Body magic - feign death

[logan9a]

Feign Death

Casting time: 1 round
Range: Self
Duration: 10 minutes
MP cost: 4 MP

Description: NPC spot vs your martial arts skill to see if you are faking death.

[Scott]

This needs to have some kind of explicit exemption from the "All spells use your mouth and hands and it’s obvious you are casting them. No secret spell casting." rule to be functional.

[logan9a]

Hum.

[Scott]

Are instant-cast spells already exempt from being obvious?

[logan9a]

Not really; if we were to keep this we would need a way to do it. Maybe it can be pre-cast?

[PotatoJedi]

Feign Death

Casting time: 1 round
Range: Self
Duration: Until sunup/sundown, then 10 minutes
MP cost: 4 MP

Description: When you cast this spell, choose a type of verbal and somatic trigger, such as snapping your fingers and saying "I'm out." The next time before sunup/sundown that you perform the trigger, you collapse (if you're not already on the ground) and appear to be dead for the next 10 minutes. Someone attempting to discern whether you are really dead must make a Spot Hidden roll vs your Martial Arts [?]. Using equipment designed to help diagnose death, such as a stethoscope to listen for a heartbeat, gives a bonus to the Spot Hidden check at the GM's discretion.



Not sure what kind of Martial Arts roll it would be. Anyway, that's my idea. I liked Logan's idea for a trigger and went with it.

Edit: I would also argue that you can use Medicine instead of Spot Hidden. 

[logan9a]

I like medicine vs spot hidden. Everyone has some spot hidden.

The trigger can be anything weird like "Thou hast slain me!" or whatever.

[PotatoJedi]

Medicine instead of Martial Arts you mean? Or Medicine instead of Spot Hidden?

[logan9a]

Medicine to spot - not sure if we need martial arts in there at all. The body spells were originally written as martial arts powers (decades ago) but now we are rewriting them as a body spell tree.

[PotatoJedi]

Casting time: 1 round
Range: Self
Duration: Until sunup/sundown, then 10 minutes
MP cost: 4 MP

Description: When you cast this spell, choose a type of verbal trigger, such as saying "thou hast slain me!" The next time before sunup/sundown that you perform the trigger, you collapse (if you're not already on the ground) and appear to be dead for the next 10 minutes. Someone attempting to discern whether you are really dead must make a Spot Hidden roll vs your Medicine. Using equipment designed to help diagnose death, such as a stethoscope to listen for a heartbeat, gives a bonus to the Spot Hidden check at the GM's discretion.

[logan9a]

Casting time: 1 round
Range: Self
Duration: Until sunup/sundown, then 10 minutes
MP cost: 4 MP

Description: When you cast this spell, choose a type of verbal trigger, such as saying "thou hast slain me!" The next time before sunup/sundown that you perform the trigger, you collapse (if you're not already on the ground) and appear to be dead for the next 10 minutes. Someone attempting to discern whether you are really dead must make a first aid roll at half. Using equipment designed to help diagnose death, such as a stethoscope to listen for a heartbeat, gives a bonus to the first aid check at the GM's discretion. Note that even if they think you are dead, the person may still chop off your head, molest your 'corpse', collect trophies or whatever sick shit they normally do with dead bodies. Animals are fairly unpredictable with this and may feed off of you doing automatic damage.

[Scott]

Can't I just throw myself on the ground and roll Acting? How is this different?

[logan9a]

Someone would get to use first aid at full to determine you were still alive.

But yeah, I get your point.

I am wondering if a low level 'now this person is uninteresting' spell would be needed in addition.

Though the 'ignore me' or 'avoid this area' type spells would be an interesting thing for a different tree.

[PotatoJedi]

What if you combine this with an acting roll as well? If you succeed on both the Medicine and Acting rolls, the opponent can't discern that you are alive (even by magical means). If you fail the acting roll, they can attempt the Spot Hidden roll as written now.

[logan9a]

Not sure - it might be getting overly complicated.