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So for traditional style spells as requested here LINK
I would suggest a difficulty to ‘cast’ the spell and then an opposed task as an ‘attack’ roll.
I will do a fireball as an example.
Let us work on the assumption that a fireball should kill a normal civilian.
This means we need to cast it, ‘attack’ and be likely to win.The difficulty should not be too high but also not so low that it is almost a foregone conclusion.
I would suggest using the summoning rules as a guideline for difficulties.So going on that basis we could cast a level 1 fireball that has an attack value of 1, and we would roll 1d6 to ‘attack’.
Think of this just like summoning a creature with a Prowess of 1, they both kind of mean the same thing, 1d6 to attack with.
Summoning a P1 creature costs 5.
Also, we need the fireball to be able to leave the casters hands and move toward the target, thus we should really consider it a P1 creature with a move cost of 5.
(5 being the base cost for a point of Prowess which would be required for a normal summoned thing to move)
I would also suggest a fireball also does status damage and this is on a par with the fear ability so we add 1 to the difficulty to cast.Thus a level 1 fireball has a difficulty of 11 (5 for the attack stat of 1, 5 for the fact we want the fireball to move away from the casters hands and 1 for the status damage)
You roll your Wits and if you pass the tasks difficulty you cast the spell and then roll your 1d6 vs the targets prowess to see if you hit/do damage.
A hit will do a point of damage like a regular attack. (plus the status damage)A level 2 fireball, again using the summoning rules has a difficulty of 16 (2 lots of 5 for the attack stat of 2, 5 for the moving feature and 1 for the status damage)
You roll your Wits and if you pass the task you then roll your 2d6 vs the targets prowess to see if you hit/do damage.
A hit will do a point of damage like a regular attack. (plus status damage)
You can see that a level 2 version is more likely to hit and more likely to get a critical.A level 3 would have a difficulty of 36 (3 lots of 10 for the attack stat of 3, 5 for the moving feature and 1 for the status damage)
You roll your Wits and if you pass the task you then roll your 3d6 vs the targets prowess to see if you hit/do damage.
You can see that a level 3 version is even more likely to hit and even more likely to get a critical.Of course a level 3 fireball with a difficulty of 36 would mostly be impossible with a single Wits roll unless your Wits stat was HUGE.
A standard villain wizard is P1, W3, V3.
So to stand any chance you would likely need to spend more than 1 Available Vitality Point to cast it, maybe even using 3 AVP to combine 3 Wits rolls into 1?
This would give you 9d6 but would the only thing you did that turn.So anyway, that is my suggestion around spells that do damage, try and think of them as summoning something and use the summoning rules as a guideline.
You can add extra bonuses like the status damage for fireballs, maybe if it is a lightning bolt you add 2 to your attack roll (once cast) if the target is wearing metal armour?Have a play around.
Illusions are another thing to look at.
So in the rules we have Enscorcellment which is a type of Illusion, but it is more of an hallucination unique to one person than a traditional DnD style illusion that everyone can see.Again we need a difficulty to cast illusions.
I would suggest a number of factors.
How many people will be able to ‘see it’ and how complex is it?For every person that can see the illusion add 5 to the difficulty.
For every sense you want to fool add 5 to the difficulty, so if you want people to see the illusion add 5, if you want them to also hear it then add 5 more, etc.So let us assume you are in a square and 3 guards are trying to arrest you.
You decide to cast an illusion of a lion pouncing from behind a corner and roaring at the guards.There are 3 of them, so that is 15.
The lion needs to be seen and heard so that is 10.
Giving it a difficulty of 25.You roll your Wits and assuming you get 25 or more, the illusion is cast.
But do they believe it?
They can try and beat the difficulty with a combined roll.
The guards have a Wits of 1 each so they roll 3d6, clearly they will fall for it as they cannot get 25 on 3d6.You could leave it as this, but I would suggest making it an open task.
That means the targets of the illusion can roll each turn and add the results until they do pass.
After all, it will not fool them forever.So with the above, they see the lion and roll 3d6 and get 12, so this turn they believe it to be real.
Next turn they roll again and get 11 making it 23 in total, again this turn they still believe but are now having some serious doubts.
Next turn they cannot fail to realise it is an illusion as they only need to get 2 on 3d6.Consider though that contact with the illusion will render it disbelieved.
So whilst the lion would be a good distraction to use whilst you run away, it would eventually be worked out and should one of the guards fancy themself as a slayer of lions and just attacked it right away that would have shattered the illusion.You could also create the illusion of the door you just fled into suddenly bursting into flames.
5 the sight, 5 the heat, maybe 5 for sound if you are feeling daring but you could probably ignore that aspect.
So again 10 for the effects and 15 to fool the guards making 25 like above.Had there been only 1 target of the illusion then the difficulty would be 15.
There are some ideas and rough guidelines, have a tinker and see how you get on.
I like it, based on existing mechanics and not something newfangled. I also like that casting of some spells requires you to sort of “gather” your power, sort of like feeding off of the environment. (I always hated the old “you write it in your spell book but it vanishes as soon as you cast it” thing…)
Thanks.
I try to avoid new mechanics where possible.
The gathering of power can also be achieved by utilising the energy of acolytes as mentioned in the main rules too.
If you need to summon a demon with a difficulty of 100, enlist some cultists and get them chanting and maybe offer up some goodies to the gods?Oh and if anyone here has a copy and not left a lovely 5 star review on Wargame Vault, please feel free.
😀
Oh and if anyone here has a copy and not left a lovely 5 star review on Wargame Vault, please feel free.
I will on drivethrurpg (I guess it will appear also on Wargame Vault) …but, for “intellectual honesty” 🙂 , I will do it
after the first test-game (I guess this week-end) ..already have a Conan scenery ready on the table from a previous one ^_^
Oh, and in the Companion, along with the new abilities, it would be handy to list the original ones too, so they are all in one place?
hmmmmm at the risk of feeling like a billy no mates… I have hit a block on abilities, could be I have enough, but rather than try and force more abilities I will move on to the bestiary.
There will be the ones from the main rulebook duplicated again for ease of having them in one place, what creatures do you think should be included?
What about a camouflage spider? I creeped myself out looking for an image, you are on your own.
Thanks but no, never.
Ever.I have sent an e-mail via WGV but it appears the majority of people are unable to receive said e-mail.
So here it is repeated:
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First of all I just want to say a big thanks to everyone that has purchased a copy of Burning Sands.
Thanks!Now the plan was to release a supplement shortly after the main rules that had more meat so you can beef up your games.
Alas my home situation has changed quite a bit since starting the supplement (working title, The Chronicler’s Companion) and I have had to have an honest re-evaluation about it.
My plan was to bring out another book in the same format again, with a pretty background and some nice photos of models to help illustrate it and so on.
This is unlikely to happen any time soon, so rather than delay it for an undetermined amount of time, I am thinking about releasing a no frills version that is mostly text.
This will have no real impact on the playability, but it will be missing any eye candy.
I was wondering if I could get some feedback from you all about this idea.You can mail me: [email protected] or [email protected], or you can track me down on my main online haunt.
Sorry again for the delay and hope to hear from you all soon.
Praise Be To Apis!!
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Wargame Vault is currently down, if you were wanting to buy a copy of Burning Sands and are unable, drop me an e-mail.
I will arrange payment via PayPal and I will send you a manual link to get a copy.
It will be a bit slower compared to WGV’s normal method, so as a way of saying sorry for the delay in this emergency method, I will sell it for £6.00 rather than the normal £7.50EDIT: I have added a buy now button to my site, saves that faffing about.
Double damage may be a bit much?
I will have a proper think, but my initial thought is they do a critical on a 5 or 6, rather than just on a 6.
And it is a task to fire and a task to reload.
So a standard Villain type (P2, W1, V2) could fire and reload in a turn assuming they are on full Vitality.
Where as the villain could fire a bow twice.
Maybe when using the additional armour rules, the gunpowder weapons also reduce the effectiveness of armour?So good adventurers, about this resin game tray thingy.
The idea was to just sell the unpainted resin version.
But would you be in the market for a painted version complete with lovely red velvet* for a premium price?*actually felt, but you can pretend.
Do you have plans to release a version for the non-heroes as well that is longer?
Those peons can go suck it!!
😀
Re-Cap:
Managing a few minutes to work on the Chroniclers Companion.
Looking at the Bestiary, what creatures do you want to see rules for?Also, what sort of spells?
So doing some spell work now, but had a thought…
Do you want a detailed description that describes the spell in detail or will the mechanics suffice?
“Lightning Cloud: Wits task to cast, target of 11. Treat as a P1 attack. Does a Critical hit on a 5 or 6 if the target is wearing metal armour.”
is that enough, or would:
A strange eerie ball of shifting cloud and smoke materialises out of the air around the wizard, it crackles and hisses as small sparks of electricity dance across it’s surface, suddenly and without warning it hurtles across the ground leaving scorch marks on the dust as it passes and careers right toward you.
Be a nice bonus?
Getting there.
We have 3 fighting styles. Sword and Shield, Dual Weapon, Double Handed.
Armour, Light and Heavy (keeping it simple)
New Abilities, Dark Soul, Pack Animal, Acrobat…
Creature specific abilities, Tough Hide, Regeneration, Ambush…
New creatures in the bestiary, Sand Dragon, Gandowana, Rhino, Swarms…
New spells, Dust Shield, Mind Fog, Curse of the Wheel, Cleansing of Apis, and Soul Bind…
New items and events, Lotus Flasks, Beef Joints, Sand Storms…
Design Notes, how I worked out difficulties for spells and more.Getting close to be being finished!!
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