DC for Spells ST

[LucaCherstich]

Sorry for the stupid question but I'm quite new to Conan rpg.
How can I calculate the saves' DC for the spells?
Scholar level? Magic Attack?

 

[steventirey1985]

You make a Magic Attack roll. 1d20 + Magic Attack Bonus. The result is the save DC.

 

[LucaCherstich]

Thanks a lot!
I find it in Conan 2e page238.
I discovered that I should had the Charisma bonus too.
Does not seem like that saves vs spells in Conan are easier than in normal d20?
After all even a powerfull 10th level scholar (magic attack +5) with an impressive Charisma of 21 (bonus +5) can roll a low number (2 or 3), giving a DC of just 12-13 for its opponents!

 

[VincentDarlage]

True, but he can also roll a high number and make the save in the 28-30 region. It makes magic a little riskier. Think of it this way - some days the sorcerer is on top of his game and casts it with power and confidence, but on other days, he rushes it, flubs it, or for some reason is not at his best when casting it. Sometimes people have good days, and sometimes bad days - and if the sorcerer is having a bad day, he could be in trouble.

To me, it adds a bit of versimilitude and takes away from the video-game feeling a lot of D20 games have (static saves, etc).

 

[kintire]

I have to admit that I don't like it. I have the Sorcerer roll magic attack against the subject's save plus ten.

It looks fine in theory, but the variance is too high compared to the modifiers. Sorcerer's attack bonuses are not huge, and with a random variance of 40 the luck of the dice is too important and the qualities of the characters involved is not important enough.

 

[LucaCherstich]

I like Vincent's explanation but Kinitire's post says excatly what I felt.
The d20 is much more influent on the DC than any modifier, on the other hand I feel that adding that 10 is maybe too much.

 

[groshnik]

Perhaps no modifier for the 'Basic' spells, and add something to the advanced spells.
Also, don't forget the added bonus of feats like Hexer, or Knowledge:Astrology type skills.
There are poisons and hexes that will lower saves as well, making it easier to land the big spell. Makes the Sorcerer plan ahead a bit, or work with someone else to take down a big foe.
I like the fact that magic can go wrong in this world. Screw up too big, and the consequences can be quite fantastic

 

[Voltumna]

I don't have 2e yet, but somewhere in this forum i read that you can power up spells spending additional power points to add to your magic attack roll. I don't know if this has a limit, but sure makes a sorcerer more dangerous when casting.

In Scrolls of Skelos there is the Magic Power Attack feat, which lets you spend 2 pps to add a +1 to your magic attack roll up to a number equal to your charisma modifier. It also rises the level limit of targets for hypnotism spells, although I don't know if this second benefit has the same limit which I would think not. Spending 18 extra pps to hypnotyze a 15th level character is quite expensive, and the magic attack roll only receives a bonus up to your charisma bonus.

Hyborya's Fallen has a nice temptress-scholar combo that instead of Iron Will at the 5th scholar level, you can take the Force of Will ability. This variant rule allows the Vamp once per day to boost her Charisma by 1d4 plus 1 point per temptress level for 10 minutes plus 1 minute per power point spent.