not be allowed. The Thieves’ Guild teaches this talent, but it is a skill that anyone can teach themself with enough practice (see Thieves’ Guild).

[Shostak]

That looks like a reasonable tweak. I think I'd add Mundane Talent: Sleight of Hand (things like card/coin tricks) gives a +1 bonus/level to adjDX to attempts to use Pickpocket.

[TippetsTX]

My next 'fix' (though perhaps less a fix and more of an preference-based change) is from a very common spell. The main issue we had w/ FIRE was that the fixed damage didn't really capture the unpredictable nature of fire very well. Thus...

FIRE
Fills one hex with magical flame. Effects of this flame are: No creature of less than IQ 6 will pass through or stay in it; animals are afraid of fire. A figure who moves through a fire hex, or is in a hex when a wizard creates fire there, takes 1d3 fire damage and has -1 DX on any actions taken. A figure which moves into a fire hex and stops (to attack, for instance) takes 2d3 and suffers -3 DX that turn. The effects of fire hexes are cumulative within a turn, but armor and protective spells will reduce them.

Example: A figure moves through two fire hexes (1d3+1d3 damage) and stops in a third one to attack (another 2d3 damage). The protection given by that figure’s armor and spells are taken from the total of those rolls to see how many hits the figure actually took from the fire. The hits take effect as soon as the protection is used up. If the figure in the example had STONE FLESH (stopping 4 hits) but no other armor and the initial damage rolls totaled '4', he would suffer no damage in the first two hexes. However, these would use up the protection, and upon stopping in the third hex he would take full damage from the 2d3 roll (the STONE FLESH would still take 4 hits off any other attack that turn). Physical armor, on the other hand, only provides half of its normal protection and shields are of no benefit at all so although the damage ‘resets’ each turn, a heavily armored figure cannot survive the flames indefinitely.

[Shostak]

I like that alteration to fire. However, I'd not make the prohibition for animals absolute. A desperate animal might very well move through fire.

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by Shostak

I like that alteration to fire. However, I'd not make the prohibition for animals absolute. A desperate animal might very well move through fire.

Agreed. I was using the existing language there, but in play there are always exceptions and aberrations to the norm.

[TippetsTX]

Another spell 'fix'...

SHOCK SHIELD (T):
At the end of each turn the spell is active, a powerful electrostatic field will do 1 die of damage to any figures in the subject’s hex (except the subject, of course). Armor and shields won't protect against these shocks. The field will also repel nuisance creatures (q.v.) such as slimes, rats, wasp swarms, etc. Such creatures will be completely unable to enter the subject's hex.


Initially, this was just about tweaking awkward language, but it occurred to us that any electrical field strong enough to cause lethal (albeit minor) damage would also have a measurable repulsive effect on tiny attackers. For simplicity, we just made the effect apply to all nuisance creatures.

P.S. As a fun bit of color, we ruled that the spell makes the subject’s hair stand up.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by Shostak

That looks like a reasonable tweak. I think I'd add Mundane Talent: Sleight of Hand (things like card/coin tricks) gives a +1 bonus/level to adjDX to attempts to use Pickpocket.

I have fond memories of Willow so I approve.

It raises the question of what is a mundane talent and what a regular talent. My take is that the mundane talents are what boring non-adventure-adjacent people do for their job and hobbies. So Sleight of Hand, or Prestidigitation, or Stage Magic, or whatever it's called, being something more in the nature of thievery, bardery and similar adventure-adjacent activities, should probably be a regular talent. I made it IQ 10 and cost 1.

My version:

New Talent: Sleight of Hand (10, costs 1) Using stage magic techniques, i.e. without actual magic, move and hide small objects so they seem to appear, disappear or transform on 3/DX. With appropriate props he can do the same for larger objects. An observer can figure out the trick on 5/IQ, or 4/IQ if they have Alertness, or 3/IQ if they have Sleight of Hand.