The D&D/d20 Spell Conversion Thread

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

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.

[simply Nathan]

I'd make it Gate rather than Necromancy.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

I'd make it Gate rather than Necromancy.

Maybe both. The Necromancy College is where most of the stuff dealng with sprits ended up.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert;2029808
Back to my version: Perhaps a special rule could be made that casting True Strike does [i

not[/i] interrupt "holding" a missile spell. I'd be leery of allowing a similar rule to affect Aim actions, since that would provide an extremely strong incentive for Snipers to take this spell in order to remain "competitive".

The 3e Spell Homing Missile (more useful than anything we're contemplating here) had to be cast before the Missile spell it was to affect. I'd say the same for a Gurps version of True Strike (which requires a Concentrate action to cast regardless of D20).

[Jürgen Hubert]

Reincarnate (VH)

The subject is brought back to life in a random, newly created body, which may or may not be of the same species. After determining the new species, follow these steps for adjusting the character:

1. Keep the IQ and Will values as well as mental disadvantages of the character, irrespective of racial templates.
2. Remove all other modifications provided by the existing racial template of the character.
3. Add all modifications provided by the template of the new racial template, excepting mental disadvantages.

If the character's character points have increased during the process, the character goes into point debt and may not purchase new abilities until the new template has been paid off. Alternatively, the GM may allow the player to adjust the character's attributes downwards, or else add physical or mental disadvantages (including mental disadvantages that are part of the new racial template). If the character points have decreased, the player may adjust the character's characteristics upwards (within limits set by the GM).

Which new species are possible depends on the campaign, but generally they should not prevent the character from participating in adventures, or invalidating his skills - "humanoids" would be a suitable category for typical fantasy campaigns, for instance. The caster should be informed of the range of possibilities, as well as other specifics (such as whether the character keeps their own gender).

A Great Wish can restore a character to their former body.

College: Healing.
Duration: Permanent.
Cost: 200. One try.
Time to cast: 2 hours.
Prerequisites: Six spells of each element, including at least one variant of Summon Elemental, as well as Summon Spirit


Note: The GURPS Repository has a list of suitable D&D-based racial templates which can be used for this purpose.

[Johnny Angel]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've seen so much abuse of True Strike that I cringed just reading the spell title. Usually in 3.0e and involving a PC enchanter.

I like the Luck based version - the mechanic is very old and tested in GURPS, and the Luck advantages are often used for reality manipulation super powers, which is comfortingly consistent.

The Luck version is pretty close to how it works in 5th Edition. Casting True Strike gives you advantage. Advantage means you roll 2d20 and keep the better value.

[Jürgen Hubert]

False Life
Regular

Provides the subject with a number of temporary hit points. Any damage the target receives is subtracted from these temporary hit points first, and the spell ends automatically once they are gone. For the purpose of determining crippling injuries only the remaining temporary hit points are added to the subject's total hit points.

College: Body Control.
Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: 1 to 3. The subject gains 2 temporary hit points for each point of energy. Same to maintain.
Prerequisite: Lend Vitality.

Item: (a) Any item; only affects the wearer. Energy Cost to create: 800. (b) Staff or wand. Useable only by mages; the item must touch the subject. Energy Cost to create: 800.


Notes: This is a useful complement to DR-boosting spells and effects. While higher DR is generally more useful for people expecting to do a lot of fighting, False Life is a good failsafe against that one hit that manages to get through - and it is significantly cheaper than the Armor spell to boot.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Revivify (VH)
Regular

The subject is brought back to life if it has died from failing a HT roll to avoid death within the last minute (see B380, B423. This spell does not heal any HP and does not work if the subject has already reached -5xHP.

College: Healing and Necromancy
Cost: 20. One try.
Prerequisites: Instant Regeneration and Summon Spirit

Item: Wand or staff, decorated in a snake pattern. Usable only by mages. The item must touch the subject. Energy cost to create: 1,000.

