Sorcery: Illusion and Creation Spells

Sorcery: Illusion and Creation Spells

And again, two death spells and a style spell. Create Foreign Body can cause a heart attack or a lesser effect. Mass Invisibility is useful for group stealth. Phantom Killer slays the victim with a tangible illusion.

Create Foreign Body

Keywords: Resisted (HT).

Full Cost: 46 points.

Casting Roll: Will. Use DX or unarmed combat skill to hit.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

This spell creates a foreign body within the subject’s circulatory system or other parts of the body. If the target fails to resist, the result is stroke. Treat this as a mortal wound (p. B423): The victim immediately falls unconscious and must roll vs. HT every 30 minutes, with any failure meaning death. At TL6+, trauma maintenance can help.

Natural recovery occurs only if one of those HT rolls critically succeeds. Otherwise, surgery (roll as if the subject were at -HP), Dispel Creation (at -5 without a way to see the obstruction), or Remove Curse is needed. Neither Counterspell nor Dispel Magic is effective. A victim who recovers is at the lower of -HP or current HP.

The above is the fastest this spell can kill. Slower options (like coma) are possible, as are nonlethal ones (e.g., crippled body parts); effects vary, but the cure is identical. The condition – mortal or not – must be one that a penny-sized foreign body could cause. The GM should forbid anything that targets organs the subject lacks: mortal wounds require a heart and blood; coma, a brain; and so on.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Only on living creatures with organs, -15%; Heart Attack, Variant, +300%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, ‑15%; Variable, +5%) [46].

Mass Invisibility

Keywords: Area (Leveled), Buff.

Full Cost: 91 points for level 1 + 5 points/additional level or more.

Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 30 minutes.

You make the subjects in an area invisible. You may exclude any subjects from this effect. The subjects still make noise, leave footprints, and has a scent – and anything the subjects are carrying (up to the Medium encumbrance) becomes invisible too. The subjects get a +9 to Stealth in any situation where being seen would matter, if they are carrying no more than their Medium encumbrance.

Individuals using paranormal remote viewing (crystal balls, Clairvoyance, etc.) cannot see the subjects if the subjects would be invisible to their normal vision. Paranormal abilities that detect enemies, life, and so on non-visually can still see the subjects.

Invisibility only works against electromagnetic vision (which encompasses ordinary vision, Infravision, Ultravision, and radar). The subjects do not cast shadows and do not show up in mirrors.

The basic (90-point) version of this spell affects subjects in a two-yard radius and ends if the subject attacks any creature. For each additional 5 points, you may double this radius. The GM must determine the maximum level allowed; 128 yards is recommended. You may always choose to affect a lesser area. For purposes of this spell, an attack includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe. Exactly who is a foe depends on the invisible character's perceptions. Actions directed at unattended objects do not break the spell. Causing harm indirectly is not an attack. Thus, an invisible being can open doors, talk, eat, climb stairs, summon monsters and have them attack, cut the ropes holding a rope bridge while enemies are on the bridge, remotely trigger traps, open a portcullis to release attack dogs, and so forth. If the subject attacks directly, however, it immediately becomes visible along with all its gear. The improved (98-point) version of this spell eliminates this limitation.

If a particular subject possesses DR with no Tough Skin limitation, the sorcerer’s casting roll is penalized by their DR as well as the normal range penalties. Calculate effective DR for this penalty according to the rules for Large-Area Injury (p. B400).

Version	2 yards	4 yards	8 yards	16 yards	x2
Basic	91 points	96 points	101 points	106 points	+5/level
Improved	99 points	104 points	109 points	114 points	+5/level

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Invisibility, +680%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Extended Duration, x10, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Selective Area, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [91]. Notes: “Invisibility” is Invisibility (Affects Machines, +50%; Can Carry Objects, Medium, +50%; Dispels after an attack, -20%; Magical, -10%) [68]. The improved version removes the Dispels after an attack limitation from the advantage [+8]. The additional levels add more levels of Area Effect (+50%) [+5]. As a special effect, the DR subtracts from the casting roll rather than forcing a resistance roll.

  

Phantom Killer

Keywords: Resisted (IQ or Per).

Full Cost: 109 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: 1 minute.

This spell can slay anything with a mind (IQ 1+). It creates a phantom that’s visible to everyone but tangible to the subject alone. The victim may choose to resist by trying to rationalize away the illusion (IQ) or see through it (Per).

Successful resistance causes the phantom to melt away harmlessly. A subject who fails to resist is instantly engulfed in a monstrous shadow, conscious but incapacitated. Over the next minute, he can do nothing but resist again each second. Victory here doesn’t end the curse but merely staves off harm; each loss drains 1 HP. The cause of death could be anything: a man might die of profound shock, a robot may shake itself apart, a spirit could actually be consumed by an apparition of pure mana.

Others may attempt to dispel the phantasm using Dispel Illusion or Remove Curse. General countermagic – such as Counterspell or Dispel Magic – is ineffective. So are attacks on the Phantom Killer or its creator!

Statistics: Burning Attack 1 (Accessibility, Only on IQ 1+ beings, -5%; Based on IQ, +20%; Cyclic, 1 second interval, 60 seconds, can be dispelled by Dispel Illusion or Remove Curse, +3,000%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Incendiary Effect, -10%; Nuisance Effect, Multiple ways to resist, -10%) [65] + Affliction 1 (IQ or Per; Accessibility, Only on IQ 1+ beings, -5%; Based on IQ, +20%; Cosmic, Immune to Dispel Magic, +50%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Link, +10%; Malediction 2, +150%; Nuisance Effect, Multiple ways to resist, -10%; Paralysis, Variant, +150%; Reduced Duration, 1/3, -10%; Sorcery, -15%) [44].