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Old 07-12-2021, 06:42 AM   #81
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Thayne View Post
At first, I thought this spell might require following the precedent of Seekersense (Psionic Powers pp. 42-43), which uses modular abilities to build a flexible detection power. But then I noticed an alternate precedent in the form of Telescan (Psionic Powers p. 67), which simply uses Selective-Effect, +20%, and decided to go with that approach because it's simpler.
Beast Seeker
Keywords: Information.
Full Cost: 31 points.
Casting Roll: IQ.
Range: Unlimited.
Duration: Instantaneous.

You can divine the location of the nearby animals. You can narrow your search as much as you like, for example searching only for members of a specific species, or even a single known individual. Unless searching for a specific individual, the GM should secretly determine the closest match and apply Long-Distance Modifiers (B241) instead of normal range penalties to the roll. On a success, you know the closest match.

Statistics: Detect Animals (Cannot Analyze, -10%; Long-Range 1, +50%; Selective Effect, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [31].
One of the factors that determines the base cost of the Detect is how common/broad the category is. Thus, I'd note that under the statistics for the spell.

I tried to deduce what category you chose by applying your modifiers to the base cost of the spell. But with net modifiers of +45% that comes out to only 22 points, assuming the highest point cost for Detect was used. How did you arrive at the 31 point full cost for Beast Seeker?
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Old 07-12-2021, 09:16 AM   #82
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

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Originally Posted by Emerald Cat View Post
One of the factors that determines the base cost of the Detect is how common/broad the category is. Thus, I'd note that under the statistics for the spell.

I tried to deduce what category you chose by applying your modifiers to the base cost of the spell. But with net modifiers of +45% that comes out to only 22 points, assuming the highest point cost for Detect was used. How did you arrive at the 31 point full cost for Beast Seeker?
By doing my math wrong. Will fix. It should be 29 points.
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Old 07-12-2021, 07:19 PM   #83
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

This build was heavily influenced by Aspect, from GURPS Psionic Powers p. 61.
Beast Soother
Keywords: Resisted (Will).
Full Cost: 2 points/level.
Casting Roll: IQ.
Range: Unlimited.
Duration: Instantaneous.

You can radiate an aura of calm that affects animals around you. All animals you wish to affect resists with Will, at a bonus based on their distance from you (use the bonus under Size on the Size and Speed/Range Table, p. B550). Animals who resist will take note of you, but those you choose to exclude from the effect are not affected at all.

Subjects who fail to resist roll on the Reaction Table (p. B560) with a bonus equal to your Beast-Soother level – or you can add your Beast-Soother level to an Influence Roll (p. B359) against the subject, if you have Animal Empathy. All other modifiers apply – if you try using Beast-Soother on the mama bear whose cubs you threatened, you’ll have to overcome a very large situational penalty. In spite of the name, this spell doesn't just prevent animals from attacking or fleeing from the caster—an affected animal may well fight to protect the source of the soothing presence!

Statistics: Charisma (Accessibility, Animals Only, -25%; Requires IQ vs. Will Roll, -20%; Selective Effect, +20%; Short-Range 2, -20%; Sorcery, -15%) [2/level].
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Old 07-14-2021, 11:05 PM   #84
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

Okay, I've been running out of the material I had pre-prepped when I started this thread, and work has been busy. But I dashed this off quick:
Beast Speech
Keywords: None.
Full Cost: 22 points.
Casting Roll: None.
Range: Unlimited.
Duration: Indefinite.

Man, I've been trying to make these write-ups look professional, but this one is just Speak with Animals. I don't know what else to say, short of copy-pasting the rules text for that advantage from B87.

Statics: Speak with Animals (Sorcery, -15%) [22].
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Old 07-15-2021, 10:32 PM   #85
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

For this spell, I decided to go with the Slotted Cosmic Power approach I considered and rejected for Beast Seeker. That's a bit cheaper if I did my math right, but ends up increasing the casting time by 1 second in most cases. Also, writing this spell description made me realize the description of Beast Seeker needed clarification, because my first draft forgot that you could specify a single individual halfway through the write-up. Those edits have been made, hopefully the spell works better now.
Beast Summoning
Keywords: Information, Mind Control, Resisted (Will).
Full Cost: 74 points.
Casting Roll: IQ (Special).
Range: Unlimited.
Duration: Special.

You can divine the location of the nearest animal of a given type and then attempt to make it come to you. The spell takes an extra second to cast, unless casting it repeatedly for a single animal type. Make two casting rolls. The first roll is to find the animal's location, which works like an Information spell. The second roll is to summon the animal, is Resisted with the animal's Will, and follows the rules for Mind Control spells. Both rolls use Long-Distance Modifiers (B241) instead of normal range penalties to the roll. If both rolls succeed, the animal travels towards for as long as you take constant Concentrate maneuvers(and pay the usual 1 FP per minute), plus minutes equal to the margin by which you won the Quick Contest. When the animal arrives at your location, the spell ends, but it reacts to you at +1.

