Show me the magic!

[TippetsTX]

Originally Posted by Steve Plambeck

Ahhhh, but what about Wall, Fire, and Shadow. Those are inanimate, summoned things even though the spell names don't include the word "Summon".

I distinguish between creation and summoning spells... two closely related but different magical disciplines.

But what if those supposedly 'inanimate' elements weren't completely inanimate? Assuming your TFT cosmology includes elemental planes, and those dimensions are the source of such magic, the idea of living energy is an interesting one. The flames summoned by FIRE might be on the lowest end of the sentient scale, nearly mindless, but it isn't a simple chemical reaction. I may have to develop that premise a bit more. I'm already kinda heading that way with 'shadow'.

[hcobb]

Gem of Summon Self - Same costs as Summon Wolf, but the subject of the spell must be present during the enchantment and not resisting. When the gem is broken the subject is teleported to that location, but under no additional control than it was before. Each subject can only be the target of one gem at a time. Only works on living subjects. On a roll of 18 while enchanting the subject vanishes. Some have returned from very strange trips as a result.

[Drakenbow]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Gem of Summon Self - ... When the gem is broken the subject is teleported to that location, but under no additional control than it was before. ...

This kind of reminds me of the movie Dragon Slayer. The wizard gets the apprentice to make the journey, then the wizard is reconstituted in the fires to battle the dragon.

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Gem of Summon Self - Same costs as Summon Wolf, but the subject of the spell must be present during the enchantment and not resisting....

Best. Suggestion. Ever.

(I'm still rolling on the floor)

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by Drakenbow

This kind of reminds me of the movie Dragon Slayer. The wizard gets the apprentice to make the journey, then the wizard is reconstituted in the fires to battle the dragon.

I wrote a spell along those lines, I should dig it out and post it here. I believe I called in "Entanglement". The wizard could cast it on two people, or himself and another person, and when the traveler reached the destination they'd speak the trigger word and then the two people "entangled" by the spell would cross-teleport, swapping places. So a lazy wizard could sit home, send someone else on a long and dangerous quest, and if they survived to find the treasure or locate the lost city, zing! the wizard was safely there. Also envisioned its use for breaking into or out of prisons.

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by TippetsTX

I distinguish between creation and summoning spells... two closely related but different magical disciplines.

But what if those supposedly 'inanimate' elements weren't completely inanimate? Assuming your TFT cosmology includes elemental planes, and those dimensions are the source of such magic, the idea of living energy is an interesting one....

Aha -- that was you sneaking around in my old campaign World!

I've thought about splitting summoning spells into their own class, including Walls, etc. into that, but the trouble is that only leaves about 3 spells in the Creation spell class, which then looks pretty scanty.

In my old group's world, I constructed a similar cosmology based on living, sentient clouds of mana. On the material plane, these could manifest as physical beings, but only the "gods", the largest ones, can self-incarnate -- the rest can only materialize on this plane when someone spends the mana to summon them.

The hierarchy, from largest to smallest mana clouds, were Greater Gods, Lesser Gods, Greater Demons, Lesser Demons, and then the elementals. In their natural states they only have one Attribute, a mana stat. When embodied on the physical plane, that mana score would become divvied up between ST, DX, IQ and MA with the summoning spell determining the formula.

Cutest idea was that the mana stat of the gods varied by however many worshipers or believers they had, making them very competitive for followers. The history of our world included a lot of religious wars, and that just became my back-story later to explain it.

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by Steve Plambeck

IQ 11 -- SUMMON ROPE (C)

TFT has multiple levers of power and success: attributes, talents, spells, equipment, etc. IMO it's generally a good thing if these levers do different things and are useful for different purposes. I realise that's not a rule TFT always follows. Still, it's easy to keep inventing spells until a wizard can do everything and doesn't need friends. So it's probably a good idea to be careful about spells which replace the need for equipment.

On the other hand, would any wizard study hard to learn a spell that is only useful if nobody remembered to bring a rope? I think if you want anyone to take it then the spell needs to be more flexible*. e.g. Summon any item on the weapon or equipment table with a cost to weight ratio of less than 10. ST cost is weight in pounds. If the item gets consumed (e.g. eaten, burnt, dissolved in acid) then the wizard suffers the casting cost in damage when the spell expires, otherwise the item just disappears.

So I feel the spell is simultaneously too good and rubbish, and I've decided not to let the contradiction bother me.

--

* I know, rope, flexible, sorry about that.

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

...it's easy to keep inventing spells until a wizard can do everything and doesn't need friends. So it's probably a good idea to be careful about spells which replace the need for equipment.

On this I couldn't agree with you more David. To be in any way special, magic must exist in contrast to the mundane, not as a replacement for the mundane. For me what really crossed the line was the Meal Spell -- that a wizard could be used to fill in for a cook just cheapens the whole idea to my mind -- I'd never use that spell. Rope is more borderline perhaps, but certainly not as bad as Meal!

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

On the other hand, would any wizard study hard to learn a spell that is only useful if nobody remembered to bring a rope?

LOL - ok, that was meant as tongue in cheek! Expeditions that forget the basics deserve their misfortunes. There's a limited number of other reasons the spell could be useful though. A party could lose all it's gear, or have it stripped from them when taken prisoner -- I've suffered both to happen in play. They could have brought rope but not enough, or it isn't long enough to span the unexpectedly wide chasm. But yeah, wizards aren't going to bother learning spells for extremely rare events.

But in any world where magic gets treated like science, the academic in the wizard will lead to researching some ridiculous spells that even other wizards would never bother to learn. Dang that squeaky door -- hey wait I bet I could come up with a spell to fix that :)

[David Bofinger]

Originally Posted by Steve Plambeck

in any world where magic gets treated like science, the academic in the wizard will lead to researching some ridiculous spells that even other wizards would never bother to learn. Dang that squeaky door -- hey wait I bet I could come up with a spell to fix that :)

The wizard who created the spell did it to reduce annoyance, and was astonished when it turned out all the users were wizardly thieves.

I bet there are a lot of spells that exist to do things like this but are impractical, like spells to stop a door creaking but have a ST cost of 12. Spells that got as far as being castable but need work.

[David Bofinger]

There are lots of obvious extensions of spells you could add to TFT.

• Avert, but making them come toward you, or making them flee someone else
• Fireball, but area effect
• Lightning, but jumping from target to target.
• Fire and Shadow, but moving
• Summon, but other monsters
• Acid Touch, but a spray against one target, or against all front hexes
• Blast, but at a distance
• Creation spells, but at a distance
• Breathe Fire, but against all front hexes
• Turn/Dispel/Reverse/Control Missiles, but protecting a larger area like a megahex
• Enchant Weapon or Create Magic Item, but temporary
• Glamour, but temporary

What have I missed?