More Rational Damage Spells

When I wrote Rationalizing Damage Spells, I didn't try to expand on the existing spell forms very much. Breath spells got changed to use Cone mechanics, because there needed to be a way for spellcasters to generate Cone effects and having Breath spells just be slightly more damaging Jet spells was lame. But other than that, I didn't add any new forms and I don't think I really added any new elements.

Since I wrote that article, I've been tinkering with it. I'm pulling those changes to a separate article, so people can notice them and possible comment on them.

New and Changed Elements

The Air element got renamed to Thunder, and added to the Sound college so as to provide for the Concussion effect. Physical Disruption is an effect, not an element, so it got renamed to Blight, even though it's still based on Deathtouch. Disintegration is also an effect, so that group got renamed to Ruin.

I added Deprivation and Enervation spells to give some fatigue effects. They probably need better names.

Having given the Food college an attack spell, I went whole hog and gave them a Poison line of dubious utility.

The Cessation element needs a better name, but it's basically the Turn Zombie spell as an attack spell. Conceptually, I like it a lot, but it may be overpowered: Weapon/Missile of Cessation give the melee and ranged combatants some very powerful attacks against undead, and Rain of Cessation pretty much guarantees that undead will not move through a certain area. On the other hand, Saints with Smite already have very powerful attacks against undead, and it's probably not a bad idea to have more ways to deal with insubstantial foes.

The Sound effect is currently boring, but the sample sonic spells and weapons in GURPS are also boring.

Thunder (Air, Sound): +3 damage per die. Treat as a Crushing Innate Attack with Armor Multiplier 5, Double Knockback, and Hearing Based Side Effect (Stun). Treat attacks against swarms or vaporous creatures as area effect attacks, even if the spell form is normally a single target spell. Ranged Attacks are Acc 3, Range 30/60.
Blight (Body): +0 damage per die. Treat as a Toxic Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Cosmic (Affects things with Immune to Metabolic Hazards), Accessibility (Only living or previously creatures; cannot target locations). Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50.  Deathtouch should affect zombies, but not stone golems or trees.
Deprivation (Body, Food): -2 damage per die. Treat as a Fatigue Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Hazard (Starvation or Thirst, chosen when the spell is learned), and Resistable (HT -4). Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 50/100.
Enervation (Body): +0 damage per die. Treat as a Fatigue Innate Attack with Armor Divisor 2. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 50/100.
Poison (Food): +3 damage per die. Treat as Toxic Innate Attack with Blood Agent, Cyclic (3x10 seconds), Resistable by HT-5. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50.
Ruin (Making and Breaking): +0 damage per die. Treat as Toxic Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Cosmic (Affects things with Immune to Metabolic Hazards), Accessibility (Only never living inanimate objects; cannot target locations). Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50. Making and Breaking spells can't affect golems, zombies, or housecats, but they can destroy cars and furniture.
Cessation (Necromantic): +3 damage per die. Treat as Toxic Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Cosmic (Affects things with Immune to Metabolic Hazards), Accessibility (Only zombies; cannot target locations). Targets that take damage have a 1 in 6 chance of being forced to flee out of sight of the caster for one day. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50.
Sound (Sound): +2 damage per die. Treat as a Crushing Innate Attack with Side Effect (Stun). Ranged Attacks are Acc 3, Range 25/50.

New Forms

One of the very, very sad things about GURPS Magic for 4th edition was that it was printed in a hurry and never really updated to take advantage of 4th edition mechanics. There really needs to be at least one spell that lets the spellcaster make an RoF attack. The Volley form fills that gap.

Volley went through a lot of adjustments as I wrote it, mostly to tone it down. It gives the wizard a low damage, high Rcl, and energy intensive attack spell. I'm inclined to believe that Fire Volley or Earth Volley would be reasonably balanced spells, but that Sun Volley might be problematic (because of Sun's high Acc and innate bonus to hit) and Ruin Volley and/or Blight Volley are probably broken (low damage means less if you ignore DR). But that's what web commentary and playtesting are there to discover.

(Element) Volley: Creates a missile that does damage as though it were an area effect spell, even though it is a single target spell with RoF 5 and Rcl 3. It can still be used for suppressive fire, walking fire, or to otherwise engage multiple targets using the normal RoF attack rules. It has a base cost of 3 FP per die of damage. Enlarging the spell can increase the damage at double FP cost, increase the RoF to 10 at double the FP cost, or both at triple FP cost. Prerequisites are Rain of (Element), Element (Ball), and Element (Breath).

Summoners and College Ritual Book Magic

For the most part, the summoner templates introduced in DF9: Summoners work very well with my College Book Ritual Magic system. Instead of getting a trivial discount on Magery in exchange for getting a drastically limited spell selection, they become masters of a single college, augmented by a focused and inexpensive talent. The only difficulty is the shaman, who uses a Power Investiture system instead. I have some thoughts on improving the shaman, and I'll add some comments shamans for CBRM.

