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Old 08-12-2016, 03:55 AM   #1
Jürgen Hubert
 
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Default The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

As mentioned elsewhere, I like D&Desque fantasy - even though I prefer GURPS as my rule system. And D&D - plus its assorted d20 variants, including Pathfinder - have come up with an amazing variety of spells over the years. While the GURPS spell list for the standard GURPS Magic system is not exactly small, more variety is always good, and there are some conceptual holes that could be filled by conversions of D&D spells.

The goal, as usual with conversions, is not to attempt a 1:1 conversion of the mechanics of the original spell - that way lies madness. Instead, the goal is to translate the overall feel of the original spell while still being true to the GURPS mechanics. Here is my first example:


Burning Hands
Regular

A cone of fire shoots from your fingertips in a 120 degree arc in front of you. This attack requires a DX-4 or Innate Attack roll to hit a specific target (see Cone Attacks on B413), but can still hit targets caught in the cone.
College: Fire
Cost: 3 to 9 points. Does 1d damage for each three point put into the spell. The cone's range in yards is equal to the number of dice.
Prerequisite: Flame Jet

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,200; must include a ruby worth $500. Usable only by mages.


Of course, we could easily come up with further variants for the different elements used in GURPS (such as an "Acid Wave" spell spraying a cone of acid, based on Acid Jet instead of Flame Jet).

What do you think? And what other D&D spells would you want to be converted?


(Note: If you don't object, I will eventually put all spells created for this thread into the [url=http://gurpswiki.wikidot.com/spells]Spells Section of the GURPS Repository.)
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Old 08-12-2016, 04:22 AM   #2
simply Nathan
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

That's a pretty costly, energy-inefficient attack spell but I can see its uses and of course it's a low-level spell so that makes sense in a way.
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Old 08-12-2016, 04:36 AM   #3
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

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Originally Posted by simply Nathan View Post
That's a pretty costly, energy-inefficient attack spell but I can see its uses and of course it's a low-level spell so that makes sense in a way.
I had thought of making the base energy cost 2, but on the other hand this can do a fairly high amount of damage automatically to multiple targets. I am still not entirely sure which cost would be more appropriate.
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Old 08-12-2016, 05:41 AM   #4
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

True Strike
Regular

You get a brief glimpse into the future, showing you the best possible vector of attack. If you make an attack roll in the next round, you can reroll it twice and take the best result.
College: Knowledge
Cost: 4
Prerequisite: Seeker and one Divination spell

Item
(a) Any weapon (including magic items that can produce spells which require an attack roll). True Strike can only be used when attacking with this weapon. Energy cost to create: 800. Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,200.



This is another classic D&D spell, and the fact that it adds a useful combat spell to the Knowledge College is an added bonus (I think all Colleges should be able to contribute something to a fight). Being able to reroll an attack twice is incredibly useful (I modeled this on the Luck advantage), especially since it increases the chance of critical successes. Its utility for snipers is counterbalanced by the fact that casting it disrupts an Aim action. 4 energy points as the cost seemed to be about right to me.


Your thoughts?
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Old 08-12-2016, 08:50 AM   #5
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

Quick question: Have you given any thought to the Summon Creature I-IX and Summon Nature's Ally I-IX spell trees?
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:23 AM   #6
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

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Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
Quick question: Have you given any thought to the Summon Creature I-IX and Summon Nature's Ally I-IX spell trees?
Quick answer: Yes, but to make them work we would have to convert many if not most of the creatures you can summon with these spells, and that's a separate thread.
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Old 08-18-2016, 02:30 AM   #7
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

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Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
Quick question: Have you given any thought to the Summon Creature I-IX and Summon Nature's Ally I-IX spell trees?
Okay, here is my attempt:

Summon Creature

Regular


Summons a creature from another plane of existence to assist the caster for a short time, arriving in a hex the caster designates (use Regular distance modifiers). The creature will obey the caster's mental commands - if it is summoned to assist in a fight, it will be ready to do so immediately after arrival. If the duration ends or it is "killed", it is merely banished back to its native plane.

The GM is encouraged prepare a list of creatures that are summonable by this spell, including summoning costs. Depending on the campaign, this spell can be split of into several variants, depending on the types of creatures that can be summoned and on who does the summoning. A priest, for example, might have a "Summon Angels" variant while a druid could cast "Summon Animals".

College: Necromancy.
Duration: 10 seconds.
Cost: Cost: 1 point per 20 character points used to build the creature, same to maintain.
Prerequisites: Magery 1 and at least one spell from each of 10 different colleges.
Item: Wand, staff, or jewelry. This can only summon a single specific type of creature. Energy cost to create: 400.


Note: The casting cost is only half as high as with the Summon Elemental/Demon spells, which I tried to counterbalance with the much shorter duration. I've kept the maintanance cost equal to the casting cost in order to make it more difficult to use this spell for summoning weaker creatures indenfinitely, as this goes against the spell's purpose - providing short-term assistance in a fight.
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Old 08-15-2016, 09:35 AM   #8
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert View Post
True Strike

[...]

Your thoughts?
That's an interesting way to do it. But the actual D&D spell gives a bonus to hit. So you could do a version that gives a flat bonus instead. The hard part is making it good enough to be better than taking an Aim/Evaluate maneuver instead.

One option would be to add 1/2 your degree of success on the casting roll to an attack made on your next turn. A mage would need a skill level of 12 to reliably get the same benefit as taking an Aim/Evaluate maneuver. Considering the variability, I'd set the cost at 2 FP.

A second option would be to add some flat bonus based on the FP spent. This is most in character with Magic. 1 FP per +1 to hit (up to a maximum of Magery) sounds about right to me. The problem is that Aim maneuvers are likely to outperform this version, even if we remove the Magery cap.

My biggest problem with this spell as designed is that a mage can't use it to help land his spells. Here's how I'd fix this:

True Strike
Regular
You glimpse into the immediate future, showing you the best possible vector of attack. Your insight gives you a bonus to an attack roll. Taking other maneuvers before your attack doesn't eliminate this bonus if you are maintaining this spell. Once you make an attack, this spell ends regardless of the result of your attack roll.

College: Knowledge
Cost: 1 FP per +1 to your attack roll, up to your Magery (half to maintain)
Duration: 1 second (up to when you attack)
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Old 08-15-2016, 11:14 AM   #9
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

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Originally Posted by Emerald Cat View Post
That's an interesting way to do it. But the actual D&D spell gives a bonus to hit. So you could do a version that gives a flat bonus instead. The hard part is making it good enough to be better than taking an Aim/Evaluate maneuver instead.
The d20 version gives a +20 to hit, pretty much guaranteeing a hit - but doing little for directly increasing your chances for a critical hit, since you still need to roll high for that.

Which is a bit hard to translate to GURPS, since a flat bonus to hit will either increase your chances of a critical hit significantly or allow you to pile on all sorts of to hit penalties in exchange for hitting weak points or reducing the Active Defense of an opponent.

My version discourages characters from going overboard with stacking penalties, since even re-rolls will only do so much. But if you have a semi-decent effective skill value left - say, 10 or more - you should be able to hit fairly reliably.
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Old 08-12-2016, 06:02 PM   #10
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Default Re: The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert View Post
...
Burning Hands
...
How do you guys handle a spell like this in regards to damage to an armored target? Say, a target that is wearing leather everywhere? Or a target that has a breastplate and boots, but everything else is cloth?
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