More Gems for DF

More Gems for DF

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables has quite a few gems and a way to determine their value from their size. Each gem has a Value modifier (V), and weight is measured in carats (C). But what if you want more variety? Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D 3.5 has more gems, and it is even possible to derive the Value modifiers for them. So, let's combine the two sources. And just for the heck of it, why not add pictures? I don't know what some of the gemstones look like, so it'll be useful to me as well.

Wizardry: Body Control Spells I

Wizardry: Body Control Spells I

I'm determining the colleges randomly, and it's surprising that I haven't rolled body control yet (I also haven't yet rolled gate or metal spells). Let's do the boring spells first. Bear's Endurance increases the subject's HT. Bull's Strength increases the subject's ST. Cat's Grace increase the subject's DX. Their mass versions affect an area, but have static attribute increases of 2/4/2, respectively.

Wizardry: Fire Spells III

Wizardry: Fire Spells III

Flame Arrow made me think about how weapon buffs work on ammunition. I decided to introduce Rapid Fire and limit the number of affected projectiles to margin of success, capped by RoF, as long as the projectiles are in contact with one another. I'm content with this solution. Flame Blade is another spell that made me think. Since the blade itself deals static damage (no matter how hard you swing a jet of fire, you won't deal more damage), I opted for Innate Attack instead of Natural Weapon. Paying FP for every attack would feel lame, so I decided to impose an extra casting cost on the buff itself, and make the attacks free. I guess it is sort of equalized by requiring being in melee range and being based on the Force Sword skill. Even though the attack cannot deflect blows and has Cannot Parry, it also has Destructive Parry. You still damage the weapon/hand/foot that attacked you on a successful parry, even though you still get hit. Flame Strike is an overhead explosive fire spell. Flaming Sphere creates a bouncy fire orb that you guide to its target. A nice example of using guided weapons in fantasy games.

Wizardry: Knowledge Spells V

Wizardry: Knowledge Spells V

The final knowledge spells from the PHB! Moment of Prescience has to be cast in advance as a self-only buff spell, but acts as Super Luck. While this does not let you use this spell more often than usual, it does seem to circumvent the alternative ability array restriction that would disable the spell slot for a day. I know that it's janky, but I don't care, it's still expensive enough. Prying Eyes is a very cool spell, but building it RAW would probably be impossible, so the statline you see here is merely an approximation used to derive the cost. Read Magic identifies magical writing, such as scrolls and runic spells.

Wizardry: Movement Spells III

Wizardry: Movement Spells III

Why is Grease a Movement spell? Sure, it does affect movement, but I feel that it would fit better in Illusion and Creation, as it conjures a layer of slippery grease instead of simply altering friction. Yeah, I think that's where I will put it. Grease obviously is based on the eponymous spell from Sorcery, but with some alterations. Duration is shorter, range is shorter, and the rules were brought to consistency with my bad footing rules. Also, it's much cheaper now! Hold Portal is different from Arcane Lock in that it has a short duration, can be cast at range, has a 1-second casting time, does not increase DR, and is not selective. So, while Arcane Lock is something like "I will enchant this door to my secret base so that no one ever opens it", Hold Portal is closer to "I have to quickly make this door stuck to hold off a chasing enemy or prevent an enemy from fleeing". Implosion used to be an instakill spell, but now is direct damage that ignores DR. Still powerful, but manageable. I'd limit it to level 2 or 3, I think. Open/Close, well, opens or closes something up to 10 yards away.

Wizardry: Earth Spells II

Wizardry: Earth Spells II

Earthquake is an expensive, but powerful spell. The mechanics were taken from the ptallant lizard from GURPS Creatures of the Night Vol. 1. However, the rarity of Tremors wasn't given there, so I chose to treat it as rare (10/level). (EDIT: Apparently, an earthquake-causing ability was also printed later in GURPS Thaumatology: Chinese Elemental Powers, so I edited the spell to bring it in line with what is said there. Also, I was right - Tremors are rare) Imprisonment is a save-or-"die" spell akin to Flesh to Stone. Move Earth was another difficult one. It has a much lower scale than its D&D counterpart, but still can move a few hexes worth of dirt around, if you don't have a shovel. Stone Shape is a simple Control spell.

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells VII

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells VII

False Life imbues the caster with death resistance. Finger of Death is a costly, ranged spell that has a chance to kill the victim. Magic Jar... oh boy, this was a difficult one. I had to think very hard to make it affordable, but even now it's one of the very expensive spells. And I think it should be. I found Shield Other to be a very interesting spell. The focus component (a pair of platinum rings) had to go - while these rings cost 50 gp in D&D, each ring costs $9,600 in GURPS.

