| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| NightElf |
Posted - 04 Jul 2003 : 12:13:18
While running a long campaign, I have been asked numerous times if there is such a thing as Race-Specific Magic. So far I have avoided the question, as there is no mention of it in any of the 2nd Edition Core Rules books. I have a few ideas for RSM, which could include Elven Healing spells or Dwarven Battle spells, but I'm not sure if it would be wise to give the different races such a overpower over the others. Anybody have any ideas? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 22 Sep 2003 : 14:42:34
Hey, Glad to be of help. At least my use is better then my spelling and grammer heh. * has a learning disability called I never liked english classes* |
| NightElf |
Posted - 18 Sep 2003 : 14:20:40
Thanks for those ideas, they should prove inspiration for a whole series of spells. I will post the spells onto the Sage of Perth Magical Shop when they are finished.
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| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 15 Sep 2003 : 14:19:47
Yeah I can actually give you three ideas, Ones that I have got from playing war craft, but dont want to bother buying the 3.5 books for war craft since all I need to make a D&D war craft game is in my head. One, Minotaurs should have some form of stunning power, IE- When the Tauren Cheaftan stomps on the ground he can stun a few of the foes around him.
A second one, Im keeping orcs in mind, is a nice ability to cause chaos, I mean think about it. What do orcs do? They cause chaos of course. So why not give like, a breed of orcs the ability to cause it? There are spells that allow mages to. So why not orcs?
I have also kept halflings in mind. What do halflings get? Not much, they are good at hiding, hell yeah they are. However to me this dose not cover that much. Why not allow them to like, use inviability once perday and such?
Humans? Do humans in this day and age have magicaly powers? no. But perhaps there could be a breed of humans, who are normal humans and not half breeds that have some form of maigcal spell like gift. Other then that humans are the master race..... Silly beings.... SPells are for the master race anyway.
All in all the endless streams of spells and spell like abilities thats eem like they would go along with a race is endless. |
| NightElf |
Posted - 11 Sep 2003 : 14:36:40
Cult_leader, do you have any ideas for some spells that only specific races can use? I could use any input you can provide.
I was also thinking about using a vast collection of Person Specific Magic. For example, if a wizard has researched a spell he could make it a unique (Roth's Regeneration) is similar to the spell Trollish Fortitude with the exception that it can be cast upon someone other than the caster.
Think of the endless possibilities???  |
| Cult_Leader |
Posted - 11 Sep 2003 : 13:54:09
I personally think that race magic is a good thing. Keeps some spice to all the races. Like one class that i know of you can only get into if your a human, their spells and spell like abilites are also found only amoung humans because their members are more or less human, now and then they might let someone slip in who is an elven person etc. Its a class mixed with mage and theif. But anywoo, It would be nice to see some more race spec. magics in the realms. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 23 Aug 2003 : 11:02:44
It doesn't work that way. In most cases the PC simply loses the ability to access those skills and feats and character abilities that are tied to those specific ability scores. There is a write up about this sort of thing in one of the books, although I can't remember which one it is at the moment.
Or maybe it was the special post on the WotC website a few months ago detailing the basics of the conditions of PC's.
I'll try and find the link for you.
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| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 23 Aug 2003 : 04:44:53
I don't think it would have to work that way. |
| NightElf |
Posted - 22 Aug 2003 : 13:33:45
If your character was to lose points of an Ability Score (i.e. Constitution), then would that make it possible for a character to lose their Class? After all, Rangers need a high CON to be rangers, would they revert into Fighters if they lose the Base Requirement??? |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 07 Aug 2003 : 10:55:14
Hmm. I like that, Mournblade. I've never thought that level drain made much sense. Now, when you're talking raising a dead character, that's something different; that level loss is something explained by the trauma of the event. Dying is not fun. It's painful. It's against the most basic instinct of all living things.
Plus, in more modern terms, you can lose a lot of memory in that. Heck, you get that with strokes. I know of one guy (never met him, this is second-hand information) that had a seemingly mild stroke that cost him three years of his life. He didn't even notice the date until almost a day had gone by; he saw the news and asked what was going on with something (I forget what), and that's when everyone knew he had partial amnesia.
That's how I've thought of the level loss. Your body doesn't work the same way after you're ressurected, and so you loose some abilities for a while. Heck, you can use the amnesia in roleplaying as well. The character is raised and doesn't remember what happened in the last year. This is also a good excuse for an alignment shift, too. A character not knowing what happened would lean to neutral in some way, I'd think. |
| Mournblade |
Posted - 01 Aug 2003 : 23:59:47
OK this is what I started implementing. Each character has a Constitution score (I know I know, I really am showing I know my stuff here )
In 1st/2nd ed everytime you died you lost a CON point, and that in turn brought your Res survival % down, but regardless even if you made it to a CON of 1 you could only die one more time. I am not taking away a con point each time you die (I think that goes contrary to how the 3rd edition is designed), but I am making the Constitution Number the AMOUNT of deaths a character is allowed. If you have a 15 constitution, you can only die 15 times. If you bring your con up through character levels, that will add to the number of times you can die. IF you had a 15 con at 3rd level, and died, you would record 1 death. Now you can die 14 more times. At 4th level you increase your con to 16. Since you already had 1 death, you can now die 15 times instead of 14. I think that works better.
I did something like this with undead energy drain. I liek the 3e system now, but in 1st/2nd edition I thought that Undead were WAY TOO NASTY. Instead I implemented a LIFE LEVEL system. Anytime you were energy drained you lost a life level (which was equal to your experience level). You would not lose power, only go down in LIFE LEVEL. SO if you were a 13th level character and got hit 13 times by a wraith, well buddy sorry your gone. But if you only got hit 12 times, you are in trouble, but are still just as powerful as you were, it was just your SOUL took those hits so to speak.
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| NightElf |
Posted - 01 Aug 2003 : 11:46:49
Hmmm, nice. The player's soul might decide that they want to stay away? I'll give that a shot. I also thought of dropping the "Ressurection Chance %" down by 10 every time it is used, so it would go from 95 to 5 in 9 uses. This would make my players realise to calm down with the suicide thing! |
| Mythander |
Posted - 31 Jul 2003 : 21:10:27
quote:
Originally posted by NightElf
You're right there, maybe because they intentionally die knowing that the cleric will raise them, it could... ahem... maybe stop working on the mage because he's had an overdose of ressurection, or he could permanently lose a few of his total hitpoints each time?
That is a good idea. I have always been a firm believe that roleplaying is much more fun and interesting if PCs fear death.
One thing that can be done is limit the number of times a PC can be brought back.
Another thing is have the PC make a Will save to see if his soul wants to come back to the land of the living and not stay in the bliss of their god. |
| DarkMistress |
Posted - 31 Jul 2003 : 19:14:22
Maybe if you got someone to cast a spell or something to stop them dying on purpose... |
| NightElf |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 12:01:22
You're right there, maybe because they intentionally die knowing that the cleric will raise them, it could... ahem... maybe stop working on the mage because he's had an overdose of ressurection, or he could permanently lose a few of his total hitpoints each time? |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 25 Jul 2003 : 07:42:42
Well, you're supposed to loose a level when this happens, right? So you're suggesting that it should be more? (Not disagreeing, since I've never really liked that idea in the first place. Probably my corruptive Christian self.  ) |
| Mournblade |
Posted - 24 Jul 2003 : 23:42:04
quote:
Originally posted by NightElf
Fibura Gauntlet was right, the Healing idea did serious damage to the game, especially in battles. I tried with a spell "Spirit Seal" where if the caster dies, then the receiptant of the spell also dies. It worked fine until the wizard repeatedly killed himself and was raised by a priest in the party. They were killing enemies way too easy 
I have a serious pet peeve with that. Just because Ressurection magic is possible, does not mean people will WANT to die. No matter what, Death is traumatic. Life magic makes it less TRAGIC, but I think the characters should all fear death. My characters all have a fear of dying, but they accept it as they must. I never liked the attitude of if I die, I will get ressurected. That is one of the Only things I give experience point penalties for; roleplaying an attitude of nonchalance with death. I have been thinking of implementing a death penalty in experience. 500 points X level if you die, to the minimum of your current level. I am not sure if this is fair or not yet so I have not implemented it, but I keep analyzing it. I am SURE I am going to implement an experience point penalty of SOME sort jsut for dying becasue dying SHOULD be traumatic. |
| NightElf |
Posted - 24 Jul 2003 : 17:08:58
Fibura Gauntlet was right, the Healing idea did serious damage to the game, especially in battles. I tried with a spell "Spirit Seal" where if the caster dies, then the receiptant of the spell also dies. It worked fine until the wizard repeatedly killed himself and was raised by a priest in the party. They were killing enemies way too easy |
| Fibura Gauntlet |
Posted - 24 Jul 2003 : 14:05:41
quote:
Originally posted by PathWarden
I am not sure about Fibura Gauntlet's example of elven magic missiles being shaped like birds; seems a bit overdone to me, but I understand where that train of thought is headed.
