Slayers 5E Writeups

[Michael Hopcroft]

Has anyone done FRED writeups for the Slayers cast yet?

These would be extremely high-point-total (bordering on the superheroic) fantasy characters facing (usually) the rough equivalent of Elder Gods. 100+ member gangs of bandits are nothing to these guys, as are horders of orcs and monsters galore. But Things Humans Were Not Meant To Know present a challenge.

PLus, I'm curious whether "Doesn't work during "that time of the month" " can concievably be made into a viable limitation of a huge VPP....

[Old Man]

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft
Has anyone done FRED writeups for the Slayers cast yet?



PLus, I'm curious whether "Doesn't work during "that time of the month" " can concievably be made into a viable limitation of a huge VPP....

I don't see why not. If the whole thing cannot be used 7 days out of 28, then sure, give it a -1/4

[Michael Hopcroft]

Originally posted by Shadowpup
I don't see why not. If the whole thing cannot be used 7 days out of 28, then sure, give it a -1/4

One question that has been hotly debated among Slayers fans is the effects of pregancy on a female mage's use of magic.

The -1/4 limitation on female mages for not being able to use the magic during their period indicates that magic in females is closely linked to the feminine reproductive cycle. It waxes and wanes with her fertility before stabilizing at a slightly lower level at menopause. Now the question is what happens when you throw a developing baby into the mix. Does the magic get stronger or weaker? Does the developing infant absorb the mother's magical energy, making it harder for her to cast powerful spells? or does the child's soul actually strengthen and sustain the mother's magic?

Fan writers have many theories on this subject. One is that among the first spells a female magic-user learns are contraceptive magic so that she only gives birth when she wants to. Another is that a truly powerful mage has an extended lifespan, is fertile for a much longer period, and can give birth to more children. According to one fanfiction writer Lina and Gaurry ended up with 21 children and innumerable grandchildren and great-grans\children over the course of a 200-year+ lifespan. (Lina's lifespan was extended by her magic, Gaurry's by being part-Elven and having a trace of Vila in his bloodline as well).

[Markdoc]

You must remember to give none of the chracters an INT of more than, say, 5. :-)

[Michael Hopcroft]

Originally posted by Markdoc
You must remember to give none of the chracters an INT of more than, say, 5. :-)

Why? Lina's a genius who always has the right spell -- she just has a ton of Psych Lims that hapmer her behavior and a very nasty Enraged. Gaurry may not be the smartest tool in the shed (and who wants smart tools?) but he sure does know how to use a sword and his Perceptive abilities are uncanny. Amelia would probably rank pretty high on the smarts table -- comeday she's going to run a COUNTRY, for crying out loud.

[Old Man]

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

Fan writers have many theories on this subject. One is that among the first spells a female magic-user learns are contraceptive magic so that she only gives birth when she wants to. Another is that a truly powerful mage has an extended lifespan, is fertile for a much longer period, and can give birth to more children. According to one fanfiction writer Lina and Gaurry ended up with 21 children and innumerable grandchildren and great-grans\children over the course of a 200-year+ lifespan. (Lina's lifespan was extended by her magic, Gaurry's by being part-Elven and having a trace of Vila in his bloodline as well).

The theory of longer life equalling more children is flawed. A female human has a limited number of eggs. Menopause is a function of running out of eggs, not age (although they are closely related). If extending the life of a woman creates a longer gap between periods, then she can be furtile for a longer time. However if all the youth magic does is keep her looking and feeling young, she'll run out of eggs around age 50, but live until whenever.

[Markdoc]

>>>Originally posted by Markdoc
You must remember to give none of the chracters an INT of more than, say, 5. :-) <<<<

Well, I was being facetious, (hence the smiley) but the comment was based on their inability to identify really obvious-looking bad guys as perhaps just a teensy bit untrustworthy. Or to stay out of trouble for more than 15 minutes at a time. Or to learn from experience. Or to refrain from blowing things up that perhaps should not be blown up, or.... :-)

Speaking of really obvious bad guys, is it just me or is there anyone else who loves the evil councillor in Dragon Half? He carries around a bucket of water and a lump of dry ice, so he can generate his own "creepy bad guy ground mist". ;-)

[Michael Hopcroft]

I'm still waiting to see someone try their hand at those writeups. I'm temptred to do it yself through conversion, but I expect it to be a long. awkward and potentially painful process.