CBRM Demonologist

Replace Demonic Attument 3 [24] and 10 points in demonologist spells with Magery 0 [5], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], College of Demonology (VH) IQ [8]-15, and the Perk: Reader of the Black Grimoires [1]. Add additional levels of Extra Magical Ability to the general advantage list. If using Rational Spell Damage, add all forms of the Blight, Fire, and Ruin elemental attack spells to the College of Demonology.

The Close to Hell talent no longer gives bonuses to Religious Ritual or Theology but gives bonuses to College of Demonology and College of Death instead. Reader of the Black Grimoires allows the substitution of Hidden Lore (Demons) for Thaumatology when using grimoires to cast College of Demonology spells (even if the grimoire was written for an entirely different magical tradition!)

CBRM General Elementalist

Replace Elemental Influence 3 (All Elements) [30] and 20 points in elementalist spells with Magery 0 [5], a suitable 5 point talent [5], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], the Perk: Elemental Understanding [1], and 19 points distributed among College of Air, College of Earth, College of Fire, College of Metal, College of Water, College of Wood, and/or College of Void, as appropriate. Add additional levels of Extra Magical Ability to the general advantage list.

Elemental Understanding allows the substitution of Hidden Lore (Elementals) for Thaumatology when using grimoires to cast spells from an Elemental college (even if the grimoire was written for an entirely different magical tradition!)

CBRM Specific Elementalist

Replace Elemental Influence 3 (One Element) [24] and 20 points in elementalist spells with Magery 0 [5], a suitable 5 point talent 2 [10], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], the Perk: Elemental Understanding [1], and College of (One Element) (VH) IQ+2 [8]-17 (includes a +2 bonus from the talent).

CBRM Necromancer

Replace Deathliness 3 [24] and 10 points in Deathly spells with Magery 0 [5], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], College of Death (VH) IQ [8]-15, and the Perk: Secrets of the Dead [1]. Add additional levels of Extra Magical Ability to the general advantage list. If using Rational Spell Damage, add all forms of the Blight and Cessation elemental attack spells to the College of Demonology.

Secrets of the Dead allows the substitution of Hidden Lore (Undead) for Thaumatology when using grimoires to cast College of Death spells (even if the grimoire was written for an entirely different magical tradition!)

CBRM Revised Shaman

As normal for CBRM, Shaman spells are individually IQ/E skills, and are sorted into three colleges.
College of Life: Beast Summoning, Command, Compel Truth, Cure Disease, Daze, Deathtouch*, Dream Projection, Dream Sending, Fear, Madness, Major Healing, Mass Daze, Mental Stun, Message, Minor Healing, Panic, Paralyze Limb, Presence, Remove Contagion, Retrogression, Rider Within, Rooted Feet, Sense Life, Silver Tongue, Sleep, Soul Rider, Spasm, Stop Spasm, Strike Blind, Strike Deaf, Strike Dumb, Strike Numb, Terror, Total Paralysis
College of Spirits: Affect Spirits, Animation, Animate Shadow, Astral Block, Astral Vision, Awaken Craft Spirit, Banish, Beacon, Command Spirit, Control Elemental, Create Elemental, Entrap Spirit, Final Rest, Materialize, Pentagram, Planar Summons, Planar Visit, Planar Shift, Repel Spirits, Sense Spirit, Skull Spirit, Solidify, Soul Jar, Summon Demon, Summon Elemental, Summon Shade, Turn Spirit, Turn Zombie
College of Wisdom: Bless, Create Door, Curse, Detect Magic, Dispel Magic, Divination, Force Touch*, Hide Object, History, Know True Shape, Magic Resistance, Mystic Mist, Nightingale, Pathfinder, Predict Weather, Projection, Remove Curse, See Invisible, See Secrets, Sense Mana, Sense Observation, Sense Spirit, Summon Shade, Suspend Curse, Trace Teleport, Utter Dome, Watchdog.

A spell's effective prerequisite count (and its penalty to casting rolls) is equal to it's PI - 1, so a shaman can cast all PI 1 spells in a College at his skill in the college. Shamans do not use grimoires, but have spirit guides that serve a similar purpose.

Each level of Power Investiture (Shamanic) increases Threshold by 10 and Recovery Rate by 15, with both starting at 0. Power Investiture (Shamanic) does not provide a bonus to learn spells.

On the template, replace 10 points in Shamanic spells with one of the following spell packages

• Focused caster: One Shamanic College at (VH) IQ [8]-14 and the other two colleges at (VH) IQ-3 [1]-11; or
• Generalist caster: Two shamanic colleges at (VH) IQ-1 [4]-13 and the other college at (VH) IQ-2 [2]-12; or
• Scattered caster: Choose 10 shamanic spells at (E) IQ [1]-14.

