Sorcery: Lightning Spells III

Sorcery: Lightning Spells III

And again, three lightning spells from GURPS Magic - Death Spells and GURPS Magical Styles - Dungeon Magic. Grave Grounding turns the subject to electricity and grounds him out. Lethal Lightning can cause unconsciousness or a heart attack. Stroke of Lightning strikes everyone in a 50-yard line.

   

Grave Grounding

Keywords: Resisted (HT).

Full Cost: 69 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Instantaneous.

This spell turns the subject to electricity, which it instantly and fatally grounds out. This spell can destroy any material being, living or not, but the target must be in electrical contact with the ground or a body of water; footwear, pavement, or anything metallic or wet (e.g., the deck of a ship at sea) is no defense, but a non-conducting floor protects completely.

The victim leaves behind possessions (roll vs. HT for electronic or electrical devices, with failure meaning a short-circuit that requires repairs). Examination will find a branching pattern on the ground, with fulgurites buried beneath it in suitable soil.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Cosmic, Leaves no trace of the victim, +50%; Disadvantage, Fragile (Enhanced Unnatural), +100%; Environmental, Electrical Contact, -20%; Heart Attack, +300%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [69].

Lethal Lightning

Keywords: Missile, Obvious.

Full Cost: 32.5 points/level*.

Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Beam) to hit.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You fire a coruscating discharge of electricity that does 1d burning surge damage per level. Metallic armor counts as DR 1 against this attack, but nonmetallic armor protects normally. Targets stuck by this attack must make an HT roll, at -1 per 2 points of penetrating damage, or fall unconscious for (20 - HT) minutes (minimum 1), and then suffer a -2 to DX for another (20 - HT) minutes upon awakening. Failure by 5 or more, or critical failure, results in a heart attack exactly as described on p. B429; the victim can be resuscitated if he gets suitable help in time, but will otherwise die.

Unconsciousness and DX penalties affect any living target with a brain; the No Brain, No Head, Homogenous, and Diffuse varieties of Injury Tolerance grant immunity. Heart attack affects only a living being that has a heart – that is, without Injury Tolerance that includes No Vitals. It is possible to be susceptible to one but not the other!

Lethal Lightning behaves unpredictably around conductors; see Lightning (GURPS Magic, p. 196) for more details.

Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Nuisance Effect, Behaves erratically around conductors, -5%; Sorcery, -15%; Surge, Arcing, +100%; Side Effect, Unconsciousness and DX-2, plus Heart Attack on a failure by 5 or a critical failure, +470%) [32.5/level*].

* Calculate the total cost and then round up.

Stroke of Lightning

Keywords: Missile, Obvious.

Full Cost: 10 points/level.

Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Beam) to hit.

Range: 50 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You fire a stream of electricity that does 1d burning surge damage per level. The spell strikes all targets in a 50-yard line. On a hit, the line is on target; otherwise, use the Scatter rule (see p. B414) to determine a new target point. Once you know the target point, imagine (or trace on a battle map) a line between the attacker and that point. Targets stuck by this attack must make an HT roll, at -1 per 2 points of penetrating damage, or be physically stunned. On subsequent turns, they can roll HT to recover. Lightning behaves unpredictably around conductors; see Lightning (GURPS Magic, p. 196) for more details. This attack has the 1/2D range of 5 yards.

Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Cone 1, +60%; Nuisance Effect, Behaves erratically around conductors, -5%; Reduced Range, 1/2x, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Surge, +20%; Side Effect, Stunning, +50%) [10/level].