Spell scores thus far

[Happy Fun Ball]

Jul 8, 2018 12:40:15 GMT logan9a said:

Meta: 7 are done. Levels 1-3 are [tbd].

wood/stone/metal: 4 are done. Those are the top of the tree ones. Levels 1-6 are [tbd].


Shadow:
Blurred vision -> darkness -> TBD -> Dark Vision -> TBD -> hide in shadows -> hide them in shadows -> area darkness -> Shadowy Armour -> Shadow Walking
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——>Shadowy Armour Other

A good sensible spell after "Dark Vision" would be "Blind human." "Blind non-human" might also work as a separate spell, to be treed off of blind human. Also, after darkness, "Twilight," outdoor darkening spell that causes everyone in the area to become freaked out with the ominous darkness, Result -10 on all skill checks due to fear, Will x3 saving throw (or successful sanity check to dismiss fear). Another possible idea: "Tunnel vision" - darken peripheral vision so target cannot see flanks.

Another idea, "blur self," -20 on attacks against the caster, ESS x3 to ignore the blur.

[Happy Fun Ball]

Here's a fun idea: "Dark Orison:" Imbue a weapon with the power of shadow, causing your attack to not only deal physical damage, but 1d6 sanity damage as well. Can be used on unarmed strikes.

No idea where to place it. Seems like it should be high powered and costly number of MP.

Basically, the shadow tree seems like a good place to have all sorts of sanity effects occur.

[logan9a]

Thinking I'm not wanting a weapon that causes sanity damage simply because it is a scarce resource for the PC's - and if it is a spell, NPC's have it.

[Happy Fun Ball]

How do you feel about the "Twilight" spell, where everyone just freaks the fuck out (result: blanket -10% skill checks) because it suddenly gets ominously darker unless they make a SAN check (no actual sanity loss, it just checks your ability to hold it together)? Also, WIL x3 makes sense for that, if you don't like the SAN check.

The one that causes SAN damage was meant to be a top tier spell with a heavy cost (maybe even putting ESS permanently into the weapon to prime it for the spell), but I see your point. SAN gains are few and far between. In other words, almost nobody should have that spell, and it should cost dearly for the power to do it.

What about blindness? Blur self? Tunnel vision? Do any of these ideas tickle your fancy?

[logan9a]

"In other words, almost nobody should have that spell, and it should cost dearly for the power to do it." What is the 'dear' cost? MP? They come back. Ones own SAN? NPC's can have 0 san so that's not really a detriment for them.

Blindness, not thrilled with.

Actually, we could have something like 'uneasy feeling' - everyone within a certain radius (for something like 3 rounds) could feel uneasy taking a -10% to all actions. That could later perhaps be incorporated into the 'go away' spell that makes people want to leave a certain area.

[Fantômas]

Sept 4, 2018 8:04:30 GMT Happy Fun Ball said:

How do you feel about the "Twilight" spell, where everyone just freaks the fuck out (result: blanket -10% skill checks) because it suddenly gets ominously darker unless they make a SAN check (no actual sanity loss, it just checks your ability to hold it together)? Also, WIL x3 makes sense for that, if you don't like the SAN check.

The one that causes SAN damage was meant to be a top tier spell with a heavy cost (maybe even putting ESS permanently into the weapon to prime it for the spell), but I see your point. SAN gains are few and far between. In other words, almost nobody should have that spell, and it should cost dearly for the power to do it.

What about blindness? Blur self? Tunnel vision? Do any of these ideas tickle your fancy?

see heroiccthulhu.proboards.com/thread/4299/shadow-magic-nightmare

[Happy Fun Ball]

Sept 4, 2018 9:42:18 GMT logan9a said:

"In other words, almost nobody should have that spell, and it should cost dearly for the power to do it." What is the 'dear' cost? MP? They come back. Ones own SAN? NPC's can have 0 san so that's not really a detriment for them.

Blindness, not thrilled with.

Actually, we could have something like 'uneasy feeling' - everyone within a certain radius (for something like 3 rounds) could feel uneasy taking a -10% to all actions. That could later perhaps be incorporated into the 'go away' spell that makes people want to leave a certain area.

Well, I suggested putting actual ESS stat into it. Your essence goes down, maybe by as much as 3 points if you want to prepare the weapon for that spell. That's the way making magic items used to work. You put literal ESS into it.

