Wizardry: Frostburn Spells I
Frostburn was one of the early D&D 3.5 supplements that caused a little bit of online controversy, apparently. I'm actually very fond of this book, and I believe that it's full of good inspirational material for any arctic-themed fantasy GURPS game. Sure, there are some odd bits here or there, but it's okay overall. The book has a surprisingly large spell section, so let's GURPSify it.
Anticold Sphere conjures a protective spherical field that grants DR against cold damage. It's a bit too expensive, but I'm not sure how to bring the cost down without character point expenditure. This spell fits more as a hardcore improvisation spell.
Arctic Haze is a variant of Fog Cloud that affects Infravision but takes longer to cast. I decided to remove the damage component of this spell.
Aura of Cold is something like Fire Shield, but with a larger area and no incendiary effect.
Binding Snow is a frostfell variant of Entangle.
Blood Snow is a relatively weak area effect spell for frostfell environments.
Boreal Wind is a variant of Gust of Wind that also deals cold damage.
Brumal Stiffening reduces DR of an object.
Anticold Sphere
Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 60 points.
Casting Roll: Skill.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 4 FP.
Casting Time: 4 seconds.
Range: Self.
Duration: 30 minutes.
You bring into being a mobile, spherical energy field that protects against cold. The sphere has a radius of 4 yards and moves with you, granting everyone inside DR 5 against cold attacks originating from the outside.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Self Only, -50%; Advantage, Anticold Sphere, +590%; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Extended Duration, 10x, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Magical, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Takes Extra Time 2, -20%) [60]. Note: “Anticold Sphere” is Damage Resistance 5 (Affects Others, +50%; Area Effect, 4 yards, Spherical, +115%; Force Field, +20%; Limited, Cold, -40%; Magical, -10%) [59].
Arctic Haze
Keywords: Area (Leveled).
Full Cost: 30 points for level 1 + 7 points/additional level.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP.
Casting Time: 2 seconds.
Range: 50 yards.
Duration: 15 minutes.
A bank of fog composed entirely of tiny ice shards billows out from the point you designate, filling a 4-yard-high cylindrical area. The fog obscures normal sight and Infravision, imposing a -7 penalty to Vision rolls and tasks based on these senses. The area of effect drifts with the wind, but any wind more forceful than a light breeze disperses it.
Fire attacks become weaker in fog. Flaming weapons and missiles lose their extra power in fog. Scorching Rays and similar fire missile effects lose 1 point of damage per yard of fog they must traverse. Fire explosions treat each yard of fog as two yards of distance from the blast for the purpose of damage. However, no amount of fog will extinguish a fire.
Statistics: Obscure 7 (Vision; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Drifting, +20%; Extended, Infravision, +20%; Extended Duration, 100x, +80%; Magical, -10%; Ranged, +50%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%; Variable, Area, +5%) [30]. Further levels add Area Effect (+50%) [+7/level].
Aura of Cold
Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 7 points.
Casting Roll: Skill.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: Self.
Duration: 18 seconds.
You are covered in a thin layer of white frost and frigid cold emanates from your body, dealing 1d-1 non-incendiary burning damage per second to everything within 2 yards of you.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Self Only, -50%; Advantage, Aura of Cold, +70%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Magical, -10%; Reduced Duration, 1/10, -20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [7]. Note: “Aura of Cold” is Burning Attack 1d-1 (Area Effect, 2 yards, Spherical, +40%; Aura, +80%; Magical, -10%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; No Incendiary Effect, -10%) [7].
Binding Snow
Keywords: Area (Fixed).
Full Cost: 40 points.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 2 FP.
Casting Time: 2 seconds.
Range: 50 yards.
Duration: 90 seconds.
This spell must be cast on a snow field at least a foot deep. That snow field instantly freezes, impeding movement through the 4-yard-radius area. Everyone in the area and who enters the area is held fast by the snow. Victims are effectively grappled by the feet or other body parts in contact with the snow with ST 10. They cannot select the Move or Change Posture maneuvers or change facing, and are at -4 to DX. Creatures with ST 21+ can move unimpeded but still suffer -4 to DX.
To break free, the victim must win a Quick Contest of ST or Escape skill against the ST of Binding Snow. Each attempt takes one second. If the victim fails to break free, he loses 1 FP but may try again. Alternatively, he may try to break the snow that holds him. Innate Attacks hit automatically; other attacks are at -4. External attacks on the snow take no penalty, but risk hitting the victim on a miss (see Striking Into a Close Combat, p. B392). Snow has DR 0. Each point of damage reduces ST by one. At ST 0, the binding snow is destroyed and the victim is freed, but he may get stuck again if he moves out of his hex.
