NWN spell visual effects - wow! How do you visualise?

[Pielorinho]

It's an area I'm pretty good in. I'm terrible at describing NPCs' physical appearances, but I'm good at magic. And i give both myself and my players very free reign in describing an effect, as long as it has the proper in-game effect. OCcasionally, I'll even change the rules-effect, if it's gonna be for a one-shot NPC (a cleric of an animal-based gnomish god, for example, channeled all his magic through the animals that surrounded him: cure spells occurred through an animal licking the wound clean, hold person spells manifested in the hypnotic eyes of a snake, and so forth).

Daniel

 

[Psychotic Jim]

I do the same thing. Different magic-using individuals have their own magical visual manifiestations. Magic Missile probably has the most variations. When cultists of Vecna cast it, a hand appears and delivers eye magic missiles. When a dragon-born sorcerer casts it, a red dragon appears and shoots out small bits of breath weapon. When an Arcane Archer casts it, the magic missiles appear as arrows shot from a bow. I also encourage the players to customize their magical visual and other sensory effects.

 

[Apok]

Wierd, Wail of the Banshee and Timestop all have really cool visuals. Cone of Cold is basically a bigger, more damaging version of Burning Hands. Ice Storm and Prismatic Spray are neat too. As a defensive effect, Foresight looks pretty cool as well.

What I mostly got into was the words and incantations used when you cast spells. I can't see anyone casting a fireball in game anymore without hearing those words run through my head...

 

[Xarlen]

I play online. This allows me to get very descriptive with spell descriptions.

I'm a stickler for Cinematics. I Love spell descriptions, or describing what PCs do when they hit, and stuff.

In my next game, the NPC mage's magic for the first few levels will center around conjuration and bargaining with Outsiders (Could touch is a demon with a stinger, Web is a collection of airy spirites that are scared of fire, Invisibility is a being of light that is very passive; violent action scares it, etc).

I want a Magic is Mysterious aspect.

 

[Cador]

I tend to assume that most spells function relatively invisibly. If every spell is a gorgeous lightshow, you could rarely do any stealthy spellcasting -- merely casting Protection From Evil while approaching an orc encampment under cover of night would make the camp guards do spot checks to notice the beautiful flash of magical energy somewhere out in the darkness.

However, I often describe how the spells sound, or rather: I play the sounds on the laptop I use at the gaming table. I have Torment, Icewind Dale, and all the Baldur’s Gate games, and it’s not too difficult to extract the internal soundfiles from the games. So I have a lot of spell sounds converted to mp3s in my laptop, which is connected to a pair of speakers and a subwoofer. The sorcerer always loves when he lets off a fireball and the speakers go “fooosh... boom!!” with rumbling bass. And the paladin is sometimes a little nervous to do Detect Evil, as I play a disturbingly evil “grrrrrr” sound whenever he detects the presence of evil.

 

[ForceUser]

Visualizing and then describing spell effects in D&D is one of the highlights of the game for me. It's part of what the game's all about.

My dwarf wizard doesn't "cast shield," he calls forth a shealth of earth that fades to translucence moments later.

My orc druid doesn't "cast cure light wounds," he summons crackling black fire that cleanses with purifying pain.

My cleric of Pelor doesn't "turn undead," he raises his arms to the sky and channels the radiance of his god into a silent white burst of living energy.

When D&D turns into

"I cast a spell."

"What spell do you cast?"

"Magic missile."

"Okay, roll damage."

I get bored really fast.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I just discovered the hard-as-nails dire badger with a cute puppy dog side to it as it waggles about! Awww!