Sorcery: Artillery Spells IV

Sorcery: Artillery Spells IV

This post covers Fire and Illusion & Creation artillery spells.

Fire Swarm

Keywords: Obvious.

Full Cost: 10 points/level.

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

Range: 10 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You fire a conical swarm of fireballs from one hand. The spell spreads to affect everyone in a cone-shaped area. These streak out to 10 yards and then dissipate harmlessly. Maximum cone width is 5 yards. This spell has the 1/2D range of 2 yards.

Use the rules under Cone Attacks (p. B413) to position the swarm, rolling vs. Innate Attack (Beam) to strike the target point. This doesn’t guarantee hitting everyone and everything, though. Roll once per target in the cone at effective skill 12, adjusted only for target Size Modifier. Success means one hit plus one more per two full points of success, but no more than four hits; e.g., for an SM 0 target, a roll of 9 or 10 gives two hits.

As with any cone, anybody completely screened from the caster is behind cover, and targets may use Dodge and Drop (p. B377) to leave the area or get to cover. Those who cannot or choose not to use this option may block or dodge individual fireballs, but not parry them; success avoids one fireball plus additional hits equal to margin of success. Determine hit location randomly for each hit.

Each fireball deals 1d burning damage per level of this spell.

Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Cone 5, +100%; Blockable, -5%; Bombardment, Skill 12, -10%; Extra Recoil 1, -10%; Increased 1/2D, x2, +5%; Nuisance Effect, Dodgeable, -5%; Rapid Fire, RoF 4, +70%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Sorcery, -15%) [10/level].

  

Improved Explosive Fireball

Keywords: Missile, Obvious.

Full Cost: 12 points/level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You throw a ball of fire at a single target. Use Innate Attack (Projectile) to hit, applying normal range penalties. It does burning damage with dice equal to your level of this spell. The attack produces an explosion at the point of impact (on a miss, check for scatter; see p. B414). The target takes damage normally; anything nearby receives “collateral damage” equal to basic damage divided by the distance in yards from the blast. The GM must determine what the maximum level available in the campaign is. This spell has 1/2D of 50 yards.

If your foe is within one yard of you, he may attempt to parry this attack (actually parrying your hand). If such a parry is successful, you must roll against DX to avoid hitting yourself with your own fireball!

Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Explosion 3, +150%; Increased 1/2D, x5, +10%; Nuisance Effect, Dangerous to be parried, -5%; Sorcery, -15%) [12/level].

Towering Inferno

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 7 points or more (see below).

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You may call down a vertical column of flame in a two-yard-radius area. To place the effect at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area.

Everything in the area takes 1d burning damage. This is large-area injury (p. B400).

The basic (7-point) version of this spell lets you affect an area up to 2 yards across. Each additional doubling of area adds 2.5 to basic cost; the GM sets the cap on this increase, but 128 yards is the recommended maximum. For an additional +5 to base cost, the damage can be upgraded to 2d or 3d burning. This is summarized in the table below.

Damage	2 yards	4 yards	8 yards	16 yards	32 yards	64 yards	128 yards
1d	7 points	10 points	12 points	15 points	17 points	20 points	22 points
2d	14 points	19 points	24 points	29 points	34 points	39 points	44 points
3d	21 points	29 points	36 points	44 points	51 points	59 points	66 points

Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Sorcery, -15%; Variable, Area, +5%) [7]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) to the advantage [+2.5*].

* Calculate the total cost, then round up.

  

Create Trap

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 25 points for level 1 + 3.5 point/additional level*.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 10 seconds.

Fills the area with artificial hazards of the caster’s choice – not beings, deadly energies (electricity, fire, lasers, etc.), or diffuse fluids (acid, lava, steam, and so on), but artifacts of the sort possible for Create Object. This means things like razor-edged wire, whirring saw blades of enormous size, and toothed snap-traps. The specifics don’t change the spell’s effects. To place the effect at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area.

