A while back I talked about culling the megadungeon wreckers from the DF druid.
I've been looking at spells to add to the PI6 list to bulk it out, since I stripped it all the way down to nothing except Earthquake, and that comes with a warning to PCs that trashing the dungeon where they get their loot isn't a good way to get loot.
Here are the two additions I'm considering, and some notes on them.
Spark Storm - added. I see no reason why druids shouldn't be able to cast Spark Storm.
(Air) Elemental Possession - This is a new spell I'm trying out. I may modify it based on experience in play. But I think being able to directly control and ride an elemental makes the druid a potentially much more powerful template. This is expensive, but it does all that Control Elemental does but allows a direct ride.
And that new spell writeup:
(Air) Elemental Possession (VH)
Resisted by ST or Will.
As Beast Possession (Magic, p. 32), but only works on a specific type of elemental.
Duration: 1 minute.
Cost: 1 point per 5 character points used to build the elemental. Half that (round up) to maintain.
Time to cast: 5 seconds.
I briefly considered the lethal weather and plant spells from Death Spells, but I have reservations about handing those out and I know the weather ones would mess with our Air-college specialized wizard. Even if they are off-limits to him in any case - weather magic is druid magic in Dungeon Fantasy. I may add them later if the PCs ever get access to death spells (well, find the access to them that exists somewhere in Felltower.)
I'll consider Plant spells on a case-by-case basis, and they mostly would not be PI6.
Hmm, IIRC, Plant Spells already suggests PI levels for its new magic.
ReplyDelete(Air) Elemental Possession sounds like a good spell for me to swipe, with your permission. :)
Yes, it does. But like I said, it's case-by-case on the spells, and most of them aren't PI6 so they aren't a big concern. Plus, our only druid is an element-focused druid.
DeleteIf you try the spell in play, let me know how it works out. I'm open to hearing play feedback.
Earthquake is a spell to use against armies, bandit camps, and castles. Using it in the dungeon seems suicidal!
ReplyDeleteI agree - suicidal or counter to their own interests. But it's easy to talk yourself into a "small area" earthquake, which "my character should know if that would collapse the dungeon or not." Or worse, "takes out this whole area, and then we use Shape Earth for five hours of real time and weeks of game time to tunnel out the treasure that we locate with Seek Earth!" Even if it fails (and for a lot of reasons, it is likely that it would), it's destroying a pile of prep work and turns fun exploration into monotonous spell-casting and time calculation.
DeleteWow! These are really potent. I feel like they all should be PI 6 or Magery 6 instead of what they seem to be presently (Mostly Magery 3).
ReplyDeleteThe Plant Spells death magic seem especially thematically appropriate, even though Murder Blossom seems to be quite limited in utility. Same is true for Weather (lightning) spells and Animal (Thousand-Legged Demise more so than Abominable Alteration). The various elemental spells (Air, Earth, Fire, Water) also work for elemental-based druids (like Quenton Gale).
That being said, some are better than others (Dust to Dust probably wouldn't get used very often, since it is basically loot-destroying!).
Naturally, the downside is that these can be used AGAINST the delvers. That's just terrifying. Particularly those that leave insufficient material to resurrect someone killed by it. Those don't seem particularly fun (for the player or the GM).
On a related note, it seems like Clerics of the Good God with PI 6 should probably be able to learn Cleansing Light and Resuscitate.
Finally, while Thousand-Legged Demise is thematically appropriate for Druids, it would be funny in the sense that it would result in a Fright Check (and hopefully not a heart attack) for a certain Viking delver with Squeamish disadvantage.
Clearly you mean the death spells, not the two spells I added to druids. Actually, I'm not even sure Spark Storm should need PI 6, but since we have one druid it doesn't matter at the moment.
Delete"Naturally, the downside is that these can be used AGAINST the delvers. That's just terrifying."
Yep. That's kind of the point with those. Those spells are out there, at least some of them, but you guys have not discovered the key to unlock them for PC access.
Yes, I said PC access. There are evil folks with some of those spells at hand already. They're not common, but some powerful . . . beings know and use them. Some things are just not meant to be fought in my game.
Whoops! Yes, that's exactly what I meant--death spells. I strongly suspect the PC access to those spells is in the Black Library..,don't tell Hasdrubel!
Delete