Spirit Guides

A spirit guide is a friendly or controlled spirit who advises a shaman in the practice of magic. A shaman may have zero or more spirit guides.

Each spirit guide gives a bonus to casting one or more spells from the college default. The bonus can only buy off the prerequisite penalty to cast the spell and the effective skill cannot exceed the shaman's Hidden Lore (Spirits) skill.

A spirit guide is a 1 point advantage and can give on of the following sets of bonuses:

• +1 to three different spells
• +2 to one spell and +1 to two different spells
• +2 to one spell and +3 to another
• +4 to one spell

Spirit guides can be transferred from one shaman to another. Spirit guides can be voluntarily transferred between shamans as an act of will, but the shaman who gives away the spirit guide loses any bonuses immediately and the shaman who acquires the guide does not get the bonuses until he has slept (or meditated for shamans who do not sleep) for at least 8 hours and made contact with the spirit guide.

A shaman can steal another shaman's spirit guides. Spirit guides may be stolen from another shaman's physical body (including his corpse) or from a shaman's house or other place of power. The ritual to steal a spirit guide takes an hour to perform and fails automatically if it is interrupted in any way.

Design Notes

Most of this is pretty straightforward application of CBRM concepts to the summoner templates.

Shamans are obviously a bit weird. I think converting PI levels back to prerequisite counts is a workable solution, but it is a bit unorthodox.

Spirit guides are basically Fine, Dwarven Grimoires purchased as signature gear. The rules for stealing them are intended to make stealing someone else's guides about as difficult as stealing a wizard's physical grimoires would be. I figure that a thief had an hour's uninterrupted access to a wizard's house could steal the wizard's grimoires.

Rise and Fall of HYDRA: Defeating Surveillance

In the Rise and Fall of HYDRA, one of the constant threats is HYDRA's omnipresent intelligence apparatus. As established in Winter Soldier, HYDRA is constantly doing data searches and using predictive algorithms to find and destroy potential threats. Any resistance to HYDRA needs to be able to spoof those searches.

So I want some kind of mechanic to represent that. Fortunately, Nightmares of Future Past has a system that suitable for adaptation. Each day, one of the PCs must make a DC34 Technology check. On a success, nothing happens. On success by 5+ (DC39 check!), the PC diverts HYDRA from the search, which is detailed below. On a failure, HYDRA advances one step towards finding the the PCs, and on a failure by 5+ (check result of 28 or less), HYDRA advances two steps toward finding the PCs. If HYDRA advances five steps toward finding the PCs, they find their current base and stage a raid the next day.

If the PCs make a direct attack against HYDRA, HYDRA enhances their search against the PCs. For the next 48 hours, a PC must make the Technology check every four hours to counter the more active patrols. HYDRA is at Red Alert for the first twenty four hours, and then at Yellow Alert for the next three days.

Modifiers on the check

+5 if HYDRA is searching rapidly (checks every four hours) 
-2 if HYDRA is at Yellow Alert, or
-4 if HYDRA is at Red Alert
+2 if the PCs operate more than 100 miles from their home base, or
+4 if the PCs operate more than 1000 miles from their home base.
+2 if the PCs are laying low (not using their powers, communicating, or really doing anything)

Diverting HYDRA

When the PCs successful divert HYDRA, the PC must make a new DC28 Technology check with all the same modifiers. On a success, the PCs add a Confusion step: HYDRA must remove all Confusion steps before they can advance on the PCs' base again. On a success by 5+, HYDRA gets a Confusion step and loses any progress they've made toward finding the PCs' base. On a failure, nothing happens, and a failure by 5+ (failing a DC22 check), the PCs have inadvertently tipped HYDRA off to another resistance group's base. HYDRA raids the other group's base and assumes they've eliminated the PCs, removing any progress the HYDRA has made to find the PCs' base.

At the PCs option, they may intervene in the raid against the other resistance group's base.

HYDRA Raids

HYDRA generally investigates suspected resistance bases with a surveillance team of 4-6 FBI agents (M&M3e Government Agents). If the team encounters violence or otherwise finds an actual resistance base, HYDRA then sends a force of HYDRA agents (M&M3e SWAT Officers with Blaster Rifles, effectively PL7), usually about 5 agents per person at the base, with a team of 6 Iron Patriot power armor troopers on call. If a resistance cell has previously defeated a HYDRA agent strike force, HYDRA will escalate to sending a company of Iron Patriots, then a platoon of Iron Patriots supporting a company of super soldiers (PL9 SWAT Officers), then super-powered individuals like the Winter Soldier. If all those get defeated, the next time that resistance cell's base is found, HYDRA will send a helicarrier to level the surrounding area.