Malediction Buffs: Example

Malediction Buffs: Example

In my previous post, I suggest a different way of making sorcery buffs, something that is more granular but also more intuitive. Let's take one buff spell and see how much its variants will cost. Just something of a comparison.

Sorcery Buffs in GURPS are Simple - Fact or Fiction?

Sorcery Buffs in GURPS are Simple - Fact or Fiction?

You probably know that I like magic as powers in GURPS, and Sorcery is one of the premade examples of the powers framework. Sorcery tries to be generic and understandably so – when all mechanics are made generic, when all spells work the same way, it becomes easy to use premade sorcery spells as a base for something less generic and more flavorful. Sorcery has several different types of spells, and in this post I’d like to dive deeply in how Buff spells work, because they might seem simple on the surface level, but they actually have many little nuances that might require explanation. Also, I will tell you how you can make Buffs work differently.

Occupational Template: Soulknife

Occupational Template: Soulknife

Another D&D occupational template - the soulknife.

Galactic Havoc: Sto Astrocracy

Galactic Havoc: Sto Astrocracy

We have humans, cybernetic humans, rogue robots, but what about the aliens? With only slight adjustments, I can cannibalize an alien species from my other sci-fi setting, rework the racial template, and make them more militaristic. That should work.

Galactic Havoc: Agrobots

Galactic Havoc: Agrobots

Let's get back to this. So far, we only have two factions - the Solar Federation and the Mindkind Unity, and both of those could work as antagonists or protagonists. Sometimes, however, it is nice to have an NPC faction that can supply faceless bad guys for the PCs to shoot. It would be great to also make such a faction provide hooks for missions and adventures. The brief history of the Solar Federation mentioned an AI rebellion that caused the Federation to abolish all AI technologies, so let's provide some specifics. I also mentioned that I'm going to shamelessly rip things off, so the following faction will be based on the Series 9 from KKND2.

Gyrocs: How do they even work?

Gyrocs: How do they even work?

This is a transcript of one of my videos.

Galactic Havoc: Generic Ultra-Tech Weapons

Galactic Havoc: Generic Ultra-Tech Weapons

A couple of months ago, I made a post with lots of ultra-tech weapons cannibalized from one of my previous sci-fi settings, but as soon as I started working on weapon rosters for different factions, I understood that it's too early for that. While the setting isn't finalized yet and hasn't been playtested, I should use generic weapons instead. So, here's the same post, but expanded and made completely generic. The document only has TL9 and TL10 weapons, but eventually I will expand it to cover other TLs, at least partially.

Since blogspot is awful at formatting and tables, I'll just post a Google Docs link.

Monster: Palimpsest

Monster: Palimpsest

Another requested conversion. The palimpsest is a weird AD&D monster - an animated sheet of paper/parchment that clings onto you, absorbs your life force, and prevents your resurrection. It's one of those monsters that straddles the line between "dumb" and "cool," but I think that the cool factor outweighs the dumbness.

    Unlike most constructs, this one is sapient, even if barely. It can deliver deep paper cuts, but the main attack mode is camouflaging in a library, then grappling an unaware target and initiating its Leech. But you know, there are some counterintuitive resistances and weaknesses here. What would you do to defeat a paper monster? Burn or cut it, right? Yeah, but the palimpsest is actually resistant to fire and cutting damage (in the source material it was immune to fire and cutting). But, for some reason, it is vulnerable to electricity. You can even release absorbed victims with a good lightning blast. Your characters better have some knowledge skills to even be aware of these weaknesses and resistances.

    Typically, building 2D or almost-2D monsters requires using the Shadow Form advantage or disadvantage. Since this is a constantly thin creature, and not someone who can become two-dimensional, I would have to apply the disadvantageous version of Shadow Form. But since I want the palimpsest to remain a physical creature that can interact with other physical objects and creatures, I would have to add something like a variant of Blessed (Ghost Weapon). Also, it can move in 3D space, so I would have to add both Finite Thickness and 3-D Movement to the disadvantage, which would turn it into a -26-point disadvantage (and +15 points for the variant of Blessed). So, that's -11 points for a slightly increased wounding multiplier for cutting damage (from x1.5 to x2) and the ability to pass through think cracks. And you have to remember that the palimpsest is supposed to be resistant to cutting. So, this does not sounds like a disadvantage at all. Instead of doing all this Shadow Form + Blessed stuff, I will just go the simple way - the fact that the palimpsest is thin and can pass through thin cracks is represented by Double-Jointed and Invertebrate. See? It's much less convoluted now, but the effect is the almost the same.

Monster: Grisgol

Monster: Grisgol

This is one of the requested conversions. A grisgol is a magical construct made up of various magical wands, staffs, pieces of armor and jewelry, and wrapped in spell scrolls. It is powered by an entrapped lich phylactery. I decided to make the phylactery a targetable weak spot and make the grisgol's scroll skin combustible. Overall, it's a pretty interesting monster.