Unique Elorii Talents

I personally am not a fan of them being able to have permanent ‘friends’ unless we make this a MINIMUM Tier III talent (and only able to give them a Tier I Elemental Buddy), as the Force Multiplier that Elorii tables have already (I’ve seen up to 4 people with summoned elementals before) may be too much.

That said, we can also do a straight 1:1 port of the Sarishan/val’Mehan talent “Infernal Servant”

Elemental Ally [Racial, Unique]
Throughout the ages, all of your incarnations have had a strange ability to ‘anchor’ Elemental beings on this plane.
Requirement: Hero Tier III, Elorii Bloodline Talent T.2, the ability to cast Elemental Guardian (sp) or otherwise summon an Elemental, [Insert Character Name]
Benefit: You gain the Loyal Companion Talent (ARPG pg. 200). Instead of an animal, you possess a Common Tier I Elemental of your Elorii elemental heritage. You must take higher tiers of Loyal Companion in order to further improve upon your Elemental’s stats.

Going to the “middle” idea:

Elemental Anchor [Arcanum, Unique]
Throughout the ages, all of your incarnations have had a strange ability to ‘anchor’ Elemental beings on this plane.
Requirements: Elorii Bloodline talent, the ability to cast Elemental Guardian (sp) from the Elemental Tradition, Adaptation: Fortify Spell (ta), [Insert Character name]
Benefit: Your Elemental Summons are more difficult to dismiss or banish. Your summoned Elementals of your Elorii elemental heritage (ie: Fire Elementals for Kelekenes) are treated as one Tier Higher–or have a +3 bonus to their appropriate defenses–when against all effects which attempt to Unravel them or Banish them. Additionally, all Elementals you summon gain +10 Stamina.

What about something different like summoning an elemental and merging with it, kind of an elemental gestalt? Getting sorted out afterwards is a bit disconcerting and has a “cost” associated with it. Fatigue perhaps that can’t be magicked away. Just trying to think outside of the box.

In a home campaign I’d potentially make it addictive and something of a siren call to that other plane, but that doesn’t really work in a living game.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

Elemental Ally [Racial, Unique]
Throughout the ages, all of your incarnations have had a strange ability to ‘anchor’ Elemental beings on this plane.
Requirement: Hero Tier III, Elorii Bloodline Talent T.2, the ability to cast Elemental Guardian (sp) or otherwise summon an Elemental, [Insert Character Name]
Benefit: You gain the Loyal Companion Talent (ARPG pg. 200). Instead of an animal, you possess a Common Tier I Elemental of your Elorii elemental heritage. You must take higher tiers of Loyal Companion in order to further improve upon your Elemental’s stats.

Going to the “middle” idea:

Elemental Anchor [Arcanum, Unique]
Throughout the ages, all of your incarnations have had a strange ability to ‘anchor’ Elemental beings on this plane.
Requirements: Elorii Bloodline talent, the ability to cast Elemental Guardian (sp) from the Elemental Tradition, Adaptation: Fortify Spell (ta), [Insert Character name]
Benefit: Your Elemental Summons are more difficult to dismiss or banish. Your summoned Elementals of your Elorii elemental heritage (ie: Fire Elementals for Kelekenes) are treated as one Tier Higher–or have a +3 bonus to their appropriate defenses–when against all effects which attempt to Unravel them or Banish them. Additionally, all Elementals you summon gain +10 Stamina.

Idea for Elemental Gestalt, but as an Exotic Spell (give permission for “Learn Exotic Spell (ta)”):

Elemental Gestalt
Tradition: Elemental (Exotic) [Tier III]
Category: Sustained
CTN: 23
Speed (Strain): 4 (+10) /1
Range: Self
Duration: Special (D)
You are able to empower your own elemental essence to empower yourself beyond your normal levels, at least for a time.
Effect: You channel your inner elemental spirit to grant yourself a number of abilities, and a few penalties. The effects of this spell last for 12 ticks, but may be sustained. Each time the spell is sustained, you may re-roll the CTN roll to cast the spell, +3 for each consecutive Sustaining of the spell (for example, after 12 ticks you have to make a CTN 26 roll, after 24 you must make a CTN 29 roll, etc). Once this spell ends, you are Exhausted for 2 hours due to the strain inflicted upon your body.

