Converting Psionic Creatures

[freyar]

That's also fine by me. Shade, RavinRay, care to chime in?

 

[Shade]

freyar's proposal and the on-upper-limit appeals to me.

 

[RavinRay]

Yes, and we definitely need to cap that effective caster level.

 

[Cleon]

Yes, and we definitely need to cap that effective caster level.

How about capping it at a caster level of 20 plus the hit dice of the focal Rautym? (e.g. max CL 24 for a pack of standard 4 HD specimens).

Methinks it's time to start roughing it out.

Dance Magic (Sp): Rautyms possess a unique ability to work magic by dancing. At least two rautyms are needed to work this dance magic. One rautym acts as the focus of the magic, the other rautyms dance around the focus rautym to generate the magic.

Dance magic can be create any spell the focus rautym has seen being cast. The maximum caster level equals the number of rautym participating, or 20 plus the Hit Dice of the focus rautym (whichever is less). Rautym often dance low caster level spells in order to reduce the casting time. The focus rautym can apply any metamagic feats is has to the dance magic spell, except dance magic spells cannot be Quickened?

Dance magic is slow, it takes (some formula) to complete the dance and cast the spell. If the focal rautym's concentration on the dance magic is broken (same procedure as interrupting a spell) the dance magic is ruined, if a dancer is interrupted they are unable to contribute to the dance magic, which adds X to the casting time. The DC of the resulting spell is based on the Charisma of the focal rautym.

 

[freyar]

I like the red part. I'll also take a stab at the casting time. It could probably be smoother, but it's a start.

Dance Magic (Sp): Rautyms possess a unique ability to work magic by dancing. At least two rautyms are needed to work this dance magic. One rautym acts as the focus of the magic, and the other rautyms dance around the focus rautym to generate the magic.

Dance magic can create any spell the focus rautym has seen being cast, and the focus rautym can apply any metamagic feats it has to the dance magic spell (except Quicken Spell). The caster level of the spell equals the number of rautym participating, up to a maximum of 20 plus the Hit Dice of the focus rautym; the spell cast must be such that a sorcerer of the given caster level could cast the spell including metamagic effects. Rautym often dance low caster level spells in order to reduce the casting time (see below).

Dance magic is slow. Completing the dance and casting the spell takes one minute per minimum caster level that a sorcerer requies to cast the spell, minus one minute per caster level that the ruatym's effective caster level exceeds the required caster level (to a minimum of one minute). If the focal rautym's concentration on the dance magic is broken (same procedure as interrupting a spell) the dance magic is ruined, and if a dancer is interrupted, they are unable to contribute to the dance magic, which reduces the effective caster level of the group, and thereby increasing the casting time or possibly ruining the spell. The DC of the resulting spell is based on the Charisma of the focal rautym.

 

[Shade]

That looks quite good.

 

[freyar]

Let's see what Cleon thinks about it: any quibbles?

 

[Cleon]

Let's see what Cleon thinks about it: any quibbles?

I have a few. To begin with, the repeated mention of "sorcerer" makes it sound like it can only cast sorcerer/wizard spells, although can't it also cast other spells (cleric, druid etc) provided it meets the prereqs?

There's also a typo ("requies") and some ugly syntax in the last paragraph.

Also, I suggested increasing the casting time for spells with costly components. Speaking of which, it doesn't seem right for them to cast spells with the Good descriptor.

Finally, the original version could cast reduce the caster level to increase the speed.

How's this?

Dance Magic (Sp): Rautyms possess a unique ability to work magic by dancing. At least two rautyms are needed to work this dance magic. One rautym acts as the focus of the magic, and the other rautyms dance around the focus rautym to generate the magic.

Dance magic can create any spell the focus rautym has seen being cast. The focal rautym can apply any metamagic feats it has to the dance magic spell, except Quicken Spell. The magic has a caster level equal to the number of rautym participating, up to a maximum of 20 plus the Hit Dice of the focus rautym; the caster level must be high enough for a sorcerer of that level to cast the chosen spell, including metamagic effects. Rautym often dance low level spells in order to reduce the casting time (see below).

Dance magic is slow, completing the dance and casting the spell takes one minute per minimum caster level that a sorcerer requires to cast the spell, minus one minute per caster level that the ruatym's effective caster level exceeds the required caster level (minimum of 1 minute or the spell's normal casting time). The rautym can reduce this time by 1 minute for every level they reduce the casting time, down to the minimum caster level for the spell. Dance magic spells do not require material or XP components, but spells with these components take longer to dance; for every 10 XP or 250 gp worth of components the spell normally requires, the dance magic takes 1 minute longer to complete.

