Blood Magic: Fiendish Codex II Spells

Blood Magic: Fiendish Codex II Spells

As promised, here are the fiendish spells from the previous post adapted to the blood magic framework.

Is Sorcery even a system?

Is Sorcery even a system?

In the comments, I've been asked why I dislike Sorcery despite having written hundreds of spells for it, and it made me realize that I forgot to post a transcript of one of my videos here on this topic. Here's my rant about why I think Sorcery isn't a system and isn't good, and I don't even talk about people ignoring or misunderstanding rules and then blaming Sorcery for it - this is not my problem, but their problem.

Armor Buffs in Sorcery

Armor Buffs in Sorcery

One of the spell classes in Sorcery is Weapon Buff, but fiction and other games often have plenty of armor buffs as well. However, it seems that making armor buffs in GURPS are not as simple as applying Accessibility, Only on armor, -20%.

If you look back to D&D, you will see that armor is a singular item. This isn't true in GURPS, unless you simplify the system a lot, as armor is piecemeal. By RAW, if you use a spell with Accessibility, Only on armor, -20%, you affect only one item from the set you may be wearing, and armor can consist of more than a dozen of items! Imagine recasting the same buff spell to every item and passing out due to losing all FP. This obviously doesn't work (unless this behavious is intended for your magic system).

To buff all armor worn by the target, I suggest adding Area Effect, 1 yard, +25%. However, this may also buff armor of other creatures in the same hex, or, for example, a pile of armor on the ground that is then taken and donned by different creatures. This also will result in unintended (probably) side effects.

Let's add Accessibility, Only worn by a single creature, -5%. Now, we have resolved that issue. However, now you can buff a person's armor, and that person may remove some parts of it and give it to others. That also may be unintended.

Let's add Terminal Condition, Piece of armor removed, -5%. Now, if any piece of buffed armor is removed (voluntarily or forcibly), the buff is dispelled for the entire set.

If you combine all these modifiers, you get Armor Buff, -5%. Technically speaking, by RAW this shouldn't work on creatures that take up multiple hexes, but I suggest simply ignoring it and treating the ability to affect larger targets as a free feature.

Introduction to Wizardry

Introduction to Wizardry

What is this? If you're here, then you probably aware of my collection of Sorcery spells, but those are very generic. Sorcery is a generic adaptation of the non-generic GURPS Magic. Remember that the book tells you to make every spell cost 1 FP and take one second to cast? All spells work the same, have the same internal structure, mechanics, requirements, etc. On one hand, it's lame, as everything feels the same, but on the other hand, it's good - you have a list of generic spells that you can use as a base to make them less generic. In my opinion, one shouldn't simply "use Sorcery." It's merely a framework, and a framework that is based on GURPS Magic at that, trying to be both generic and not generic at the same time.

    Remember D&D? There are many spellcasting classes, flavorful casting traditions, etc. but they all work more or less the same. Wizards get their power through intense study, sorcerers have innate magical powers. Why do they use the same spells? How come innate powers are the same as arcane formulae from dusty tomes? To me, it never made sense. Fortunately, I'm playing GURPS now, and I can make different spellcasters actually different. A learned wizard can cast arcane spells via gestures and incantations, while a sorcerer more-or-less simply has access to a power (in the GURPS Powers sense) that, while more flexible in terms of abilities, has a narrower scope.

Sorcery: Winged Folk Spells

Sorcery: Winged Folk Spells

Man, it's been a while since I made any sorcery spell! As you know, GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk came out recently, and it's pretty good, I recommend you buy it (and Pyramid #3-14 to complement it). The magical styles of the winged folk feature three two new spells. Earthbind paralyzes the subject's wings. I already had a spell with that name, so I renamed the old one to Maw of the Earth. Flock of Ravens creates an illusion around the subject that makes it difficult to see and hit. Wrath of the Gods is identical to Lethal Lightning to GURPS Magic: Death Spells.

Sorcery: Malefice

Sorcery: Malefice

Man, this was tough. One of the spells I previously deemed unconvertable converted to Sorcery.

Abjuration in GURPS - Making Protection Fun

Abjuration in GURPS - Making Protection Fun

In games with magic, you are bound to encounter magical protections. Perhaps, you’d like to use magic to protect yourself against damage or other hazards, or you try to strike down an enemy wizard only to find your sword bounce off with no effect. Magic of protection is undoubtedly useful, but it might be boring, so let’s talk about it in more detail and see if it’s possible to make it more fun and interactive.

Sorcery: Urban Druid Spellcasting

Sorcery: Urban Druid Spellcasting

The urban druid was a very obscure class in D&D 3.5, but also one that intrigued me a lot - I feel that it has a lot of potential. I wrote this thing up a very long time ago but for some reason did not post it on the blog, so there you have it.

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.

Creating a Spellcasting Character in GURPS (with Magic-as-Powers)

Creating a Spellcasting Character in GURPS (with Magic-as-Powers)

 
In many of my earlier blog posts, I told you how you can adjust Sorcery to represent different spellcasting traditions, and why I prefer magic-as-powers, but I have not really talked about how to create a spellcasting character. With so many options available, it might be difficult to get started. So, in this post, I would like to show off my approach to making a spellcasting character.

Sorcery: Create Implausible Material

Sorcery: Create Implausible Material

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 1: Glittering Prizes have introduced the concept of implausible materials, such as solidified lightning, fire, sky, night, and anything else. While you can find such items, your players might ask you a question such as "How were they made? I want to make something like that too." So, let's make a sorcery spell that creates such materials.

Sorcery: Serpentine Spells

Sorcery: Serpentine Spells

Serpents of Legends has arrived to the backers of the Nightmare Fuel campaign, and it's yet another amazing book that has interesting monsters and new rules for serpentine creatures. For example, now you have proper rules for snakes coiling into the "turret mode." Aside from that, there are some new spells. Let's convert them to sorcery! They were... not easy to build with advantages.

Sorcery: New Spell Variants

Sorcery: New Spell Variants

Three new spells for the sake of completionism - aquatic versions of Create Servant and Create Warrior (suggested in Pyramid #4-4) and Create Animated Plant (from Garden of Evil).

Designing Sorcery Spells vs. Designing Psionic Powers

Designing Sorcery Spells vs. Designing Psionic Powers

Both Sorcery and Psionic Powers are worked frameworks of magic-as-powers. This means that the basic building blocks are the same - you have advantages and modifiers. You might think that designing spells and psionic abilities is almost identical then, but my experience tells me that it really is not. In this short, rambly post, I'm going to explain the differences that I have encountered.

Monsters/Lenses: Faerunian Lenses

Monsters/Lenses: Faerunian Lenses

The only thing that is left unconverted in Monsters of Faerun are some of the templates (lenses in GURPS terms). I will treat the yuan-ti tainted one and broodguard as creatures, not lenses. By the way, these two templates are probably the most reprinted templates/monsters in D&D 3.0/3.5, they are like in 3-4 different books.

Sorcery: Animal Spells VI

Sorcery: Animal Spells VI

Some animal spells from Patyrsun's Codex Arcanum converted to sorcery.

Sorcery: EM and Weather Spells

Sorcery: EM and Weather Spells

In the previous post, I forgot to include some electromagnetic spells, so let's fix that and add some weather spells too.

Sorcery: Lightning Spells IV

Sorcery: Lightning Spells IV

Let's convert two lightning/electricity spells from Patyrsun's Codex Arcanum.

Sorcery: Air Spells VIII

Sorcery: Air Spells VIII

Let's convert some air spells from Patyrsun's Codex Arcanum. There's not many of them, because I already converted most of the ones I wanted before.