Sorcery: Meta Spells II

Sorcery: Meta Spells II

More magicy magic. Dispel Spark instantly kills a living or animated by magic creature. False Aura alters the subject's aura. Magic Resistance is a very useful spell. Scrywall lets the caster keep secrets from other mages.

    

Dispel Spark

Keywords: Resisted (better of HT or Will).

Full Cost: 32 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Instantaneous.

This spell snuffs the magical spark of life. The subject resists with the better of HT or Will. A roll to resist failed by less than 5 stuns the target, allowing them to roll again once per second to recover. If the victim fails by 5 or more, or rolls a critical failure, they die on the spot as if of natural causes. This spell affects not only living creatures, but also beings animated or reanimated by magic.

In most settings, this spell treads on ground claimed by the Higher Powers. If that is the case, beings with Power Investiture add their Power Investiture level to their resistance roll.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT or Will; Accessibility, Only on living creatures and beings animated or reanimated by magic, -5%; Disadvantage, Secondary Fragile (Enhanced Unnatural), +20%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Nuisance Effect, Multiple ways to resist, -10%; Secondary Heart Attack, +60%; Sorcery, -15%) [32]. Notes: Fragile (Enhanced Unnatural) means the subject dies if reduced to 0 HP; therefore, since Heart Attack reduces the target’s HP to 0, the target dies. This spell originally appeared in GURPS Magic: Death Spells.

  

False Aura

Keywords: Buff, Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 34 points for level 1 + 12.5 points/additional level*.

Casting Roll: None. Use IQ or Artist (Illusion) to determine how convincing the illusion is.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Indefinite.

This illusion replaces magical emanations in the area with false ones. For instance, humans in the area could be made to have the auras of Zombies, weapons could appear to be enchanted with Penetrating Weapon, the area itself could appear to be under the effects of Grease, etc. The caster must concentrate to change the illusion.

The caster must win a Quick Contest of IQ – or Artist (Illusion), if better – against the Per or Information spell skill of anyone they want to fool; otherwise something “off” is noticed. Do not apply range penalties to the caster’s roll. Creatures inspecting the False Aura roll at +4 if they have reason to be alert for illusions or +10 if the caster replaced the emanations from out of nowhere (for example, if the original aura was already under the inspection of the Detect Magic spell). However, even if they successfully “disbelieve,” the illusion does not disappear. Thus, even an obviously false aura can be useful to disguise the true aura of in the area.

Statistics: Illusion (Alters magical auras instead of creating visible images, -0%; Independence, +40%; Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%; Visual Only, -30%) [34]. Additional levels add Area Effect (+50%) to the False Aura advantage [+12.5*].

* Calculate the total cost and then round down (because the base ability costs just 12.5 points before rounding). Level 2 of the spell costs 41 points, level 3 costs 54 points, level 4 costs 66 points, level 5 costs 79 points, and so on.

  

Magic Resistance

Keywords: Buff.

Full Cost: 16 points for level 1 + 5 points/additional level*.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: One minute.

This spell makes the subject resistant to magic, granting them one level of Magic Resistance (p. B67) per level of this spell (maximum 4*). Subtract the Magic Resistance level from the skill of anyone directly casting a spell on the subject, and add it to the subject’s roll to resist any spell that offers a resistance roll. In addition, the subject may roll against HT + Magic Resistance to resist the effects of magical elixirs.

Magic Resistance provides no benefit against Missile spells, attacks by magic weapons, or information-gathering spells that aren’t cast directly on the subject.

Magic Resistance, and its precise level, can be recognized by any creature looking at the target’s aura, or by anyone who casts a spell on the subject.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Magic Resistance 1, +50%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Reduced Duration, 1/3, -10%; Sorcery, -15%) [16]. Additional levels add further Magic Resistance to the Advantage enhancement (+50%) [+5*]. Note: Each level of “Magic Resistance” is Magic Resistance 1 (Improved, +150%; Magical, -10%) [5*].

* The maximum of 4 was chosen for convenience. If the GM wishes to remove the limit, they should keep in mind that the actual cost of each additional level of the spell is 4.8 points. That will affect the full cost for levels past 4.

Scrywall

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 86 points for level 1 + 10 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Eight hours.

The area is nearly impossible to detect, see, or divine with any Information spells, regardless of the magic system used to cast them. Scrywall reduces the diviner’s effective margin of success by 10 for these purposes – so a spell that succeeded by 0-9 completely fails to divine the area, while one that succeeded by 10+ provides less information than normal and is at a huge disadvantage if it’s resisted.

A spell like Detect Magic (GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery, p. 19) will reveal the existence of the Scrywall spell, but that’s all – and the caster would have to first see the area with his own eyes to cast it.

Statistics: Obscure 10 (Information Spells; Defensive, +50%; Extended Duration, 3,000x, +140%; Ranged, +50%; Sorcery, -15%; Stealthy, +100%; Variable, Area, +5%) [86]. Additional levels add more Area Effect (+50%) [+10].