New Spells Brainstorming ((Help...? O_o)) [Through the Looking Glass]

A

Andoriol

Member
Basically, I have ideas for Sorcery spells and I'm trying to hash out the mechanics (and get StoryTeller Approval) well before my character actually begins to research them.


But I am not stingy nor am I infallible (neither of which I wish to be, ever), so this is mostly to make the option open to everyone here as well as asking (begging) for help in getting the mechanics for these balanced.


Ones I want to make and that I'm (pretty) sure aren't in any of the multiple books I don't have are these:


[*]A Terresterial Circle spell that has a knockback/stun/some other, similar effect and can actually be flurried into a group of attacks. It has special casting rules and is able to be used at the begining or end of a flurry (I'm thinking it counts as two actions as far as the penalties are concerned and adds 2 to the speed of whatever it's flurried with). The damage would be pitiful (maybe rolling from a single attribute/ability like Occult or Charisma), but it would be a perfect attack, so it couldn't be dodged and not getting affected by the knockback/stun effect would require a resistance check against something like the casters Wits + Occult. The concept is that right before you start attacking your opponent, you unleash this attack right into their face from an open palm and immediately go into a combo against the stunned opponent. It's supposed to open up the opponent for further hurt, whether before your flurry or at the end to make sure the person is open to the next persons flurry/spell. I'm also thinking on a cost of 20m. This one, or something like it, is something I definitely want.


[*]A Celestial Circle Spell (Yeah, I know, those are a ways off) that would go by the name 'A song of Ice and Fire'. (Normal casting rules for this one and everything) It'd create a powerful (if otherwise natural) blizzard of considerable size around the caster to which the caster (at least) is immune (posisbly allies as well if it seems appropriate). The blizzard is effectively natural, any normal means of resisting it as well as an immunity to cold work just fine against it. It does minimal lethal damage for every action taken in it and reduces visibility to almost nothing and if it's let go on for more than fifteen ticks it creates a layer of snow and ice on the ground, reducing traction and requiring athletics checks to move on at full speed. However, at any time during the spells duration (probably a number of hours equal to permanant Essence) the caster may take another cast sorcery action and turn the falling snow and howling winds of a mighty blizzard into a terrifying firestorm, litterally. Falling snow ignites, hot embers get blown along the high winds, the clouds that formed above become noxious smoke and the winds fuel any fires along the ground. It would do considerable lethal damage to anything in the area (other than the caster and possibly allies) in addition to reducing visibility and providing a noxious fumes environmental hazard or some such. However, an immunity to fire works perfectly well against this, the fire, while created through sorcery, is completely normal, as are the noxious fumes. Both effects are environmental hazards and can be soaked normally, and normal methods of surviving harsh conditions (like Element Resisting Prana) work against the blizzard just fine (though it doesn't work on the visibility issue). I'm thinking it'd have a cost of 35m and wouldn't reach out very far, maybe 100 yards x Essence or something with the option of spending an 10m to turn the blizzards damage into aggravated to fair folk or the firestorms damage into aggravated for Creatures of Darkness.
 
It's not capable of being used in a flurry, but Thunder Wolf's Howl, from the White Treatise, is a Terrestrial Circle spell that can not be dodge or parried, affects an area, has knock-back, stun, and other effects. IMO, the best offensive spell in the game.


That said, I'm not sure how you'd even flurry a spell given that 'special casting rules' usually involve something intrinsic to the spell itself, like the reflexive casting of Flight of Separation where the caster transforms into a flock of birds during the shape Sorcery action because only birds can vocalize The Word of Ten Thousand Birds, or Demon of the First Circle taking from dusk till midnight to cast because of the ritual involved. The rules are part of how the spell is cast, not a means to get around normal casting actions. I've never seen a Terrestrial Circle offensive spell that is essentially cast reflexively like Flight of Separation, which is what you'd need to be able to do to use it in a flurry - otherwise, you're stuck with a shape Sorcery (speed 6) action, followed by a separate cast Sorcery (speed 6) action.


I think a better option would work something like Flying Guillotine, whereby the spell is cast normally, but it doesn't 'go off' right way. Rather, the spell's attack is held indefinitely until it is used, so long as no other action is taken first. A special rule for this spell could be that other actions could be taken *at the same time* as the spell goes off, taking advantage of the simultaneous action definition, as long as the spell was incorporated into a flurry action when it is released. If any other action is taken though, the spell should simply fizzle (or maybe shatter).
 
And I didn't really know any of that :D


Which is exactly why I asked for help.


