Making Ritual Levels More Useful

Lurin said:
Spell Catch using unspent ritual levels.
I personally love this idea.
This may just be me, but I prepare my spells like a "Batman Wizard" from D&D3.5. Prepare lots of bindomancy, commands, mystic forces, and summoned forces. I have fighter/rogue friends I always adventure with that can reliably keep something in combat. There's no need for me to throw my finite resources away when a fighter/rogue has an infinitely higher amount of damage output with the same resources. Their arm is going to get tired way after I blow my entire book on evocation. Save or suck/lose/die spells keep my resources high while still having maximum utility. I would personally like to see more "Enflame" spells that deal elemental damage combined with a lower-tier "carrier status".
Enflame= 20 fire+disarm [HOT! Drop the potato.]
Trench= x stone+pin [The earth comes up and crushes your pivot leg / your pivot leg falls in moved earth and is trapped.]
Freeze= x ice+web [Assist call would be: "I break you free, 1. I break you free, 2. I break you free, 3." with a blunt weapon.]
Shock= x lightning+bind [You lose manipulation in your appendages, so you can still run but not hold/use an object with your hands.]
 
Ezri said:
If you truly want to play a pacifist style healer you can go that route - but anytime you decide to pick such a narrow character theme you're going to limit yourself. Sanctuary is a perfect choice for a pacifist IMO. It's the players' choice to exclude those spells - not the rules.

It is VERY hard to play a completely non-violent character. Gyps, my vulture scavvy, is a healer. Period. No weapon, no binding, no curse, no Death, nothing but healing and maybe protectives. Having that skillset and spell choice is one thing. Role-playing the whys and wherefores and keeping his mindset so I can behave the way he should behave, THAT'S the hard part.
 
Libras said:
Enflame= 20 fire+disarm [HOT! Drop the potato.]
Trench= x stone+pin [The earth comes up and crushes your pivot leg / your pivot leg falls in moved earth and is trapped.]
Freeze= x ice+web [Assist call would be: "I break you free, 1. I break you free, 2. I break you free, 3." with a blunt weapon.]
Shock= x lightning+bind [You lose manipulation in your appendages, so you can still run but not hold/use an object with your hands.]

I like those suggestions for spells. A nice expansion to the elemental repertoire. However, given the description of Shock, x lightning + Stun Limb(s) fits better. In the rule it would designate that both arms are under the effect of a Stun Limb.
 
I'd actually do an Ice & shatter one myself.
 
Maybe turn Enflame into a <insert element here> spell, like Elemental Blast. The element chosen affects the secondary effect as in the last post. Maybe keep it at 20 damage and at Enflames level
 
So, 20 damage plus different effect based on the element chosen?
 
Yes.

Stone = Pin
Lightning = Stun Limb (a non-Necro Wither!!)
Ice = Web
Flame = Disarm
 
I think I'd just do a bind with the lightning...
 
The energy shocks your muscles and they go limp. That works for Stun Limb.
 
yeah... i just think that a 7th level effect in conjunction with a 4th level effect (the 20 pts of damage) is a little much
 
Whether Bind or Stun Limb, the end result would be the same thing: you can't use your arms. I'm thinking of the visual effect of what would happen when hit in the arms with lightning.

And Wither is level 6 not level 7.
 
my mistake...

still 10 levels of effects over 7.
 
I still say 1 bind gives you the same end result as 2 withered arms. You can't use your arms. Having the description say Stun Limb or Wither just gives a better visual.
 
except that then you don't need to point out that it is non-necromantic and/or you're not porting in a fighter skill to the magic system and why make it two withers when bind is the same thing?

And if you make it two withers people technically have the choice of a legs as well...

visual is one thing, the rules are another
 
ok good.

I'm totally winning ;-)
 
The rule could still be written the way I originally said, but Bind is easier.
 
it could be, but I think bind gets done what you want to actually accomplish in a more efficient and easier to explain fashion.

The explanation becomes you take 20 pts of ice, and a bind, instead of you take 20 points of ice, and two limbs are withered, but they have to be your arms, and its not necromantic, its basically just a bind. ;-)
 
As currently written you could not generate any of those effects with the switchable Enflame spell, as it is from the Summoned Force effect group. It just wouldn't work, rules wise, whether you were stunning the limbs or binding them. There is no reason that Lich should have to carry Cloak Summoned Force items to avoid getting pinned. It makes no sense.

Further, Stun Limb vs. Bind are from different effect groups; If Shock produced a Bind effect, Release would fix it, and monsters capable of ripping free would be able to do so, neither of which makes sense given the intent of the spell. If it was a Stun Limb, only Purify or Dispel would fix you.
 
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