Victims also can roll thrust damage once per turn against Binding Snow as a free action. If this destroys the binding, they may ignore its impediment at once. If it doesn’t, they’re affected normally but may still use their turn for a standard attempt to break free, and the binding is not damaged by this free “attack.”
Statistics: Binding 10 (Area Effect, 8 yards, +150%; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Environmental, Snow, -40%; Extended Duration, 10x, +40%; Magical, -10%; One-Shot, -10%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced DR, -10%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [40].
Blood Snow
Keywords: Area (Fixed).
Full Cost: 5 points.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 2 FP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: 50 yards.
Duration: 30 seconds.
You must cast this spell on a snow field at least a foot deep. You corrupt an 8-yard-radius area of fallen snow, imbuing it with negative energy. This makes snow in the area turn blood red. Every creature in contact with blood snow takes 1 point of toxic damage per second, ignoring DR with Tough Skin. Any kind of sealed armor prevents this damage. Each instance of damage can be resisted with HT+1. Once a creature loses 1/3 of its HP to this contact effect, it becomes nauseated (p. B428) until it recovers HP above this threshold.
Statistics: Toxic Attack 1 point (Area Effect, 8 yards, +150%; Contact Agent, +150%; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Environmental, Snow, -40%; Extended Duration, 3x, +20%; Magical, -10%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Resistible, HT+1, -35%; Symptoms, 1/3 HP, Nauseated, +90%) [5].
Boreal Wind
Keywords: Cone, Obvious.
Full Cost: 11.5 points for level 1 + 6.5 points/additional level.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Beam) to hit.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: 10 yards.
Duration: Instantaneous.
This spell creates a severe blast of arctic air (approximately 50 mph) that originates from you. This gust does 1d crushing damage per level, doubled, for the purposes of knockback only, and has a 1/2D range of 5 yards. It can also snuff out candles, sweep the floor, and so on. Against enemies with Injury Tolerance (Diffuse), such as gaseous beings and swarms, this becomes a much more potent attack, doing full damage – including the doubling! Ignore the usual injury cap of 2 HP (Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets, p. B380). In addition, it does 1d linked non-incendiary burning damage from severe cold that does not scale with spell level.
This is a 1-yard-wide cone attack that uses the rules for Cone Attacks (p. B413). On the battle map, it is a 1x10 row of hexes. This cone is too tight to affect many targets, but gets better chances to hit. The caster targets a hex right in front of him, at +4, and the cone extends out from there. It is possible to make the cone wider by using the All-Out Attack (Cone) maneuver (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 4: Dragons, p. 10).
Even though a one-hex creature is big enough to block the cone, everyone in the hex where the cone stops is fully affected. If a cone passes between two adjacent creatures, then both are hit. The cone cannot be parried or blocked, but it can be dodged by diving for cover or retreating out of the affected area. If a creature does that, then those behind it may get affected by the cone normally.
Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Cone 1, +60%; Increased 1/2D, 5x, +10%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; No Incendiary Effect, ‑10%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Requires gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires magic words, -10%) [5] + Crushing Attack 1d (Cone 1, +60%; Cosmic, Does knockback-based damage against diffuse targets, +50%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Double Knockback, +20%; Increased 1/2D, 5x, +10%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; No Blunt Trauma, ‑20%; No Wounding, Except against diffuse targets, ‑25%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Requires gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires magic words, -10%) [6.5/level].
Brumal Stiffening
Keywords: Resisted (HT).
Casting Roll: Skill.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: Touch - Unlimited (-1/yard) – Unlimited (standard).
Duration: 6 seconds.
The targeted object becomes brittle, reducing its DR by 3 for the duration of the spell. Weapons affected by this spell are treated as if they had quality one step lower for the purpose of weapon breakage (for example, Good weapons count as Cheap weapons, while Fine weapons count as Good weapons). Cheap weapons do not degrade any further.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Only objects, -10%; Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Magical, -10%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; Negated Advantage, DR 3, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Reduced Duration, 1/30, -30%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [15]. The Short-Range version removes Melee Attack, Reach C, -30% [+3]. The Ranged version replaces Malediction 1, +100% with Malediction 2, +150% [+5].
No comments:
Post a Comment