Osalikene Elorii – You gain +1 Avoidance, -1 Fortitude, +5′ Movement Pace, and either the Quick OR the Uncanny Reaction talent.
Kelekene Elorii – You gain +1 Avoidance, -1 Discipline, the Elemental Aura: Fire Trait, and either the Quick OR the Uncanny Reaction talent.
Marokene Elorii – You gain -1 Avoidance, +1 Fortitude, the Natural Armor Trait, and either the Crush OR the Powerful Attack Trait.
Berokene Elorii – You gain +1 Fortitude, -1 Discipline, the Elemental Aura: Fire Trait, and either the Uncanny Reaction OR the Combat Intuition talent.

Adaptation: Increase the CTN by 6, Strain by 5 you may gain both talents or traits listed in your racial version of this spell.
Adaptation: Increase the CTN by 10, Strain by 10 to gain one of the following benefits, by race:

Osalikene Elorii – You gain a Fly Pace of 30′ (Perfect).
Kelekene Elorii – As a Speed 4 action you may turn yourself into embers and flame, transporting yourself 30′ from your original location.
Marokene Elorii – You gain a Burrow Pace of 30′ (Glide)
Berokene Elorii – You gain a +5 to all Athletics and Acrobatics checks made for movement, and when in a space smaller than is typically necessary of a creature of your size type you may treat your size to be one size category smaller

So, you say in the description, “The effects of this spell last for 12 ticks, but may be sustained.” yet the speed of the spell is, “4 (+10) / 1”. Now, I totally understand what you’re shooting for… It takes 4 ticks to cast and then you need to spend 1 tick to sustain it every 12 ticks. When you stop sustaining the spell, you suffer the 10 ticks of strain. My concern is (and this could be unfounded, since my knowledge of the spell casting subsystem is probably my weakest area for this system) that I don’t know if this mechanic exists, yet. Are there any other spells that have a duration greater than their casting time that are sustainable? (Thus giving the caster free time to do something else between casting and sustaining.) If I’m correct, and the answer is no, then you need to be sure that any potential side effects are addressed. For example:

Let’s say I cast this spell on tick 1. I can act again on tick 5.

– When do I need to pay the sustain cost? Round 2, Tick 1 or Round 2 Tick 5?
– What kind of actions am I allowed to take while this spell is active? Can I make physical attacks? Can I cast other spells?

For the sake of discussion, let’s assume the answer is that I need to sustain on every tick 1…
On tick 5, I attack with a speed 5 weapon. On tick 10 I can go again, and attack with the same speed 5 weapon.

– On tick 3, what happens? Can I sustain the spell on tick 3? Did I just lose the spell?
– If I can pay the sustain cost on tick 3, when do I have to sustain it next? (Back on tick 1 or on tick 3 from now on?)

So, maybe my concern is unfounded and this is already dealt with somewhere that I just can’t remember right now. But I believe that this is a new mechanic that, although cool (and I really do like it) will raise some new questions.

As far as the contents of the spell go, I have some concern about the flying. Although I think that the CTN 33 will not be easily hit until Tier 4, there’s nothing to stop a player from attempting to cast this over and over again, every 5 ticks (waiting for strain to bleed off from a failed casting) until he rolls well and can fly at tier 2. That worries me.

Additionally, I could see the “teleportation” adaptation being abused, but probably not as often as the flying.

I think I would suggest modifying the line about being exhausted for 2 hours such that failing to cast the spell also has some effect on your body, and therefore you can’t attempt to cast it again for X amount of minutes. That should be enough to prevent abuse of the +10 adaptations.

