The Wizard Cover Spell

Shadekeep · 08-24-2018, 07:31 PM

Remember the cover to the Wizard microgame? Not the first edition, which was very Prog Rock, but the one with the wizard and the fighter, and the wizard had the fighter's face in an orb. It kind of bothered me back then that there was no spell like that in the game. So I added it to the game back then, though it wasn't especially popular. Here's the spec for it:

FACELIFT (S) [IQ 15] (Costs 4 ST to cast)
The caster must be in the adjacent hex to the target. With a successful cast of this spell, the caster abstracts the target's face off and into a magical containment sphere. The target suffers 1d6 points of shock and suffocation damage each turn their face is lifted. There is no per-turn cost for caster to maintain this, as the spell feeds off the target's lifeforce. However, the wizard can take no other action while they maintain the spell. The target has two options: (1) try a contest of wills to break the spell, which is 4D6 versus IQ, or (2) try to grapple with the wizard, at a -8 DX penalty. If they try to grapple, the wizard can try a 3D6 versus DX save to dodge, while still maintaining the spell. If the wizard is attacked for damage by anyone else during the spell's run it breaks the enchantment. If the target dies while the spell is active their face dissolves and they leave a faceless corpse behind. This can make resurrection a problem.

Was anyone else inspired by the old cover to come up with their own spell?

PS - Pretty dang sure the wizard on that cover is SJ himself. Believe I read something confirming that back in the day, too.

rattraveller · 08-25-2018, 05:10 AM

Looks good just imaging the kind of wizard who calmly sits back and watches someone suffocates to death.

Shadekeep · 08-25-2018, 06:52 AM

Indeed, it does have that haughty contemptuousness one so often find in martial mages.

I think if I were designing the spell today I'd reduce the grapple penalty to -4 DX. -8 is just brutal, especially as the wizard still gets a good chance to evade it. I originally set the penalty so high because I figured it would be really hard to grapple in that state, and also because one basically needed their teammates to step up and smack the wizard, thus breaking the spell. It did make the spell a really nasty one for assassination, though, especially when you wanted the faceless corpse to be used as a warning.

Shostak · 08-25-2018, 07:16 AM

As mentioned in a similar thread, the illustration could easily be seen as an artist's rendering of the Death spell.

Shadekeep · 08-25-2018, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shostak

As mentioned in a similar thread, the illustration could easily be seen as an artist's rendering of the Death spell.

Good point, that's a cool interpretation as well.

08-24-2018, 07:31 PM	#1
Shadekeep Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Aerlith	The Wizard Cover Spell Remember the cover to the Wizard microgame? Not the first edition, which was very Prog Rock, but the one with the wizard and the fighter, and the wizard had the fighter's face in an orb. It kind of bothered me back then that there was no spell like that in the game. So I added it to the game back then, though it wasn't especially popular. Here's the spec for it: FACELIFT (S) [IQ 15] (Costs 4 ST to cast) The caster must be in the adjacent hex to the target. With a successful cast of this spell, the caster abstracts the target's face off and into a magical containment sphere. The target suffers 1d6 points of shock and suffocation damage each turn their face is lifted. There is no per-turn cost for caster to maintain this, as the spell feeds off the target's lifeforce. However, the wizard can take no other action while they maintain the spell. The target has two options: (1) try a contest of wills to break the spell, which is 4D6 versus IQ, or (2) try to grapple with the wizard, at a -8 DX penalty. If they try to grapple, the wizard can try a 3D6 versus DX save to dodge, while still maintaining the spell. If the wizard is attacked for damage by anyone else during the spell's run it breaks the enchantment. If the target dies while the spell is active their face dissolves and they leave a faceless corpse behind. This can make resurrection a problem. Was anyone else inspired by the old cover to come up with their own spell? PS - Pretty dang sure the wizard on that cover is SJ himself. Believe I read something confirming that back in the day, too.

08-25-2018, 05:10 AM	#2
rattraveller Join Date: Jun 2018	Re: The Wizard Cover Spell Looks good just imaging the kind of wizard who calmly sits back and watches someone suffocates to death.

08-25-2018, 06:52 AM	#3
Shadekeep Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Aerlith	Re: The Wizard Cover Spell Indeed, it does have that haughty contemptuousness one so often find in martial mages. I think if I were designing the spell today I'd reduce the grapple penalty to -4 DX. -8 is just brutal, especially as the wizard still gets a good chance to evade it. I originally set the penalty so high because I figured it would be really hard to grapple in that state, and also because one basically needed their teammates to step up and smack the wizard, thus breaking the spell. It did make the spell a really nasty one for assassination, though, especially when you wanted the faceless corpse to be used as a warning.

08-25-2018, 07:16 AM	#4
Shostak Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: New England	Re: The Wizard Cover Spell As mentioned in a similar thread, the illustration could easily be seen as an artist's rendering of the Death spell.