I did say it was a bad example . Different colours is probably a better idea, but the main thing I like about the concept is that it identifies the character/race more closely with their magic.
I can envision situations where a spell is cast and the caster isn't visible, but the PC's have the clue of what the spell looked like to help track the wizard down, etc.
As to unbalancing the game world, if, for example, the Elves had exclusive access to a new range of Healing spells, that could have a significant impact on the outcome of major battles. I like the idea, but I can see why NightElf was wary of tripping himself up. |
| PathWarden |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 16:22:21
I personally see no problem w/ race specific magic, and do not believe it would unbalance a game. Sage's example of Elven High Magic is a good one, and if you read up on it, you will see that when casting the magic, there are possible failures and side effects for the casting of such powerful spells. That in and of itself balances the power of such race specific spells.
I am not sure about Fibura Gauntlet's example of elven magic missiles being shaped like birds; seems a bit overdone to me, but I understand where that train of thought is headed. In the novels (don't remember which off the top of my head) wizards spells were different colors for the same spells so the individual spellcasters did not get confused on whose magic was whose. That was an interesting concept. |
| NightElf |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 16:01:59
Sage of Perth, I've forwarded what I can to your Hotmail address as an attatchment, I've explained why the list you'll have isn't full, and when I can get the full list to you. |
| Mythander |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 15:58:57
quote:
Originally posted by NightElf
I've introduced a few spells into my campaign now and it's turning out to be quite a good addition. I've mostly added Dwarven spells (the PCs are all dwarves) with spells such as "stone stare" which works like a Crystal Parrot and allows a dwarf wizard to watch from the affected stone like a spycam. Only been used once, the party had to secretly watch over a dwarf king.
I would be cool to have race specific spells. Much like specialty priests had is 2ed. Spells that members of there order had that no-one else could cast. This could be applied to races. |
| NightElf |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 14:27:31
Sounds good, I'll compile them into MS word and have them to you as soon as I can. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 14:17:25
Well, I would like a copy. About the Magic Shop though, why don't I go through some of the spells you are sending me, and if some of them are really good, I'll post them in the Shop - with all credits to you of course  .
What do you think?.
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| NightElf |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 14:07:01
I think it'll be quicker to E-Mail them to anyone who needs them, I've developed quite a long list, there's 26 for the dwarves, and then there's elves, gnomes and everything else. If anyone wants a copy, just say and I'll have them to you quickly. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 14:00:05
Sounds interesting. How about posting a few of these spells in the Magic Shop, so that other people can make use of them...that is if you want to .
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| NightElf |
Posted - 23 Jul 2003 : 13:22:47
I've introduced a few spells into my campaign now and it's turning out to be quite a good addition. I've mostly added Dwarven spells (the PCs are all dwarves) with spells such as "stone stare" which works like a Crystal Parrot and allows a dwarf wizard to watch from the affected stone like a spycam. Only been used once, the party had to secretly watch over a dwarf king. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 09 Jul 2003 : 08:02:41
My email address is also in my profile, however... voyager74656@hotmail.com
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| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 09 Jul 2003 : 06:07:27
My email's in my profile: Pawn_of_Prophecy@hotmail.com |
| Yasraena |
Posted - 09 Jul 2003 : 05:57:08
Bookwyrm and Sage, let me know where to send it and it's yours.
It is a bit large to post on the thread, so emailing would probably be better. (Don't want to get on Alaundo's bad side now do we? )
My email is Yasraena.
If you want to find it yourselves, do a search for Rolemaster on any P2P site like Kaazaa or Bearshare, and look for Rolemaster Companion IV. That's where the list is from. Pg. 53 I think. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 08 Jul 2003 : 10:36:45
I understand Fibura. May Tymora be with you .
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