01-22-2021, 08:15 AM | #11 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
I advocate the leech approach.
The +5 ST pin theory sounds like its on the right track, though I'm not sure if the wraith can cast while grappling...
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01-22-2021, 08:53 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Helsinki, Finland
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
It might be a worthwhile endeavour to recreate the templates from GURPS Magic with the more mature GURPS 4e rules as we currently understand them.
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01-22-2021, 01:47 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
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01-22-2021, 04:41 PM | #15 | |||
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
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You can get another 1-4 for displays of strength (wraiths have ST 15) or supernatural powers (wraiths have ethereal body) If they win the contest I think a lot of targets would essentially become "willing" to the Lich's spell (per "An honest citizen probably cooperates") Also worth noting that a crit success on intimidation or crit fail on will to resist intimidation causes a Fright Check. B360 basic results often are stun (allowing the Lich to set up grapples) while B361 even has possible FP loss (allowing a target to pass out below 0 FP) or even fainting. While you can be short on options for getting someone unconscious under Basic Set, using new Martial Arts options adds additional options for Wraiths too: B370's Choke rules have an optional new component on MA117 "GM may permit you to inflict fatigue (not injury) on someone of your SM if he weighs no more than your BLx4." ST 15 gives Wraiths a BL of 45, so that would be a cap of 180 pounds. The "fatigue instead of crushing damage" also means that Roll With Blow and DR (crushing only) don't protect. At 0 FP if you fail a will roll to try and do something you "collapse, incapacitated" which I think would justify being a valid target of Steal Vitality. Yeah it's a step short of "unconsciousness" but I think the key is you're "totally helpless" at that point (sounds like you can't even do active defenses, which normally Do Nothing allows, even at -4 when stunned) Quote:
B420 failing knockdown check by 5 (or crit failing) can also cause you to go unconscious. You could in theory just inflict a major wound (50% HP) to get that result: they'd still be in positive HP for you to drain. That's low-IQ for a wraith though. They're better off targeting the face, since 1 dmg is enough to cause that roll. If you want some real squick-factor, here's something fun to point out: MA115 "worrying" on a nose or ear has capped injury (can't exceed HP/4) but still continues to inflict shock... You're still "causing enough damage to cause shock" creating HT rolls which can result in knockdown/unconsciousness! But not depleting HP. So "chew their nose or ear until they black out" is probably one effective go-to tactic for experienced Wraiths who want to mine HP. Eventually this results in chewing off a nose or ear though so you will want to keep it to 1 damage per attack if you can. You can chew the face too: it can continue indefinitely (nothing comes off) but doesn't cap damage, so you might kill them. Quote:
You have to use active defenses to stop them from using Break Free against you, which has a chance of interrupting spellcasting if the Wraith fails a will roll, so that would be tricky to do for a full 60 seconds, I'll admit. Wraiths might also apply First Aid to a victim (restore HP lost to shock) once they're KO'd then drain that HP. |
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01-22-2021, 06:48 PM | #16 | |
On Notice
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
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I just went back and reworked Wraith to get it in line with current rules. Even with 4e Basic it had problems "as written it makes a Wraith able to learn every spell that requires Magery 1 or less in the campaign. Why it was done this way rather using Basic Set's Racially Innate Spells rule is unclear. Not that it matters because GURPS Thaumatology changed how Partially Limited Magery worked. This assumes the Wraith is only able to cast its three spells per Racial Magery under Thaumatology's rules."
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01-22-2021, 06:58 PM | #17 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
There is no reason to have Deathtouch or Steal Vitality. Deathtouch can be replaced by Toxic Attack 3d (Melee, C, No Parry, -35%; Magical, -10%) [7] and Steal Vitality can be replaced by Leech (Contact Agent, -30%; Magical, -10%; Takes Extra Time 2, -20%) [10], saving 23 CP.
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01-22-2021, 10:32 PM | #18 | ||||||
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
Another strategy for a Wraith to immobilize a foe without sapping their precious HP: B428's "Agony" causes a loss of 1 FP per minute or FRACTION (1 second is enough).
