[Grim Tales] Spellcasting Questions

[Henry]

"I can be your friend... or your ferryman to the Underworld. Your choice."

One request - that you have a short description of the feats and talents on the character info if possible? The black company stuff (Force Talent, Cold Talent, etc.) I'll need a better handle on. Or, failing that, it's nothing that 10 minutes alone with the Black Company book at Gameday couldn't cure. Or heck, for that matter, 10 minutes at the BBQ the night before.

 

[Old One]

"I can be your friend... or your ferryman to the Underworld. Your choice."

One request - that you have a short description of the feats and talents on the character info if possible? The black company stuff (Force Talent, Cold Talent, etc.) I'll need a better handle on. Or, failing that, it's nothing that 10 minutes alone with the Black Company book at Gameday couldn't cure. Or heck, for that matter, 10 minutes at the BBQ the night before.

Henry,

I will send you a synopsis of each talent (spell). With that and the free download from Green Ronin, you should be able to figure most of it out. We plan on being at the BBQ on Friday, so you can check it out then as well.

~ OO

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Ten minutes might not do it. My caster has TWO talents and we're coming up with interesting things for him to do with them still.

Take Force. You can increase your own AC ... at this level, probably a smidge as a Swift Action. Or alot for a full round. Or you can prep a touch spell to give it to friends. Or prep an emanation so all the friends around you get a bonus. OR you can do some nonlethal damage. I'll demonstrate:

3d4 Nonlethal at 20'? DC 16, cast as a SWIFT ACTION. 1d8+3 drain. (70' makes it a Standard Action)
+2 Deflection for 7 rounds? The same.

DC 45, 6d6 nonlethal, 60' range, 20' burst. This character can cast that with a 10 on his check (using a fetish) ... and you've got action points. Add a somatic component, cast it on a 6. Burn a point of spell energy, you can't fail. It's pushing the envelope like this that makes these casters fun. ... Then you realize that a 9th level D&D wizard can whip off a Cone of Cold: 60' cone, 9d6 lethal cold damage.

Lower magic. Fun, though.

--fje

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Heap, does the caster make much use of the Ghost Sounds and Prestidigitation skills from BCCS?

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Heh. I feel bad, I've sort of turned this into the BCCS/GT Magic Thread.

We make use of Ghost Sounds QUITE a bit, and Prestidigitation as well. But I've changed both of them a little for our setting.

I added a DC 25+ check to Ghost Sounds allowing a "directed" or "bullhorn" effect for shouting across reasonably large distances. They've used it to communicate in emergency situations ship-to-ship.

I also allow him to use Prestidigitation to create "cosmetic" affects with his spells. Make a force damage effect look like a swirling breeze, some of the little figment effects without taking drain, etc. I let prestidigitation light unattended candles, or snuff them out as well, and use it as my "Catch All" for cosmetic, useless magical flippantry.

I'd probably even let him get some power-use out of it. Say, sneak up behind a guard, levitate a candlestick and whap the guy in the back of the head with it. Deal 1 point of Nonlethal, force a nonlethal surprise-round MDT save, perhaps (oooo, DC 10). Could, of course, use Force, but isn't it just cooler this way?

--fje

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Niiiiice.

 

[Old One]

Heh. I feel bad, I've sort of turned this into the BCCS/GT Magic Thread.

We make use of Ghost Sounds QUITE a bit, and Prestidigitation as well. But I've changed both of them a little for our setting.

I added a DC 25+ check to Ghost Sounds allowing a "directed" or "bullhorn" effect for shouting across reasonably large distances. They've used it to communicate in emergency situations ship-to-ship.

I also allow him to use Prestidigitation to create "cosmetic" affects with his spells. Make a force damage effect look like a swirling breeze, some of the little figment effects without taking drain, etc. I let prestidigitation light unattended candles, or snuff them out as well, and use it as my "Catch All" for cosmetic, useless magical flippantry.

I'd probably even let him get some power-use out of it. Say, sneak up behind a guard, levitate a candlestick and whap the guy in the back of the head with it. Deal 1 point of Nonlethal, force a nonlethal surprise-round MDT save, perhaps (oooo, DC 10). Could, of course, use Force, but isn't it just cooler this way?

--fje

Heap,

Nice ideas. I probably won't worry about some of this for the one-shot but it would definitely add flavor to an on-going campaign.

 

[Henry]

Take Force. You can increase your own AC ... at this level, probably a smidge as a Swift Action. Or alot for a full round. Or you can prep a touch spell to give it to friends. Or prep an emanation so all the friends around you get a bonus. OR you can do some nonlethal damage. I'll demonstrate:

3d4 Nonlethal at 20'? DC 16, cast as a SWIFT ACTION. 1d8+3 drain. (70' makes it a Standard Action)
+2 Deflection for 7 rounds? The same.

DC 45, 6d6 nonlethal, 60' range, 20' burst. This character can cast that with a 10 on his check (using a fetish) ... and you've got action points. Add a somatic component, cast it on a 6. Burn a point of spell energy, you can't fail.

HeapThaumaturgist or Old One (or anyone else who knows Black Company Sourcebook), could I run this by you?

I've been reading some stuff Old One sent me for the one-shot, and want to make sure I understand it.

In the first example, would this actually be a DC 15 action? 3d4 non-lethal dmg on a single target in 20 feet - Base DC 10, +2 for each additional die, +1 for one additional 10 feet range = DC 15. I could in theory add an additional 10 foot range, and make it DC 16, and still make it a swift action, is that right?

In the second example, 6d6 non-lethal damage, 60' range, 20' burst. Base DC 10, +5 for next higher die, +10 for 5 additional dice, +5 for 40 additional feet range, +5 for changing from target to burst, and +10 for two 10-ft radius burst increments. And if I'm correct, such a spell would take (45 minus aptitude16 = 29 difference) 6 rounds to cast, is that right?

Thank you for your time and patience.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Yes and, I think, Yes.

The first one I must have added incorrectly in my own instance, but yup. That's a pretty good whalloping.

And the second one: In spellcasting 2 actions make up a round, so if that difference is 12 Actions, then yes, that's 6 rounds. I don't have my book in front of me, but I've mostly memorized the augmentations (weird memory like that) and those seem correct to me. As you see, after about +5 dice it finally becomes worthwhile to bump the die size.

A spell like that is the kind of thing you memorize, as six full round actions isn't something you can feasibly pull off inside of a combat. By storing it, you can whip it off as a standard action.

Have to balance what you can do ... my caster generally likes to keep it big, but where he has a better than 50% chance of casting it, and usually within range where an action point can help a middling-poor roll. He has a bonus-boosting item and Savant, so he can CAST stuff that would take disgusting amounts of time to cast. That spell sounds like something he would memorize, though a little on the high end for him.

--fje

 

[Henry]

Thanks, Heap. 29 difference says it's = 6 actions, so I was assuming that meant 6 rounds of time (36 seconds, what have you). And I guess I'll have to get with Old One about preparing / memorizing, since I'm not sure how that's done in this system. In Grim Tales, you know a spell and you can cast it till you're dead or drained, and taking longer to cast it voluntarily will lower your caster check. But the main thing I wanted to cement is if my casting time is set in stone based on aptitude and casting DC. If there's a memorization rule, I will definitely be prepping some nastier things.

One last question: What would be the drain for these things, and why?