Statistics: Slotted Cosmic Power 1 (25) (Accessibility, Must specialize in a type of animal, -10%; Limited, Only Detect with Cannot Analyze, Link, and Precise, -50%; Sorcery, -15%) [45] + Mind Control (Accessibility, Summoning only, -30%; Animals Only, -25%; Link, +10%; Long-Range 1, +50%; Magic, -10%; Suggestion, -40%) [28] + Perk (+1 reactions from summoned animals) [1].
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Old 07-17-2021, 09:25 PM   #86
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Call
Keywords: None.
Full Cost: 1 point.
Casting Roll: None. Roll vs. animal's hearing to determine if the call is heard.
Range: Unlimited.
Duration: Instantaneous.

[Literally just the text from GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells, p. 6]

Statistics: Accessort (Pet Whistle)
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Old 07-18-2021, 08:39 PM   #87
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

Today's spell was relatively straightforward once I realized swarm attacks work a lot like Contact Agents. I had to wing it on the value of a couple modifiers, but given that the base value of the advantage is only 4 points, this is almost totally irrelevant. (Even if I knocked a point or two off the full cost, this would not affect the required level of Sorcerous Empowerment, nor the cost as an Alternative Ability.)
Creeping Plague
Keywords: Area (Leveled), Resisted (HT; Special).
Full Cost: 19 points + 2 points/level.
Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: 100 yards.
Duration: 30 seconds.

Conjures a carpet of crawling, venomous vermin: bullet ants, centipedes, scorpions, spiders, and almost any other creeping invertebrate that stings or bites. Water offers no refuge – it’s teeming with jellyfish, leeches, stinging echinoderms, and other horrors. Everyone on the ground or swimming in the area is engulfed and attacked. No active defense roll is allowed, but a resistance roll vs. HT halves damage. Armor or clothing provides the same protection it would against a swarm of insects (see B461). Sealed protects completely.

Unlike a mundane swarm, this one doesn’t move on its own. By taking a Concentrate maneuver, however, the caster can shift the area along the ground at Move 2 (though not change its shape) to chase victims or torment new ones. The swarm is unaffected by damage

Statistics: Toxic Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Contact Agent, +150%; Extended Duration, x3, +20%; Mobile, Move 2, +80%; Increased 1/2D, x10, +15%; Increased Range, x10, Underwater Only, +15%; Nuisance Effect, Armor and clothing provide temporary immunity, -5%; Persistent, +40%; Resistible, HT, Half damage, -15%; Sorcery, -15%; Underwater, +20%) [19]. Further levels increase Area Effect (+50%) [+2].
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Old 07-20-2021, 09:04 PM   #88
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

To my surprise, the spell in Magic has very little to say beyond, essentially, "you gain the Morph advantage", though it does say clothing and armor are absorbed (which I changed to "equipment up to Basic Lift").
Great Shapeshift
Keywords: None.
Full Cost: 95 points or more.
Casting Roll: None.
Range: Self.
Duration: Indefinite.

You gain the Morph advantage for the duration of the spell. You may have worn or carried equipment whose total weight does not exceed your Basic Lift vanish when you transform, reappearing with you when you change back. Memorized spells stay memorized in-between castings of this spell.

The 95-point version of the spell lets you assume forms with racial templates no more expensive than your natural form. More expensive versions of the spell let you assume more expensive forms; each 1 point increase in the full cost of the spell increases the most expensive form you can assume by 1 point.

Statistics: Morph (Can Carry Objects, No Encumbrance, +10%; Sorcery, -15%) [95].

Last edited by Michael Thayne; 07-21-2021 at 08:27 AM.
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Old 07-21-2021, 08:31 AM   #89
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

Added the sentence "Memorized spells stay memorized in-between castings of this spell" to Great Shapeshift. I can imagine someone arguing that if Morph is part of an Alternative Ability array, you forget memorized forms when you switch out Morph for a different ability, and the argument gets stronger when improvisation (which realistically means hardcore improvisation) comes into play, but the counter-argument is that it seems to make the spell nearly useless, so I'd allow retention of memorized forms.
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Old 07-23-2021, 12:22 PM   #90
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Default Re: [Sorcery] Michael's daily sorcerous spells thread

Groom
Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 1 or 17 points.
Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim the improved version.
Range: Self or 100 yards.
Duration: Indefinite or 30 minutes.

Subject can use their bare hands to brush, comb, and otherwise care for the fur of any beast. Confers no special ability to look after animals – just eliminates the need for tools!

The basic (1-point) version of this spell benefits only the sorcerer; it has an indefinite duration, which means it must be maintained. The improved (17-point) version can benefit anyone, works at a distance, and does not need to be maintained; it has a fixed, lasting duration.

Statistics: The basic version is Accessory (Fur-care tools). The improved version is Affliction 1 (Advantage, Accessory (Fur-care tools), +10%; Extended Duration, x10, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10×, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [17]. Notes: This spell originally appeared in GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells, p. 6.
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