Author Topic: Focus Idea  (Read 2899 times)

Offline regitnui

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Focus Idea
« on: January 18, 2016, 06:22:53 PM »
I was thinking about unusual foci, and came up with the idea of a ring being an entropomantic focus; the original draft of the character has a glove, but I was wondering if you guys could help me thrash out the idea before I present it to the group. Essentially, the glove channeled entropomantic power like Ramirez' Olmec glove from WN. Then I remembered Harry's Force Rings, and thought about what other kinds of uses rings could be put to. A particular Rote taht comes to mind is pressing the ring to an inanimate surface and dissolving it, either to 'cut' or create an area of fine sand/liquid to destabilize enemy footing.

So, now I've rambled my confused idea out, anyone able to help me neaten it up?
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Offline dragoonbuster

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2016, 06:48:38 PM »
I was thinking about unusual foci, and came up with the idea of a ring being an entropomantic focus; the original draft of the character has a glove, but I was wondering if you guys could help me thrash out the idea before I present it to the group. Essentially, the glove channeled entropomantic power like Ramirez' Olmec glove from WN. Then I remembered Harry's Force Rings, and thought about what other kinds of uses rings could be put to. A particular Rote taht comes to mind is pressing the ring to an inanimate surface and dissolving it, either to 'cut' or create an area of fine sand/liquid to destabilize enemy footing.

So, now I've rambled my confused idea out, anyone able to help me neaten it up?

Does it make sense to your wizard's thinking process to do things this way? Does it break any mechanical rules?

If you answered "yes" to the first question and "no" to the second, then...do it.
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Offline Taran

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2016, 07:02:44 PM »
If you are going with in-combat actions, your foci could help you for spellS that puts 'unstable' footing' on an opponent or scene.

To break something like a wall or object, it could be a straight up attack against an object.

If you want to break down materials (such as going through a wall), instead of a focus, you could go with an entropy skill replacement Enchanted item.

So, an athletics skill replacement that let's you overcome a border of 'x' as long as you are trying to burn/vaporize/break a hole in it.

Offline AgentSchneider

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2016, 08:58:11 PM »
Couldn't you also theoretically use the ring in a similar manner to Harry's Force Rings?

Ex.- I aim the ring at an overhanging rope nearby and release the energy, causing the rope to break which in turn drops a sandbag that lands on a nearby rake which subsequently flings a can of paint at my adversary?

Maybe I'm thinking of entropy in too much of the "bad luck/curse" sense but I could see some ridiculous, fun situations coming from a focus like that.

Offline narphoenix

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2016, 11:31:09 PM »
If your wizard is a powerful enough entropomancer and there are no humans around, you could always increase entropy by releasing energy from matter.  ;)
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Offline regitnui

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2016, 02:08:05 AM »
If your wizard is a powerful enough entropomancer and there are no humans around, you could always increase entropy by releasing energy from matter.  ;)

That'd be dangerous for him too, if he was anywhere within sight.
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Offline narphoenix

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2016, 02:47:50 AM »
That'd be dangerous for him too, if he was anywhere within sight.

Pah, minor details.

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Offline Haru

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2016, 04:07:19 PM »
Having to duck down and touch the ground seems like it's a bad idea to do when things are hectic, which seems to be the kind of place you want to do something like this.

Instead, if you want to go with the idea of the ring, how about a ring that has several small gemstones placed in it, and you can take them out and throw to where they are supposed to place their effect. So when you're running, you can keep running and just throw down one of the stones instead of stopping, crouching down, casting, getting up again, continue running.

Depending on how you implement it, you could also make this a potion, saying that there is only a finite number of gemstones on the ring. The benefit to this would be that you can give the ring to others to use as well. But the gem you throw could very well just be a conjuration that allows you to aim the spell to where you want it to go, so you can use it as often as you need (with the "spend a mental stress to use again" rule).
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Offline Kennifus Prime

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #8 on: January 27, 2016, 01:45:50 PM »
I've never thought about making "potions" into "items" with a finite number of charges. This sounds like a really cool concept. I like the idea of gemstones for this setup too, because my first thought when reading through the thread was it'd be annoying to have to stop and press the ring to stuff. I'm curious to see what you settle on for the design and implementation. Good luck!

Offline Haru

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Re: Focus Idea
« Reply #9 on: January 27, 2016, 01:58:59 PM »
Potion is just the generic name for any magical item you can only use once. It can be a literal potion, but it could also be a piece of paper that burns up when you use it, a focus stick you break to release the spell, and so on, whatever you may come up with. Or bombs. Bombs work nicely for potions.

And remember that potions have the added benefit that you can give them to other people to use, without the enchanted item surcharge.
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