Author Topic: Custom Spell Compilation Thread  (Read 34262 times)

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12401
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Spell Compilation Thread
« Reply #60 on: May 18, 2012, 03:58:00 AM »
I don't have much choice about the seeing through bit, it's from Your Story.

Your mortal detective would notice something off in the dress's look or feel or whatever, leading him to realize something about the dress is weird or unnatural.

If that doesn't make sense to you, I can only point you to pages 274-275 of YS. Maybe Evil Hat's explanation is better than mine.

Or maybe this whole concept is just not acceptable to you, in which case I guess you'll have to change it.

Offline devonapple

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 2165
  • Parkour to YOU!
    • View Profile
    • LiveJournal Account
Re: Custom Spell Compilation Thread
« Reply #61 on: May 19, 2012, 06:21:55 PM »
The disadvantages of using ectoplasmic material are:
1) It can be dispelled. If you are relying on something conjured as a barrier, or armor, or a weapon, a savvy spellslinger can disrupt it with a Counterspell.
2) It may not fool some people, if the creator doesn't focus enough on how to make it. The importance of fooling people, of course, varies.

If you just need a temporary shelter in the heat of a pitched magical war, then making it look like real stone may not actually matter. Your conjured armor or weapon may be just fine looking fake (but again, a savvy spellslinger may notice, and dispel it).

If you need to make a temporary fake wall to disguise your magical laboratory from the Feds? You may want it to look like it belongs there. If you want a skittish mortal to trust that your midday meeting in the middle of the park is surrounded by lots of other mortal witnesses, even though you have actually led him to an abandoned lot full of glass and hiding places, then yes, fooling the mark with the accuracy of your conjured parkgoers is important.

Now, what someone does with that information can vary. A detective may not know what the wall actually *is* made of, but he will realize it is not what it seems, and presumably conjecture that something important is behind it. A skittish mark realizing they've been lured into a trap before you have time to spring it? Well, who knows what then.
"Like a voice, like a crack, like a whispering shriek
That echoes on like it’s carpet-bombing feverish white jungles of thought
That I’m positive are not even mine"

Blackout, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

Offline THE_ANGRY_GAMER

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 1186
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Spell Compilation Thread
« Reply #62 on: July 21, 2012, 01:05:57 AM »
I've got a couple. The casting words are chinese (I think I've been watching too much Firefly)

Suì​liè! (Disintegrate)
Type: Water (entropy) evocation, Offensive Maneuver/Attack
Power: 3 or 5+ Shifts
Control: Rote/Discipline, I have a Water Focus
Target: Single target (line-of-sight)
Duration: One Action
Opposed by: Target's Agility
Effect: As an attack, this spell either partially or completely (depending on how mych damage you do) disintegrates its target. As a Maneuver, it removes part of the floor under your target's feet, giving them the temporary aspect Stumbling or Fallen Over.
Variations: Usual - Multi-opponents possible.

Guāng Léi​míng (light, Thunder)

Type: Spirit Evocation, Offensive Maneuver
Power: 5 Shifts
Target: One Zone
Opposed by: Alertness
Effect: It's a magical flashbang. Anyone who gets hit  gets the aspect 'Blinded and Deafened'
Variations: You could make this a one-target spell, but it'd be kinda pointless.


Zhuó​rè Dì​bǎn (Scorching Floor)

Type: Fire Evocation, offensive maneuver/Attack
Power: 5+ shifts
Duration: 1 exchange or however many you renew/pay for.
Opposed By: I went with Endurance, but you could just as easily have Discipline.
Effect: The caster channels heat into the floor, making it painful to walk on. Works particularly well with metal floors. As a maneuver, any targets in the zone gain the 'Distracted by the heat' temporary aspect. As an attack, it deals straght damage.


Xiàng Yáo​lán (Image Cradle)
Type: Spirit Evocation, Defensive Maneuver
Power: 3 Shifts
Opposed by: Alertness/Discipline
Effect: The target (the caster or an ally) is surrounded by a spinning cradle of light and images. Attacking through this is like shooting through a factory in operation: theoretically possible, but very difficult. The target gains the 'Hard to Hit' temporary aspect (doesn;t apply to zone-wide effects, obv.)


