Slow and Steady Spells

[Ximenez]

One variety of spellcaster in my current campaign has a (relatively) small VPP that can be used to simulate any power within a class of special effects. This class is designed for people who can think of creative ways to use "little" spells.

 

A player of mine has realized that low AP=low END use and has been wanting to use her magic to achieve gradual effects. With her powers based around "trees and wood," she has worked to rot the wood of a ship, leech tannins from wine barrels into an enemy's wine to ruin it, and drive out an infestation of carpenter ants from a peasant's cottage. This is exactly the kind of creative use of the power that I want to encourage, but I have no idea how to formulate this in game terms. So far I've basically said, "yeah, you can do that" with very little attention to the numbers. That has been working OK, but her character is gaining XP and becoming more powerful, and I want to have some way to determine what she can actually accomplish. So what's the best way to simulate this kind of attack?

[L. Marcus]

... A bit of a cop-out, perhaps, but I could go for a Change Environment with variable effects.

[mhd]

Sounds like the cumulative effect of a Transform to me.

[Lucius]

Powers to look at:  Transformation, Change Environment, Aid, Drain, Dispel, possibly Life Support.

 

Modifiers to look at: Constant, Uncontrolled,  Persistant, Cumulative, Damage over Time, Reduced END, Continuing Charges, Time Limit.

 

To get started

 

Shipshapeless: (Total: 5 Active Cost, 3 Real Cost) Killing Attack - Ranged 1 point (5 Active Points); Damage Over Time, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times), Target's defenses only apply once (33-64 damage increments, damage occurs every 1 Day, can be negated by Dispelling; -1/2) (Real Cost: 3)

 

Straightforward Killing Attack. Only difference between this and hitting a ship with a fireball is that you're taking your time about it.

 

Poison Wood: (Total: 4 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Change Environment (-1m Tunneling), Persistent (+1/4), Does Knockback (+1/4), Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4), Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Indirect (Source Point can vary from use to use, path can change with every use; +1) (4 Active Points); No Range (-1/2), Conditional Power Only to make wood hard and unpalatable (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2)

 

Renders wood hard and unpalatable to termites, carpenter ants, and anything else that burrows in it, so much so they take damage from trying to bite it and (assuming the insect survives that) recoil instinctively and move away ("Does Knockback.") Eventually the vermin will die out or flee.

 

 

Wine Wine Whine: (Total: 3 Active Cost, 3 Real Cost) Cosmetic Transform 0 1/2d6 ((wooden) Barrels of wine into barrels of undrinkable wine, magic), Damage Over Time (9-12 damage increments, damage occurs every 1 Hour, +1/2) (3 Active Points) (Real Cost: 3)

 

Hm, probably should have put an Area Effect on this one too, to turn the whole wine cellar into a whine cellar....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Taglines to look at: palindromedary taglines

[Lucius]

 

Tree Bond: (Total: 21 Active Cost, 2 Real Cost) Life Support (Eating: Character does not eat; Longevity: 1600 Years), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Difficult To Dispel (x4 Active Points; +1/2), Usable Nearby (+1), Grantor pays the END whenever the power is used, Grantor can take back power at any time (21 Active Points); 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Season (-3 1/2), IIF Immobile Durable (-1 1/4), Extra Time (5 Minutes, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/4), Side Effects, Side Effect occurs automatically whenever Power is used (Side Effect occurs when character stops using power, Side Effect does a predefined amount of damage; -1), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2)

 

Joins the life force of the caster, and as many others as can crowd around and touch the tree, to the tree. Uncontrolled is so that the effect continues after leaving the tree and moving apart from one another. The bond can be severed by a sufficient Dispel or by destroying the tree itself; either way, the subjects take 12 BOD and 24 STUN. Until then, subjects age slowly and need not eat, their lives being supported by that of the tree.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Palindromedary Bond

[薔薇語]

Doesnt the once a season charge mean the lifesupport ends each season amd everyone involved has to once again redo the spell to be covered?

 

Also, I really like the idea. Quite the concept for a bunch of nature spirit worshippers. Maybe they could even get a bonus to defense because in part the tree redirects some damage to itself. Maybe even have that as the thing that must be destroyed in order to kill some resurrecting baddie or his goons.

 

Foreign Orchid.

[Scott Baker]

Doesnt the once a season charge mean the lifesupport ends each season amd everyone involved has to once again redo the spell to be covered?

 

Also, I really like the idea. Quite the concept for a bunch of nature spirit worshippers. Maybe they could even get a bonus to defense because in part the tree redirects some damage to itself. Maybe even have that as the thing that must be destroyed in order to kill some resurrecting baddie or his goons.

 

Foreign Orchid.

Actually a charge only lasts for 1 phase (CC100), unless you make it continuing and pay for extra time (1 season is a +3, so the charge only works out to a -1/2 total). Built that way it would mean the spell has to be re-cast every season just as you were asking.

[Lucius]

I need a Limitation that isn't Charges but restricts how often the spell can be cast.....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I need a palindromedary but I have one already

[Scott Baker]

I need a Limitation that isn't Charges but restricts how often the spell can be cast.....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I need a palindromedary but I have one already

Is this about the Tree Bond spell, or something else?

[Markdoc]

I need a Limitation that isn't Charges but restricts how often the spell can be cast.....Lucius AlexanderI need a palindromedary but I have one already

I believe you suggested using clips of 1 charge with an increased reloading time in the past.

Personally, I just use a variation on the Extra Time limitation called "cooldown" which is worth -1/2 less than the standard Extra Time limitation. So a power which you can only use every other phase gets a -1/4 limitation. This sounds like it might be a bit undervalued, but the value chosen meshes with the Time advantage and alternate uses of Extra Time, so that you can't get a freebie bonus by combining them.

 

Cheers, Mark

[Lucius]

I believe you suggested using clips of 1 charge with an increased reloading time in the past.

Personally, I just use a variation on the Extra Time limitation called "cooldown" which is worth -1/2 less than the standard Extra Time limitation. So a power which you can only use every other phase gets a -1/4 limitation. This sounds like it might be a bit undervalued, but the value chosen meshes with the Time advantage and alternate uses of Extra Time, so that you can't get a freebie bonus by combining them.

 

Cheers, Mark

 

If each Charge only lasts a Phase, that won't work. But your idea might.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says just roll it in with Side Effects - try to cast it again too soon, lose a lotta BOD.

[Vondy]

I need a Limitation that isn't Charges but restricts how often the spell can be cast.....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

I need a palindromedary but I have one already

 

Just make one up and assign a value. Custom advantages and limitations are de rigueur in Hero.

 

"Can only be case once per season -3," or some such, seems appropriate.

[Vondy]

As an aside,

 

When working magic requires complex rituals, significant time to cast, and has difficult conditional prerequisites to meet before the magic will work,, I don't know that having characters pay points to buy "powers" makes a lot of sense. Yes, there is often a mechanical effect in play, but this isn't your typical flash-bang combat magic that occurs during structured play, and often plays out on the narrative level. I would be more inclined to handle this as a skill-based magic system. 

[Markdoc]

If each Charge only lasts a Phase, that won't work. But your idea might.

 

Sure: the limitation suggested plays nice with extended and continuous powers, and both frequently and infrequently-used powers. In this case, since the Extra Time limitation table is more granular than the base time chart (which is why I chose to use it, instead of a custom limitation just using the base time chart) "once per season" nets you a whopping -5 limitation ... but given the diminishing returns from stacking limitations, it actually doesn't save you any points: it still costs 2 real points.

 

cheers, Mark