If the focal rautym's concentration on the dance magic is broken (same procedure as interrupting a spell) the dance magic is ruined. If a dancer is interrupted, they are unable to contribute to the dance magic. Interrupted dancers reduce the effective caster level of the group, thereby increases the casting time and possibly ruining the dance magic if the caster level is reduced to less than the spell's minimum. The DC of the resulting spell is based on the Charisma of the focal rautym.

Example: a 7th level sorcerer spell has a minimum CL of 14th. 18 rautym have a caster level of 18th, 4 higher than the spell minimum, so can cast a 7th level spell in 10 minutes (14-4) at CL 18th. If they lower the spell's caster level by another 4 levels to the spell's minimum of 14th they cut another 4 minutes off the time, casting the 7th level spell in 6 minute at CL 14th.

 

[freyar]

Now you've put a run-on sentence in there. (Dance magic is slow, ...)

I like the sentence "Dance magic spells do not require material or XP components, but spells with these components take longer to dance; for every 10 XP or 250 gp worth of components the spell normally requires, the dance magic takes 1 minute longer to complete."

However, I don't understand what you mean by this: "The rautym can reduce this time by 1 minute for every level they reduce the casting time, down to the minimum caster level for the spell." Isn't that what already happens in the previous sentence?

If you're worried about cleric spells, etc, we can just add a sentence that they treat all arcane and divine spells as sorc/wiz spells.

 

[Cleon]

Now you've put a run-on sentence in there. (Dance magic is slow, ...)

It's a work in progress, so we can expect a few syntactical potholes that'll need filling in.

I like the sentence "Dance magic spells do not require material or XP components, but spells with these components take longer to dance; for every 10 XP or 250 gp worth of components the spell normally requires, the dance magic takes 1 minute longer to complete."

Thanks, I liked it to.

However, I don't understand what you mean by this: "The rautym can reduce this time by 1 minute for every level they reduce the casting time, down to the minimum caster level for the spell." Isn't that what already happens in the previous sentence?

No, the previous sentence gives the casting time for spells cast at the group's normal caster level. I'll try to rephrase it to make it clearer.

If you're worried about cleric spells, etc, we can just add a sentence that they treat all arcane and divine spells as sorc/wiz spells.

Might as well.

I've also realised that if it's "dance magic" we might want to add Still Spell the unapplicable Metamagic spells. Unless we want them to be able to cast "pose spells".

Revising...

Dance Magic (Sp): Rautyms possess a unique ability to work magic by dancing. At least two rautyms are needed to work dance magic. One rautym acts as the focus of the magic, and the other rautyms dance around the focus rautym to generate the magic.

Dance magic can create any arcane or divine spell the focal rautym has seen being cast. Dance magic spells are treated as sorcerer/wizard spells with a DC based on the Charisma of the focal rautym. Dance magic spells always have a somatic component even if the original spell does not. The focal rautym can apply any metamagic feats it possesses to the dance magic spell, except for Still Spell or Quicken Spell. The spell's caster level normally equals the number of rautym participating (maximum caster level 20 plus the Hit Dice of the focus rautym), but rautym can lower the casting level to reduce the casting time (see below). The caster level must be high enough for a sorcerer of that level to cast the chosen spell, including metamagic effects.

Dance magic is slow. Completing the dance and casting the spell takes a number of minutes equal to the minimum caster level of the spell (see above); if the number of rautym in the group exceeds the minimum caster level the casting time is reduced by 1 minute per additional rautym (minimum of 1 minute or the spell's normal casting time). The rautym can cast the dance magic spell faster by lowering the caster level (down to the minimum caster level for the spell). For every level the caster level is lowered the casting time is reduced by 1 minute (minimum of 1 minute or the spell's normal casting time). For example, if a dance group normally casts spells at CL 20th it could cast a spell at CL 10th to reduce the casting time by 10 minutes or CL 1st to reduce it by 19 minutes.

Dance magic spells do not require material or XP components, but spells with these components take longer to dance; for every 10 XP or 250 gp worth of components the spell normally requires, the dance magic takes 1 minute longer to complete.

If the focal rautym's concentration on the dance magic is broken (same procedure as interrupting a spell) the dance magic is ruined. If a dancer is interrupted, they are unable to contribute to the dance magic. Interrupted dancers reduce the effective caster level of the group, thereby increases the casting time and possibly ruining the dance magic if the caster level is reduced to less than the spell's minimum.

Example: a 7th level sorcerer spell has a minimum CL of 14th. 18 rautym have a caster level of 18th, 4 higher than the spell minimum, so can cast a 7th level spell in 10 minutes (14-4) at CL 18th. If they lower the caster level by 4 levels to a 7th level spell's minimum CL of 14th they cut 4 minutes off the time, for a 6 minute casting time.