NC Game Day VII - April 23!

[Henry]

SWEET! Geekification in the work-day!

I'll get back with you shortly.

 

[Henry]

First Question: What do the "Spell Energy" and "Magical Aptitude" attributes do for me?

EDIT: Answered my own question on the above two.

Second question: Am I correct in saying I start with a 16 defense before any equipment? (+3 class, +2 dex, +1 from Wards Talent)? How does armor work on magical talent in Black Company?

I'll post an example of a casting soon, and can you tell me if I'm right or not?

 

[Old One]

First Question: What do the "Spell Energy" and "Magical Aptitude" attributes do for me?

EDIT: Answered my own question on the above two.

Second question: Am I correct in saying I start with a 16 defense before any equipment? (+3 class, +2 dex, +1 from Wards Talent)? How does armor work on magical talent in Black Company?

I'll post an example of a casting soon, and can you tell me if I'm right or not?

Henry,

Glad you found the answer on the first. One note...you must have at least 1 point of spell energy available to cast spells, so don't burn all of it in augments! As a Smart 9, your defense bonus is +3. You actually pick up a +1 deflection bonus from both Wards and Force (they stack), so your defense is actually 17. Armor penalizes Magic Use by 2x the listed armor penalty check. Also, note that you don't have any armor proficiencies .

~ OO

 

[Henry]

OK - thanks on the force deflect bonus, I missed that one the first time through.

Another question -- how is base spell drain handled? I didn't see it in the document or the spell sheet. I did note (if I'm correct) that if I did spend some spell energy, it would raise my use magic check, but add additional drain damage to me as well?

So if I cast just the base force effect (+2 deflect bonus shield, swift action, 1 round duration), then let's assume drain would be base 1d8. Would that be 1d8, -5 for my spell energy? (Unlike Grim Tales, where the level of your aptitude subtracts from each die of spell burn?)

Also, am I correct in that casting time cannot get "better" by any augmentations? So if my magical aptitude is 16, then if I want to cast any spell with a casting time of 1 action, I need to keep the casting DC to 21 or less? And if I want to cast a spell as a swift action, I need to keep that casting DC at 16 or less? Maybe I need to see it played out when we do it, but I can't see myself casting any spell of 2 actions or more, unless the party is running interference for me to cast some HUM-DINGER of a spell. If that's the case, I'll have no problem making my DC's all day.

 

[Old One]

OK - thanks on the force deflect bonus, I missed that one the first time through.

Another question -- how is base spell drain handled? I didn't see it in the document or the spell sheet. I did note (if I'm correct) that if I did spend some spell energy, it would raise my use magic check, but add additional drain damage to me as well?

So if I cast just the base force effect (+2 deflect bonus shield, swift action, 1 round duration), then let's assume drain would be base 1d8. Would that be 1d8, -5 for my spell energy? (Unlike Grim Tales, where the level of your aptitude subtracts from each die of spell burn?)

Also, am I correct in that casting time cannot get "better" by any augmentations? So if my magical aptitude is 16, then if I want to cast any spell with a casting time of 1 action, I need to keep the casting DC to 21 or less? And if I want to cast a spell as a swift action, I need to keep that casting DC at 16 or less? Maybe I need to see it played out when we do it, but I can't see myself casting any spell of 2 actions or more, unless the party is running interference for me to cast some HUM-DINGER of a spell. If that's the case, I'll have no problem making my DC's all day.

Henry,

Drain: Base Drain is 1d8 - current spell energy of non-lethal damage (with a minimum of 1 regardless of the roll). Any time you augment spells, the drain increases. Divided the final Magic Use DC by 5 (round down) to get the additional drain. So an augmented spell whose final DC is 57 would create drain of 1d8+11-current spell energy in non-lethal damage (minimum of 1)

Spell Preparation: You can prepare some spells in advance. This is similar to regular spell casting in that you "pre-cast" the spell and complete it with a standard action. However, if you take damage, there is chance of losing the stored effect. If you fall unconscious, you lose all stored effects. You can store a number of effects equal to your INT modifier. This is useful for prepping "big bang" spells in advance, since you could really crank up the DC...takes downtime to cast all but the initiator action and hit some damn high DCs.

Mindset: Don't limit yourself to the typical D20 spell casting engine mindset. You can achieve some very powerful effects with the BCCS system, but most aren't going to be as instantaneous as normal D20. For instance, you could create a Wards Emanation (Fire Protection 10) of 10' radius for 10 rounds for a total Magic Use DC of 53. This would require 8 actions (4 rounds of full-time casting). But how do you get there with a Magic Use bonus of 33? Adding in a somatic prop, a material prop and a fetish prop gives you a +12 boost to Magic Use, for a total of 45...allowing you to hit your DC 53 by taking 10 - you just need to wave your arms, throw a pinch of sulfer in the air and wave a fancy stick and you are good to go.

