Love: stronger than Magic?

[taliesin15]

Reflecting on fantasy and mythic literature that comprises the basis for D&D one is struck by the absence of Love in the game. Mechanics are almost impossible to bring to bear on the subject, but it seems that there should be some way to employ the idea of a true, undying Love in the game.

One thing I did in a recent campaign was have a Neutral NPC Rogue character fall in love with one of the PCs. She had been Charmed by a Barghest to infiltrate the party, but after she seduced that party's Ranger, I ruled that she actually fell in love with him, thus breaking the spell. This sort of approach is about the best I can come up with--having NPCs be the ones to fall in love (and I'm not necessarily speaking about sex).

Any ideas on how else to employ this in the game?

 

[hopeless]

Say a bonus +2 in situations where the beloved is in danger and the rogue finds that little bit of inspiration to make them work harder and better than ever before?

 

[TwinBahamut]

My favorite mechanic for how "Love" would work as a powerful factor in a game is from the Super Robot Taisen series of videogames. In these games, every character has a short list of "Spirit Commands" that reflect their personality, and spending "Spirit Points" to activate these commands gave you incredible benefits. For example, you can spend a small amount of SP to give a character a flash of alertness, so he has no chance of being hit by the next attack aimed against him. Or, you can spend more SP to inspire a bout of hotblooded rage in a character that doubles the power of that character's next attack. Basically, it is designed to reflect the kind of emotional insanity that is the typical backdrop of Japanese mecha anime, where battles are won as much by guts and courage as they are by skill and effective weaponry.

In these games, the "Love" spirit command is the single most powerful, immediately activating 6 or more other spirit commands for a bargain price and temporarily turning that character into an invincible powerhouse, and it is typically only seen on characters who are involved in love triangles or are otherwise passionately in love with someone else. In later games, the "Courage" command is given similar power, though, so it is not always the only ultimate command.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

In the Suikoden video games, characters that develop a strong friendship can get beenfits in battle. If one of said characters is badly hurt and his friend is nearby, the friend may take a hit for the character out of turn. I think how that works varies by game, sometimes the defender just takes full damage, sometimes it's halved, and sometimes plit between the two like the shield other spell. If said character were to fall unconscious/die, often his close friend would go berserk, a positive stauts effect in the game, which you could just represent as Rage (as Barbarian or as the spell). In the game, Berserk has varied between 1.5x to 2x damage, with later games also decreasing accuracy as a drawback, but that's too much for D&D.

Finally, in Suikoden tactics, a character with very high good will towards another and standing near her can sometimes get an "Assist" when the friend attacks -- think like an AoO, except even ranged characters can benefit. Rogue's Opportunist ability may model it the best in the rules.

Of course, all of these are from a video game, and seem to activate based on some kind of probability roll rather than a check result, so I don't know how well they could be implemented. Also, in Suikoden, there tends to be ~80 playable characters, with frequent promptings to include certain ones, so the friendships aren't always available, unlike the standard D&D party which is together all the time and would likely qualify as close friends. In other words, might be unbalanced, though may be ok if NPCs get the same benefits.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Something like the Dedication feat from M&M works OK: +4 to Will saves and Sense Motive checks vs. anything that might try to cause you to act against an allegiance (or, in this case, a love.)

Well, it's a place to start, perhaps. Love & War from Atlas Games had plenty of interesting stuff in it as well, but far more along 'courtly love' lines, naturally.

 

[The Green Adam]

Love Conquers All!

Or at least trumps silly things like game mechanics.

In one of my campaigns, a female PC (Female Player) was running along side her lover, a male NPC. He was running down a dried up river while she was running some distance away and above on the elevated (to the NPC) bank. When villains hurled two spears at the NPC, the PC launched two magic missiles (appropriate for her level) at the spears to blow them out of the air (automatic hit after all).

Now I know what you're thinking. Magic Missiles can't target specific inanimate objects that way. Well, you're right, they can't. However, desperation and true love can alter the course of human history, so the least they can do is redirect a first level spell. No 'rule', no 'mechanic', just darn cool role playing on the PC's part, a nifty romantic subplot and a cool dramatic moment.

Good enough for this fellow. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic...

AD
"Crewman Madison, the mist of this strange planet is filing my head with such thougts..."

 

[Andor]

D&D is a hard game to love in, although good roleplayers can manage anywhere.

More story oriented games like Ars Magica can make better game use of ideas like love. And indeed True Love is one of the most powerful traits you can have in that game.

Not that mechanial effects are needed for the most part. But I certainly would allow love to conquer most appropriate spells. And if it couldn't, well, if there is a more appropriate source of spontaneous undeath I don't know it...

 

[kibbitz]

My favorite mechanic for how "Love" would work as a powerful factor in a game is from the Super Robot Taisen series of videogames. In these games, every character has a short list of "Spirit Commands" that reflect their personality, and spending "Spirit Points" to activate these commands gave you incredible benefits. For example, you can spend a small amount of SP to give a character a flash of alertness, so he has no chance of being hit by the next attack aimed against him. Or, you can spend more SP to inspire a bout of hotblooded rage in a character that doubles the power of that character's next attack. Basically, it is designed to reflect the kind of emotional insanity that is the typical backdrop of Japanese mecha anime, where battles are won as much by guts and courage as they are by skill and effective weaponry.

In these games, the "Love" spirit command is the single most powerful, immediately activating 6 or more other spirit commands for a bargain price and temporarily turning that character into an invincible powerhouse, and it is typically only seen on characters who are involved in love triangles or are otherwise passionately in love with someone else. In later games, the "Courage" command is given similar power, though, so it is not always the only ultimate command.

You must be playing the new era stuff Before Yuuki and Ai, there was Kiseki (Miracle) which did what Ai (Love) did. Ai back then healed everyone on the map to full HP, I believe

 

[The Green Adam]

D&D is a hard game to love in, although good roleplayers can manage anywhere.

More story oriented games like Ars Magica can make better game use of ideas like love. And indeed True Love is one of the most powerful traits you can have in that game.

AH yes, Ars Magica. Now that's a game I would swim the deepest ocean and cross a burning desert for. <3

AD
"I see you've managed to get your shirt off."

 

[TwinBahamut]

You must be playing the new era stuff Before Yuuki and Ai, there was Kiseki (Miracle) which did what Ai (Love) did. Ai back then healed everyone on the map to full HP, I believe

I am primarily familiar with the Original Generation games that actually got translated here in the US, so that is my baseline. I guess this goes to show that in the internet, there is always someone who is more familiar with your fandom than you are, no matter where you post and how obscure it may be...

I guess I may as well mention the Star Ocean 2 mechanic, where characters get angry and do double damage with their attacks if their loved one is reduced to zero hitpoints. That one actually pulled me out of a few tight spots, especially when the main hero (the game's strongest physical fighter) watches the main heroine (the fragile but essential healer) go down...

Thinking about it, I may as well also mention the Fire Emblem "Support/Bond" system, where characters with strong bonds of love, friendship, or rivalry improve each other's stats if they are standing near each other. Actually, I think many Super Robot Taisen games have something similar, though it is less customizable and usually less visible.