Notes: I think this spell was introduced in D&D 5e, and in my current game the cleric in the party has used it twice (to the great relief of the party's warlock). I think it serves as an interesting and useful niche, since in fantasy worlds you could argue: "The body has failed, but the spirit has not yet departed". It also makes combats a bit more survivable for parties - assuming of course that their healer can still spend 20 energy points after a tough fight that caused the death in the first place.

[A Ladder]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Here's my "magic missile"

Force Missile
Missile
Prerequisites: Magery 1.
College: Meta-Magic (for want of a better college)

This spell creates a single projectile made of solid magical energy, which is then fired at its target, up to a range of 50 yards. In all other respects, it follows the standard missile spell rules.

Cost: 1-3, can be held for up to Magery seconds. Double cost to create a second missile, triple cost to create three missiles, etc., up to a total of five missiles. The missiles do 1d burn damage per point of energy.

Item
Wand, staff, or rod: 200 energy.


Basically, it's a missile of pure magical energy, which is why I put it in Mega-Magic. Part of me wants to put it in the Energy sub-college, but that didn't seem to properly fit. If you can find a better college for it, I'm open to suggestions.

What I always liked about Magic Missile was that it never missed (unless they had a shield spell). I would put that back into interpretation. I'm deviating from the original idea of striking multiple targets because that's crazy. Here's my build:

Mana Missile
Missile
College: Meta-Magic
Lets the caster fire a projectile made of pure magical energy. This has 1/2D 25, Max 50, Acc 0. Determine your odds to hit using Innate Attack (Projectile) skill. If your effective skill is 3+, you hit, no roll necessary. Your target can only defend with Blocking spells and being behind an Utter Dome/Wall.
Cost: Any amount up to twice your Magery level per second, for three seconds. The mana bolt does 1d-2 burning damage per full 2 points of energy. This cannot start fires.
Time to Cast: 1-3 seconds.
Prerequisites: Magery 1, and two other missile spells.


Now not being able to miss is kind of crazy, but I think the damage and cost is fair. According to Powers Cosmic: Ignores DR is the same price point as Cosmic: No die Roll required. However, according to Kromm's quote (below) the To Hit / Defense Roll is a balancing factor in missile spells.

Originally Posted by Kromm

... In general, Missile spells are fairly generic, and interchangeable but for a few special effects. It's hard to make them overpowered as long as they involve time to charge up, a roll to hit, and an enemy defense, and provided that damage is 1d per energy point and has no armor divisor (if it's impaling or can ignore armor, make it 1d-1 per die).

Let's triple the penalty, since we're breaking a major balancing rule to 1d-3 damage per FP. Push that up to 2d-6 (for 2 FP), modify with Dice + Adds, and you have 1d-2 per 2 FP. Give it another penalty just for giggles: If protected by an utter dome/utter wall/blocking spell, the missiles cannot strike they target.
I believe that the damage is also balanced against high defense characters (besides mages). A high dodge/parry can be gotten around by using area of effect attacks. An explosive fireball (or other area spell) would still get a PC with high defense in the blast radius. Those typically cost twice as much as single target spells, and Mana Missile cannot harm multiple subjects.

[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

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

I've got only one thing to add and that's that the writeup is a bit confusing: when does the caster attack? Jets are regular spells, but they have a duration of 1 second and an Attack manouver follows the casting in the next round. Your Burning Hands are Regular, but have no duration. Should it work like a jet or like a missile?

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

Reincarnate (VH)

How about making it also an Animal spell?

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

False Life
Regular

Provides the subject with a number of temporary hit points. Any damage the target receives is subtracted from these temporary hit points first, and the spell ends automatically once they are gone. For the purpose of determining crippling injuries only the remaining temporary hit points are added to the subject's total hit points.

College: Body Control.
Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: 1 to 3. The subject gains 2 temporary hit points for each point of energy. Same to maintain.
Prerequisite: Lend Vitality.

As it's as cost-effective as Major Healing, I think it should be either Very Hard or have a longer prerequisite chain. Or it should be one for one, like Block is.