Sorcery: Mana Spells

Sorcery: Mana Spells

GURPS Thaumatology has two new advantages - Wild Mana Generator and Twisted Mana Generator. Let's build some sorcery spells based on these.

Sorcery: Perk-Based Spells

Sorcery: Perk-Based Spells

Pyramid #3-82 lists perks on page 11 that can be taken as spells. Let's actually makes spells based on these perks, but use the "basic = personal, improved = buff" approach I've used for similar spells before.

Monster: Wall-Walker

Monster: Wall-Walker

Wall-walkers are strange spider-reptile hybrids with innate psionics. Apparently, they are from the Dark Sun setting, but I found this template in my old notes.

Monster: Effigy

Monster: Effigy

The effigy is a powerful ghost that burns possessed victims from within.

Sorcery: Air Spells VII

Sorcery: Air Spells VII

Let's make some air spells. Static Charge is actually a conversion of a spell from GURPS Technomancer. Antistatic is a variant of Deflect Energy. Reflect Lightning is a variant of Return Missiles. And Ride the Lightning is a spell that I wanted to create for a long time, but never got around to actually writing it up.

Sorcery: Divination Variants

Sorcery: Divination Variants

The Divination spell from GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery is a single spell that simply gives you a vision pertaining to the question asked. GURPS Magic has Divination not as a single spell, but as a group of various divination techniques that differ from each other. So, let's split Divination into many much more flavorful options. And Rhabdomancy from GURPS Underground Adventures probably should be a separate spell. This post has all Divination variants from the 4th edition books, Pyramid #3, GURPS Magic 3e, GURPS Grimoire, and GURPS Technomancer. It seems that Haruspication from 3e was renamed to Extrispicy in 4e, Molybdomancy was merged into Lecanomancy, Arm Measuring and Chiromancy were merged into Physiognomy, Belomancy, I Ching, and Maize Kernel Reading were merged into Sortilege, Ornithomancy was merged with Augury, and Rune-Casting was renamed to Symbol-Casting.

Sorcery: Curse-Missiles II

Sorcery: Curse-Missiles II

And these are the last spells from GURPS Grimoire that did not make it to the 4th edition - even more curse-missiles!

Sorcery: Even More Unmerged Animal Spells

 Sorcery: Even More Unmerged Animal Spells

GURPS Grimoire gives us some more options for (Animal) Control and Repel (Animal) spells. Yes, they are pretty much the same, but let's turn them into proper spells for specialized druids.

Sorcery: Old Spells II

Sorcery: Old Spells II

And some more spells from GURPS Grimoire that did not make it to the 4th edition.

Sorcery: Old Spells

Sorcery: Old Spells

Some more spells from GURPS Magic 3e and GURPS Grimoire converted to sorcery.

Sorcery: Curse-Missiles

Sorcery: Curse-Missiles

I decided to crack GURPS Magic 3e open and see if there are any spells that did not make it to the 4th edition. And apparently, there are some of them. First up is Curse-Missile, a group of spells that mostly fall into the Body Control college.

Sorcery: Unmerged Spells

Sorcery: Unmerged Spells

It's been a while since I made any sorcery spells. Looking at some spells that I've skipped, I've decided to "unmerge" some of the spells. For example, Icy Missiles was merged with Icy Weapon, but why not have a more specialized version? (Animal) Control and Repel (Animal) could also be split into different, more specialized versions.

Monster/Racial Template: Xakhun

Monster/Racial Template: Xakhun

Finally, Dragon Magazine #244 gives us a new elven subrace (there's never enough, isn't it?). The xakhun are drow-wood elf hybrids that live on the surface and raid others on their windships. Their lore is actually pretty interesting, I suggest reading their article.

Monster/Racial Template: Masgai

Monster/Racial Template: Masgai

The fourth aerial race from that article is the masgai. These insectile humanoids are distantly related to air elementals, surprisingly. In terms of mechanics, this template is nothing interesting, but the lore is intriguing.

Monster/Racial Template: Ashiera

Monster/Racial Template: Ashiera

The third flying race from Dragon Magazine #244 is the ashiera. They are aquatic fishmen who have gained wings and some spell-like abilities due to wild magic effects. Honeslty, this is an interesting race.

Monster/Racial Template: Telvar

Monster/Racial Template: Telvar

Another winged race from the Dragon Magazine #244, the aforementioned winged allies of the grey elves. The telvar are reclusive barbarians. They are very tall, but not strong at all. Probably the least interesting race out of that issue.

Monster/Racial Template: Fainil (Night Flyer)

Monster/Racial Template: Fainil (Night Flyer)

Dragon Magazine #244 is a very interesting issue devoted to all things aerial. One of the new races described in that book is the fainil. The fainil are the result of drow-tanar'ri crossbreeding by a drow clan that was in need for warriors to fight the surface elves' winged allies. Thus, we get semi-demonic winged drow. Interestingly enough, the point cost ended up being suitable for player characters.

