Author: Bear (Page 62 of 212)

    Working on magic for The Red Concordant, I have to fight off the new shiny idea so that I can finish this project.

The New Shiny is:

A gematria based spell research/building system. First, name the spell. Letters have a value from 1 to 9. Spaces count as 1. Total the letter values. Take the total and take the sum of the digits until you get a single digit number.

That final single digit number determines the level and relative power of the spell.

For example: Magic Missile
M(5)+A(2)+G(8)+I(1)+C(4)+space+M(5)+I(1)+S(2)+S(2)+I(1)+L(4)+E(6) is equal to 42. Four plus two is six.

This would make Magic Missile a 6th level spell. If the description of the spell is that the spell caster creates bolts that damages targets, the effect would change to something like two bolts are created per caster level, each bolt does 1d6 damage.

If you change the name to Magic Bolt and keep the same effect, you get down to a second level spell. That could give you one bolt per two levels, each doing 1d4+1 damage.

FWIW, if you want a 1st Level spell, I found the name Flaming Missile works.

This wouldn't be fun for every player, but I am discovering that I am getting less work done playing with names. 🙂

    More Red Concordant

In generating spells for The Red Concordant, I defined a set of criteria for a category of spells and then looked at SRD spells for inspiration. Each category is assigned a color for reasons I'll detail in a bit. After creating, re-purposing, modifying a list spells, I change the color name to something more evocative.

For example, the spells posted yesterday were labeled Black

The criteria were:
*Divine spells that are not healing.
*Arcane or Divine spells that deal with the undead.
*Arcane spells that a Necromancer might use if he/she was Neutral in alignment.

After going through some SRD spells, I started modifying the descriptions to fit The Black Hack style and mechanics. Some of the results were really inspiring.

For example, Ray of Enfeeblement ends up quite differently. Instead of providing Advantage for character rolls, the Monster Rating (monster HD in the original Black Hack.) is lowered. This seemed easier for me to deal with as a DM, but it also made it different than the Protection from Evil spell.

When the rating goes down by one, the monster has a harder time damaging you, resisting attacks, and the damage goes down.

For the other spells, the above process got me in the right frame of mind to think of spell effects in term of TBH.

Skeletal Shield was one of my favorites. It essentially grants the one time use of the Shield Bash ability that Warriors have. (It also sounds cool.)

After generating 21 spells, I looked at the whole set of spells and called in Shadow.

Currently, I am working on Blue spells. I wonder where this will lead. 🙂

    Work continues on the Red Concordant. After working on a ship building and combat system, I returned to the Magic section.

I have finished one of the categories of spells. Here is a very, very rough draft of the Shadow spells. Adds 540 words. Four more categories on the way.

Level 1

Chill Touch -- A Close target takes 1d6 damage/level.
Detect Life -- You instantly know whether each Nearby creature is dead, Out of Action, wounded, uninjured, undead, or animated.
Protection from Evil -- Advantage on all harmful tests from an opponent. Lasts 1 hour.
Ray of Enfeeblement -- On a successful Intelligence test, a Nearby, Far-Away or Distant opponent loses 1 point from their Monster Rating. The opponent doesn't lose hit points.

Level 2
Command Undead -- Command 1d4 Close or Nearby undead. Make an INT test to command intelligent undead. Lasts 1 hour.
Gentle Repose -- Preserve a dead body (or severed body parts). Lasts 1 day/level. Days a body is preserved do not count towards the 7 day limit of the Raise Dead spell.
Skeletal Shield -- Animated skeletal body parts act as a Large Shield (2 AP). After every defense of a melee attack, roll d20. Results from 1-5 inflicts damage to the the attacker equal to character's level.
Speak with Dead -- Ask a Nearby corpse 3 questions.

Level 3

Animate Dead -- Create 2d4 Skeletons/Zombies with HD/level, from nearby bodies.
Animate Shadow -- Animate your shadow leaving your uncouscious body behind. As a shadow, you retain your stats and hit points and gain the shadow's special abilities. If reduced to zero hp as a shadow, your return to your body and roll on the Out of Action table.
Deathless -- Target of spell rolls 1d4 on the OofA table instead of 1d6. Any result of Death is re-rolled. Lasts 1 turn.
Imbue Spell -- Imbue one Close Undead the ability to cast one of your spells. You lose the ability to cast the imbued spell that day.

Level 4

Mirror Trap -- Trap a target in a mirror. The target cannot be harmed while trapped in the mirror. He or She will be freed if the mirror breaks. Lasts 1 hr/level.
Shadow Shield -- Covered in shadows, any opponent that successfully harms you takes 1d6 + your level damage. Lasts 1 turn.
Suffocation -- All Nearby opponents fall unconscious. Creatures that do not breath are not affected. Lasts 8 hrs.

Level 5

Control Undead -- Like Command Undead, but no INT test required for intelligent undead.
Spiritual Surgery -- Reaching your hand in the target, you pull out a slimy mass. This spell has the effect of curing poison, removing a curse, or removing a disease. The slimy mass can be thrown at an opponent, a successful hit give the opponent the poison,curse, or disease removed.
Temporary Resurrection -- Temporarily restores life, but not consciousness to a Nearby creature that died within the past 2 days. Without magical healing, the creature will die again in 1 day.

Level 6

Clone -- Creates a duplicate copy of a Nearby creature. Once the original creature dies, the clone will awake with all the creature's memories and abilities.
Soul Trap -- Target of spell is trapped in a non-magical object you choose. This spell lasts until dispeled with a wish or the object is broken. The target can do nothing but communicate with whomever possesses the object.

Level 7

Mind Projection -- Project into the alternate dminesions or planes. Anyone touching you can travel with you.