Light and Darkness in My Games

Light and Darkness in My Games

Since light and darkness rules in GURPS are very inconsistent, I decided to consolidate rules for my games. Only relevant rules will be present, and none of the rules I do not want to bother with will be present. High-tech light sources are removed. A new illumination levels table is made, combining some parts of the tables from GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses (v1.1) and GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races. I left the Minimum Lux column to differentiate between the different “0” light levels, as this may come up with light spread rules for very powerful light sources.

Wizardry: Protection and Warning Spells II

Wizardry: Protection and Warning Spells II

Leomund's Tiny Hut is a weird spell. Please don't look at the statblock, it's scary. Glove of Invulnerability is a powerful spell that makes it very difficult to affect anything with magic in the area around the caster. Spell Immunity grants high levels of MR, but without the Improved enhancement. Sequester makes the caster enter a state of suspended animation linked with invisibility to vision and divination. Only to trance, -50% is more expensive than Hibernation, -60%, because you can set the alarm precisely, and do not have an involuntary hibernation clause.

Wizardry: Movement Spells II

Wizardry: Movement Spells II

Fly is a buff that lets the subject fly. Overland Flight is a self-only buff with a very long duration that lets you fly even faster. Levitate lets you move objects and creatures up and down. Mage Hand is a weak telekinesis spell limited to affecting objects.

Wizardry: Enchantment Spells II

Wizardry: Enchantment Spells II

The enchantment college in GURPS has some spells that do not fit anywhere else, such as Wish. How do you make a D&D Wish/Limited Wish/Miracle in GURPS? I thought a lot about it - you could go with Super Luck, Wild Talent, Cosmic Power, and even Ultrapower. The latter seems to be the most appropriate option to me. However, I just don't want to have to deal with such spells in my games, so I will simply ignore them, at least for now. There was another D&D spell that I assigned to the enchantment college - Magic Vestment. I will ignore it for now, as armor buffing is something I want to explore in more detail later, and I will probably change the spell. But anyway, what's left? Sepia Snake Sigil creates something like a magical trap that is triggered by reading. If you fail to resist, you enter a state of suspended animation for several days. Spellstaff became a completely different spell - now it grants a staff a perk to let it use some cool staff rules from GURPS Magic. Simulacrum animates a duplicate of another creature. Golem animates a golem, obviously. This isn't a D&D spell, but I might as well include it, as it is very similar to Simulacrum.

Wizardry: Force Spells III

Wizardry: Force Spells III

Forcecage was difficult. While it is based on the existing Force Dome spell, I had to tune it down a lot to make it affordable. And even then, its duration is much shorter than its original version had, and the weakest version is only useful against weak creatures (around ST 10). I guess it still have its uses, especially since it can also be used defensively. Jump gives the subject a level of Super Jump. I decided to remove scaling, because high levels of Super Jump can result in some wonky stuff. Mordenkainen's Sword is a quite complex spell that creates a force sword that attacks anything you order it to and does so independently. Otiluke's Resilient Sphere is a variant paralysis spell. Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere is a stronger variant of the former.

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells VI

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells VI

Instead of a physical barrier that prevents entry of living creatures without a resistance roll, I decided to make the Antilife Shell produce a mental barrier. It's also much cheaper this way. Clone lets the caster be Dr. Albieri from O Clone. The character point cost was derived from the guidelines found in GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys. (Buying Extra Life retroactively costs 50 points, but since it has Copy, -20%, I decided to go with 40. In addition, the caster himself has to pay 1/5 of the ability's full price, and that is 10 points, which dovetails nicely with the aforementioned 40 points to get 50 points.) Contagion infects the victim with a disease. Enervation is a beam that lowers physical attributes. It requires some RAW-stretching to work (see my Disintegrate spell for an explanation).

Wizardry: Knowledge Spells IV

Wizardry: Knowledge Spells IV

More knowledge spells. Locate Object locates an object of a general type, or a specific object, if you saw it firsthand before. Locate Creature does the same with creatures. Find the Path finds the closest path to or from somewhere. Foresight is a variant of Danger Sense.

Wizardry: Illusion Spells II

Wizardry: Illusion Spells II

Illusion spells are very fiddly to make. Hallucinatory Terrain is a long-duration spell that only affects natural environment. Kind of expensive too. Mirage Arcana is a more powerful version that includes structures. Permanent Image is a permanent illusion, a staple of many dungeons. Persistent Image creates a preprogrammed illusion that you don't have to concentrate on. Project Image is a much more interesting spell. You project an illusory double and can use it to observe the environment and cast spells. The spell is expensive, so to make it more affordable, I split it into two versions - one with a long casting time, and one with a short casting time.

