New mercurial effects brainstorming thread

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Arikabeth
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New mercurial effects brainstorming thread

Post by Arikabeth »

I'm a big fan of the mercurial magic, and the way it adds flavour and exciting variation to spells, but even with 100 different results I'm sure people will eventually like to make up mercurial charts with effects spesific to patrons/schools of magic, or just to add more funky effects fitting to their spesific setting.

So without further ado, here's a couple of effects I made up. Please feel free to add your own inventions to the mix :D !

Tornado (elementalism, wind magic, Azi Dahaka) - creatures and objects within X of the caster/target of the spell are moved in a clockwise/anti-clockwise direction centered on the caster/target of the spell 1 square per CL, unless they succeed on a DC 10 Ref save.

Eyes of the spirits (druidic magic, King of Elfland) - when this spell is cast, the caster percieves the spiritual world as well as the natural world for d3 rounds, which reveals much unseen by mortal eyes. It grants the infravision, or for elves and dwarves increasing the range of their infravision by 60'. The caster is easilly overwhelmed by the sights of the spirit world, and thus suffers a -2 to concentration checks while having the "improved" vision.

Sphinx (any school) - every time the spell is cast, a little demon (or a similar creature fitting to patron granting the spell) visible only to the caster appears and asks a riddle which must be answered before the spell is cast, then it wanishes. Solving it grants +1d3 to the spell check, failing grant -1d3 to the spell check, (or more or less depending on the difficulty of the riddle).

Heat signature (pyromancy) - every time the spell is cast, a randomly determined object within 10' of the caster is suddenly heated to a high temperature for 1 round, causing 1 point of damage and burn marks if in direct contact with skin unless dropped.

Skull magic (necromancy). This spell must be channeled through the skull of a humanoid for greates effect. If the caster holds a scull while casting the spell , add +1 to the spell check, if not add -1.

Mark of the bard (any school) - Roll a dX. When this spell is cast it requires that the caster describes the manifistation of the spell in a merry way with either (1) a limmerick, (2) a haiku poem (3) a dirty drinking song, [insert more poetic forms of expression here] . The description must be unique every time.

Unlimited power (demonology) - This spell, when cast ritualized, can be amplified by the caster willingly accepting corruption. Accepting a minor/major/greater corruption confers a +3/6/9 to the spell check result, (unlike the normal +2/4/6). Combining this with utilizing spellburn while casting the spell inflicts 1d3 points of permanent ability drain when rolling a natural 1.

One with the flame (pyromancy) - This spell can be cast as if its origin was any object on fire within 10' of and visible to the caster.

Cuddly magic (druidic magic) - Casting this spell summons a bewildered forest animal. There's a cumulative 1% chance that the bewildered animal is actually, despite its appearance, a deadly demon-possessed rodent, with the stats of a type X demon.

An alternative to Soul Dedication
Upon casting this spell, the caster has two options. Either, if the target of the spell is a chaotic creature, the caster must promise to its deity to cleanse the remains of the creature in a ritual spesific to the patron before dusk the same day the creature meets its demise.
Otherwise the caster must participate in another ritual spesific to the patron before dusk the same day the spell is cast. This ritual cause 1 point of stamina drain for the caster per point of corruption the caster has, up to a maximum equal to caster's level, but also wards the caster protection against one corruption. The protection lasts 24 hours.
Both rituals take 1/2 hour per time the spell has been cast before initiating the ritual. If the ritual(s) are not performed before dusk at the appointed times, the spell cannot be recast until the patron is appeased.

I made the last alternative for wizards with lawful patrons which I imagine wouldn't be too keen on being offered souls. I kind of assumed it wouldn't be that normal for lawful patrons, but I must admit I have no proper insight in how the lawful patrons in a DCC universe operate, so it's fairly probably I'm wrong.
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Ravenheart87
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Re: New mercurial effects brainstorming thread

Post by Ravenheart87 »

Good ideas. The sphinx is simply brilliant. Now all we need is an Appendix Ri: Riddles. :D
Vorpal Mace: a humble rpg blog with some DCC-related stuff.
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