Common Magic Spell

[warlock1971]

Hi Guys. Please could you give me your thoughts on the following Common Magic Spell which is a conversion of a D&D spell. This is my first spell so all critique is appreciated.

In D&D terms this is a Cleric/Druid level 1 Spell so I guess I could write it as a Divine Spell.

Magic Stone (Common Magic)

Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Ranged, Resist (Evade), Touch, Trigger

You may transmute as many as three pebbles, which can be no larger than sling bullets, so that they strike with great force when thrown or slung. If hurled, they have a range of 20 metres. If slung, treat them as sling bullets range 200 metres. The spell gives each stone an enhancement bonus of 5% on attacks and a +1 on their damage rolls. The user of the stones makes a normal ranged attack. Each stone that hits deals 1d6+1 points of damage (including the spell’s enhancement bonus), or as per the sling bullet's damage listed in the Legend Rule Book +1 point. Additionally, the enhancement results in an additional +1 damage against any undead creature.

I am creating a cult of the Earth Dragon, a Greyhawk deity, hence the requirement.

 

[alex_greene]

Looks good.

I'd love it if the scope of items affected by the spell could be expanded to cover things like coins or gemstones.

 

[Old timer]

The spell is similar to how sure shot works, would that not work for this cult? One suggestion is instead of +5 to hit, do as sure shot does and reduce your opponents chance to evade by -5 per point of magnitude. A bonus to hit wont increase your chance of a hit if the target evades on their unmodified skill, it will only increase (marginally) the critical chance.

 

[Harshlax]

I don't have my rules to hand, but isn't there a Common Magic spell called Speedart? I believe it enhances accuracy and damage of missile weapons, which surely includes sling and thrown rock?

It was always there in previous editions.

 

[Prime_Evil]

It still exists, but the effects of this spell are slightly different. For some reason, I'm getting a mental image of Gambit from the X-Men

 

[warlock1971]

Thanks for the help guys, great advice as usual!

@ Alex, your idea of including coins or gems is great and I am going to incorporate that now.

@ Old timer, your idea makes sense, as the spell makes it harder to evade the damage, as opposed to easier to hit the opponent. Included this as well.

@Harshlax, I see it there! I am not that familiar with previous editions but there it is ... To differentiate the Magic Stone spell slightly it can be cast on up to 3 pebble-sized items at once, I have, as such, reduced the damage that each missile does to 1D4+1. Perhaps we can look at this spell as a variance of Speedart?

 

[warlock1971]

Prime_Evil, great image ... I have always thought Gambit is cool!

 

[Prime_Evil]

Actually, here's a wild idea - a spell that energises thrown items with an ENC 1 or less and gives them a knockdown effect if the target doesn't win an opposed roll between Athletics or Acrobatics and the caster's common magic skill. Targets with SIZ 14+ get a +20% to resist, as do targets with more than two legs. This would be great for anime-flavoured games - just imagine the fun you can have with empowered shuriken

It would be great to have a spell that allows thrown missiles to have a non-lethal area effect as well, but that might be too potent for common magic.

In either case, the spell description should make it clear that the spell only works on thrown items that are in direct physical contact with the caster - this prevents abuses such as casting it on the arrows of allies. For the coolness factor, the spell should also have some kind of visual effect - maybe the thrown object is sheathed in a nimbus of energy whose color reflects the personality of the caster or something like that.

 

[Harshlax]

There's also multimissile - you could flavour that by saying the stone is sheathed in energy. It doesn't increase chance to hit but the magical ammunition will affect targets that can only be hurt by magic. Just ensure the Druidic order teaches a Combat Style that includes sling and/or thrown rock as one off it's weapons!