Wizardry: Teleportation Spells

Wizardry: Teleportation Spells

Surprisingly, the Warp advantage works pretty much like the D&D Teleport spell. I decided to borrow the Uncertain Encumbrance enhancement from Jumper and make Drift mandatory. Expensive, but it should be expensive, right? Dimension Door is more limited in terms of range, but less limited in terms of the destination familiarity requirements. Teleport Object is similar to normal Teleport (including the drift), but only affects objects, and has a weight limit. Teleportation Circle... was very painful to stat up. It is so expensive, that I had to include a character point cost to make it more affordable. In addition, I included the permanency clause from GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys and decided to expand it with a way to create Truly Permanent gates. Word of Recall is a more limited version of Teleport.

Wizardry: Protection and Warning Spells I

Wizardry: Protection and Warning Spells I

Alarm is a heavily modified version of the GURPS Watchdog spell. Arcane Lock is a modified version of the GURPS Magelock spell. Endure Elements is a simple, but a long-lasting spell that protects against hot and cold environments. Mage Armor has a much shorter duration than its D&D counterpart. DR is just so much more powerful in GURPS than in D&D, so it's better to be careful here, as this spell is a massive force multiplier.

Wizardry: Knowledge Spells III

Wizardry: Knowledge Spells III

Oh boy. Scrying was very difficult to stat up in a way that both is similar (but not identical) to its D&D version, functional, useful, and affordable. True Seeing is very different from its D&D counterpart, being much more limited. Legend Lore also was a weird one to stat up, but I am content with the result. Know Direction is a simple cantrip.

Wizardry: Fire Spells II

Wizardry: Fire Spells II

Fire Shield has been changed compared to its D&D version - now it only has one version that simply deals fire damage and illuminates the area. I decided to ignore Fire Seeds and combine Fire Storm and Incendiary Cloud into the latter. Fire Trap is a spell very similar to Explosive Runes. Produce Flame is actually a very interesting spell with some quite unique mechanics.

Bad Footing/Terrain in My Games

Bad Footing/Terrain in My Games

Not long ago, I explored the topic of difficult terrain and bad footing in GURPS, and found it to be a mess. So, to avoid any complications and arguments in play, I decided to clearly define what kind of terrain provides what kind of penalties. Rules are subject to change or amendments in the future.

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells V

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells V

The dice sure like necromancy. Inflict Wounds has predefined levels that deal different amounts of damage. I decided against converting the mass version of this spell, as unresistible area damage is too much. Speak with Dead lets you interrogate corpses. Slay Living causes a heart attack. Gentle Repose stops corpses from rotting.

Wizardry: Invisibility Spells

Wizardry: Invisibility Spells

There's a surprising number of invisibility-related spells in Player's Handbook. I think almost all of them could belong both to the colleges of Light and Darkness and Illusion and Creation magic. Invisibility is your normal invisibility that gets dispelled if the subject attacks. Greater Invisibility does not have this drawback, but lasts a much shorter time. Mass Invisibility affects multiple creatures, but it also breaks if one of the subjects moves too far away from the others. Invisibility Purge negates invisibility around you, but is an indefinite spell, so it takes up your spell slot. Invisibility Sphere works slightly differently, creating a spherical effect around the recipient. See Invisibility lets you see through magical invisibility, and its improved version affects all kinds of invisibility (according to GURPS Powers, See Invisible that is part of a cosmic powers affects all forms of invisibility, so a +50% is fine).

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells II

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells II

More mind control spells. Command is a very limited and short-lived mind control compulsion. Confusion and Crushing Despair are variants of Cause Fear.

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells IV

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells IV

More necromantic spells! All four are touch spells. Touch of Fatigue deals FP damage, while Touch of Weakness imposes a ST penalty. Energy Drain leeches FP, and Vampiric Touch leeches HP. Simple!

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells III

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells III

Even more necromancy. Death Knell is a limited touch attack spell. Deathwatch lets you see if the creature is dead, mortally wounded, reeling, or undead.

Wizardry: Acid Spells I

Wizardry: Acid Spells I

Acid has always been weird in fantasy games. In D&D, it is usually attached to the element of earth, but most other games seem to attach it to the element of water instead. GURPS Griomoire for the 3rd edition suggests splitting acid spells away from the water college and forming a separate acid college, and that's what I do. Player's Handbook only has three acid spells. Acid Fog is a low-damage area spell that also obstructs vision. Acid Splash is a simple acid missile attack. Melf's Acid Arrow is an attack with a cyclic acid follow-up. You should also keep in mind that realistic acids usually are limited to 1d-1 corrosion damage, and this is why I'm trying to keep acid damage low, both for spells and monsters. Sure, great wyrm black dragons do deal a bit more, but I can accept that.

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells II

Wizardry: Necromantic Spells II

I was dreading this moment, because reanimation and summoning is very complicated. Animate Dead allows you to raise skeletons or zombies and command them. Create Undead lets you create a free-willed undead being, such as a ghoul or a mummy. It is powered by character points as described in GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys. Command Undead is an undead-exlusive version of Charm. Control Undead allows a more direct control.