Maybe that would make the spell useless or uncastable. Also, if you just decide that some NPC put 3 ESS into a weapon and then got it back in stat-ups, well, that doesn't really reflect the cost of the spell for an NPC. So you'd have to decide if an NPC was willing to pay that price. You'd have to be fair about it, and have them suck up the ESS loss rather than just say they got it back later.

I think that's a reasonable price. Maybe even a second spell: "Prepare Shadow Weapon," to be followed by "Dark Orison," your shadow weapon can be used to do 1d6 SAN damage on a successful hit. A prepared shadow weapon could have some effect on the parry/dodge ability of an opponent, because of the shadowy nature of the weapon.

Or it's a bad idea, and I'm fully ready to accept that.

I didn't think you'd like "blindness," but it's a logical escalation of "blurred vision," so I threw it out there.

The name "Uneasy Feeling" doesn't have as much zip as "Twilight" (plus it sounds like you want it to be usable indoors, which is a different spell than what I suggested), but if you want to go with "Uneasy feeling," I would suggest that you do give every one a WILx3 or a SAN check to resist the spell. Otherwise, sounds like a winner.

But the "Twilight" suggestion could only be used outdoors. That was a deliberate limitation of the spell. For what you've suggested as a follow up, I think it's perfectly fine to have a spell that causes ominous darkness anywhere, and causes an "uneasy feeling." I'd like to see a save for people to hold their shit together though, it's only ominous darkness, after all.

[Happy Fun Ball]

Sept 4, 2018 22:41:09 GMT Fantômas said:

Sept 4, 2018 8:04:30 GMT Happy Fun Ball said:

How do you feel about the "Twilight" spell, where everyone just freaks the fuck out (result: blanket -10% skill checks) because it suddenly gets ominously darker unless they make a SAN check (no actual sanity loss, it just checks your ability to hold it together)? Also, WIL x3 makes sense for that, if you don't like the SAN check.

The one that causes SAN damage was meant to be a top tier spell with a heavy cost (maybe even putting ESS permanently into the weapon to prime it for the spell), but I see your point. SAN gains are few and far between. In other words, almost nobody should have that spell, and it should cost dearly for the power to do it.

What about blindness? Blur self? Tunnel vision? Do any of these ideas tickle your fancy?

see heroiccthulhu.proboards.com/thread/4299/shadow-magic-nightmare

I think that would be a bit more powerful than the "Twilight" spell I suggested, but it's a perfectly good spell. Maybe call it "Dread fear?" prompting a flight instinct (or fight, flight, freak, possibly) based on a WIL or SAN check.

Honestly, at the point where it's fight/flight/freak, that would just be "Instill temporary insanity," the save against which is WIL x3. That seems a little OP to me. What do you think?

I'm going to weigh in on the other thread with the same reply, and replies to this should probably be put there.

[logan9a]

"You put literal ESS into it."

Did that in the past, wasn't thrilled with the result. Basically, it caused everyone to make one or two 'great' weapons - and squeal like pigs if they were lost as it was their permanent ESS getting lost. In this campaign, gear is super temporary - that is a constant.

"can be used to do 1d6 SAN damage on a successful hit."

Again, not interested in SAN damage weapons. If I want the PC's to take SAN damage, I will introduce more scary stuff. NPC's taking SAN damage is not a huge deal (or effective) as many of them are 'special'.


As to suggesting spell ideas - I'd suggest coming up with something a) that you want to personally use b) super super low powered c) put each spell in their own thread, spell name and tree in the subject line. Otherwise, you get confusing threads like this.

[Happy Fun Ball]

Sept 6, 2018 18:06:18 GMT logan9a said:

"You put literal ESS into it."

Did that in the past, wasn't thrilled with the result. Basically, it caused everyone to make one or two 'great' weapons - and squeal like pigs if they were lost as it was their permanent ESS getting lost. In this campaign, gear is super temporary - that is a constant.

"can be used to do 1d6 SAN damage on a successful hit."

Again, not interested in SAN damage weapons. If I want the PC's to take SAN damage, I will introduce more scary stuff. NPC's taking SAN damage is not a huge deal (or effective) as many of them are 'special'.


As to suggesting spell ideas - I'd suggest coming up with something a) that you want to personally use b) super super low powered c) put each spell in their own thread, spell name and tree in the subject line. Otherwise, you get confusing threads like this.

Yeah, okay. Should I start a new thread for Twilight, or do you not like that idea in the first place?

[logan9a]

Go for something else please. If you guys want a tree to develop, I've got one that has some stuff and needs work.