Buff Spells - Darte Fellshard - 01-17-2012
So far, there haven't been any valuable buff spells, so I'm gonna throw out several, as well as some non-buff spells and a suggestion for a mechanic to handle costs for maintainable spells.
Also note that none of the costs have been filled in. This is very much a balance issue, and would be resolved by WindStrike and Sephiroth. Feel free to suggest tweaks to details or values.
_____________
Cost Mechanics for Sustained Spells (Buffs, Debuffs, etc.)
- This mechanic is designed for magic-cost only, though it could under theory apply to other statistics as well.
- A sustained spell has two components: an active cost and a release charge.
- The active cost is a continual cost from your magic pool. It reduces both your magic pool and your maximum magic while the spell is active.
- For example, say I currently have 17/20 magic, and cast a buff with active cost 5. I would now have a pool of 12/15: 12 available, 15 maximum.
Releasing the sustained spell has two effects: it refunds the active cost to your maximum magic, and provides a release charge to your magic pool.
The release charge is a one-time charge to your magic pool, and will generally be less than the active cost of the spell.
Continuing the above example, say I release the buff. My maximum magic would return from 15 to 20 (the first effect of releasing the buff).
Say the buff had a release charge of 3. My magic pool would move from 12/20 to 15/20.
When examining a sustained spell, the cost will be described in the format 'Costs X; Returns Y', where X is the active cost and Y is the release charge.
While this may seem complicated, it ends up being fairly simple to manage in practice. This also allows restrictions: for example, say an enemy drains a caster's available magic pool below zero. The caster would then be forced to release buffs, as they no longer have the magic to sustain them all.
_____________
Spells and Buffs
- Healing Wave - Support Spell
- Target: All but self
- Effects: Up to six sum points of party health are healed.
- Targets everyone but the caster. No more than three health may be healed per individual.
- Overflow healing (healing that cannot be applied to any ally) must be applied to enemies, if possible.
- (Could be modified to perform, say, 1d5 + 2 points of healing, and/or force the healing points to be dispersed by some initiative order)
- Costs X magic
Cannibal - Support Spell
Target regains eight health, but loses one maximum health. Max health restored on resting.
Costs X magic
Bodily Shield - Ability (Sustained)
Any attacks directed at the target will be redirected to the caster instead.
Targets any ally. Has no effect against attacks that also target the caster.
Costs X; Returns Y
Pain Siphon - Support Spell (Sustained)
Any damage directed at the target will be redirected to the caster instead. (Could be limited by a stat, or by die-roll on a per-hit basis.)
Targets any ally.
Costs X; Returns Y
Shade Cloak - Support Spell (Sustained)
Attacks can not be directed at the target unless no other choices remain.
Targets self or any ally. Only one Shade Cloak can be formed at a time.
Costs X; Returns Y
Narcissism - Ability (Sustained)
All enemy single-target attacks will be directed to the caster.
Targets self. Multiple casters of this ability will allow enemies to attack any of the casters.
Costs X; Returns Y
If status effects are brought into play, an obvious spell would be some sort of 'Cleansing Flame'. Also useful would be spells that raise and lower the three core stats.
_____________
Affinity Modification Spells (Buffs and Debuffs)
This set of spells apply to affinities, and thus have special rules applied to prevent mayhem.
- All Affinity Modification Spells are considerd to be sustained spells, and therefore follow the previously stated rules and cost system.
- Spells come in two varieties: single-target and group spells.
- Single-target spells can be cast on self, any ally or any enemy.
- Group spells can be cast on either every ally or every enemy, but not both allies and enemies at once.
Unless explicitly stated to do so, a spell may never give a target an affinity they do not already have.
A target of Shadow affinity may never be given Light affinity, or vice-versa.
If one of the targets of a group spell violate either of the above rules, the effect on that target is null.
A spell may drop an affinity to level 0 at minimum.
Affinity Endowment
Affinity Endowment gives the target a level 1 affinity they would not otherwise have.
Light/Shadow restrictions still apply.
Affinity Balance
Affinity Balance drops the level of one target affinity by one, and boosts another by one.
Unlike the other Affinity-altering spells, Affinity Balance is not aligned with any one Affinity. Rather, you can select any two Affinities to apply. As such, when keeping track of Balances applied to your character, use consistent naming to ensure minimal confusion. I propose 'Boost-Drop Balance' as the basic naming scheme for now. For example, casting Affinity Balance on a target to raise their Shadow Affinity by one and drop their Nature Affinity by one would be stated as casting Shadow-Nature Balance.
Cannot endow the target with new affinities.
Affinity Amplification
Affinity Amplification comes in three forms:
- Boost one affinity of a single target by one.
- Boost one affinity of a group by one.
- Boost all affinities of a single target by one.
Affinity Sensitivity
Affinity Sensitivity boosts one affinity of a single target by two.
If applied to an ally, add -1 success to Counter Losses tied to the sensitive affinity.
- For example, say I have level 1 Nature affinity. With Nature Sensitivity applied, I effectively have level 3 Nature affinity.
- Say I attack an enemy with level 2 Fire affinity.
- According to affinity rules, I receive no bonus from my Nature affinity and -2 successes from the enemy's Fire affinity.
- Due to the added sensitivity, I would receive another -1 success on my attack.
If applied to an enemy, add +1 success to Counter Bonuses tied to the sensitive affinity.
- For example, say an enemy has level 2 Fire affinity. With Fire Sensitivity applied, he effectively has level 4 Fire affinity.
- Say the enemy attacks me, and I have a level 1 Nature affinity.
- According to affinity rules, he receives +2 successes for his inherent Fire affinity, and +1 for my own Nature affinity.
- Due to the added sensitivity, he would receive another +1 success on his attack.
Affinity Dampening
Affinity Dampening comes in three forms:
- Drops one affinity of a single target by one.
- Drops one affinity of a group by one.
- Drops all affinities of a single target by one.
Affinity Suppression
Affinity Suppression drops one affinity of a single target by two.
If applied to an ally, add -1 success to Counter Bonuses tied to the suppressed affinity.
- For example, say I have level 3 Water affinity. With Water Suppression applied, I effectively have level 1 Water affinity affinity.
- Say I attack an enemy with level 2 Fire affinity.
- According to affinity rules, I receive +1 success from my inherent Water affinity and +2 successes from the enemy's Fire affinity.
- Due to the added suppression, I would receive a -1 success on my attack.
If applied to an enemy, add +1 success to Counter Losses tied to the sensitive affinity.
- For example, say an enemy has 3 Fire affinity. With Fire Suppression applied, he effectively has level 1 Fire affinity.
- Say the enemy attacks me, and I have a level 2 Water affinity.
- According to affinity rules, he receives no bonus from his Fire affinity, and -3 successes from my Water affinity.
- Due to the added suppression, he would receive a +1 success on his attack.
Phew! That was a mouthful. Keep in mind that sensitivity and suppression basically act as inverses, so there's less memorization. I might elaborate on some ways that'll make sensitivity and suppression easy to tell apart at a later date.
RE: Buff Spells - WindStrike - 01-17-2012
While I do like new ideas for the game, do note that I don't like introducing players to things all at once. That said, I'll probably add these type of spells in the game, but it would have a Level 10 minimum level requirement, just so things aren't overwhelming at first. I'll be checking these ideas out more in depth after I deal with working on my current workload.
Any comments from anyone else regarding Darte's suggestion?
|