Sorcery: Animal Spells V

Sorcery: Animal Spells V

Some more animal spells converted from D&D/Pathfinder. Awaken Animal permanently grants an animal sentience. Beast Shape lets the caster polymorph into an animal. Dominate Animal mentally enslaves an animal. Hide from Animals makes the subject invisible to animals.

  

Awaken Animal

Keywords: Buff.

Full Cost: 210 points.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Truly Permanent.

You imbue an animal with sentience. The animal is granted additional 2d levels of IQ and loses the Wild Animal meta-trait. This spell is Truly Permanent – it cannot be dispelled, even with Remove Curse, and the effects do not stop working in no-mana zones.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Animals Only, -25%; Advantage, Awaken Animal, +1,400%; Extended Duration, Truly Permanent, +300%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; Negated Disadvantage, Wild Animal, +300%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [210]. Note: “Awaken Animal” is IQ+7 [140].

Beast Shape

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 60 points or 140 points or more; see text.

Casting Roll: None. Special casting time.

Range: Self.

Duration: Indefinite.

The caster can assume different animal forms, as if using the Morph advantage (p. B84). The transformation requires 10 seconds. If he is knocked out or killed, he immediately reverts to his native form (which will also be unconscious or dead).

The caster retains his intelligence, but gains all the physical attributes of the new form. Note that FP are not increased for spellcasting purposes. The caster may not add traits to templates, but he may freely omit racial mental disadvantages (e.g., Bestial), and he may always choose to drop the racial IQ modifier from a template and use his own IQ. Such changes raise the cost of animal templates, which are cheap due to limited mental capabilities. This spell includes the ability to make cosmetic changes. This lets the caster impersonate a specific member of any animal species he can turn into.

The caster can always take on the form of a being he can see or touch, provided its racial template cost does not exceed his maximum. Once he has assumed a form, he can opt to memorize it by concentrating for one minute. This allows him to shapeshift into that form at any time. The caster can memorize a number of forms equal to his IQ. If all his “slots” are full, his must overwrite a previously memorized form (his choice) to add the new form. Memorizing cosmetic changes also requires a “slot”.

If the caster can assume any racial template worth no more than his native one, Beast Shape costs 60 points. This makes many forms available – anything no more powerful than his native form. If the caster can assume more powerful forms, add the difference between the maximum racial template cost and the cost of his native template to the base 60 points. For instance, a human who can take on any animal racial template worth up to 75 points would pay 135 points for Beast Shape.

In addition, the caster may purchase the improved (140-point) version of this spell. This shortens the transformation time to 1 second.

Statistics: Morph (Accessibility, Animals Only, -25%; Sorcery, -15%) [60]. The improved version adds Reduced Time 4, +80% [+80].

  

Dominate Animal

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 51 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Special.

You can mentally temporarily enslave an animal you can see or touch. To use this ability, concentrate for one second and then roll a Quick Contest: your IQ vs. your subject’s Will, applying the range penalties to the subject (p. B550).

If you win, the dominated animal will obey your every command. In effect, it gains the Reprogrammable disadvantage (p. B150), with you as its master. This spell has an indefinite duration if you take constant Concentrate maneuvers to keep it active (and pay the usual 1 FP per minute). Once you stop concentrating, it continues to last for a fixed duration (at no FP cost) in minutes equal to the margin by which you won the initial Quick Contest. If you lose consciousness, the spell ends immediately.

If you attempt to force the animal to act against its principles (e.g., commit suicide or harm a mate), roll another Quick Contest. If the animal wins, it breaks free. Roll at the moment of truth – you can march it to the edge of a cliff, but it doesn’t roll until it’s about to leap.

If you lose, you cannot attempt to control that animal again for 24 hours, and it feels a sense of mental coercion emanating from you.

The caster can also establish a mental link with his dominated animal by taking a Concentrate maneuver and making an IQ roll. This allows him to send verbal orders to his slave, even if he cannot see the animal. Range is theoretically unlimited, but the IQ roll to establish the link takes the range penalties given under Long-Distance Modifiers (p. B241). If the caster cannot see or otherwise sense his dominated animal, he has an additional -1 penalty.

If successful, the dominated animal hears the caster’s voice but may not respond. The caster can also tap into the animal’s senses. This lets him experience everything the animal experiences. If it is tortured, knocked out, or killed, the GM may require a Will roll to avoid stunning – or perhaps even a Fright Check! The caster may maintain a connection with that animal for as long as he’d like. No further rolls are normally required unless the range penalty worsens.

Statistics: Mind Control (Accessibility, Animals Only, -25%; Sorcery, -15%) [30] + Mind Reading (Accessibility, Only with dominated animals, -50%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; Sensory Only, -20%; Telecommunication, -20%) [6] + Telesend (Accessibility, Only with dominated animals, -50%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%) [15].

Hide from Animals

Keywords: Buff.

Full Cost: 54 or 62 points.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 30 minutes.

You make the subject invisible to animals. The subject still makes noise, leaves footprints, and has a scent – and anything the subject is carrying (up to the Medium encumbrance) becomes invisible too. The subject gets a +9 to Stealth in any situation where being seen would matter, if he is carrying no more than his Medium encumbrance.

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

Invisibility only works against electromagnetic vision (which encompasses ordinary vision, Infravision, Ultravision, and radar). The subject does not cast a shadow and doesn’t show up in mirrors.

The basic (54-point) version of this spell ends if the subject attacks any animal. 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 (62-point) version of this spell eliminates this limitation.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Hide from Animals, +380%; Extended Duration, x10, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [54]. Notes: “Hide from Animals” is Invisibility (Accessibility, Animals Only, -25%; Can Carry Objects, Medium, +50%; Dispels after an attack, -20%; Magical, -10%) [38]. The improved version removes the Dispels after an attack limitation from the advantage [+8].