Wizardry: Tome and Blood Spells
Complete Arcane is widely considered to be Tome and Blood (a 3.0 book) updated to 3.5, but people who claim that haven't read the books or have only read the game mechanical parts and did that poorly as well. Aside from lots of different non-mechanical information, Tome and Blood has some spells and prestige classes that didn't make it into the 3.5 edition. I have converted all the Complete Arcane spells that I wanted, but some of these "missing" ones are pretty cool, so let's convert them.
Choke should be a simple spell, right? Just use Affliction with Choking, +100%, right? If you read the rules carefully, you will see that rules for suffocation (when you, for example, run out of air when diving), rules for choking and strangling (p. B370), Choke Hold technique (p. MA69), and the afflicted choking condition (p. B428) all use different rules. And then there's Fatigue Attack with Suffocation. The Choking affliction is something of a save-or-die where you cannot do anything. Why can you resist and act semi-normally when you're being choked normally then? Here, I decided to go a different way and stat this spell up as a limited form of TK. It may seem like the most convoluted option, but in reality it's done for the sake of streamlining the rules. Now, you get a proper choking attempt that can be resisted, and the spell is quite cheap too. So, if you see a chicken, cast Choke on it.
Feign Death is another interesting one. On the surface, it looks similar to Hibernate, but the devil is in the details. Feign Death is a buff, so it can only be used on willing creatures. The duration is limited, but there's another important difference - the subject still can hear and smell the surroundings, and the subject is the one who decides when he wakes up. This greatly expands the spell's utility.
Hide Life is a very cheap spell in terms of character points, but the casting cost is very high. The effects, however, turn you into something of a lich, making you unable to die, unless the body part where your life is hidden is found and destroyed.
Indifference is a spell that drains emotions. The subject becomes immune to fear and influence, but becomes socially inept.
Negative Energy Burst and Negative Energy Ray are simple attack spells that deal toxic damage. If I recall things correctly, these spells were later reprinted in Magic of Faerun, but I am too lazy to check the book right now.
Choke
Keywords: None.
Full Cost: 10 points.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use DX or grappling skill to hit and choke.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP to cast, 1 FP per 10 seconds to maintain.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: 20 yards.
Duration: Indefinite.
When you cast this spell, a pair of invisible hands made of pure force spring into existence and try to grab the target’s neck and strangle it. Due to being a force effect, this spell can affect insubstantial creatures. The created pair of hands is considered to belong to a SM+0 creature for the purpose of grappling.
Using this spell requires taking a Concentrate maneuver every turn. Your only options are making an attack to grapple a creature’s neck, Choke or Strangle (p. B370), or use the Choke Hold technique (p. B404 or p. MA69). Use your DX or grappling skills and apply all regular penalties, including the hit location penalties. However, when using Choke Hold, do not apply the -1 penalty for attacking from the front. The foe defends as if against an invisible opponent (p. B394), unless he can see invisible beings.
The created pair of choking hands has ST 10 (at the usual +3 if using Choke Hold). Your DX, grappling skills, and ST in Quick Contests only are modified by your Talent.
Statistics: Telekinesis 10 (Accessibility, Only to choke, -20%; Affects Insubstantial, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Grappling Only, -30%; Increased Range, 2x, +10%; Magical, -10%; Reduced Duration, 1/6, -15%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [10].
Feign Death
Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 35 points.
Casting Roll: Skill.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 2 FP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: Touch.
Duration: 12 hours or less; see text.
You put a creature into a deathlike condition. At your option, this can be a cataleptic state that is impossible to distinguish from death, or the subject can appear to be in a coma or deep sleep. In this state, the subject does not need to eat, drink, or breathe, and effects of poison and disease stop, resuming when the state ends. Although able to smell, hear, and know what is going on, the subject is blind and has no sense of touch or pain. Anyone unfamiliar with this spell must win a Quick Contest of Diagnosis vs. the subject’s HT+10 to discover that he’s not dead or in a coma. The subject may end this condition with a Will roll; otherwise, he wakes up automatically after 12 hours pass.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Only nonvolitional or non-resisting subjects, -20%, Advantage, Feign Death, +200%; Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Magical, -10%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; No Signature, +20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [35]. Note: “Feign Death” is Metabolism Control 10 (Accessibility, Limited to 12 hours, -40%; Cosmic, Semi-aware, +50%; Hibernation, -60%; Magical, -10%) [20].
