Sorcery: Artillery Spells V

Sorcery: Artillery Spells V

This post covers Gate and Light & Darkness artillery spells.

Hell Zone

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 80 points for level 1 + 8 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 10 seconds.

“Softens up” local space-time for hostile extradimensional entities: elemental spirits, demons, nightmares from the Dream World, goateed mirror-universe selves, Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, or worse. Use Innate Attack (Gaze), at +4, to center the area; see Scatter (p. B414) if you miss.

These attack everyone in the area with an effective skill of 12 from the safety of their native realm(s). Every turn, roll for each victim:

Direction (Roll 1d)
1	Behind! Normally, no defense possible.
2-3	Left (2) or right (3) side. Defenses are at -2. Shield or weapon on opposite side cannot defend
4-5	Above (4) or below (5). Defenses are at -2.
6	Front. Defend normally.
Allowed Defenses (Roll 1d)
1-3	Dodge, parry, or block.
4-5	Dodge or block.
6	Dodge only.
Damage Type (Roll 1d)
1	Direct injury (DR ineffective)
2	Impaling
3	Cutting
4	Crushing
5	Burning
6	Toxic

If the victim fails to defend in the permitted fashion, the attack inflicts 2d damage of the relevant type to a random hit location.

Statistics: Impaling Attack 2d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Bombardment, Skill-12, -10%; Cosmic, Irresistible Attack, Unreliable, 8, +180%; Nuisance Effect, Random Defenses, -10%; Persistent, +40%; Random Damage Type, +40%; Sorcery, -15%; Surprise Attack, Random, +120%; Variable, Area, +5%) [80]. Additional levels add Area Effect (+50%/level) to the advantage [+8]. Note: Impaling was chosen because it is the most expensive damage type of the ones in the table.

   

Null Sphere

Keywords: Area (Fixed), Missile, Obvious.

Full Cost: 32 points.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You throw sphere of black nothingness – a tiny gate to another dimension. Use Innate Attack (Projectile) to hit, applying normal range penalties, but at +4 for targeting an area.

On striking its target, the sphere collapses, momentarily exposing this universe to the alien one beyond the gate. This realm has natural laws inimical to the very existence of regular energy and matter.

Everyone within six yards of that spot must roll against HT at +1 per yard from the point of impact. This checks structural integrity, not vigor; it’s unaffected by Fit/Very Fit or types of Resistant that aren’t explicitly effective against disintegration (notably, Resistant to Metabolic Hazards does nothing).

Failure means the victim suffers 2 HP of injury multiplied by margin of failure. The only DR that protects is that of a reality-stabilized force screen (GURPS Ultra-Tech, p. 192). If damage type matters (say, for Vulnerability), treat this as corrosion – the target is partially disintegrated.

Statistics: Corrosion Attack 2 points (Area Effect, 6 yards, +125%; Cosmic, Irresistible Attack, +300%; Dissipation, -50%; Margin-Based, +200%; Resistible, HT, -30%; Sorcery, -15%) [32].

Splat

Keywords: Area (Leveled).

Full Cost: 108 points for level 1 + 10 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

Briefly opens a connected pair of portals in the area: one atop horizontal surfaces in the area, one above them. To place the effect at a distance, use Innate Attack (Gaze), with normal range penalties, but at +4 for affecting an area. Anyone on the ground or an inanimate object “falls” through the lower door, emerges from the upper one, falls again, and so on, accelerating under gravity – and then the portals close, slamming victims into whatever was supporting their weight a moment ago.

Treat this as a five-yard (velocity 10) fall, usually onto a hard surface; see Collisions and Falls (pp. B430-431). This deals 2d crushing to victims with HP 8-12, plus an extra 1d per +5 HP; e.g., 3d at HP 13-17. This is standard falling damage – Hit Location from a Fall (p. B431) applies and armor counts as “flexible.” For those on chairs, tables, etc., maximum falling damage equals DR + HP of the furniture; this much damage also breaks the object.

