Saturday, 28 October 2023

Wizardry: Making and Breaking Spells I

Wizardry: Making and Breaking Spells I

There aren't that many D&D spells that would belong to the college of Making and Breaking in GURPS, which is a shame. I do not like how Disintegrate works in D&D, so I decided to crossbreed the D&D and GURPS versions. If you look at its statblock, you will see some weird stuff. I wanted to make it so the object affected does not add its DR to its resistance, because that would make the spell way too unreliable. Normally, that would require me to apply Cosmic, Irresistible Attack, +300% to Affliction, but it is very expensive and it would also ignore Magic Resistance and similar traits, which isn't something that I want. Instead, I had to stretch RAW by turning it into a proper Malediction spell and then unmaledict it by applying Weaponized, -50%. Thus, now it's a visible beam that requires an uncontested HT roll to resist, DR does not apply, but other traits that may affect resistance do. Also, now it's ~20 points cheaper. Perfect! Erase curiously doesn't have an equivalent in GURPS. I decided to base it on Create with Writing being a 20-point category, as it also includes script-based spells. Animate Objects in D&D is strictly a combat spell. In GURPS, I made it affect a single object, but now it's much more universal. Animate Rope is a more limited version of the previous spell.
  
    Animate Object
    Keywords: None.
    Full Cost: 2 points/level.
    Casting Roll: Skill.
    Components: V, S.
    Cost: 2 FP to cast, 1 FP to maintain.
    Casting Time: 1 second.
    Range: 20 yards.
    Duration: Indefinite.
 
    This spell enables an inanimate object to flex. The minimum level required to animate an object equals its HP if the object has Injury Tolerance (Unliving) or its HP/2 if its object has Injury Tolerance (Homogenous). An animated object can grab, lift, strike, and throw with ST equal to Animate Object level needed to animate it. It has the caster’s DX. It can walk and jump if it isn’t fixed in place; Move equals to Animate Object level minus the level needed to animate it. The caster can use skills through animated objects – but note that object usually have No Fine Manipulators.
    Animate Object requires constant concentration to use. In combat, this means you must take a Concentrate maneuver on your turn. Once the caster stops concentrating, the object returns to its resting state, and the caster has to cast the spell again to resume control.
    Statistics: Telekinesis 1 (Animation, -20%; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Increased Range, 2x, +10%; Magical, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [2/level].
  
    Animate Rope
    Keywords: None.
    Full Cost: 1 point/level.
    Casting Roll: Skill.
    Components: V, S.
    Cost: 1 FP to cast, 1 FP to maintain.
    Casting Time: 1 second.
    Range: 50 yards.
    Duration: Indefinite.
 
    You can animate a nonliving ropelike object, such as string, yarn, cord, line, rope, or even a cable. The minimum level required to animate a rope equals its HP/2. An animated rope has an effective ST equal to Animate Rope level needed to animate it. It has the caster’s DX. It can slither with Move equal to Animate Rope level minus the level needed to animate it. The caster can use his Knot-Tying skill through the animated rope at +4.
    Animate Rope requires constant concentration to use. In combat, this means you must take a Concentrate maneuver on your turn. Once the caster stops concentrating, the rope returns to its resting state, and the caster has to cast the spell again to resume control.
    Statistics: Telekinesis 1 (Accessibility, Only ropes, -35%; Animation, -20%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Increased Range, 5x, +20%; Magical, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [1/level].

    Disintegrate
    Keywords: Missile, Obvious.
    Full Cost: 36 points.
    Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Beam) to hit.
    Components: V, S.
    Cost: 1 FP.
    Casting Time: 1 second.
    Range: 50 yards.
    Duration: Three minutes or instantaneous.
 
    A thin, green ray springs from your pointing finger. This beam has the potential to turn any inanimate object to dust! The object must roll against its HT+SM. If the target’s HT is unknown, assume that machines have HT 10 and simple objects have HT 12, modified for quality: -2 for cheap, +1 for fine, +2 for very fine.
    If the object loses by 5 or more, or fails critically, it immediately disintegrates. It cannot be repaired or recovered by any mundane means. If it fails by less, the object survives, but for the next three minutes, its HT is at -5 and its DR is reduced by 10; if it’s a weapon, treat it as cheap for breakage purposes, or an extra +2 to break if already cheap.
    Disintegrate must affect objects as a whole; it cannot target part of an object. The GM has the final say over what constitutes a “whole” object.
    Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Inanimate objects only, -10%; Attribute Penalty, HT-5, +50%; Cosmic, Object disintegrates if destroyed, +50%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; Magical, -10%; Malediction 2, +150%; Negated Advantage, Reduced DR 10, +50%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Secondary Destruction, +60%; Weaponized, -50%) [36]. Note: “Destruction” is a variant of Heart Attack appropriate for inanimate objects, which simply break rather than suffering mortal conditions.
  
    Erase
    Keywords: Resisted (Will or spell).
    Full Cost: 12 points.
    Casting Roll: Skill.
    Components: V, S.
    Cost: 2 FP.
    Casting Time: 4 seconds.
    Range: 10 yards.
    Duration: Instantaneous.
 
    Erase removes writings of either magical or mundane nature from a scroll or from one or two pages of paper, parchment, or similar surfaces. With this spell, you can remove Explosive Runes, a Glyph of Warding, a Sepia Snake Sigil, an Arcane Mark, and similar script-based spells. Nonmagical writing is erased if you succeed on your casting roll. Magic writing is only erased if you win in a Quick Contest of skill against the writing’s caster’s skill (or Will, if it is created via an ability that is not based on a skill).
    Statistics: Create Writing 1 (Destruction Only, +0%; Magical, -10%; Ranged, +40%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Requires gestures, -10%; Requires magic words, -10%; Takes Extra Time 2, -20%) [12].
 

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