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L&L 3/05 - Save or Die!
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 5841083" data-attributes="member: 63"><p>Well, for one, avoiding a medusa's gaze shouldn't be a Fort save. It should be a Reflex save, or maybe a Perception check, to represent you reacting to the approach of the medusa and averting your eyes before you see her.</p><p></p><p>Let's ponder the different styles of SoDs.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gaze Attack.</strong> At some point you're unable to avert your gaze, and you die.</p><p></p><p><strong>Poison. </strong>The substance does horrible things to you, either killing you or crippling you.</p><p></p><p><strong>Death Spell. </strong>The spell kills you if you fail the save, or injures you if you succeed.</p><p></p><p><strong>Paralysis/Hold Spell. </strong>The spell leaves you vulnerable to a coup de grace, but when it wears off you're fine.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mind Control. </strong>The spell makes you unable to aid your allies, and instead turns you into an enemy, but when it wears off you're fine.</p><p></p><p>Several of those options above aren't really that different, from a mechanical perspective, from "you take a lot of damage, and it might kill you." A 'death spell' ends up with one of two options - you're alive or you're dead. In the rules of D&D, that's not TOO terribly different from a fireball. Afterward, you're alive or you're dead. If you just modeled the death spell as a) doing a LOT of damage, and b) having some debilitating effect even if the target survives the damage, it ends up with the same game-play result, and with a good narrative feel.</p><p></p><p>Poison is pretty similar. Just pick an appropriate condition to apply.</p><p></p><p>Paralysis and Hold Spells? I'd like to see these work as, "The target is slowed and weakened (save ends). If the target is bloodied or becomes bloodied (feel free to substitute "below HP threshold of X") before he succeeds his save, he is paralyzed for Y amount of time."</p><p></p><p>(Preferably there would also be low-level spells to break these effects. Maybe if you just cast cure spells and get the person's HP back above bloodied, he gets a save to break out.)</p><p></p><p>Mind control? Something similar. The target is dominated (save ends). If he ends up bloodied before he makes his save, he's instead dominated for X time.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>So, finally, the medusa's gaze. How to do it? Well, it's basically another "you're alive or you're dead" options. But it doesn't <em>feel</em> right for the medusa's gaze to do damage.</p><p></p><p>I'd run it this way. First, tweak HP a bit so when you're at 0 or below, you're helpless, but not unconscious. That way, if the medusa shoots you with an arrow and you're cowering on the ground at negative HP, she can slide by and stone your ass.</p><p></p><p>Second, make it totally a player's choice how much risk he's willing to take. Closing your eyes negates the gaze attack, and assuming the PC knows there's a medusa around, he can do that on his turn and be immune until his next turn. But if he chooses to have his eyes open on his turn, he remains vulnerable until the start of his next turn. He can target the medusa more easily, but he has to make Reflex saves to avert his gaze quickly enough before she can glare at him.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 5841083, member: 63"] Well, for one, avoiding a medusa's gaze shouldn't be a Fort save. It should be a Reflex save, or maybe a Perception check, to represent you reacting to the approach of the medusa and averting your eyes before you see her. Let's ponder the different styles of SoDs. [B]Gaze Attack.[/B] At some point you're unable to avert your gaze, and you die. [B]Poison. [/B]The substance does horrible things to you, either killing you or crippling you. [B]Death Spell. [/B]The spell kills you if you fail the save, or injures you if you succeed. [B]Paralysis/Hold Spell. [/B]The spell leaves you vulnerable to a coup de grace, but when it wears off you're fine. [B]Mind Control. [/B]The spell makes you unable to aid your allies, and instead turns you into an enemy, but when it wears off you're fine. Several of those options above aren't really that different, from a mechanical perspective, from "you take a lot of damage, and it might kill you." A 'death spell' ends up with one of two options - you're alive or you're dead. In the rules of D&D, that's not TOO terribly different from a fireball. Afterward, you're alive or you're dead. If you just modeled the death spell as a) doing a LOT of damage, and b) having some debilitating effect even if the target survives the damage, it ends up with the same game-play result, and with a good narrative feel. Poison is pretty similar. Just pick an appropriate condition to apply. Paralysis and Hold Spells? I'd like to see these work as, "The target is slowed and weakened (save ends). If the target is bloodied or becomes bloodied (feel free to substitute "below HP threshold of X") before he succeeds his save, he is paralyzed for Y amount of time." (Preferably there would also be low-level spells to break these effects. Maybe if you just cast cure spells and get the person's HP back above bloodied, he gets a save to break out.) Mind control? Something similar. The target is dominated (save ends). If he ends up bloodied before he makes his save, he's instead dominated for X time. So, finally, the medusa's gaze. How to do it? Well, it's basically another "you're alive or you're dead" options. But it doesn't [i]feel[/i] right for the medusa's gaze to do damage. I'd run it this way. First, tweak HP a bit so when you're at 0 or below, you're helpless, but not unconscious. That way, if the medusa shoots you with an arrow and you're cowering on the ground at negative HP, she can slide by and stone your ass. Second, make it totally a player's choice how much risk he's willing to take. Closing your eyes negates the gaze attack, and assuming the PC knows there's a medusa around, he can do that on his turn and be immune until his next turn. But if he chooses to have his eyes open on his turn, he remains vulnerable until the start of his next turn. He can target the medusa more easily, but he has to make Reflex saves to avert his gaze quickly enough before she can glare at him. [/QUOTE]
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