Accomplishing this per MA119's "Inflicting Pain with Locks" requires 10 "damage" Arm Lock, Choke Hold, Finger Lock (B403-4) are options for doing this, though as B371 notes this requires Judo or Wrestling, so Wraiths with these skills have more finessing options. Using Choke (B370) to cause suffocation (B436) might be simpler: 1 FP lost per turn until escape is quick way to make someone KO and initiation only requires 1 damage (crushing or blunt trauma, doesn't matter) gets through DR, so they'll only lose a minimum 1 HP. This is normally a bit of a gamble: choke damage can vary more widely than normal damage due to it being based on MoS. Technical Grappling is a huge upgrade for a Wraith (though kind of a downgrade for choke-to-kill folk) since you spend Control Points to set an upper limit on choke damage, so when you only want 1 HP max, spending 1 control point is the best way to avoid overkill. Quote:
Melee spells can be carried by Staff to extend reach and change what skill you're rolling to hit with, though I'm not sure how you'd encode that when using a sorcery-ish approach for melee spells. Wraiths' skill 15 means they pay 0/1/2 to do 1/2/3 dice of damage normally, so you'd want to take Costs Fatigue 1 on the 2nd level and Costs Fatigue 2 on the 3rd level. Cost goes up by 1 in Low Mana (skill 10) though I'm not sure how to do that in sorcery either since "Mana-Sensitive" only seems to recognize "No Mana" v "all the other kinds". There's also the whole needing an IQ roll to prep the attack. Would make sense for Low Mana to penalize that, and the FP penalty when you fail "requires attribute roll" probably comes close enough to paying the extra FP Then there's the long troublesome aspect of Sorcery: being able to substitute HP for FP when casting. My guess is you build spells casting HP by default and consider "1 HP costs 1 FP" as a +5% enhancement, and then you can just use Selectivity to switch it off if you want to pay HP. Being able to control the dice (and the FP cost) also requires taking Variable. This is definitely important to fit the "want to be careful about overkilling potential food" sort of approach. Needing a second to prep the spell, the closest is probably Takes Extra Time, even though that actually adds a Ready and not a Concentrate. You could design "Accessibility: Only While Conscious" which does use a Concentrate, but then you'd need to build the summonable attack under something like Shapeshifting or Modular Abilities, unless the GM rules that Innate Attack has a switchable component that OWC can interact with. This is kinda necessary to grasp the whole "my prepped ability fades away if I get knocked out before I can use it" idea of missile+melee spells. Quote:
There's also that whole "dies at -1 HP" thing which effectively treats targets like they have Fragile: Unnatural. It probably wouldn't seem too off-base to float Symptoms over to Leech to represent that idea. It doesn't represent it perfectly (even 1 damage from this spell vs an HP 0 person will kill them) since it doesn't matter how much the spell itself inflicted though... Also not sure how to apply the living+sapient restrictions to Leech. I guess Living is probably built in (you can't Leech a boulder to gain it's HP) so it's just the "sapient" part since AFAIK you can Leech a mouse to heal from it's HP. Quote:
You could give them "three college magery" or even "three spell magery" as of thaumatology if you don't want this to impart potential to learn other magic. Quote:
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Given that you don't seem to have to know a prereq to retain a spell you already know when just that prereq is lost, I'm not sure anything actually stops you from just ignoring prereqs for starting spells without needing special modifiers, since they seem mostly needed for the learning process and not the retention process. Wild Talent and that spell which makes you forget skills both do either a -2 or -4 penalty for a missing prereq though. Last edited by Plane; 01-22-2021 at 10:42 PM. |
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01-23-2021, 12:19 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
TET 2 is 4 seconds. There is some utility lost when shifting from Steal Vitality to Leech, Steal Vitality is technically ranged, so the faster time makes up for it. The dies at -1 HP is just bad design, as undead want to suck everything from their victims, and they would use their Toxic Attack if they wanted to kill their victims quickly.
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01-23-2021, 03:36 PM | #20 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Wraith, Unhealing, and Steal Vitality?
I was definitely more wrong than you (not sure how I got 8) but on further review, since Leech uses an Attack maneuver, TET 1 adds a 1-second ready and TET 2 doubles that to a 2-second ready, so I think it actually brings it to 3 seconds per interval, or 4 if you need to spend another attack maneuver to set up a grapple first.
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Maybe this is a consideration for those with very long arms? Like if I have 5-yard stretchy arms I'd be -5 to cast Steal Vitality because what matters is distance from my head? Quote:
Then again so is the ability to destroy almost any item with a bad repair. |
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leech, requires grapple, steal vitality, unhealing, wraith |
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