Author Topic: Earth channeling Crusader  (Read 2935 times)

Offline dmonty7990

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Earth channeling Crusader
« on: November 06, 2014, 01:37:06 AM »
So we are doing a 13th century based setting and my character is to be a teutonic knight who is also a terramancer(earth evocation channeling) who has killed with his power by accident (he is under the Doom)and views it as a curse but also knows he needs to use his power for the greater good because he's turned into a demon hunter of sorts. I want to use mainly defensive and maneuver spells, but I can only think up a couple blocks and no maneuvers. So lets hear what you fine people can come up with!

Offline Taran

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2014, 02:31:08 AM »
Welcome!

I like zone border blocks with at least one shift to duration.  So you can split up the battle field, protect any ranged allies and use zone-wide attack spells because you're keeping enemies out of your zone. Something like a 'stone wall', or 'circle of quick-sand' , Maybe just a barrier of fast-moving dust and debris that people can't get through.

Also, Instead of straight personal block, you could go with armour.  Then, it doesn't automatically go away if someone beats the block strength.

Power 5 gives you armour 2 for 2 exchanges
Power 7 gives all your allies (who happen to be in the zone when you cast it) armour 2 for 2 exchanges.  On the 3rd exchange, you can put more shifts into duration.

Veils:  Using a dust storm or gravity to warp light so that people can't see you.

Maneuvers to disarm dangerous foes (maybe a magnetism spell that attracts metal weapons)
Maneuvers to slow or trip (uneven ground, sudden tremor)
Maneuvers to blind and confuse (sand in the eye, dust storm(scene aspect of veil))
Maneuvers to destroy buildings/shatter windows.  'earthquake' maneuver to put aspects like 'fallen debris', 'broken glass', 'caved-in wall' etc...

There's some earth spell examples in this thread, if you don't mind going through it.  Lost of good ideas that could be adapted for earth spells.  In any case, this thread will get the juices flowing.

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,42872.0.html

Offline dmonty7990

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2014, 02:34:45 AM »
Thank you! I like your ideas! Ill read through the other thread as well.

Offline Mith

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2014, 04:10:05 AM »
A tectonic Teutonic Knight?  I like that idea just for the title.

Also gravity to warp light is a bit much, since he would have to create and contain a black hole to do that.  And once you can do that, you've ascended to the highest point on the celestial food chain and are calling all the shots.
Mister will never die, because Jim has already been threatened with typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and smog by the betas if he tries to off Mister.

Offline g33k

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2014, 05:40:20 AM »
A tectonic Teutonic Knight?  I like that idea just for the title.

Also gravity to warp light is a bit much, since he would have to create and contain a black hole to do that.  And once you can do that, you've ascended to the highest point on the celestial food chain and are calling all the shots.

+1

However, given how much magic has to do with belief, the medieval belief-set will control things, and "gravity bending light" is Just Not A Thing.  Doesn't happen, magically-speaking.

Got to commend a glance at the Ars Magica rules for some inspiration here -- the Art of Terram, in particular (obviously), but also information on the way medievals thought, scattered through the book.  The 4e rulebook is available for free d/l...
http://www.warehouse23.com/products/ars-magica-4th-edition-core-rulebook
5e is the current edition.  It's possible that the 5e "Art and Academe" supplement may have more / deeper inspiration (it's one of the supplements I don't have, alas!)


Offline Taran

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2014, 11:52:58 AM »
Bending  light with gravity:

Physics is not my forte.    I just figured there might be a way to create an earth veil without throwing dirt around.

Offline dragoonbuster

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2014, 05:38:47 PM »
Bending  light with gravity:

Physics is not my forte.    I just figured there might be a way to create an earth veil without throwing dirt around.

If like me, you think Earth has as much dominion over plant-manipulation as Water does, then you can use Woodcraft Thaum to make nearby plants to cover and camouflage you w/ leaves and shadows.
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Offline Sanctaphrax

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2014, 08:52:33 PM »
I'll second the Ars Magica recommendation. I have the 5th edition corebook and it's very well done. Unfortunately its core assumptions are very different from those of DFRPG, so you can't really port things cleanly from one game to the other.

Offline Haru

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2014, 01:04:55 AM »
I think the gravity light bending effect can work. You don't have to actually create a gravity well like that, you just have to make the light behave like it is in a gravity well. It might seem like cheating, but I would allow something like this, go for the effect you want without the solar system crushing sideeffect.

BUT in this case, I wouldn't allow it. We are talking 13th century here, and the magic should be as rough as the people's understanding of the world. Newton doesn't enter the stage for another 300 years, and aristotelic concepts are still well in place. Don't even get me started on Maxwell (magnetism).

So the magic would probably be much more crude and direct as well. Moving earth around, mainly. You could maybe get magnetism into it as "the love of iron", as Pratchett put it. It pulls iron, but nobody really knows how or why. But even that feels like a stretch.

As far as concepts go, Earth was always associated with standstill, and since Aristotle interpreted motion as any change, not only movement, earth could be used to stop things from doing anything. Stop a shield from bending, stop a log from burning, stop a man from moving, and so forth. You might want to look into this a bit further for inspiration.

When it comes to maneuvers, don't dwell too much on the spell itself, think about what it's supposed to do and then think about how a spell might accomplish that. If you want somebody to be "tripped up", a minor localized earthquake could do the trick. If you want someone to slow down in order to escape, send a wave of standstill towards them. If you want to keep a "firm stance", remove any motion from your legs, so neither you nor anybody else will be able to move them around.
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Offline citadel97501

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2014, 01:33:05 AM »
I would probably use earth to create a giant prism using 13th century understanding or lack there of.  They did see telescopes while in the holy land. 

Offline Mith

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Re: Earth channeling Crusader
« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2014, 02:13:32 AM »
Another fun effect (that might be a bit dark for the setting) is that Earth can be associated with Decay, meaning you can turn organic matter into soil and dust "Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust" and all that.
Mister will never die, because Jim has already been threatened with typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes and smog by the betas if he tries to off Mister.