The reason I said 'Special Casting Rules' is that's what the second edition core calls the countermagics. The idea was/is that the spell is fast as hell in all respects, but it doesn't do a lot of damage (and what little it does is bludgeoning) but it has a lot of 'Oomph', so it knocks the enemy back/flying or at least stumbles them which then (usually) opens them up for more hurt. It was more a controlled release of concussive Essence rather than an intricate spell, kinda like a really high speed Hadoken (which just seems very Solar-y to me so this might be more of a charm than anything else...)


That said, I like the idea of 'banking' the spell, casting it beforehand and then holding it until cast as a reflexive action. Still minimal damage and single target, but it'd have knockback and stun, be a perfect unblockable, and when banked, it can be held for a number of (hours or days) equal to Essence before fizzling out. The essence is obviously commited during that time, but other actions and charms can be taken/used.


How's that sound? :D
 
Sounds good to me. :)


Keep in mind, there's no real need to mitigate damage. Flying Guillotine is ludicrously lethal, and Thunder Wolf's Howl can not be stopped if you don't have an applicability-trumping perfect defense. How do you determine the damage? Intelligence + Occult, with Essence as bonus successes? Dexterity + Thrown, with Essence as bonus successes (kinda like the Dragon-blooded charm Elemental Bolt)? What does the damage start at? Is it piercing?


And! What's it called?


In case you hadn't noticed... I like spells. I made a deliberate choice not to play a sorcerer, you're kinda making me regret that. :P
 
The idea actually came from when I first heard of Exalted and the descriptions of some of their Sorcery spells, the original idea was that the caster would basically create a Cheetah out of their own essence and then fire the blasted thing from a palm held out flat in front of them and into their opponents gut as an unexpected, split-second attack. The cheetah, already fired at a high speed, would run even faster and ricochette off objects so it could hit around the opponents defense and definitely hit. Still not a whole lot of damage, but the more power pumped into it, the more mass it had till the point that it would imitate the 'Compact Compact' expirement Mythbusters did with the car and steel plate with rockets.


That said, it's changed a bit over time and I never really had a name for it. If you're making it lethal (Definitely need StoryTeller approval on this) it'd be based on force of will, rolling Willpower + Occult with Essence as bonus successes. Definitely not peircing.


And it could be that you (or your character, curse you pronoun trouble!) don't really have a talent for spells. You can think them up, but making your essence affect the essence patterns of the world around you with a simple force of will could just be something you have difficulty with.
 
That first one?


I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but that is just not a spell. That is a Martial Arts Charm.


Make it an extension of Solar Hero Style, building off of one of the first Charms in the style.


A Song of Fire and Ice sounds pretty good, though; perhaps a bit limited. I'd say you can either choose a mobile storm that follows you, or place it anywhere within (Essence) Miles that is within your LoS and stationary.


Coyote: You probably should become a sorcerer. :P
 
Afraid of that on the first one, though I do sorta agree with you. It'd be the Hadoken of Solar Hero Style. But it'd need to be reworked then... meh, I could do it. Any suggestions?


Song of Ice and Fire that you can throw sounds like a good idea, though I'd like to make it not affect allies and still avoid pushing it into the Solar Circle... though making it Solar Circle would probably remove the need to add power to make it aggravated, make it larger, and let you move it around at will during the duration...


The math for these was mostly off the top of my head based off the spells in the 2nd Ed Core, so that's totally variable. :P


I'm also toying around with an idea of something that acts like a trick of Byakuya's Bankai in Bleach, y'know the one where he creates a dome of swords? Imagine that only with golden bladed weapons of any type. It'd let the Exalted maintain a full Parry DV for the entire scene as they just hold out a hand and a blade jumps to their hand whenever they want to block an attack. They'd also be able to draw any basic, bladed (non-martial arts) artifact weapon as a reflexive action and be considered attuned to it. (This'd require better verbiage and wording obviously, but yeah, that's the basic concept) Though I don't know whether that should be a Celestial Circle or Solar Circle like that... any suggestions/comments on that?


((And from the looks of things we're all going to be sorcerers, just to varying degrees, I'm going to focus more on craft, athletics and some martial arts before I really start to dip into spellcasting, but I'm going to be a dedicated sorcerer once it becomes a viable tactic. Maybe we could work out having the more sorcerously inclined of us working together once we're on the boat to figure out the spells we know from the books as well as develop new ones at an accelerated pace...))
 
I'm probably going to be screwing around with half-assed, unkeyworded sorcerous charms; shit like expanding the range of my Chaos Repelling Pattern, before I get into any actual sorcery.


