Talent/Spell of the Week: Staff to Snake

[hcobb]

IIRC: Consider the following scenario.

• Abbie the Barbaric at adjDX 12 uses option o to shift into Isnan's hex (adjDX 11), he rolls 2 for HTH response and drops his maul staff.
• Abbie then punches Isnan at adjDX 16 (for HTH), hitting for 1d-2 (ST 10, untalented barbarian) and no damage.
• At adjDX 7 Isnan casts Staff to Snake (-4 from Hexagram #9, page 3, no adjustment for staff in the same hex) and rolls a 3
• The next turn Isnan's three snakes strike at adjDX 13+4 and bite Abbie all over, their Staff III nature mean that her leather armor doesn't soak any of the damage.

Right?

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Got wood? Does this spell work on daggers? (And is it worth breaking a fancy silver dagger instead of some twig you picked up on the side of the road?)

If the dagger is a staff, yes, the spell would work on one.

Do the level one and two snake bites have the full effect of occult blasts on critters that ain't harmed by weapons such as slimes, elementals, wights and so on?

No. The snake bite is not an occult zap, but a physical attack that does the same damage as the occult zap of the staff in question.

If the snake goes away with only 1 hit left is it at full strength next time?

Yes

Is the break a clean one that's easily fixed with the Repair spell? (And a recasting of Staff V)

GM call, but probably not.

Does the level 3 snake get a bonus to hit and a ranged bite?

No.

And once the snake is in HTH do you always go for the 11 or less head shot with Snake-V? (If it hits that's auto-stun and 50% KO.) Or do you settle for biting the hand that's trying to stab your snake for a 13 or less?

I'd not allow aimed shots in HTH.

Do the full creation spell rules apply to S2S, passing along Mage Sight and such?

Originally Posted by hcobb

AFIK this acts like a creation spell. The snake moves to an adjacent hex at the moment of casting then can move and attack the next turn.

That is certainly a valid and simple-to-implement ruling. That said, I am inclined to have no Creation rules apply and instead assume that Staff to Snake comes with Control Animal for free. This keeps everything about the spell squarely in Thrown territory. Since Creation rules would not apply, this interpretation would allow the snake can attack the turn it enters play, and for the wizard to be able to see through the snake's eyes (as per Control Animal).

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by hcobb

• At adjDX 7 Isnan casts Staff to Snake (-4 from Hexagram #9, page 3, no adjustment for staff in the same hex) and rolls a 3
• The next turn Isnan's three snakes......

Would that the effects of rolling 3 or 4 were explicitly detailed for each and every spell. Alas, it is not so, so as players come up with these deep, philosophically challenging ideas the GM must exercise some common sense.

No, no, and again no.

If you are creating something (with a Creation spell) it makes perfect sense you get two or three of that thing on a double or triple hit roll. Staff-To-Snake is not a Creation spell. It's a Thrown spell that changes one thing into one other thing. The end. How the heck would you handle it if you allowed one staff to turn into three snakes, and then only one or two of the snakes were killed? Shorten the staff when it came back? Luckily we don't ever have to worry about that because it can't come up.

What's next, rolling a 3 when casting Staff gives the wizard 3 staves? Does that triple the mana storage? Oh good heavens, this way lies madness.

PS
I'd allow the staff to remain a snake for double or triple duration on a roll of 4 or 3. If a 3 were rolled while casting Staff, I'd revert to the old rule of giving 1 XP for every ST spent on a spell, but in this case award 15 XP instead of 5 as the reward for the exceptional roll of 3, but that's as far as I'd go.

[hcobb]

c.f. ITL 135 "Other spells have triple effect in any one way the player chooses: three times as long, or three times as powerful, or any other tripling. (You cannot have a spell affect the original target figure and two others, though.)" So triple duration seems to be the intention here.

Note that enchantments generally gain no benefit from 3 or 4, but on the other hand merely fail on an 18.

Aid spell needs to gain only additional duration from a 3 or 4 to avoid generating thousands of ST points with a luck charm.

[Shostak]

Instead of a 3 or 4 result on the casting roll for Staff to Snake creating multiple serpents, I’d have the snake have higher ST, a stronger bite, and perhaps a bit of damage resistance, since more than one snake makes no sense, a longer duration is usually not useful, and there is no way to make the spell cost only a fraction of the ST.

[hcobb]

Q1: What is the wizard doing without her stick?
Q2: When does the wizard find the time to go snaking? Cast just before entering the Death Test room?
Q3: The spell notes recast, so you can't just pay 1 fatigue to maintain but must instead cast on the snake itself with an action and modifiers for distance?