É Tū​qǐ (Decoy Projection)
Type: Spirit Evocation, Defensive Maneuver
Power: 3 Shifts
Opposed By: Alertness or maybe Investigation
Effect: THe caster calls up an illusion of themselves or an ally in a different place within line-of-sight. This applies a scene aspect 'Two of 'em!'. This could mean a roll to target the original or a tag or invocation to make enemies shoot the decoy. More shifts could mean more decoys, but I'd talk to a GM about this.
Note: If the decoy is attacked and takes any stress, the deception is revealed and the aspect disappears. If you have more than one decoy, the aspect is removed only for that decoy. Thus, enemies will need to attack all the decoys to try and find the real one (or maybe pass an alertness check equal to the casting roll). Best used in conjunction with a veil.
GENERATION 24: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

Offline Thugorp

  • Participant
  • *
  • Posts: 30
  • I want personalized avatars. :-( *hmph*
    • View Profile
    • Team-Ornithology(a flock of nerds)
Re: Custom Spell Compilation Thread
« Reply #63 on: October 19, 2017, 05:02:23 PM »
He sees a fake dress, you perv.

I think that what you want is a counterspell...

   What is a fake dress? What is a fake building? These can't be fake.... A building is a man made thing capable of sheltering people, and a dress is any worn garment of one peace open at the top and bottom that goes from breast(or higher) to thigh(or lower). ...... It should be impossible for these to be seen as fake, now maybe if you wanted to say, they appear to be made of an unknown material...
I am the Gnome in your garden.
The one that keeps your pet from running away.
The one that keeps growing you all those delicious nutritious Dandelions.
The one who...
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T LIKE DANDELIONS!?!

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12401
    • View Profile
Re: Custom Spell Compilation Thread
« Reply #64 on: October 20, 2017, 05:43:10 AM »
Whoa, that's a blast from the past.

I obviously don't remember what I had in mind 6-7 years ago, but I think our previous exchange probably answers your questions.

I have a question,(and sorry ahead if it is dumb... I haven't quite gotten to spell casting yet in Your story) but... what exactly would a, "fake dress / fake house," look like? I mean... I could understand if it was an illussion and they worked like an, "Emperors New Cloths," thing... but isn't a house just an artificial construct in which a person is meant to live? How can one have a full size structure meant to house a person with out being a real house... also... same for the dress... like it is made of some continuous piece of stuff, that covers the all the naughty bits, without use of pants... isn't that a dress?

sorry I realize as I type that this must seem like one of those silly nitpicky posts, but what I guess I am asking is, if a vanilla mortal makes a +5 check against the dress/house what do they see? if not a naked woman or a translucent house then... do they get to see magic like if they had sight?

By the by... I know I seem like a prick, but I ask because I think these spells sound awsome and am thinking about using them in an upcoming game. :-D
No need for all the apologies, dude. You've done nothing offensive. And I'm difficult to offend online anyway.

The bits about realness refer to the fact that conjured objects aren't made out of real matter. They're made of ectoplasm, which is like magical quasi-matter.

Noticing that a conjured dress is not real tips you off to the fact that it was conjured, or at least to the fact that it's somehow unnatural. It's kind of like noticing that a fake Rolex is not a real Rolex.
No I get that, but... lets say I am a vanilla mortal, one that doesn't know about magic. Now lets just say that I am a police detective, in the organized crime devision, who does undercover work. Now it is no streach to imagen that I might have a, Superb Awarness skill. Now if that were true, Could easily, notice that, "the dress is fake/the house is fake," but what does that mean? I have no idea what ectoplasm is. and more over as long as there is energy running threw ectoplasm, it IS what ever it, "looks like," that is to say, I can't disbelive it like I could an illusion, because it IS really there. It has Mass, and feels exactly as normal cloth would,(density is the same, and if it is made of organic fibers will actually have D.N.A.(as in white night, I believe)).

I guess what I am saying is, I don't really think you should be able to, "see threw it," unless you have a way to sense magical energies and there movement.

OR

maybe these should just be Illusions instead of conjurations.
I don't have much choice about the seeing through bit, it's from Your Story.

Your mortal detective would notice something off in the dress's look or feel or whatever, leading him to realize something about the dress is weird or unnatural.

If that doesn't make sense to you, I can only point you to pages 274-275 of YS. Maybe Evil Hat's explanation is better than mine.

Or maybe this whole concept is just not acceptable to you, in which case I guess you'll have to change it.