Someone should probably come up with some Terrestrial Circle Sorcery to control weather and channel it, so we can make a brisk wind of a still day, or moderate a hurricane into the sailing ship equavilent of running one's engine just under the redline.


Oh. And you are going to CNNT me up a nautical-themed pashima afghan.
 
Hn, that wouldn't be hard, at least... it shouldn't. A basic wind spell that can blow around clouds, blow them away, create a hole in cloud cover above us, or just blow really hard in a direction. I'll need help statting it up, but the in-game concept isn't that hard, throw essence up into the air, move it through force of will. Done. Stats... are going to be a bit harder for me since I have so little to go from.


And while I have no problems doing requests once I get the main stuff out of the way (and have assurance that if a fight comes along I won't have to pour too much essence behind it so I can use more for CNNT) I'll kinda need a better description of a 'nautical-themed pashima afghan' before I commit to anything, 'cause I haven't a freakin' clue what a pashima is.
 
Andoriol said:
And it could be that you (or your character, curse you pronoun trouble!) don't really have a talent for spells. You can think them up, but making your essence affect the essence patterns of the world around you with a simple force of will could just be something you have difficulty with.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna chalk this up to me being a die-hard athiest who's suddenly confronted with the reality of gods and supernatural power. My Lore and its specialty will cover what I know, but my lack of Occult (not to mention that it's not even favored) speaks to how hard becoming a sorcerer would be.


(edit - I have Occult 1, so... it's not as hard as it could be, I suppose.)


I mean, real-world, I am an insane hockey fan, and can spout the most esoteric trivia about Maurice Richard and my beloved Habs, but that doesn't mean I'm about to strap on the skates and don the blue-blanc-et-rouge at the Centre Molson. *sigh*


Then again, Solar can become masters of just about anything they want, and I plan on learning Spirit Charms, so spending XP on bumping up a non-favored ability and learning Terrestrial Circle might not be a bad idea. I do like the idea of being a jack-of-all-trades.


*must stop thinking like a mortal, and start thinking like a god-king* :P


Back to your spell though, your idea is fine for a spell, even the imagery (it's like a mix of Brilliant Raptor, Flying Guillotine, and Thunder Wolf's Howl), as long as it follows the regular casting rules - you'll need to take the two turns to cast the spell (one to shape it, the other to let it go), spend the essence, and the WP. If you build into the spell that it can be held before going off, that's not too much a stretch for the Terrestrial Circle, especially if it's doing bashing and the essence remains committed. I'd argue against rolling willpower as the ability to base successes off of though because, well, it's not an ability. Occult is used by all spells that I'm aware off, paired with an appropriate attribute. You could argue Thrown, or maybe Archery, but... definitely attribute + ability.


If you plan on it being a purely reflexive thing though, then yes, it's definitely a Charm, not a spell.


Also, you *need* the White and Black Treatise.
 
Fixed :D


Cheetah from the Brush


Terrestrial Circle


Cost: 20m


Few creatures without the empowering of essence are faster than the cheetah, esspecially over short distances. Fewer still are faster than those that have been changed by the wild. But nothing is faster than a Cheetah of pure essence and will, the embodiment of speed. Sorcerers know this, and can tap into the beginings of this power.


When the Sorcerer shapes this spell, the ghostly form of a large, lithe cat begins to form from their anima before them. When cast, the cat screams and bursts into lightning the color of the casters anima, crawling up the Sorcerers body and collecting along their forearms. At this point, the caster may either choose to cast the spell then or hold it and release it at a later time as a Reflexive action. If held, the lightning burning white runes along the caster's forearms which fade when the spell is released. The spell may be held in this manner for a number of hours equal to the casters permanent Essence.


When released, the Sorcerer holds out their palm towards their enemy and releases the captive avatar of speed. To almost any being, it would seem as if a bolt of lightning colored in the casters anima had jumped from the casters palm and struck the target, only seeing a colored after-image of a streak zig-zagging from the casters palm to the enemies chest and accompanied by a thunderous crack/boom.


But a being that could roll Legendary Successes on its awareness roll would see the truth, that a cheetah formed of the casters essence had launched itself from their palm and raced along the ground, the sky, the walls, and anything else available till it pounced on the target and burst like a bubble. The streak, a mere after-image of its speed, the thunder actually the sonic boom.