Scott

::Bump:: Which angle is best? I prefer the second talent myself (in the quote box at the top of this page), but we can go with one of the others.

Okay, some edits. I have included the previous two proposed talents too as quote.

Elemental Ally [Racial, Unique]
Throughout the ages, all of your incarnations have had a strange ability to ‘anchor’ Elemental beings on this plane.
Requirement: Hero Tier III, Elorii Bloodline Talent T.2, the ability to cast Elemental Guardian (sp) or otherwise summon an Elemental, [Insert Character Name]
Benefit: You gain the Loyal Companion Talent (ARPG pg. 200). Instead of an animal, you possess a Common Tier I Elemental of your Elorii elemental heritage. You must take higher tiers of Loyal Companion in order to further improve upon your Elemental’s stats.

Going to the “middle” idea:

Elemental Anchor [Arcanum, Unique]
Throughout the ages, all of your incarnations have had a strange ability to ‘anchor’ Elemental beings on this plane.
Requirements: Elorii Bloodline talent, the ability to cast Elemental Guardian (sp) from the Elemental Tradition, Adaptation: Fortify Spell (ta), [Insert Character name]
Benefit: Your Elemental Summons are more difficult to dismiss or banish. Your summoned Elementals of your Elorii elemental heritage (ie: Fire Elementals for Kelekenes) are treated as one Tier Higher–or have a +3 bonus to their appropriate defenses–when against all effects which attempt to Unravel them or Banish them. Additionally, all Elementals you summon gain +10 Stamina.

Idea for Elemental Gestalt, but as an Exotic Spell (give permission for “Learn Exotic Spell (ta)”):

Elemental Gestalt
Tradition: Elemental (Exotic) [Tier III]
Category: Sustained
CTN: 23
Speed (Strain): 4 (+10) /1
Range: Self
Duration: Special (D)
You are able to empower your own elemental essence to empower yourself beyond your normal levels, at least for a time.
Effect: You channel your inner elemental spirit to grant yourself a number of abilities, and a few penalties. After casting this spell, you may sustain this spell as a Trivial Action which can be combined with any other non-spell casting action. Every time this spell is sustained, you must reroll the previous CTN roll with a cumulative +1 to the CTN each time you sustain the spell. Once this spell ends, you are Exhausted for the rest of the scene and cannot cast this spell again for 24 hours due to the strain inflicted upon your body.

Osalikene Elorii – You gain +1 Avoidance, -1 Fortitude, +5′ Movement Pace, and either the Quick OR the Uncanny Reaction talent.
Kelekene Elorii – You gain +1 Avoidance, -1 Discipline, the Elemental Aura: Fire Trait, and either the Quick OR the Uncanny Reaction talent.
Marokene Elorii – You gain -1 Avoidance, +1 Fortitude, the Natural Armor Trait, and either the Crush OR the Powerful Attack Trait.
Berokene Elorii – You gain +1 Fortitude, -1 Discipline, the Elemental Aura: Fire Trait, and either the Uncanny Reaction OR the Combat Intuition talent.

Adaptation: Increase the CTN by 6, Strain by 5 you may gain both talents or traits listed in your racial version of this spell.
Adaptation: Increase the CTN by 10, Strain by 10 to gain one of the following benefits, by race:

Osalikene Elorii – You gain a Fly Pace of 30′ (Clumsy).
Kelekene Elorii – As a Speed 4 action you may turn yourself into embers and flame, transporting yourself 30′ from your original location.
Marokene Elorii – You gain a Burrow Pace of 30′ (Glide)
Berokene Elorii – You gain a +5 to all Athletics and Acrobatics checks made for movement, and when in a space smaller than is typically necessary of a creature of your size type you may treat your size to be one size category smaller

So, we good with this, then?

If we’re making it a spell rather than a talent, wouldn’t it make more sense to just make it a binding spell, perhaps with a maximum duration? This reads like a spell a primary caster would use, so to give up all spellcasting while it’s active and get hit with being exhausted as soon as it stops seems pretty significant.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul