Sorcery: Plant Spells XI

Sorcery: Plant Spells XI

Even more spells from GURPS Magic - Plant Spells! Gather Moss is a complex spell that covers the subject in moss and suffocates him. Grasping Branch takes control of a tree's branch. Green Death kills the subject by causing plants to grow within him.

Gather Moss

Keywords: Resisted (HT).

Full Cost: 49 points or 54 points.

Casting Roll: Will. Use DX or unarmed combat skill to hit when using the touch version.

Range: Unlimited or Touch.

Duration: 1 minute.

Patches of moss grow out of the subject’s skin, beginning with his hands and feet. At this point, he gains Bad Grip 1. The moss expands every 5 seconds to cover a new body location, following the following progression:

5^th second: Lower arms and lower legs. All DX rolls are at -2.

10^th second: Upper arms and upper legs. Reduce Basic Move by 3.

15^th second: Torso. Worsen the DX penalty to -4.

20^th second: Neck/throat. The subject begins choking (p. B428).

25^th second: Head. Blind, no sense of smell, cannot speak. Hearing rolls are at -5.

The subject, and his friends, may attempt to scrape the moss off. It takes two Ready maneuvers to remove moss from a location (both feet and hands, both lower arms and lower legs, and so on). Suitable tools (knife, shovel, etc.) can reduce the time needed to a single Ready maneuver. Skill or DX checks should be required to avoid inflicting 1 HP damage on the subject by accident.

When the spell ends, the moss falls off. If the subject was choking, he is stunned (p. B420) and may roll vs. HT once per second to recover.

The caster can alternatively cast this spell as a touch spell to begin the spread of the moss at the touched location. If, for example, you touch the subject’s neck when you make the spell roll, moss appears on his neck first. It then spreads to the other locations, in the established order.

The improved (54-point) version of this spell makes the moss contagious. Anyone who touches the subject of your Gather Moss spell must make a HT roll. If he fails, he is infected by the spell and suffers right along with the subject. If his roll succeeds, he is immune for five seconds.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Alternative Enhancements (Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35% and Malediction 1, +100% and Selective Effect, +20% or Malediction 2, +150%), +170%; Attribute Penalty, DX-4, +40%; Choking, +100%; Delay, +0%; Disadvantage, Bad Grip 1, +5%; Disadvantage, Basic Move -3, +15%; Disadvantage, Blindness, +50%; Disadvantage, Cannot Speak, +15%; Disadvantage, No Sense of Smell/Taste, +5%; Fixed Duration, +0%; No Signature, +20%; Nuisance Effect, Can be scraped off, -10%; Reduced Duration, 1/3, -10%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [49]. The improved version adds Cosmic, Contagious, +50% [+5].

  

Grasping Branch

Keywords: Resisted (IQ)

Full Cost: 15 points/level.

Casting Roll: ST.

Range: 10 yards.

Duration: Indefinite.

The caster can take control of a tree’s or shrub’s branch. This requires a Quick Contest. For this initial “takeover attempt” only, the caster rolls against his Grasping Branch spell level multiplied by 4, adds 2, and applies normal range penalties (p. B550) to the target. The subject (who must be within 10 yards) resists with his IQ.

If successful, the caster has control over that branch for as long as he concentrates. This should be interpreted liberally. In all cases, treat the branch as having DX equal to the caster’s and its normal ST.

He can use a branch to attack – including making the subject hit himself! He can drop weapons, pull triggers, push buttons, and so on, as long as the subject is already holding onto the appropriate item or he’s within branch’s reach of it.

Statistics: Telekinesis 4 (Accessibility, Branches Only, -10%; Accessibility, Plants Only, -40%; Animate Life-forms, Partial, +20%; Based on IQ, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [15]. Each additional level adds 4 extra levels of Telekinesis [+15].

Green Death

Keywords: Resisted (HT).

Full Cost: 26 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: 1 hour.

The caster causes green, leafy plants to grow inside the subject’s body, expanding until he dies. Treat this as a type of poison dealing 1d-1 toxic damage each 5 minutes for 1 hour. Armor does not protect.

If the subject loses 1/3 of his HP or more to this spell, he becomes bloated and his skin becomes mottled until he is healed above this threshold. If the subject loses 1/2 of his HP or more to this spell, he starts experiencing agony (p. B428) until he is healed above this threshold. If the subject loses 2/3 of his HP or more to this spell, he starts choking (p. B428) until he is healed above this threshold. If the victim suffocates, the plants burst out of his orifices as he dies.

If the spell is cancelled – using Remove Curse, Reverse Plant Growth, Strike Barren, or Wither Plant – the deadly flora shrinks and vanishes in 30 seconds.

Undead beings are not affected by this spell.

Statistics: Toxic Attack 1d-1 (Accessibility, Only on living beings, -10%; Based on HT, +20%; Cyclic, 5 minute interval, 12 cycles, +360%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, ‑15%; Symptoms, 1/2 HP, Agony, +200%; Symptoms, 1/3 HP, Unnatural Features, +5%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, Choking, +50%) [26].