At the end of their Cast Sorcery Action, the caster rolls (Intelligence+Occult) adding a number of automatic successes equal to the sorcerer's permanent Essence, this is the amount of bludgeoning damage the spell inflicts. This spell is a perfect unblockable attack and may strike any single target the caster is aware of that does not have total cover relative to the Sorcerer. If this spell connects, the target must make a (Stamina+Resistance) roll against the levels of damage delt by the spell or be stunned. Also, the target is knocked back a number of yards equal to (Points of Post-Soak Damage + Permanent Willpower), if their travel is interrupted by a sturdy object, they take further damage as if by Heaven Thunder Hammer.


*Note: If held, this spell may be released at any time (Essence x Hours) after the spell is cast as a reflexive action. During the time it is held, the motes remain committed. The target of the spell is chosen at the time of release, not at the time of casting.
 
And here I was just going to petition for a variant of Death of Obsidian Butterflies called "Enlightened Spark of Essence" that replaced the "lots of obsidian everywhere" special effect with "This is a SOLID BEAM OF OBLITERATING LIGHT, so the ground is likely to be quite hot afterwards".


What can I say, I like it.


That said, I'll probably be around to hit up with Thunder Wolf's Howl, too.


All this is probably AFTER I get Summon Leatherman though.


All the same, these look like fun!
 
Andoriol, I like the spell, but you have a small problem.

If Soaked (either naturally or perfectly) or Parried with an applicable Perfect Defense, the target may ignore the stun effect, but is still affected by the knockback (though a perfect soak also ignores any damage from hitting another object). The only way to avoid being knocked back by this spell is to Perfectly dodge it.
Click to expand...
There is a reason that Perfect is not capitalized in normal Charm and spell descriptions, because this does not work. Your Spell can say this all it wants to, and my Heavenly Guardian Defense says that I perfectly parry the attack and it fails to connect with me. This forces a UFvIO call, under UFvIO I'm clearly the defender against something attempting to attack me, and this piece of particularly odius text fails because I have invoked a perfect defense - the immovable object - to your perfect attack - the unstoppable force.


Indeed, I might say that this is archtypical of the Unstoppable Force meeting Immovable Object.
 
Meh, kay, it's no big deal, I just liked the idea of 'I parry!' followed by 'damnit, I'm moving back still from the force even if none of this can hurt me' kind of thing. Not the end of the world :P


I was just thinking of the whole 'Epic Anime Fight' thing where someone perfectly blocks a crazy powerful attack but still goes flying back, but meh.


The basic plan for this spell is such: Get out of the opponent(s) sight in whatever way needed. Cast spell and hold it. Gaurd/stealth until the opponent makes some form of attack. Release spell as an unexpected attack, charge in and unleach a martial arts combo enhanced by/with an exellency in it while the opponent is stunned/flying backwards.


If they somehow perfectly defend against it, they're probably going to spend a lot of essence to block the whole dang thing. OR they're deader than a rock unless the thing is like Essence 8 or something... or a really battle focused Soak/Regen Lunar... but you get the point.


Even if I don't kill it, I've definitely got its attention and/or seriously hurt it either physically or in its mote pool, it should be easy pickings for the rest of you guys after that :D


Now to get to work on a spell that uses Rainbows as an attack... and sparkles, it's got to include sparkles... if they don't die laughing at it/me, they'll die when they find out it's actually a terrifyingly powerful spell in its own right! BWUAHAHAHAA!!! :twisted:
 
Gah, sorry Fabracati, I was in the crazy place :oops:


(Mastered Spark...?)


Anyways, a beam of obliterating light would probably involve some form of prismatic gathering of light the focusing it, which would be easy given Solar nature. However, the area described by DoOB wouldn't work well for a beam of death, you'd probably want to change it to narrow but very long (it's basically a laser), requiring an attack roll (Dex + either Archery or Thrown) to hit without adding threshold to damage. Damage would be (Something + Occult) with Essence as bonus successes, doing Lethal damage to most things but Aggravated to 'Creatures of Darkness' due to its inherently Solar-esque nature.


Basically, Kamehamea for Solar Sorcerers, charge time and all. Distance of the line would probably be... 100 yards per dot of permanent essence... though I'd want someone better versed in Exalted Sorcery to yay or nay that part.


Ah yes... um, if you want it to heat things up... you'd probably want it to be that if it comes within five yards of an object/creature, it does like, permanent essence in lethal/heat damage with objects heated this way staying hot to the touch for a number of hours equal to the caster essence... I think. That's an off-the-top-of-me-head kind of thing by the way, don't... use it as tried and true, or whatever, bleh, you get what I mean.
 