Of course, you would need a bit of time to pull this off (4 rounds minimum), although you can take other actions while casting the spell. Since Fightin' Tony is 1st magnitude, he can delay up to 1 round between casting actions. So, assuming a spell that results in a 4-action casting time, he could start casting (1 action), move, load a crossbow, continue casting (1 action), move, fire the crossbow, continue casting (1 action), continue casting (1 action) over a 4 round period. However, each "break" in the casting action requires a successful concentration check against the spell DC. Failure increases the DC by +4. In this example, he would have 2 "breaks", neccessitating 2 concentration checks.

There is no way to "speed up" a spell.

Hope this helps a bit...

~ OO

 

[Rel]

I gotta say that the BCCS magic system sounds very intriguing. I may have to see if I can convince one of the guys in our group to run it in the future.

*pokes Riggs*

 

[Henry]

Hope this helps a bit...

Immensely.

So an augmented spell whose final DC is 57 would create drain of 1d8+11-current spell energy in non-lethal damage (minimum of 1)

Non-lethal only, hm? much better than GT for sure. Reminds me of Star Wars Force use.

You can store a number of effects equal to your INT modifier. This is useful for prepping "big bang" spells in advance, since you could really crank up the DC...takes downtime to cast all but the initiator action and hit some damn high DCs.

Fine-tuning here - is the rule "up to INT modifier at a time," or "INT modifier per day?" either way, looks good. Also, is the DC checked at storage time, or at casting time?

...you can take other actions while casting the spell. Since Fightin' Tony is 1st magnitude, he can delay up to 1 round between casting actions. So, assuming a spell that results in a 4-action casting time, he could start casting (1 action), move, load a crossbow, continue casting (1 action), move, fire the crossbow, continue casting (1 action), continue casting (1 action) over a 4 round period. However, each "break" in the casting action requires a successful concentration check against the spell DC. Failure increases the DC by +4. In this example, he would have 2 "breaks", neccessitating 2 concentration checks.

Niiiice. So I could basically use either a move or standard action each round to keep casting, is what I'm getting here.

There is no way to "speed up" a spell.

No problem, since the preparations mean I can ready 1 or 2 of something complex ahead of time. 2 "spell-completion actions" per round are a lot better than what I was thinking, but still a very long casting time if I want to whip up something large and lethal on the spot.

Looks like a very nicely designed and flexible system. I can see why you want to use it.

 

[Old One]

Henry,

Fine-tuning here - is the rule "up to INT modifier at a time," or "INT modifier per day?" either way, looks good. Also, is the DC checked at storage time, or at casting time?

At one time...no limit per day. So if you have some downtime in between encounters and have burned through your prepped spells, you can whip up a new batch (although 2 might not make a batch ).

You actually "pre-cast" the spell, so you have to hit the DC during your prep period. This means that you can take all kinds of extra time to hit a higher DC. Taking damage while you have a stored effect triggers a concentration check. The DC is the base spell DC + damage taken. So if you had a base DC 15 spell prepped (regardless of the final DC) and took 10 points of damage, you need to make a DC 25 Concentration check. You can also burn a point of spell energy to automatically retain any stored spells or use an action point to assist on the roll.

Niiiice. So I could basically use either a move or standard action each round to keep casting, is what I'm getting here.

Not quite. Reading the example passage more carefully, it seems to indicate that any round during which you are not continuously casting, you must make a Concentration check (DC = Spell DC). Failing adds +4 to the Magic Use check (for each failure). So in the example I used above, you would actually need 3 concentration checks. You could, however, still take a full round "off" from casting the spell (as a 1st magnitude dude).

~ OO

 

[Old One]

I gotta say that the BCCS magic system sounds very intriguing. I may have to see if I can convince one of the guys in our group to run it in the future.

*pokes Riggs*

Rel,

I am just scratching the surface of the potential with what I have read and played around with so far. I like the whole BCCS, but prefer Grim Tales for character implementation. I don't "dislike" the GT casting system and think it works great for a non-fantasy themed game...but I really like the BCCS system for a fantasy game. Flexible, open-ended, ability to blend effects (which we haven't even touched on here).

Pretty damned nifty! I will probably do a complete overhaul of Faded Glory blending GT + BCCS magic

~ OO

 

[Clueless]

The law/chaos axis doesn't much matter here. Alignment of neutral to good works best, but I'll even allow an evil character if they'll play nicely. Evil doesn't have to go out of its way to make life difficult for their coworkers.

*claims own pregen* *muahahah's* Hey. Wow. I'm playing a girl this time!