As victims have no idea where the ground is until it suddenly appears, it’s difficult to use Acrobatics to mitigate this fall. Roll at a basic -10, but being on the receiving end of this spell in the past gives +1 per experience until the penalty is just -5. On landing, victims who remain capable of standing have to roll against Body Sense, Acrobatics, or DX. Success lets them land on their feet and act normally. Failure means falling down and being forced to Do Nothing next turn; critical failure, falling down physically stunned!

Statistics: Affliction 1 (DX; Accessibility, Legs and similar supportive body parts only, -20%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Based on DX, +20%; Cosmic, Irresistible Attack, +300%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Link, +10%; No fatigue loss from Seizure, -20%; No Signature, +20%; Seizure, +100%; Stunning, +10%; Reduced Duration, 1/180, -40%; Sorcery, -15%; Variable, Area, +5%) [52] + Crushing Attack 2d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Cosmic, Treat Armor as Flexible, +200%; Environmental, Ground, -20%; HP-Based, +200%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; No Signature, +20%; Variable, Area, +5%) [56]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) to both advantages [+10].

Sunburst (2)

Keywords: Area (Leveled), Resisted (HT).

Full Cost: 57 points for level 1 + 20 points/additional level.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 5 seconds.

You throw a ball of sunlight that expands to cover an area. Use Innate Attack (Projectile) to hit, applying normal range penalties, but at +4 for targeting an area. Each creature in the area resists with its HT, and is blinded for 5 seconds on a failed resistance roll. Creatures with Protected Vision resist at +5. This attack has 1/2D of 50 yards.

Creatures with a Weakness to bright light or sunlight, or that suffer extra harm from light-based attacks (e.g., due to Vulnerability), take 6d burning damage on top of the flash effect. This is large-area injury (p. B400). Wounding multipliers from Vulnerability or equivalent flaws increase any injury caused.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Disadvantage, Blindness, +50%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, x5, +10%; Link, +10%; Reduced Duration, 1/30, -30%; Sorcery, -15%; Vision-Based, +150%) [33] + Burning Attack 6d (Accessibility, Only on creatures with Vulnerability to sunlight, -80%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Increased 1/2D, x5, +10%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%) [24]. Additional levels add Area Effect (+50%) to both advantages [+20].

  

Sun’s Arc

Keywords: Obvious.

Full Cost: 16 points/level.

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

Range: 10 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous.

You shoot a beam of searing light from one hand. The spell spreads to affect everyone in a cone-shaped area. The cone’s length is 10 yards. Maximum cone width is 5 yards. This spell has no 1/2D range.

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. Going from left to right or right to left (caster’s choice), roll vs. Innate Attack (Beam) to hit each target in the affected wedge. Anybody completely screened from the caster is behind cover. When in doubt, ask whether there would be penalty to hit with a ranged attack; see Firing Through an Occupied Hex (p. B389). If not, the target is valid.

Otherwise, treat these attack rolls as melee attacks, as if attacking with an unusually long Flame Jet or a Light Jet. Valid hit locations are fuzzier than usual: “high” (face, at -5), “middle” (torso, at no penalty), or “low” (legs, at -2). Targets may dodge or block normally.

The beam is too narrow to inflict large-area injury, but sufficiently broad that if it hits the face, beings with eyes must roll vs. HT if they suffer any injury. Failure means being blinded; treat this as a crippling injury for recovery purposes (p. B420). If the ray plays across the legs, roll damage separately for each leg – but maximum injury to a leg is a crippling wound, and the beam cannot cause dismemberment.

The beam deals 1d tight-beam burning damage per level of this spell.

Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Cone 5, +100%; Cosmic, Roll separately for each leg, +150%; Based on Innate Attack (Beam), +20%; Blockable, -5%; Bombardment, Skill-14, -5%; Increased 1/2D, x10, +15%; Jet, Variant, +0%; Nuisance Effect, Dodgeable, -5%; Nuisance Effect, Vague Hit Locations, -5%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Sorcery, -15%) [16/level].