Spell Concept FTW!!!


Drawn from the Heavens


Celestial Circle


Cost: 40m


The magical materials of the celestial exalted are aligned to their nature, Orichalcum is of Sol, Moonsilver of Luna, Starmetal of the Maidens.


But these metals are limited in amounts, and Creation seems all the smaller with the return of the Solar exalted. So, instead of finding new sources of these metals, a particularly canny Twilight decided to pull magic from the Heavens themselves and give it form through his own power and will.


With this spell, an exalt may create a magical fabric out of particularly pure light from their god and their own power. Casting this spell is at minimum, a dramatic action, and often an extended dramatic action.


Lunars may make Moonsilver, and only Moonsilver, from the light of the Full Moon, when Luna is at her strongest. A Lunar requires a pure Jade bowl as a focus for this spell (Resources 3). On a clear night, with the full moon in the sky, the Lunar must spend at least six hours of the night performing this spell. The Lunar pulls the light of the Moon and, with a judicious application of essence, may pour Moonsilver into a Jade bowl. At the end of the six hours, a Lunar will have (Essence x Kilograms) of Moonsilver. The Full Moon only lasts three days in a month for the purposes of this spell.


Sidereals may pull Starmetal, and only Starmetal, from the light of the stars in the sky. A Sidereal may perform this spell on any particularly clear night, but requires a carefully crafted spindle made from exotic materials and woods (Resources 5). For every hour the Sidereal works, they are able to pull (Essence x grams) of Starmetal from the starlight above them. A Sidereal may not perform this spell an hour before or after day nor during the full moon, the residual power of Sol or the full power of Luna interfering with the careful drawing of Starmetal from the night sky.


As this spell was orginally made by and for Solars, the Chosen of the Sun have the easiest time using it and get the greatest benifit from it. A Solar may pull Orichalcum, and only Orichalcum, from pure sunlight. Most of the time, this means during the hour before and after high noon on a clear day, but if the Solar is above the cloud line, they are able to use this spell for the entire day (Though this requires a reflexive expenditure of 2m every hour after the second). For every hour the Solar works, they draw (Essence x Kilograms) of Orichalcum out of the light of the Sun into a sphere between their hands. A Solar requires no extra tools.


While Abyssals and Infernals are able to learn this spell, they are incapable of casting it to any meaningful result.


((Another spell concept that jumped into my head that I fleshed out, I like this idea, but I'm still hashing everything about it out.))


Fists of the Giant


____________ Circle


Cost: ??m


A spell-happy Twilight created this spell as an extension of the Totemic level of his Anima Banner.


The spell allows the caster to create a pair of giant hands and forearms out of their essence and will which will mimic the movement of the casters own hands as well as give tactile feedback to the sorcerer to allow them to manipulate objects.


The hands have an effective Strength of 10 and, when using them to determine Feats of Strength, the caster uses (10 + the lower of Athletics or Occult + Essence).


The massive hands can be used in place of numbers of men when crafting, allowing the Sorcerer to move large objects they would normally be unable to, such as putting a large tree in place for a mast, or placing large blocks in place to build a structure. This effectively multiplies the manpower of the Sorcerer by (the greater of Intelligence or Perception) x men at the Storytellers discretion. For example, if it would take 10 men a week to build a small barn, a Sorcerer with this spell and an Intelligence of 5 could do the same by themselves. This is explicitly allowed to be combo'ed with Craft charms.


The hands, while always visible and tied to the caster during the duration of the spell, are only solid at the casters discretion and are completely intangible when the caster wishes so.


The hands last for (Essence) x hours, and the spells duration may be renewed at the end of this with a reflexive expenditure of 5 motes rather than re-casting the spell.


The fists may also be used in combat using either Melee or Martial Arts at the casters discretion and have these stats:


All attacks with the fists are unblockable.


Punch


Speed = 6


Accuracy = +0


Damage = (10 + Essence) Bashing


Defense = +3 (+6 when taking the Gaurd or Guard another actions)


Rate = 1


The hands use special rules for Clinches, the hands may only be used to hold one person each for a total of two. The caster retains their ability to move and may attack normally as long as one hand is free. Once an opponent is clinched, they may only escape either through an applicable perfect dodge or parry or a sucsesful opposed roll of (Strength + Athletics) against the Fist's.


Clinch


Speed = 5


Accuracy = +0


Damage (for crush) = (20 + (Essence x 2)) Lethal, this damage is Piercing as normal for a Clinch


Rate 1


((So, what'chu think yo?))
 
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