Tier V spells from Sorcerous Pacts

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  • July 23, 2014 at 11:16 pm #264193
    drafit
    Participant

    Hello Cody,

    I have a few issues with the talent as written, but that is because I worry that if this is ever allowed in the campaign people could abuse it if it is not worded more precisely.

    Great – glad you like it.

    I’m the first to admit that my rules writing skills are not the greatest, so what would you suggest to make the Talent better?

    July 23, 2014 at 11:31 pm #264195
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    It is more the “at chronicler’s discretion” bit which gets me, because different Chronicler’s would allow for VASTLY different abilities to be used. Having more defined rules about what the Kurenthe’ could do (ie: grant a +100 to CTN of rolls, allow them to cast the Tier V spells, extend the area of a bloodline power that we have yet to see, etc) would be better from a rules perspective. That said, it lessens the STORY perspective, in much the same way that the 3.5 Divine Rules really took the magic out of the “Gods are super powerful” aspect.

    Similarly, as written right now there is nothing in the rules which would allow for Marital characters to have an effect that could be empowered by the Kurenthe’. You can say “oh, the Marokene fighter Kurenthe’d, and now all the animals within 10 miles have the Corrupted subtype”, but as I say that leaves it wide open for variability. Perhaps at some point provide a few examples of what a Kurenthe’ could be used for aside from the Sorcerous Boons? Maybe list five examples of what it can do (without magical spells being cast) based on the Elorii Breed?

    ie: Ardakene creates an area where the animals and trees all become Corrupted, Kelekene effectively ‘scorch’ the area making it so things cannot grow, Osalikenes can curse the area with freak storms like the Fire Snow, etc? Specify that the area effected is based on the relative tier of the caster (ie: a Tier VII, 3000 year old elder Elorii could lay waste to an area of 100 square miles, but a Tier V character could only affect an area of a few square miles?

    As I said, though, these are only really problems if the talent makes its way into the Campaign. In a Home Campaign you can do whatever you want with it, but in the Shared Campaign there must be more control. So, ultimately, how much detail you wish to go into depends on 1) word count (long talent, side bars, “PCI says”, etc), 2) your views of the likelihood that his will ever be actually used.

    July 24, 2014 at 1:45 am #264201
    drafit
    Participant

    Hello,

    As I said, I don’t see this talent ever being made available to characters in the Living Campaign. It was written with the Home campaign in mid.

    July 24, 2014 at 2:10 pm #264202
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I would add something like:
    If you want to leave the possibility open (or let players salivate at the possibility):

    Restriction: In the Legends of Arcanis Campaign, you must have certed documentation to take this Talent.

    Otherwise:

    Restriction: This Talent is not permitted in the Legends of Arcanis Campaign.

    If you do not want that restriction in the Pacts document, we can add it to the campaign doc right away, before the S.P. doc is released.

    July 25, 2014 at 2:59 pm #264226
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Kurenthe’ as a talent looks good. No GM in the Living Campaign short of the Campaign Staff is going to be able to dictate what that effect is to any real measure of effect on the campaign. As a chronicler for a home campaign it’s completely up to them, so the language is fine from my perspective. I do like Cody’s suggestion about adding a Tier requirement.

    For the question of Sorcerous Pacts though, is Kurenthe’ is the best or only method to fuel equally powerful spells?

    While I might allow that as one way to do it, I’m not sure that I would require it to get the spell off.

    As another option, if the spells are exotic when you get to the truly powerful spells, you could simply require that the Elorii are required to prove their mature enough. The spells must be learned somehow, and it’s easy to believe that the Elorii elders wouldn’t want a bunch of young hotheads to go around destroying cities due to the fallout.

    Require a minimum age of 1,000 years old or Chronicler’s discretion. Add a note to the Living Arcanis campaign that no Elorii can start over the age of 300 – 400, and I think we’d be fine.

    With a sweep of his hat,

    Paul

    July 27, 2014 at 6:23 pm #264249
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Further thoughts:

    I still like the idea of making the spells a LOT weaker (dropped down to a tactical level which players can use), with perhaps an Adaptation being “Adaptation: When this spell is cast in conjunction with a Kurenthe’, you may increase the area of the spell to 1 square mile per character tier”?

    Just trying to think of ways to allow these spells to be used by players while still keeping it reasonable.

    Earthquake
    Tradition: Elemental (Elder) [Tier V]
    Category: Advanced
    CTN: 30
    Speed (Strain): 1 Hour (0)
    Range: 120 feet
    Area Affected: 100 foot radius
    Special, Cost: Beyond the cost to create the pact, each time this spell is cast the caster must sacrifice the equivalent of 50 gold imperials in nuts and seedlings of various monumental trees.
    This rite, like the equivalent spells from the other realms, should be used with great care and judiciously as it is capable of causing great loss of like and destruction of property. .
    The rite may be cast in any geographic location, though side effects, such as tidal waves may occur if cast near a coastal region or at sea or torrents of magma may erupt upward if in a volcanic region.

    Effect: Once payment is made and the final words of intonation are uttered, a massive rumbling can be felt roiling through the earth. Within moments, the ground is torn apart with violent tremors.
    Anything touching the ground is destroyed as buildings collapse, fissures open, and the very ground liquefies beneath the feet of the hapless souls unlucky enough to be within range of the devastation. Estimate that the earthquake will destroy everything as far as half a mile from its epicenter.
    This ritual may only be cast once per day.

    Adaptation: Increase the CTN by 10 and speed by 1 hour to increase the range of this spell by an additional 30′. This adaptation may be applied multiple times.

    Adaptation: By invoking Kurenthe’ (as per the Talent) you may empower this spell to increase its area to one square mile per Hero tier.

    August 1, 2014 at 12:35 pm #264327
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hello everyone,

    This is how I believe I can maintain the control needed for this spell.

    Thoughts?

    Tier V Spells

    Tier V spells are more like events or plot devices than actual spells. Each of these elemental boon rituals can ravage entire regions, level cities and kill hundreds, if not thousands of beings. For this reason, the developers have made a conscious decision to make these rites have an additional cost: the sacrifice of an elorii’s soul though the use of Kurenthe’.
    So I’m finally finding time to get caught up… After reading this, I like the idea. However the quoted wording suggests that all tier V spells have this requirement. My assumption is that you want to restrict the apocalypse spells, but not necessarily require an elorii to kurenthe’ in order to summon one of the critters, for example. And with respect to non-elorii, I imagine that Tier V spells exist for vals or humans, etc. And they can’t kurenthe’. So, if my assumption is accurate, you might want to modify the wording a bit to indicate that some tier V spells require the additional cost, while others do not.

    Game mechanically, I kind of like the idea that the Kurenthe grants you a massive bonus to your Arcanum skill for the purposes of casting a single spell. Then you could simply make the CTN for these spells 100 or something. But ultimately, my point is that I don’t believe your intention is for ALL tier V spells to have this requirement.

    EDIT: after re-reading the quoted text, I see that only the first sentence implies “all tier V spells”. The rest looks more specific to the ones listed in this book. However, I still think that the tier V critter summoning spells aren’t intended to require the Kurenthe’. So I’d still recommend some clarification. And I still kind of like the CTN bonus mechanic, where the Kurenthe’ “empowers” a spell by giving you a bonus to the CTN.

    Scott

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