Sorcery: Artillery Spells I

Sorcery: Artillery Spells I

Having purchased GURPS Magic - Artillery Spells, I found dozens of interesting new spells. Some of them are going to be tricky to convert, but I will do my best. This post covers Air and Animal artillery spells.

Cloud of Doom

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 19 points for level 1 + 3 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 5 seconds.

You may fill a two-yard-radius area with a greenish cloud of contact poison. This gives -1 to all vision rolls made through it. To place the cloud at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area. The initial attack roll places the effect. The gas doesn’t persist for long enough for displacement or dissipation by wind to become an issue.

Anyone in the area must roll vs. HT-4 every second to avoid 1d toxic injury; DR has no effect. After losing 1/2 of their HP this way, victims are nauseated (see p. B428) until the injury is healed above that threshold. Cloud of Doom cannot injure those with Immunity to Poison or Sealed. Resistant to Poison grants its bonus to the HT rolls. Doesn’t Breathe and Filter Lungs (and holding one’s breath) are ineffective – the gas needn’t be inhaled to be harmful!

The basic (19-point) version of this spell covers a two-yard radius. For each additional 3 points, you may double this radius; e.g., four yards for 22 points, 8 yards for 25 points, or 16 yards for 28 points. The GM must determine the maximum level allowed; 128 yards is recommended. You may always choose to affect a lesser area.

Statistics: Obscure Vision 1 (Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; Ranged, +50%; Reduced Duration, ½, -5%; Variable, Area, +5%) [3] + Toxic Attack 1d (HT-4; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Contact Agent, +150%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Link, +10%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced Duration, ½, -5%; Resistible, HT-4, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Symptoms, ½ HP, Nauseated, +60%; Variable, Area, +5%) [16]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) to both advantages [+3].

Creeping Plague

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 16 points for level 1 + 2 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 10 seconds.

You may fill a two-yard-radius area with a carpet of crawling, venomous vermin. Water offers no refuge – it’s teeming with jellyfish, leeches, stinging echinoderms, and other horrors. To place the effect at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area. The initial attack roll places the effect. Everyone on the ground or swimming in the area is engulfed and attacked.

Clothing (DR 0 garments) protects completely against the pests for two turns; armor (DR 1+) protects for five. After that, DR becomes irrelevant and the victim suffers 1d toxic injury per turn in the area, halved (round down) on a successful HT roll. Resistant to Poison aids this HT roll, while Immunity to Poison or Sealed prevents harm.

This swarm doesn’t move on its own. By taking a Concentrate maneuver, the caster can shift the area along the ground at Move 2 (though not change its shape). Also unlike a mundane swarm, this one is unaffected by damage. For the spell’s duration, new creepy-crawlers appear within the area to replace slain ones.

The basic (16-point) version of this spell covers a two-yard radius. For each additional 2 points, you may double this radius; e.g., four yards for 18 points, 8 yards for 20 points, or 16 yards for 22 points. The GM must determine the maximum level allowed; 128 yards is recommended. You may always choose to affect a lesser area.

Statistics: Toxic Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Contact Agent, +150%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Mobile 2, +80%; Nuisance Effect, Armor protects temporarily, -15%; Persistent, +40%; Resistible, HT, Halved, -15%; Sorcery, -15%; Underwater, +20%; Variable, Area, +5%) [16]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) to the advantage [+2].

Falling Sky

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 11 points for level 1 + 2.5 points/additional level*.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You may instantaneously raise air pressure in a two-yard-radius area to extreme levels. Pressure Support has no effect against this large-area injury (p. B400). To place the effect at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area. The initial attack roll places the effect.

Targets stuck by this attack must make an HT roll, at -1 per 2 points of penetrating damage, +1 for earplugs, +5 for Protected Hearing. Failure inflicts a Hearing penalty equal to margin of failure; failure by 10+, or critical failure, causes deafness. Either effect lasts (20 - HT) minutes, minimum one minute. After that, roll vs. HT each turn to recover. Critical failure on a recovery roll indicates a permanent injury (Duration of Crippling Injuries, p. B422): Hard of Hearing if the penalty was -1 to -9, Deafness if deafness occurred. Protected Hearing cuts duration to two seconds and makes recovery automatic. Any failure on the initial HT roll also stuns the victim; roll vs. HT each turn to recover.

This spell is ineffective in vacuum, underwater, in solid earth, etc. – there must be a gaseous atmosphere of some kind.

The basic (11-point) version of this spell covers a two-yard radius. For each additional 2.5 points, you may double this radius; e.g., four yards for 14 points, 8 yards for 16 points, or 16 yards for 19 points. The GM must determine the maximum level allowed; 128 yards is recommended. You may always choose to affect a lesser area.

Statistics: Crushing Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Environmental, Air, -5%; Side Effect, Deafness, Margin-Based, +35%; Side Effect, Stunning, +50%; Sorcery, -15%; Variable, Area, +5%) [11]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) to the advantage [+2.5*].

* Calculate the total cost, then round up.

  

Twisting Terror

Keywords: Area (Fixed).

Full Cost: 25 points for level 1 + 4 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 5 seconds.

Conjures a small tornado that rips across the ground, smashing everything in its way. To place the effect at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area. The initial attack roll places the starting point. The twister appears there and cuts a swath one yard wide on the next turn, traveling one yard per level of this spell for the duration of this spell. The caster does not control the path – each turn, roll for Scatter (p. B414) to determine the direction moved.

Anyone the tornado would touch may attempt to dive for cover (p. B377) to get out of its path. Other active defenses are ineffective. Those who fail to get out of the way are pummeled with a 2d crushing attack; this is large-area injury (p. B400). Use double damage to calculate the amount of knockback, and Scatter to determine its direction.

Statistics: Crushing Attack 2d (Area Effect, 1 yard, +25%; Cosmic, Dive for Cover Only, +50%; Double Knockback, +20%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Mobile 1, +40%; Nuisance Effect, Uncontrollable, -10%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced Duration, ½, -5%; Sorcery, -15%) [25]. Further levels add more levels of Mobile (+40%) to the advantage [+4].