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 Post subject: Price of Magic
PostPosted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:09 pm 
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I was never a fan of magic being neat and clinical - there should be a cost, especially as DW has its root in British folklore, one of the tenets of which is that magic always has a price. It's one of the ways that it's kept from proliferating and, of course, it is one of the things that instills fear in non-magickers - that they will have to pay the price for the magic instead of the caster. I have already implemented Taint in my game, but I'm starting to implement ways of incorporating this cost into magic items, too. Some magic items already cause Taint, but I was also thinking of how to make magical weapons a little bit more variable and 'costly' (but without making them completely undesirable). My plan is to create a list of possible mechanisms so that not all magic weapons work the same way, for which I would be interested in inspiration from this group.

To get you started, the first on my list is this:

A magical weapon, which starts at +0 with a 0 Magical Attack score, gains +1 Magical Attack for every Health Point of damage dealt to a living foe. The magical plus of the weapon increases by +1 for every full 10 points of Magical Attack it acquires. If the weapon strikes a killing blow against a living creature, the wielder is struck by a magical attack from the sword using its current Magical Attack score. If the attack is successful, the sword's Magical Attack is reduced to 0 and the wielder is cursed with horrific nightmares for a number of nights equal to the amount by which the magical attack succeeded (minimum 1). These nightmares consist of reliving the horrors of battle from the point of view of creature struck by the weapon and cause a cumulative -1 handicap penalty for each successive night of disturbed sleep. If the weapon is used against undead, infernals, or creations of sorcery, harm caused will not add to the weapon's Magical Attack score nor trigger the weapon's curse if the weapon deals the killing blow against one of these types of creature.

Folks curious about Taint and Handicap should check out this document:

http://cobwebbedforest.co.uk/library/Do ... Perils.pdf

Any other ideas?

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 Post subject: Re: Price of Magic
PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 4:03 am 
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I think the curse section can be expanded. This was something I had in mind about magic weapons, and I thought that there is a thread on the yahoo groups or here. We haven't gone into depth about flawed weapons, book 2 only mentions it but doesn't mention any mechanism. Seems these can be implemented as penalties to EVASION (falling into a FIRESTORM) or stat penalties like reduced reflexes. Fun idea, and maybe some fluff about magic weapon making would be nice. Dwarves do flawed weapons too right? I suppose a lot of lazy types will keep flawed weapons, it still does the trick. More fluff on magic weapon construction would be nice.

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 Post subject: Re: Price of Magic
PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:23 pm 
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I wasn't thinking so much about flawed weapons, which just have stat penalties, but to positive weapons that have occasional, insidious consequences. Something that, once the characters realise that their magic item is causing them, give them pause before wantonly indulging in an orgy of magically-enhanced destruction.

Flawed items would naturally carry curses, stat penalties, and so on, but I'm thinking more about items that potentially bring great benefit to an adventurer/adventuring party, but that to use them should inspire trepidation and anticipation. It's simple with charged items like potions and rings (quaff a potion or expend a charge and gain a point of Taint), but permanently 'on' items are more of a challenge.

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 Post subject: Re: Price of Magic
PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 3:56 pm 
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Like a possessed item. Lots of ways to interpret magic items with negative consequences... At random, let me think...


+2 Shortsword, bronze d6,3.... Wielded by a Selentium Centurion who had fought throughout Chaubrette and Kurland. Upon entering Ellesland and heading north to Thuland he encountered vile witchcraft which led him to slay a village of natives. After the dawn rays (and spell expiry rolls) the illusion wore away and he found that he had alienated the north, no people would be subject to such cruel slaughter of innocents. He hurled the sword into the river where it was found by a boy who passed it down throughout the generations.

Certainly good for smiting ghosts but upon striking innocents/women/children/old farmers it bleeds leaving a blood trail that can be tracked by every bear, wolf, orcs and 1st ranked trackers...

Well, there ya' go....

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 Post subject: Re: Price of Magic
PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 4:13 pm 
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Kharille wrote:
Certainly good for smiting ghosts but upon striking innocents/women/children/old farmers it bleeds leaving a blood trail that can be tracked by every bear, wolf, orcs and 1st ranked trackers...

I like the idea of a weapon that bleeds. To generalise from your example, how about something like:

The weapon, upon dealing a killing blow against a living creature, starts to bleed for the same number of hours as Health Points it has dealt in damage to any living foe (not just the one it has just killed) since it last bled. The bleeding cannot be staunched and whilst it is not particularly fast-flowing, will soak through any wrap or cover within seconds. The dripping trail of blood the sword leaves can easily be tracked and may attract predators. In a social setting, this is, at best, embarrassing, and at worst, grossly upsetting and insulting.

If the weapon is wielded in combat whilst bleeding, the hilt/handle will become liberally covered in blood and difficult to hold. Instead of a positive benefit from the magic, the weapon now causes a penalty, equal to it's magical bonus (so a +2 shortsword would behave as a -2 cursed shortsword during its 'bleeding' phase).

I also like the idea of effects that are triggered when the weapon is used against an innocent/women, etc., instead of it always being when a weapon strikes a killing blow. Killing an innocent, for example, might cause it to bleed for a number of days, rather than hours.

Cheers Kharille.

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 Post subject: Re: Price of Magic
PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 2:00 am 
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It would be nice to have a fan brain storming session. I think I tried to create a monster creation thread on yahoo groups a while back. A curse skunk works would be nice....


Fun wiki to read about on Yamato sword smiths...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masamune

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