Anybody moving across the ground must roll vs. DX or DX-based Traps, every second. Failure deals dice of cutting damage equal to half the margin of failure, rounded up: 1d on failure by 1 or 2, 2d on failure by 3 or 4, and so on. This is large-area injury (p. B400); there are too many simultaneous dangers for any one piece of armor to protect fully.

Travel is also slowed, as victims tiptoe around or extract themselves from trap after trap: Ground movement costs +1 movement point per hex; see Movement Point Costs (p. B387).

Although Traps skill can help avoid the area’s perils, it cannot disarm them. While the spell endures, any trap triggered or defeated is replaced instantly!

The basic (25-point) version of this spell covers a two-yard radius. For each additional 3.5 points, you may double this radius; e.g., four yards for 28 points, 8 yards for 32 points, or 16 yards for 35 points. The GM must determine the maximum level allowed; 128 yards is recommended. You may always choose to affect a lesser area.

Statistics: Cutting Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Cosmic, Slows Travel, +50%; Half-Margin-Based, +150%; Persistent, +40%; Resisted, DX, -30%; Sorcery, -15%; Variable, Area, +5%) [25]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) to the advantage [+3.5*].

* Calculate the total cost and then round down (because the base ability costs just 24.5 points before rounding). Level 2 of the spell costs 28 points, level 3 costs 32 points, level 4 costs 35 points, level 5 costs 39 points, and so on.

Mirror, Mirror

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 91 points for level 1 + 37.5 points/additional level*.

Casting Roll: IQ or Artist (Illusion).

Range: 50 yards.

Duration: Indefinite.

This Phantom variant creates one illusory foe per sentient (IQ 1+) being in its area of effect. You can create this effect anywhere that you can see within 50 yards; see Area (GURPS Thaumatology - Sorcery, p. 9) for the size. It affects hearing, taste, touch, smell, Dark Vision, Infravision, Vibration Sense, as well as vision. You must win a Quick Contest of IQ – or Artist (Illusion), if better – against the highest of IQ, Will, or Per of anyone you want to fool; otherwise the illusions fizzle instantly. Do not apply range penalties to your roll. Their roll is at +4 if they have reason to be alert for illusions or +10 if you made it appear from out of nowhere.

Those who fail now face shadowy versions of themselves. Each victim’s opponent appears directly ahead – a yard away if possible, in close combat if not – and attacks much as a Phantom spell would. The Phantom may proceed to strike, grapple, shove, and so on as if it were real. A phantom has ST equal to the level of this spell multiplied by 5 and DX of the sorcerer. Each phantom can only exert force as if it was a pair of invisible hands. See the Telekinesis advantage (B92) for more information.

You do not have to concentrate to have the phantoms attack.

As with Phantom, this entity doesn’t have DR or HP, or suffer normal injury. Instead, it has a damage threshold equal to the caster’s margin of success. Any single attack on the phantom that inflicts this amount (or more) of basic damage immediately dispels it; lesser attacks accomplish nothing. Materialized phantoms have substance for everyone. Thus, anybody may attack one. However, a given phantom only ever attacks its designated victim, maneuvering to stay close to its target. If that person is knocked out or killed, their shadow-self is dispelled – the entity doesn’t stick around to fight others.

This spell doesn’t produce a persistent effect on the area. It affects only subjects there at the instant of casting. The phantoms it creates can move beyond the area to pursue their designated victims until dispelled or the spell ends, however.

Statistics: Illusion (Accessibility, Only illusory foes, -10%; Extended, Dark Vision, +25%; Extended, Infravision, +10%; Extended, Taste/Smell, +20%; Extended, Touch, +20%; Extended, Vibration Sense, +10%; Independence, +40%; Link, +10%; Nuisance Effect, Multiple ways to resist, -10%; Ranged, +40%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Sorcery, ‑15%) [57.5*] + Telekinesis 5 (Accessibility, Only to imitate illusory foes, -10%; Accessibility, Only on those who believe in the illusion, -20%; Increased Range, x5, +20%; Independent, +40%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%) [32.5*]. Additional levels add Area Effect (+50%) to the Illusion advantage and add 5 more levels of Telekinesis [+37.5*].

* Calculate the total cost and then round up.