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"Effect as per the spell"
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<blockquote data-quote="Shardstone" data-source="post: 9188273" data-attributes="member: 6807784"><p>I like long spell descriptions. I get the desire for short ones too. Shadowdark really shows just how great short spell descriptions can be. But I find short spell descriptions really limits the "magic" a given spell can have. </p><p></p><p>Shadowdark's zine's have many more spells in them, all of them pretty terse. Some of these spells, like Summon Valkyrie, are really cool. However, this style of design essentially eliminates the ability to create really interesting spells. Most of these spells in Shadowdark are ultra-basic, and it leaves the space for spells very constrained. Furthermore, if a spell doesn't have any cool flavor text in it at all, I find the spell very boring. I don't want to know that fireball is just 60 feet range, 20 feet spherical area, 8d6 fire damage, dex. I want to know that it ignites things, and I want the spell to give some idea of how it might look.</p><p></p><p>In other words, I want the spell to have <strong>rizz</strong>. Here is a spell I wrote for a product I'm working on. This spell could be summed up, but I like little details in it, and I enjoyed writing this spell. This is what I mean by rizz for a spell. It essentially encourages me to use the spell by using some key words to stimulate the reader's imagination. Without this stuff, the spell just feels like another 4E power to me, and that's exactly what I DON'T want. </p><p></p><p>There's a reason people like how 5E presents 4E ideas more then in 4E -- it is because 5E puts in just a little bit of effort to get the imagination going.</p><p></p><p>[ISPOILER]</p><h3>Exceed Singularity Threshold</h3><p>9th level transmutation</p><p>Casting Time: 1 action</p><p>Range: Touch (special, see below)</p><p>Target: Self</p><p>Apparatus/Idol: Mass Modifier Machine </p><p>Duration: 1 minute</p><p>When you cast this spell, you add an unlimited amount of virtual mass to yourself. So great is this virtual mass that it bends space towards you, turning the space you inhabit into a small, nascent black hole.</p><p></p><p>Initially, every creature within 10 feet of you is paralyzed immediately. At the start of each creature’s turn, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, it is pulled into the nascent black hole and destroyed. On a success, the creature suffers 100 force damage, which cannot be reduced in any way and ignores immunity. A creature that dies to this damage is also pulled into the black hole and destroyed.</p><p></p><p>A creature destroyed by this feature does not create a Reverberation and cannot be brought back to life by any means, even if it is Transcendent. However, you are also destroyed by the black hole.</p><p></p><p>The black hole exists for 1 minute. In that time, it pulls more and more material towards it, expanding the diameter of its event horizon on Initiative 20 by 600 feet. You can choose to end this effect at any time, after which you immediately die.</p><p></p><p>For the black hole’s duration, time dilates around it. Anything within 1 mile of the black hole’s event horizon experiences time at a slower rate then the rest of the Beyond. For every round the black hole exists, 50 days pass for the outside world.</p><p>[/ISPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shardstone, post: 9188273, member: 6807784"] I like long spell descriptions. I get the desire for short ones too. Shadowdark really shows just how great short spell descriptions can be. But I find short spell descriptions really limits the "magic" a given spell can have. Shadowdark's zine's have many more spells in them, all of them pretty terse. Some of these spells, like Summon Valkyrie, are really cool. However, this style of design essentially eliminates the ability to create really interesting spells. Most of these spells in Shadowdark are ultra-basic, and it leaves the space for spells very constrained. Furthermore, if a spell doesn't have any cool flavor text in it at all, I find the spell very boring. I don't want to know that fireball is just 60 feet range, 20 feet spherical area, 8d6 fire damage, dex. I want to know that it ignites things, and I want the spell to give some idea of how it might look. In other words, I want the spell to have [B]rizz[/B]. Here is a spell I wrote for a product I'm working on. This spell could be summed up, but I like little details in it, and I enjoyed writing this spell. This is what I mean by rizz for a spell. It essentially encourages me to use the spell by using some key words to stimulate the reader's imagination. Without this stuff, the spell just feels like another 4E power to me, and that's exactly what I DON'T want. There's a reason people like how 5E presents 4E ideas more then in 4E -- it is because 5E puts in just a little bit of effort to get the imagination going. [ISPOILER] [HEADING=2]Exceed Singularity Threshold[/HEADING] 9th level transmutation Casting Time: 1 action Range: Touch (special, see below) Target: Self Apparatus/Idol: Mass Modifier Machine Duration: 1 minute When you cast this spell, you add an unlimited amount of virtual mass to yourself. So great is this virtual mass that it bends space towards you, turning the space you inhabit into a small, nascent black hole. Initially, every creature within 10 feet of you is paralyzed immediately. At the start of each creature’s turn, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, it is pulled into the nascent black hole and destroyed. On a success, the creature suffers 100 force damage, which cannot be reduced in any way and ignores immunity. A creature that dies to this damage is also pulled into the black hole and destroyed. A creature destroyed by this feature does not create a Reverberation and cannot be brought back to life by any means, even if it is Transcendent. However, you are also destroyed by the black hole. The black hole exists for 1 minute. In that time, it pulls more and more material towards it, expanding the diameter of its event horizon on Initiative 20 by 600 feet. You can choose to end this effect at any time, after which you immediately die. For the black hole’s duration, time dilates around it. Anything within 1 mile of the black hole’s event horizon experiences time at a slower rate then the rest of the Beyond. For every round the black hole exists, 50 days pass for the outside world. [/ISPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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