Monster: Night Dragon

Monster: Night Dragon

Night dragons belong to a breed of creatures known as landragons. Of some relation to true dragons, landragons also separate into distinct breeds and gain great power and size as they age. They use the same age categories as true dragons. Landragons are bulkier than true dragons, with shorter, thicker tails. They lack the ability to fly and are generally less intelligent than most true dragons (the stats seem to disagree though). Landragons do not cast spells. This is the last dragon from my old conversion notes. Good riddance.

Monster: Mystaran Ruby Dragon

Monster: Mystaran Ruby Dragon

I've already converted the gem dragons, but there was no ruby dragon. That's because just like there's no platinum dragon because the Platinum Dragon, a.k.a Bahamut is a deity, there's no ruby dragon because the Ruby Dragon, a.k.a Sardior is a deity as well. In Mystara, however, there's a different set of non-psionic gem dragons, and ruby dragon is one of them. This is another dragon from my old conversion notes, and, if I am to be honest, I have no idea why it is there. I have never played Mystara, and know little about the setting. Why it has the earth subtype instead of fire is also a mystery to me.

Monster: Hex Dragon

Monster: Hex Dragon

Another update from my old conversion notes. Hex dragons are known to curse everyone who harms them.

Monster: Rock Reptile

Monster: Rock Reptile

Another monster from my old conversion notes. Just a big lizard with a rocky hide. Not every monster has to have some weird abilities, such simple ones are useful too.

Monsters: Sheet Phantom and Sheet Ghoul

Monsters: Sheet Phantom and Sheet Ghoul

These two are peculiar undead creatures from an old Dragon Magazine. I've found my old conversion notes and updated them. A sheet phantom rises when a very evil person dies in his bed. This animated bedsheet then strangles an unsuspecting victim, then merges with the corpse, emerging as a sheet ghoul. These sheet ghouls are shunned by normal ghouls, because they cannot "propagate."

How to: Hexblade Abilities

How to: Hexblade Abilities

The hexblade is one of those D&D classes that look very cool and flavorful, but that nobody plays because there's much more mechanically effective alternatives (duskblade, in this case). Let's take a look at the hexblade's class features and try converting them.

Occupational Template: Wu Jen

Occupational Template: Wu Jen

And here we have a variant wizard - the wu jen class from Complete Arcane. I'm done with that book for now.

Occupational Template: Warmage

Occupational Template: Warmage

And here we have another 150-point occupational template based on the warmage class from Complete Arcane.

Psionics: Mind Blade

Psionics: Mind Blade

Have you ever wanted to play a D&D soulknife in GURPS? You're lucky, because GURPS has not one, but two written ways to manifest psionic blades - the Psi-Sword from Pyramid #3-69 and the Psychic Sword from Pyramid #3-76. I have some problems with both of these approaches, so I will make my own, based on the Natural Weapon advantage from Pyramid #3-65.

Comparison of Early Firearms and Bows/Crossbows

Comparison of Early Firearms and Bows/Crossbows

Firearms in fantasy games is a contentious topic. I like them, but when they do not overshadow bows and crossbows too much. So, I decided to compare the statistics of early firearms (gonnes and matchlocks) and bows/crossbows with different effective ST values, and see how they perform against different DR values. Costs of TL 4 firearms were doubles to bring them down to TL 3. Basically, it seems that matchlocks are very similar to crossbows with winches, but with worse 1/2D range and slightly quicker reload (if paper cartridges are used). If we use additional rules, such as Malf., smoke clouds (Pyramid #3-36), then I can see them not upsetting the balance too much. If we include the wheellocks and more advanced weapons, however, their rate of fire and damage would probably make crossbows obsolete.

Here's the spreadsheet link - LINK.

How to: Warmage Spellcasting

How to: Warmage Spellcasting

One of the arcane spellcasting classes in D&D 3.5 that is very often forgotten is the warmage from Complete Arcane. Specialized in battlefield magic (i.e. blasting and protecting), it seems like a good choice for those who want to play a blasting wizard that is worse that an actual blasting wizard or sorcerer. The class does not have many class features, and most of them revolve around sudden metamagic - changing the few spells that they have access to. Let's see how this can be accomplished in the magic-as-powers framework.

Review: GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves

Review: GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves

I have never written a book review in my blogging "career," but it's as good time as any to try. A new GURPS book came out today - GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves, and it was an instant buy for me, as I was looking forward for this.

Sorcery: Assorted Spells XIV

Sorcery: Assorted Spells XIV

I'm hosting a new game soon, and some of the characters are spellcasters. One of them came up with some new spells, so let's provide the proper write-ups for them. Also, GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves has came out with two new spells, so let's convert them as well.