Dungeons & Sorcery Spells 11

by on October 25, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: GURPS

After a couple years away, my thoughts have been on RPGs again, and that, combined with a slow period of Vassal-gaming leads me to my eleventh spell compendium for GURPS Dungeons & Sorcery. There’s no coheseive theme, but October has suggested a number of spells dealing with the undead, and some illusions.

Animate Dead (SC)
Necromancy, Somatic, Verbal
13 points
Casting Time: 5 seconds
Casting Roll: None
Range: 10 yards
Duration: Permanent

This spell allows the magic-user to create a skeleton or zombie, who will follow the commands of the caster (which must be kept simple: protect me, guard this door, etc.; conditional and multi-step orders will not work). The created undead are permanent, and neither dispel magic nor remove curse will have any effect. However, the creature can be killed/destroyed normally, and does not heal. As many such undead can be animated as the magic-user desires, subject to available corpses, time, and fatigue. In all cases, the caster must have four times the CP of the animated dead, or the spell will fail.

It should be noted that this isn’t quite “bringing someone back from the dead”, and the animated dead will have no memories, abilities, or mental traits of the person whose corpse is used, nor is their soul involved in any way. In many respects, it is a simpler and formulaic version of a “create golem” spell, using the Laws of Similarity and Contagion as shortcuts to describe how the golem can move and act; however, as this spell uses the body’s previous status as a living being for this shortcut, it is necromancy, and usually considered the first step down a dangerous path.

Keep in mind that nearly any complete deceased living creature can be used (and it must be a complete single creature), and will have its racial default ST & HP, but DX 10 and HT 10, with one or two appropriate weapon skills at DX, decided by the nearest functional weapon(s) (which could be a length of wood—or bone—used as club, or nothing at all, if there’s nothing the undead can hold handy, limiting them to default punch). If the body has decomposed (or had the flesh stripped off), it will be animated as a skeleton, while a more recently deceased body will become a zombie.

Ally (25% Power, Constantly Available; Accessibility, Must Have Appropriate Remains Handy, -20%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +300%; Minion, +0%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x4, ‑20%) [3.25×4] The Ally will have the racial (not individual) ST, HP, and SM of the original creature (with modification for physical traits such as Gigantism and Dwarfism), Unhealing (Total) [-30], Automaton (B263) [-85] and apply either the Skeletal Undead meta-trait (F133) without the Basic Speed increase [48] or the Rotting Undead meta-trait [59]. [-67 or -56]
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Dungeons & Sorcery Spells 10

by on October 3, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: GURPS

This is the tenth collection of spells for my GURPS Dungeons & Sorcery project. Which means there’s now over 100 spells for it, which I didn’t initially think I’d do, and this is still finishing off 2nd level spells, and moving into 3rd level, with Fly as the headliner old-time spell.

Earthen Grasp (SC)
Alteration, Somatic, Verbal
9 points
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Casting Roll: Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.
Range: 20 yards
Duration: 30 seconds

An earthen arm comes up out of the ground and attempts to grasp the leg of the target of the spell. If the target is hit, the arm will hold him in place and keep him from moving away, Changing Posture or facing, and confers a -4 DX penalty.

The target can break free by winning a Quick Contest against ST 15. Each attempt to do so takes one second, and costs 1 FP, but there is no other penalty to trying again. The arm can be attacked, and Innate attacks from the victim will automatically hit, while all others suffer a -4 penalty. Other characters can attempt to attack the arm, but they might hit the character instead (see Striking into Close Combat, B392). The arm can only be damaged by crushing damage, and has DR 5, but each point of damage reduces the arm’s ST by one, and is destroyed when at ST 0.

This spell can only be used when there’s appropriate ground or turf under the character to be grasped. It will not work on stone, or inside a building.

Binding 15 (Environmental, Earth, -20%; One-Shot, -10%; Only Damaged By Crushing, +30%; Reduced Duration, 1/2, -5%; Reduced Range, 1/5, -20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, ‑10%) [0.3×30]
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Dungeons & Sorcery Spells 9

by on September 5, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: GURPS

After some time away, here’s another set of ten spells for GURPS Dungeons & Sorcery. This time, many of them deal with misdirection and effects meant to fool others.

Baneful Deflector (SC)
Evocation, Somatic, Verbal, Buff
32 points + 30 points/level
Casting Time: 2 seconds
Casting Roll: None
Range: Touch
Duration: 30 seconds

The subject of the spell gains a shimmering field of force that attempts to deflect all normal missiles that strike him from a particular direction (front, back, right, left, above, below), as specified by the caster. As long as the base damage of the missile is less than or equal to 2d per level of the spell, it is deflected towards the nearest person other than himself, and a new attack roll is made against this person. If the damage is greater than that amount, the deflector has no effect.

