Numbers in the middle of incants?

[kalindra]

First of all, I'm 100% in favor of putting the damage/healing numbers into spell incants, since approximately five thousand times per event a new player gets hit with evocation and has to ask what it does.

My question is, why are the numbers in the middle of the phrase instead of the end? Canonically, a spell incantation is an in-game statement (in that the character is saying those words in game to make the spell happen). In my opinion the number is logically an out-of-game clarification, and therefore should go at the end of the incant.

I also have basically taught myself to only listen to the last word in a spell, since the operative word typically goes right at the end (eg, I command you to SLEEP, I grant you the gift of DEATH), so I feel like I'll not hear the important part if it doesn't follow the pattern.

Version A: "I call upon Elements, 25 Spell Flame!"
Version B: "I call forth a 25 Flame Evocation Bolt!"

Why not simply tack on the number after the incant like so:
"I call forth a Flame Bolt! 25"
"I call upon the Earth to cure wounds! 15"
"With Eldritch force I mend your armor! 10"
Etc.

 

[AlikVanmil]

From what I've been told it's so NPC and PCs know what it's hitting. So if I throw a 10 spell flame at someone. They know that it is A) a spell so they know that it pops their spell shield and or B) is flame so if they can resist it they know to use their resist.

 

[KyleSchmelz]

"25 Spell Flame" is fine to me, as it's basically the same as wand damage or something from an elemental burst, but, like Carly said, I feel like "I call Forth a 25 Flame Evocation Bolt!" is going to sound a lot like "mumblemumblemumblemumblemumblemumble-cation Bolt!" a lot of the time in larger combat scenarios where there's a lot of shouting going on. I haven't had the chance to do any playtesting, but given how many incants sound garbled in combat now, I don't see it being much different going forward.

 

[Dan Nickname Beshers]

Good question. The reason is so that the clause that directly informs you of what the effect does uses a consistent syntax everywhere in the rules. We already have that syntax, which is [(number)][(qualifier)][effect]. This is seen in "10 Elemental Flame!", "Magic Sleep!", "15 Silver!", etc. The clause at the end of spell incants is modelled on this for consistency.

 

[Draven]

I hate numbers in IG incants. I don't mind "I call upon evocation! 25 Spell Flame!" "I call upon the Earth for Healing! 25 Spell Healing!" Those are separated. My character hears one, I hear the other.

"I call upon Evocation for 25 Spell Flame!" That mixes it together and kinda kills the RP aspect of it.

 

[Durnic]

I know of at least one chapter that currently adds the number at the end, but this is a thing that they do specifically to help NPCs and new players.

 

[Gilwing]

So can we get rid of the requirement to have arrows/bolts to be blue and gasses to be orange? Since now the incant tells us what it is.

 

[Alavatar]

So can we get rid of the requirement to have arrows/bolts to be blue and gasses to be orange? Since now the incant tells us what it is.

As a colorblind person that frequently accidentally throws blue packets thinking they are another color (pink, purple, white, etc.) this would be a welcome change.

 

[Draven]

I'd like to point out that packet colors tend to give players IG knowledge before anything is thrown, such as seeing someone holding a bunch of arrows versus a bunch of gas globes versus a bunch of energy.

While I understand Seth's position because of his colorblindness, I generally feel that packet coloring is a good thing.

 

[Gilwing]

Seeing the packet touch the bow and then the pull back motion that is required to use the bow is also a great indication that they are using their bow.
I will agree with the gasses (it's been like that for as far as I remember).

 

[Deadlands of Old]

Speaking from the perspective of someone who used to have to worry about not having enough packets in NPC camp each event, it might really help out if we could reduce the number of specific colored packets we require as a game.

Alchemy globes should probably stay orange though, if for no other reason than that they are valuable and able to be stolen by pcs and npcs alike.

 

[Thorcanine]

I like having arrows being Blue, Alchemy Orange, and Magic anything else. I view that as a helpful tool to help with immersion. Someone running around with a hand of Blue packets I know they are running around with a handful of arrows. Any other packet they have magic pooling in their hand. Orange they are holding globes. One can't be effective unless they have a bow, the other two can cause issues on their own.
I have used this information as an NPC to call out someone as holding a "weapon" (They had a magic packet in their hand) as being aggressive. As everyone had to leave weapons at the door. So if they had a blue packet I would have let it go.