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#1 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
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This spell looks powerful, but is nearly impossible to use. Time to cast is 1 minute and the spell only lasts another minute.
The only time I can think this is useful is when you can accurately determine the time and place where someone is coming, down to the minute and hex. So meticulous, successful planning is required to set an ambush, and you have to estimate the foes' arrival time accurately. Can anyone give me examples of when they have used this spell effectively? What would it do, if the Time to Cast were to be changed to e.g. 10 seconds? |
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#2 |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
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I cannot remember that spell being ever used in my games.
It can be maintened, so duration is not limited to 1 minute ! If you can maintain it for free, I guess it can see various use, for guard animals mostly. Another possibility is a delayed casting, for example on a guard dog, keyed to the door opening or something. If the prerequisites were less, I could see it being a common spells for hedge wizard. It could be an interesting trap if cast on a hex of wasp or hornets ... Last edited by Celjabba; 04-27-2020 at 03:58 PM. |
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#3 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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The main use would be offensive, not defensive: cast it on animals you have a way of convincing to attack, the use them to overrun a position. You can fit an awful lot of animals in a 10 hex radius.
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#4 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
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But if the animals leave the area, do the bonuses still affect them? If yes, then I agree, the spell is good.
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#5 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Not by my understanding of the text of the spell. Protection area-effect spells generally apply their effects only within the original area. It seems like a ward, more than an affliction.
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#6 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Both area-persistant and object-persistent area spells exist in GURPS, but in general area-persistent spells specify what happens when you enter or stay in the area.
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#7 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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I would think "leave this on my henhouse to protect my poultry from roving wolves" would be pretty useful defensively, with DR 5 it'd be pretty hard for a wolf to eat your chickens.
M128's "Maintain Spell" would be useful for this if you didn't want to take the -1 penalty to other spells by having it count as on. If it costs 0 energy to maintain, you need to invest 1 energy per 5 minutes (12 per hour) so it's pretty costly... it might be that using Delay / Hang Spell / Link could somehow cost lest for long durations of chicken coop protection. This might be important if you went to sleep, I can't remember if you're able to maintain spells while asleep... *checks M9* nope... "Lend Spell" (M126) could be useful here, as a mage could just hand off maintenance of the spell to the ranch hand... but I'm not certain he'd be able to do a 0-energy/minute maintenance cost like a skill 15 mage could, I guess it depends on whether maintenance cost is calculated via the skill of the original caster or the lendee. Anyone know if there's an FAQ on that? Another option if you don't know lend spell is to cast this via Ceremonial Magic (M32's usual 1 minute becomes 10 to cast). M12 allows ceremony participants to pay energy to maintain... That's another thing on the rules I'm unsure of. When it says unskilled participants can lend a max of 1 energy, is that just for the initial casting or does the cap also include subsequent energy spent on maintenance? IE if there's a maximum 100 energy from all non-mage spectators then at best they could maintain this spell for 100 minutes? Plus if the composition of Ceremonial Magic changes, does this mean you don't even need a mage at all to continue a spell, much like Lend Spell? Below High Mana is magery only needed to initiate magic but not to maintain it? So many Qs, might be worth new threads if we can't find an answer... Quote:
M32 probably follows standard "area" rules... M11 sounds like it's fixed, but M124 "Displace Spell" could be used to relocate it with a moving attack horde. Since that requires constant concentration there ought to be some kind of meta-way to "release the hounds" and have them enjoy the DR without your constant supervision of moving the AE whichever direction they head (you'd need high Magery to move it fast enough to keep up with sprinting hounds...) Maintain Spell / Delay could similarly be useful here, though M128's recommendation of 96/97's Independence/Initiative to program it to move on its own (a little uncertain of specifics here) to have the spell control it's own displacement ("follow the lead dog!") could be a tactic. Or you could program a spell to "follow the caravan" and then just train the dogs (or enchant them) to follow the caravan, so that if the lead dog died or was mind-controlled, the rest of the dogs wouldn't be unprotected. |
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Tags |
animal, magic, spell |
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