06-09-2011, 12:41 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
I have DF Allies and I think it is a good book but it really does not capture the spirit of old school dungeon delving for me. I am trying to fix this so that is why I am asking for help on the forums.
First I want to use a spell like Beast Summoning to summon a beast for the Druid instead of just having the Druid pay points at the beginning of the game. So the problem I am having is how much energy should it cost to summon the beast? I would imagine that the point value of the beast summoned should be related to the energy cost for the spell sort of like how the Demon Summoning spell. So what would be a good point cost to cast such a spell? And how long could it continue serving the Druid? Maybe there would be a way to extend the spell by using more energy? And if the Druid decided he/she wanted the beast to be an Ally then how would you go about doing that? Using a Beast Link spell? Once the spell is successful then maybe the Druid can pay points to have the beast as an Ally? I want the Druid to find his Allies during play if possible as opposed to just paying for the Ally at the beginning of the game. Second is the Find Familiar spell. I want to have it like old school where the familiar that showed up was random. Should I just make up some tables to roll against? Some familiars are more useful than others and it adds to the game to not have the wizard know the whole story of the familiar. Sometimes a wizard will get an imp instead of a useful familiar and this can make the game more interesting to me. Finally I want to ask if there is a some way that if there is a critical success on summoning a beast or familiar if maybe some character points could be gained to put towards purchasing the beast or familiar as an Ally. Maybe the Druid or wizard cast the spell so successfully that the summoned beast or familiar just serves the Druid or wizard willingly? This means that the characters points are just granted to the Druid or wizard and from then on the beast or familiar is an Ally and the point total of the druid or wizard is just increased. What do you think about something like this? I am just curious about this so I would appreciate anny help or ideas, thank. |
06-09-2011, 01:03 AM | #2 |
Never Been Pretty
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
If you are the GM, you can give an ally in lieu of or in addition to normal cp rewards.
IDHMBWM, if there isn't a Beast Summoning spell, but is a Demon Summoning spell, I would just use that spell and make it work for beasts instead. If the Druid wants an ally, as a GM I would figure out what was suitable for the setting, ask the PC to do that, and give him the ally when he paid the cp. No Skill/Spell required. IDHMBWM, but the GM designs all allies. The rules on Allies state how much input the player has. If you want to randomize it, you'd need to let the player know that from the beginning and if he still wants a familiar you can give him whatever familiar you want at that point cost. Whether you have a random table or not. |
06-09-2011, 08:17 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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Much cheaper of the two is Beast Summoning, page 30. This spell "calls" an animal, but you have to wait for it to arrive however it normally travels. So giant eagles are going to show up pdq but a tortoise is going to take a very long time. These are REAL animals, and a druid with Sense of Duty: Nature is going to want to keep them safe, not send them into battle. This is more for rescues, or getting mounts for fast travel, or local guides, or that sort of thing. More like the D&D model is Create Animal, page 98 - the price is based entirely on size modifier. Create Animal has the benefit of making a "fake" animal which won't make a Druid with Sense of Duty: Nature feel bad about throwing into a fight or using to set off traps or whatever. Create Mount is like Create Animal, but specialized for riding. Beast Summoning has a maintenance cost, but that is for how long the "Call" is sustained - once the animal shows up you have to find some way to get it to help you - via Control Mammal or via Animal Empathy/Speak with Animals/etc. Create Animal and Create Mount are maintained to sustain the existence of the creation.
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06-10-2011, 03:20 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
You pay points for allies so that they are dependable.
I think the Find Familiar spell and a random familiar is not an abstraction that needs to be emulated. This is GURPS, where the player is encouraged/allowed to make the character that they want. That's the whole point of a point buy system. Allies are NPCs, which means that they are stated out by the GM, not by the player. |
06-10-2011, 08:44 AM | #5 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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Find Familiar was hated even at the time for being a spell that you cast once and then ignored forever . . . a real waste of time and resources, to be honest. I'd never put that kind of thing into a GURPS book. I really like the Allies approach: "Any spellcaster who does not already have a familiar (or whose familiar has died) may summon one – the ritual to do so is known to bards, clerics, druids, and wizards alike. It is not a separate skill and requires no roll." That is, there is a spell, but you don't pay points for it; it's color. Of course, the points you pay for your familiar could be seen as an investment in a kind of spell.
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06-10-2011, 12:51 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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06-10-2011, 01:34 PM | #7 | ||
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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Then with respect, you might want to play a non-point-build game. Point-build games appeared because so many people found randomness in character creation to be no fun at all. Quote:
In particular, the precise damage-per-second, spells-I'll-get-on-leveling-up optimization seen in online games like WoW isn't new at all. I remember playing AD&D in 1979 and people talking about "How many Cure Lights can you cast per dungeon-day?", "What's the best damage/spell level option with save and no-save?", and "I'm prioritizing Fireball at level 5." Spells were quantified, predictable, and treated like resources. So were magic items . . . people bought, sold, and traded items all the time, and there would've been a rebellion if a DM had said somebody's +2 sword was actually +1, because all the encounter balances involved having the right number of +N weapons to fight creatures immune to lesser weapons.
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06-10-2011, 07:19 PM | #8 | |
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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That Feline Familiar you bought unknown to you can walk though walls. or that +2 Sword also and addition +2 Bane to demons. |
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06-10-2011, 10:46 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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Now, if the GM were to (for example) go through DF5 and beef all of the familiars up to 125 points, and say, "The extra 63 points are for unknown things. I'll be assigning them via a random table once you buy the Ally, but you'll have to figure out what it can do," that'd be fine. What isn't fair is making two players both pay the same cost for an Ally, but have one Ally turn out to be a 24-point toad and the other turn out to be a 112-point hawk.
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06-10-2011, 11:17 PM | #10 | |
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: DF Beast Summoning and Find Familiar with GURPS
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