Hide Life
Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost: 8 points.
Casting Roll: Skill.
Components: V, S, F.
Cost: 2 HP + 18 character points.
Casting Time: 8 hours.
Range: Self.
Duration: Truly Permanent.
You isolate your life force in one single part of the body – typically the little finger on the left hand. You can then remove this part and store it in some safe place. This permanently gives you an appropriate disadvantage – typically Missing Digit (p. B144). Once the spell takes effect, you can no longer be killed by ordinary means. You are affected by injury normally, but you need never make a HT roll to stay alive. You can survive (and even function, if you remain conscious) down to -10xHP, at which point your body is reduced to an indestructible skeleton and you automatically fall unconscious. Once the damage stops, you heal normally, and any severed body parts (aside from the one removed when casting this spell) will grow back. Once you have positive HP again, you regain consciousness. You are not immune to death from old age.
Hide Life cannot be dispelled, but it does not function in no-mana areas or in an Antimagic Field – dying in such areas will kill you for good. If the hidden body part is ever destroyed, the spell is broken and your life force returns to your body if you would not otherwise be dead.
You can have only one instance of this spell active at a time.
Focus: A small sickle made of the purest silver, which you use to detach the body part to be stored (1 lb., $1,000).
Indifference
Keywords: Buff.
Full Cost (Self): 24 points.
Full Cost (Touch): 38 points.
Casting Roll: Skill.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 2 FP.
Casting Time: 4 seconds.
Range: Self – Touch.
Duration: 5 hours.
This spell drains emotion from the sapient subject. The subject becomes immune to Influence skills and Fright Checks, but becomes unable to show or understand emotions, gaining the Low Empathy (p. B142) and No Sense of Humor (p. B146) disadvantages. Upon finding out the unemotional nature of the subject, others react to it at -2. The subject gets -3 on all skill that rely on understanding emotions and motivations, including Acting, Carousing, Criminology, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Enthrallment, Fast-Talk, Interrogation, Leadership, Merchant, Politics, Psychology, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, and Streetwise.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Self Only, -50%; Advantage, Indifference, +180%; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Extended Duration, 100x, +80%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Magical, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Takes Extra Time 2, -20%) [24]. Note: “Indifference” is Indomitable (Magical, -10%; Temporary Disadvantage, Low Empathy and No Sense of Humor, -30%) [9] + Unfazeable (Magical, -10%; Temporary Disadvantage, Low Empathy and No Sense of Humor, -30%) [9]. The Touch version removes Accessibility, Self Only, -50% and Requires IQ Roll, -10% and adds Accessibility, Only on sapient creatures, -10%, Accessibility, Only nonvolitional or non-resisting subjects, -20%, Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Malediction 1, +100%, Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%, and No Signature, +20% [+14].
Negative Energy Burst
Keywords: Area (Fixed).
Full Cost: 4 points/level.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to hit.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP.
Casting Time: 2 seconds.
Range: 20 yards.
Duration: Instantaneous.
You release a silent burst of negative energy from a point you indicate. The burst expands to cover a spherical area. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to hit, applying normal range penalties, but at +4 for targeting an area. The spell dealing dice of toxic damage equal to your level of this spell to everything in its hex. Everything else within 4 yards takes damage divided by the distance in yards from the center of the blast. The GM must determine what the maximum level available in the campaign is.
Statistics: Toxic Attack (Area Effect, 4 yards, Spherical, +115%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Dissipation, -50%; Low Signature, +10%; Magical, -10%; Reduced Range, 1/5, -20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [4/level].
Keywords: Missile, Obvious.
Full Cost: 2 points/level.
Casting Roll: Skill. Use Innate Attack (Beam) to hit.
Components: V, S.
Cost: 1 FP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: 50 yards.
Duration: Instantaneous.
If your foe is within one yard of you, he may attempt to parry this attack (actually parrying your hand). If such a parry is successful, you must roll against DX to avoid hitting yourself with your own ray of frost!
Statistics: Toxic Attack (Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Increased 1/2D, 5x, +10%; Magical, -10%; Nuisance Effect, Dangerous to be parried, -5%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [2/level].
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