The distance between the subject and the new target is treated as additional flight distance, and may cause the attack to take a greater range penalty, have reduced damage and accuracy for being past 1/2D distance, or do nothing if it goes past its max range. If it misses, the usual chances of Hitting the Wrong Target (B389) must be assessed, but only as if it was going from the subject to the new target. If the new target is hit and also has an active baneful deflector in the way, this will happen again, ignoring all previous targets.

Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage: 7 DR (All-or-Nothing, -10%, Deflection, +20%; Directional: Choose, -15%; Force Field, +20%; Limited: Missile Attacks Only, -20%; Magical, -10%), +300%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Melee Attack, C, 1, -20%; Reduced Duration, 1/6, -15%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [3.2×10] Each level adds 7 DR (2 dice) to the affliction. Notes: ‘Deflection’ is an alternate version of Reflection.
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Dungeons & Sorcery Spells 8

by on November 20, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: GURPS

Here’s another set of ten spells for my GURPS Dungeons & Sorcery project. Many of them are from later sources, but we headline with the old classic, Blink, and something of an emphasis on getting away.

Blink (C)
Alteration, Somatic, Verbal
35 points
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Casting Roll:
Range: none
Duration: 10 seconds

Casting this spell causes the magic-user to randomly teleport, or “blink”, once a second for the next ten seconds. Since it is random, it becomes hard for opponents to target the caster, as he may well shift out of range between attacks, and no amount of mind reading or analysis will predict where the caster will go. Of course, the same problem can inconvenience the caster.

Because this is happening without the caster’s control, he may try to perform other actions while blinking, but he must make a DX roll if he wants to perform an action before he blinks out of his current location. He must make this decision before he finds out the destination of his current blink (Wait maneuvers may be handy here, though casting a self-buff spell is still reasonable). Once an action is decided (or performed), roll for scatter (B414) with the distance halved, and the magic-user blinks to the nearest hex to that spot that is not obstructed (i.e., does not contain a wall, or other bulky object, such as a barrel; blinking into close combat with someone is possible) facing the same direction as when he started.

Note that actually performing any actions after the spell effect starts will depend on the caster making Body Sense rolls (B181) to keep from being disoriented/distracted. Finally, while the caster can take up to medium encumbrance worth of equipment with him (anything over that amount being left behind in the first blink), he will never take another creature with him. (e.g., if grasping a fairy in his hand, it would be left behind when he blinked. This is also handy for getting out of a grapple, if the caster can manage three seconds of gestures.)

Warp (Always On, -20%; Cosmic: No Die Roll Required, +50%; Extra Carrying Capacity, Medium, +20%; Range Limit, 3 yards, -50%; Requires Gestures, 10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Reduced Duration, 1/6, -15%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%; Uncontrollable, Random, -15%) [0.35×100] Note: “Uncontrollable” is boosted from its normal 10% for ‘harmless power’ as there is no Will roll to gain control.
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Dungeons & Sorcery Spells 7

by on September 25, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: GURPS

Here’s another set of ten spells for my GURPS Dungeons & Sorcery project (note that I changed the name slightly recently to make it clearer that this isn’t meant to be a direct plug-in to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy or the Dungeon Fantasy RPG).

Clairaudience (C)
Divination, Somatic, Verbal
93 points
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Casting Roll: IQ
Range: 1,000 yards
Duration: 3 minutes

After casting this spell, the caster can pick one location within 1,000 yards, and listen to anything going on there as if he were present. This requires an IQ + Talent roll to actually accomplish, and there is a -3 penalty if the location chosen is not currently visible. Failing this roll normally means that the spell fails, and nothing happens, but on a miss by one, the GM will pick another location, and the spell will function from there. Normally, locations that are out of sight can only be defined by bearing (e.g., ‘300 yards due west’), but ones that the caster is familiar with can be specified directly.

Unlike many spells, the caster can cancel the spell at any time, and return his sense of hearing to his own location, but he will be unable to use clairaudience again without re-casting the spell. While there is no visible manifestation of the effects of this spell, various detect spells will notice the focus of the spell, and it can be dispelled.

Clairsentience (Clairaudience, -30%; Extended Duration, x3, +20%; Increased Range, x100, +60%; Fixed Location, -10%; Fixed Range, -5%; No Strain, +25%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Second Nature, +70%; Sorcery, -15%; Takes Extra Time, x2, -10%) [1.85×50]
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