[SirWilliam]

The theory of longer life equalling more children is flawed. A female human has a limited number of eggs. Menopause is a function of running out of eggs, not age (although they are closely related). If extending the life of a woman creates a longer gap between periods, then she can be furtile for a longer time. However if all the youth magic does is keep her looking and feeling young, she'll run out of eggs around age 50, but live until whenever.

This is so wrong I'm just stunned it was written. A woman does not go into menopause due to running out of eggs. Just simple math will tell you this. Let's say a woman begins menses at age 10 and stops mensing at age 50. That's 40 years times 12 months, which comes out to 480 and for the sake of argument lets round it to 500 eggs produced. A woman is born with all her eggs and according to this site (http://www.scientia.org/cadonline/Bi...malestruct.ASP) each ovary contains between 100,000 and 1,000,000 eggs. Now that's a very far cry from 500 (something in the several orders of magnitude range).

Even assuming a 30% egg maturation rate and one ovary a woman could produce conservatively 30,000 eggs. This is enough for 2400 years of mensing. (Not a thought most women are going to be thrilled about.)

Now I don't know anything about "Slayers" although I'm going to guess it has something to do with Buffy (not a show I ever watched). My take on the effects of pregnancy on someone who's magical powers shut off during mensing would be that they would be boosted by an large amount based on the hormone levels that occur during pregnancy. (I've been witness to two pregnancies and the hormones are vicious) I'm not sure which of the two hormones is normally high between mensing (I think it's estrogen) but that hormone level shoots up to about 100-200 times what's normal when the woman is pregnant.

[Metaphysician]

Nope, Slayers is nothing like Buffy at all. Its a fantasy adventure anime, starring a main character that can be best described as "Conan, if he were a woman who can cast nuclear blasts."

[SirWilliam]

Nope, Slayers is nothing like Buffy at all. Its a fantasy adventure anime, starring a main character that can be best described as "Conan, if he were a woman who can cast nuclear blasts."

Guess you learn something every day. I never got into anime either so I guess that would explain my ignorance.

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Drakkenkin]

... each ovary contains between 100,000 and 1,000,000 eggs. Now that's a very far cry from 500 (something in the several orders of magnitude range).

Even assuming a 30% egg maturation rate and one ovary a woman could produce conservatively 30,000 eggs. This is enough for 2400 years of mensing...

Thought this seems to be accurate (I didn't run the numbers), according to the medical reports my wife has read to me eggs have a shelf life and tend to go stale (even while they are still in the ovaries.) Pregnancy begins to become more difficult after the age of 28. A bit young in my opinion, but that's what the reports stated. (Nevertheless, she could easily have some magic to take care of this.)

That said, and with five whole episodes under my belt, I would side with ... I don't know. If mages beget mages then I would say magic power decreases as a portion of it is given to the babe. Otherwise, magic power would increase, but using that extra magic may have adverse effects on the babe as you are drawing on its life force... more or less. It may not be able to take the strain of trying to grow and being used to boost the mother’s magic. The use of magic during pregnancy may be frowned upon.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Magic throws a lot of those things out the window. A fertilioty mage or shrine0-maiden can extend the feric\ticle cycle almost indefinitely if she wnats to (hoipefully this would be with the subjec't; consent!).Or the forces of magic themsevles may have an effect on fertility. Maybe LON (the Lord of Nightmares, the capricious and inexplicble creatrix of the Slyers multiverse) wnats Lina Inverse to have a large family -- if so, she can certainly arrange it. Theat Lina is one of the few beings who really understand LON moight make her feel somewhat protective of the sorceress.

Of course,, fertility is a two-way street. You'd need a mate who continues to produce good, fertile sperm for many years. Again, beings who have had a close association with magic may be even stronger.